Israel's Ambassador to the United States says critics of his nation's recent efforts to neutralize Hamas should "know the facts" about the nature of civilian deaths in Gaza before they "rush to judgment."
I spoke with Ambassador Ron Dermer Tuesday morning on WMAL radio in Washington, D.C., and played him comments made by State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki on CNN Monday.
Psaki said, "When you have a situation where innocent civilians are killed in Gaza, there's more that Israel can do to hold themselves to their own standards."
Dermer first went to great lengths to express gratitude for the support Israel has received from the Obama administration:
First of all, we deeply appreciate the fact that the president, from the beginning, has made it clear that Israel has a right to defend itself. And he has backed that right not just with words, but with actions. One of those actions happened actually, yesterday when he signed the bill that actually increased funding for "Iron Dome," our missile defense system.
The second thing is we appreciate the efforts of both the President and the Secretary to achieve a sustainable cease fire. That was what we wanted in to begin with. That was the goal of the operation, to restore quiet and security for an extended period of time for Israel.
Dermer then went on to describe what he called a "disagreement" over the understanding of civilian deaths in Gaza. "Here there’s a disagreement. And there's a disagreement because people don't know all the facts," Dermer said. "I would ask anyone who would comment on the situation to not rush to judgment until all the facts are in."
Dermer then described an attack from last week that the world media, through prodding from Hamas, had blamed on Israel. "Turns out those attacks were not from Israel but from Islamic jihad rockets."
"Before you say things like that, know what the facts are," he concluded.