Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal “exposed … Hamas’ true colors” in his Dec. 8 speech in Gaza.

Mashaal spoke at Hamas’ 25th anniversary celebrations in Gaza City and declared that the Islamist movement would never recognize Israel and would “fight to free Palestine from the Zionist occupier.”

Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Dec. 10 that Mashaal’s speech shows that Hamas “has no intention of ever reaching a compromise with us. They want to destroy Israel.” The Israeli prime minister sharply criticized Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for not condemning Mashaal’s speech.

Israeli President Shimon Peres also commented on the Hamas chief’s visit to Gaza, but unlike Netanyahu, who criticized Abbas’ lack of censure, he chose to stress that the Palestinian Authority was still Israel’s peace partner.

“We have to choose between Gaza and the West Bank, between Abbas and Mashaal. It’s a choice and it has to be made,” he said. — ynetnews.com