Final notice time for Hamas

I am calling on all Americans to speak up and show your support for our strongest partner in the Middle East, Israel.

By BRYAN E. LEIB
Palestinian Hamas supporters take part in a rally marking the 30th anniversary of Hamas' founding, in the West Bank city of Nablus December 15, (photo credit: ABED OMAR QUSINI/REUTERS)
Palestinian Hamas supporters take part in a rally marking the 30th anniversary of Hamas' founding, in the West Bank city of Nablus December 15,
(photo credit: ABED OMAR QUSINI/REUTERS)
As of 6:30 p.m. EST on Saturday evening, the latest reports were that Hamas had sent over 200 rockets and mortars into Israel since Friday afternoon.
While most of the rockets and mortars were intercepted by Iron Dome or never made it into Israeli airspace, sadly some of projectiles landed inside Israeli towns. Hamas started to launch these rockets before Shabbat and continued launching them into southern Israel.
Having just returned from a trip to Israel and more specifically having stood in Sderot where rockets struck a synagogue, I want to say that in my opinion, this is final notice time for Hamas. Its time is up. Zero tolerance.
I visited the Sderot Indoor Recreation Center that the Jewish National Fund built because children in the region could no longer play safely outside due to the constant fear of rocket attacks. In Sderot, residents have 15 seconds from the time they here the siren until potential impact. Fifteen seconds to run to a nearby bomb shelter.
Thankfully, the children are laughing and playing again, thanks to the JNF. However, it shouldn’t have gotten to this point that we had to built a 1,950-square-meter rocket- proof facility just so kids could be kids.
Hamas leadership has proven time and time again that it will never be a partner for peace. It has sworn to annihilate Israel and all Jewish people. It sends kite bombs into Israel to destroy Israel’s agriculture. It spent millions of dollars to organize tens of thousands at the border for “peaceful protests” to fly Nazi swastika kites and try to infiltrate Israel’s border.
Enough is enough! It’s time for the people of Gaza to rise up and demand new leadership.
Leadership that makes them a priority instead of calling for the mass murder of Jewish people. It’s time for new leadership that invests foreign aid money in Gaza infrastructure projects, creating jobs and providing running water instead of investing in Iranian rockets and underground terror tunnels.
When the people of Gaza denounce Hamas, I know in my heart that Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be a partner for the people of Gaza. But until then, how can anyone expect Netanyahu to sit at a negotiation table with Hamas, which has made it its mission in life to destroy Israel, deny that the Holocaust happened and to brainwash its youth to kill Jewish people? In Northern Israel, in the city of Acre, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Baha’is live side by side in peace. If they have peace in Acre, why can’t we have peace in Gaza? I think the answer is obvious. It’s because of Hamas. Once Hamas is gone, then Israelis and Gazans will have a real chance to work towards a lasting peace deal. Until then, it will be more of the same. It’s final notice time for Hamas. Its time is up! I am calling on all Americans to speak up and show your support for our strongest partner in the Middle East, Israel. I say now and forever “Am Yisrael Hai” (The People of Israel Live).
The writer is the Republican nominee for PA-03 (Philadelphia County). Twitter @ LeibforPA