Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend lambasted several media outlets, including CNN and the New York Times, for reporting that Hamas' new charter signals the group now accepts the existence of Israel and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Ever wonder what fake news is?" Netanyahu asked in a new video condemning recent news stories on Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip.
Last week, Hamas released a new amendment to its charter, which some media outlets said indicated a "moderation" in the group's position toward the Jewish state. The group's founding 1988 charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews worldwide. Since the updated version was released last Monday, experts have argued any altered language on Israel's existence is a facade and that the group still holds the same fundamental views.
Netanyahu expressed the same sentiments in his new video, which targeted the media's coverage of the new Hamas policy document.
"Last week, headlines in CNN, Al Jazeera and the Guardian said that Hamas now accepts a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines," Netanyahu said. "The New York Times headline called this 'moderation.'"
"The intimation is that Hamas now accepts the state of Israel," Netanyahu continued.
The Israeli leader then called such accounts a "complete distortion of the truth." Netanyahu referenced the new Hamas document, arguing that it still says "Israel has no right to exist" and "every inch" of the country "belongs to the Palestinians."
Netanyahu said Hamas wants a smaller state now to destroy Israel later.
"Is moving from calling for genocide of all Jews to calling just for the annihilation of Israel, is that progress or moderation?" Netanyahu asked. "Only if you have no standards whatsoever."
Netanyahu finished the video by picking up a copy of the Hamas document.
"So, where does this hate-filled document belong?" Netanyahu asked as he crumpled it up and picked up a waste basket.
"Right there," he said as he tossed the paper into the trash.