MK Eli Avidar (Yisrael Beytenu), who serves as a minister in the Prime Minister's Office, spoke at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism Conference at Reichman University (IDC Herzliya), criticizing the previous government's "flawed" policy on Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
According to him, the previous government worked to weaken the Palestinian Authority and strengthen Hamas.
"It's inconceivable that we are making things difficult for the Palestinian Authority, which fights terror, and allowing funding and resources to Hamas, which has a set policy of terror towards Israel," Avidar said.
In his speech, Avidar criticized former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen for working with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on what he believes was a flawed and irresponsible diplomatic strategy. He also criticized Qatar's policy of supporting terror, its multitude of connections with extremist terror organizations, and especially the funding it provides to the Iranian Al-Quds force which aids Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.
Avidar also slammed Turkey for supporting Hamas and allowing Hamas to operate command centers in its territory. He noted that Turkey's support was crucial to the Islamic caliphate, pointing out that the caliphate collapsed in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, after Turkey was pressured into pulling its support.
Pointing out that there has been a reduction in global terror, and that terror is only aided by a small number of countries, Avidar emphasized that those countries which aid terror must not be seen as legitimate, even if they are wealthy, like Qatar, or members of NATO, as Turkey is.