Palestinian terrorist groups reacted with joy to news of the resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, calling it an admission of defeat by Israel following the last cycle of violence in the Gaza Strip.Hamas and Islamic Jihad websites ran headlines declaring “Gaza deposes Liberman from the top brass of the army.” Many Palestinians took to social media to praise the resignation as a “huge achievement and victory” for Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist factions.Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called Liberman’s resignation an “admission of defeat and a sign of failure to face the Palestinian resistance.” Liberman’s resignation, he added, is a “political victory for Gaza, which succeeded in triggering a political earthquake” in Israel.Islamic Jihad, the second largest terrorist group in the Gaza Strip, also gloated over Liberman’s resignation, saying it was a quick outcome of Israel’s “defeat” in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave. Liberman, the group claimed, was unable to stand in the face of Gaza’s “steadfastness and patience.”Abu Hamzeh, a spokesman for Hamas’s military wing the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, boasted that the Palestinian terror groups were capable of making Israeli politicians and military officials “lose their future.” Liberman’s resignation, he said, should serve as a “lesson to those who wish to test the Palestinian resistance.”The Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of various terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, described Liberman’s resignation as a “qualitative victory for the Palestinian resistance.”A Fatah-affiliated group called al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – Ayman Judeh Groups, also hailed Liberman’s resignation as a “victory for the steadfastness of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
