The United States has asked Syria to close the Islamic Jihad offices in Damascus. U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer informed Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of such today, after Netanyahu just yesterday asked foreign ambassadors with whom he met to demand that Syria do exactly that. "Take the case, for example, of the attack in Hevron, of the Islamic Jihad," Netanyahu told them. "That organization is based in Damascus. Ramadan Shallah, its leader, in fact enjoys the patronage and the protection of the Syrian government. And therefore, I urge all of you to include in your policies the clear-cut demand that Syria be told to stop this action, be told to close down the offices of the Islamic Jihad and the other terrorist organizations; the clear-cut demand that Hizbullah be declared a terrorist organization." He also said that Iran must also be similarly pressured.
Netanyahu also told the foreign representatives to put themselves in Israel's place:
"Israel expects the world not only to support us when we bury our dead; Israel expects the world to support us when we fight to defend our lives against the forces of terror, as is the right of every nation, under the right of self-defense. I think you can imagine what would happen if, in your own countries, worshipers would be killed or wounded, holy sites would be attacked - either churches, or mosques, or synagogues - and if this would be an unrelenting attack that attacks your people day in and day out. So we have to address this in the way any civilized country would do. The first obligation of any civilized government is to protect the lives of its citizens."
Netanyahu also told the foreign representatives to put themselves in Israel's place:
"Israel expects the world not only to support us when we bury our dead; Israel expects the world to support us when we fight to defend our lives against the forces of terror, as is the right of every nation, under the right of self-defense. I think you can imagine what would happen if, in your own countries, worshipers would be killed or wounded, holy sites would be attacked - either churches, or mosques, or synagogues - and if this would be an unrelenting attack that attacks your people day in and day out. So we have to address this in the way any civilized country would do. The first obligation of any civilized government is to protect the lives of its citizens."