US President Bush reacted to yesterday's 16-victim suicide attack in Jerusalem by calling on the international community to cut off all funding to Hamas. Bush, who criticized Israel the day before for trying to kill Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, expressed his condolences to Israel and also took the opportunity to call once again for a Palestinian state. "It is clear," he said, "that there are people in the Middle East who hate peace. There are people who want to kill in order to make sure the desires of Israel to live with a secure peace don’t happen, who kill to make sure the desires of the Prime Minister of Palestinian Authority and others for a peaceful state living side-by-side with Israel do not happen. To the people in the world who want to see peace in the Middle East, I strongly urge all of you to fight off terror, to cut off money to organizations such as Hamas..."
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed that call today, saying, "Every nation in the world must disassociate from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and cut off their funding and those of other terrorist organizations." He said that Israel and the PA must progress in the diplomatic process.
US Senator John McCain (R-Az.), when asked if he approved of Bush's earlier condemnation of Israel's attempt on Hamas leader Rantisi's life, said:
"If anyone came to my hometown in Phoenix, Arizona and set off a bomb on a bus and killed 18 people and injured 100 of them, my citizens would expect us to respond. Do you want to call that a cycle of violence? You can call it what you want, but these acts of terror, these organizations, funded by the Saudis, at least encouraged by Yasser Arafat, are inexcusable in their tactics - and their results are horrendous."
The Orthodox Union, Religious Zionists of America, Rabbinical Council of America, National Council of Young Israel, AMIT, and Emunah of America today expressed their support for the State of Israel's recent actions in the defense of its citizens and their security.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed that call today, saying, "Every nation in the world must disassociate from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and cut off their funding and those of other terrorist organizations." He said that Israel and the PA must progress in the diplomatic process.
US Senator John McCain (R-Az.), when asked if he approved of Bush's earlier condemnation of Israel's attempt on Hamas leader Rantisi's life, said:
"If anyone came to my hometown in Phoenix, Arizona and set off a bomb on a bus and killed 18 people and injured 100 of them, my citizens would expect us to respond. Do you want to call that a cycle of violence? You can call it what you want, but these acts of terror, these organizations, funded by the Saudis, at least encouraged by Yasser Arafat, are inexcusable in their tactics - and their results are horrendous."
The Orthodox Union, Religious Zionists of America, Rabbinical Council of America, National Council of Young Israel, AMIT, and Emunah of America today expressed their support for the State of Israel's recent actions in the defense of its citizens and their security.