Liberman Warns Gaza Terrorists

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Thursday that the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Gaza was responsible for the mortar shelling of southern Israel the day before, and that Israel will do “anything we have to” in order to prevent future attacks.

“Friday’s shelling was conducted by the [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad, and we know exactly who was behind it,” Liberman stated in an Arabic-subtitled video for Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians.

“We will do anything we have to to stop this. We will not accept ‘drizzles,’” he says, using a slang term for occasional rocket and mortar fire.

Meanwhile, conflict between Hamas and the Islamic State branch in the Sinai Peninsula seemed set to escalate, as the latter put out a video calling on supporters to attack Hamas, which it described as “the pillar of tyranny.”

The video, released on Wednesday, showed the execution of an IS member who was accused of smuggling weapons to Hamas. The executioner was identified in news reports as Muhammad al-Dajani, a former member of Hamas’s military branch.

The two terror groups have been at each other’s throats intermittently for months. Hamas has cracked down on IS and its sympathizers along the Gaza-Egypt border recently as part of its improved alliance with Egypt.