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Sen. Lindsey Graham: Hamas Must Be Given Deadline to Disarm or Face Renewed War
(Times of Israel) Lazar Berman - Hamas must be given a deadline for relinquishing its weapons, after which Israel will have a green light to return to combat operations across Gaza, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the Times of Israel on Sunday. "Put them on the clock. If they don't disarm in a credible way, then unleash Israel on 'em." The second phase of President Trump's plan for Gaza demands that Hamas disarm and the Strip be demilitarized. But Hamas's leaders have said consistently that they won't give up all their weapons, and never signed on to the second phase of the plan. The envisioned multi-national International Stabilization Force for Gaza has no chance of success until "Hamas has been disarmed," said Graham. "There's no international stabilizing force that's going to come in here and fight." "My advice to the President [Trump] is until Hamas is dealt out of the game militarily and politically, the chance of success is pretty remote," Graham said. "These people are religious zealots. They're religious Nazis. I have no confidence, short of their demise, that they're ever going to do anything other than what they promised to do. Did they stop wanting to destroy Israel? Did they change their stated goals? No." Regarding Iran, Graham said that if Iran is indeed trying to enrich uranium again and to expand their ballistic missile program, "it'd be in our national interest to hit them now." Graham urged the U.S. to join in on any potential attack on Hizbullah: "I would like the United States to participate in military operations, in the aerial side, against Hizbullah, if that's what it takes to knock them out. I want our fingerprints on that. Let me tell you why: We had a lot of brave young Marines die at the hands of these bastards and we have a very long memory." In October 1983, 241 U.S. military personnel - including 220 Marines - died in a Hizbullah truck bombing of a U.S. Marines barracks in Lebanon. Less than a year later, Hizbullah bombed the American embassy in Beirut, killing 23 people. The U.S. and Israel "have common enemies and common values, democracy, and [Israel is] surrounded by a bunch of people that would kill us if they could get to us....Whatever we do to help Israel is a great investment....It's in America's interest to have a strong, vibrant Israel. Anything less would put us at risk. I think that's not going to change anytime soon."