Israeli Arab Leader Muhammad Zeidan Supports Hamas: Its Missiles Target the Enemy

In a TV interview, Muhammad Zeidan, the recently resigned head of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee in Israel, came out in support of Hamas, saying: "The missiles fired from Gaza constitute self-defense." He further said: "I was not as surprised [by the technical and combat level of Hamas] as the enemy. Israel was surprised."The interview aired on the Lebanese Mayadeen TV channel on August 1, 2014.

Following are excerpts:

Interviewer: The [Hamas] missiles are launched toward Tel Aviv, Haifa... They fall in areas occupied in 1948. These missiles land on you, so how can you support them?

Muhammad Zeidan: We belong to our Palestinian people. The missiles fired from Gaza are a retaliation for the criminal attack... What the Israeli establishment did in Gaza is very ugly and criminal. We cannot remain silent, even if missiles land on our heads. We are not happy when missiles fall, and blood is shed, but in our conscience, in our hearts, we belong to the Palestinian people, which is being massacred on a daily basis.

We, the Palestinians within [the 1948 borders], say that the missiles fired from Gaza constitute self-defense, and are intended to show that the Palestinians have a right that must be seized, not given. Rights must be seized, not given.

The Palestinian people has the right to take this official position, in defense of the Palestinian cause, and in order to establish its independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

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Interviewer: Were you surprised by the technical and combat level of the resistance? Were you surprised by the Israeli conduct?

Muhammad Zeidan: I was not as surprised as the enemy. Israel was surprised.

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This war and the epic steadfastness of the resistance forces in Gaza has cast fear in their hearts. Two days ago, I saw a doctor in northern Israel placing his stethoscope on a rock in the Galilee, and saying: I hear knocking sounds underground. Hizbullah must be digging in the Galilee, within the Green Line. This fear is definitely the product of the steadfast resistance.

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