Lindsey Graham declared Hamas must disarm or face a renewal of Israel’s military operations.
The South Carolina Republican senator told the Times of Israel during his visit to Israel, “Put them on the clock. If they don’t disarm in a credible way, then unleash Israel on ’em.”
As the first phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan winds down, pending the return of the remains of the last deceased hostage Ran Gvili, Sen. Graham was addressing a crucial provision of the second stage of the agreement: that Hamas disarm and relinquish power in the Gaza Strip.
However, the terror group has said publicly that it will not surrender its entire arsenal and claims it did not consent to the second part of the deal.
While there has been discussion about an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to govern and secure Gaza, and which forces will comprise it, Graham denies that the ISF can be formed or implemented if Hamas still has weapons. Until that happens, “There’s no international stabilizing force that’s going to come in here and fight,” he said.
Graham spoke to the Times of Israel in a Tel Aviv hotel during a two-day visit to Israel preceding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to meet with President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
On Sunday, the senator met with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Netanyahu.
“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,” he said.
Graham said that the nature of Hamas makes it impossible to expect that the group will moderate or relent from its goal to destroy Israel.
“These people are religious zealots,” he said. “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.”
The senator also said he suspected that Iran is still planning to build a nuclear bomb after a joint US-Israel operation last summer that damaged its nuclear facilities.
Netanyahu is reportedly planning to discuss a potential military operation against Iran to take out its ballistic missile capabilities during his visit with President Trump.
Graham expressed approval for such an operation and said, “It’d be in our national interest to hit them now.”