Tel Aviv [Israel], September 11 (ANI/TPS): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel's recent strike in Qatar targeting Hamas leaders, invoking the memory of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. He framed Hamas' October 7, 2023, assault on Israel as a parallel moment of mass terror.

'We remember September 11. On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery on American soil since the founding of the United States,' Netanyahu said. 'We also have a September 11. We remember October 7. On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.'

Netanyahu emphasised that Israel's operation mirrored the US campaign against Al-Qaeda and the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

'What did America do in the wake of September 11? It promised to hunt down the terrorists who committed this heinous crime, wherever they may be. And it also passed a resolution in the Security Council of the U.N. two weeks later that said governments cannot give harbor to terrorists,' he said.

'Yesterday, we acted along those lines. We went after the terrorist masterminds who committed the October 7 massacre. And we did so in Qatar, which gives safe haven to, harbors, finances Hamas, and grants its terrorist chieftains sumptuous villas. It gives them everything.'

The premier addressed international criticism, calling it hypocritical. 'Now, the various countries of the world condemn Israel. They should be ashamed of themselves,' he said. 'What did they do after America took out Osama bin Laden? Did they say, 'Oh, what a terrible thing was done to Afghanistan or to Pakistan'? No, they applauded. They should applaud Israel for standing up to the same principles and carrying them out.'

Netanyahu issued a stark warning to Qatar and any nation sheltering terrorists: 'You either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don't, we will.' His comments came a day after an Israeli strike on Hamas' leadership in Doha, which killed a Qatari security agent and five others but failed to eliminate the targeted Hamas figures.

The move drew sharp condemnation from Qatar and some Western allies, with US President Donald Trump saying he was 'very unhappy about every aspect' of the military operation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar echoed Netanyahu's framing of the strike on Twitter, writing: 'Remember 9/11. Remember the victims. We stand together in our shared fight for freedom and against terror.'

Approximately 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas' attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 48 remaining hostages, about 20 are believed to be alive. (ANI/TPS)