Barbaric terrorists: Indian-American Congressman Thanedar calls to "eliminate" Hamas

WASHINGTON: Indian American Congressman Shri Thanedar has described the Hamas as "barbaric" terrorists who should be eliminated and its military capabilities dismantled.

"Hamas is not a militant organization. Hamas is not a resistance movement, they are just barbaric terrorists. This is a time when we just can't just push them because they will regroup and come back and do these atrocities once again. Yes, that's what they will do. So you know, we need at this stage to eliminate them. Eliminate the space of this, you know, we need to dismantle their military operations," Thanedar said.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, killing over 1,400 people and taking over 200 hostages.

The Indian American Congressman was speaking at an event in support of Israel at the US Capitol Hill on Monday. He pointed out the suffering of civilians in Gaza amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and called for their freedom from the terrorist group.

Thanedar said, "We need to free the Palestinian people, the two million Palestinian people that live in Gaza. They need to be freed from these terrorist controls of Gaza. So that addition is what I feel. Now there is a lot of talk about ceasefire, but I feel that it's premature, these Hamas terrorists have used the civilians."

HinduACTion and Namaste Shalom Multi-faith Alliance organised the Congressional briefing in support of Israel and against rising anti-Hindu bigotry and antisemitism in the US and Canada.

He said, further, "Misused the civilians as a shield for them and unfortunately that's causing tremendous loss which is so regrettable. Tremendous loss of lives of innocent people. But these innocent people they need to have their future, they need to have their life, they need to have their human rights and they need to be freed from the oppression of Hamas and basically exploitation Hamas is doing of these innocent civilians in Gaza."

Shri Thanedar also highlighted the loss of civilian lives on both sides, Israel and Gaza and condemned the attacks on Israel.

He stated, "Loss of civilian life, Whether it is Israeli civilian life or Palestinian civilian life should not happen, that's something that's never desirable and never got to come. And I was one of the first members of Congress to protest when Hamas, which is clearly a various organization that came in and attack Israel."

Additionally, US Congressman George Santos speaking at the event also embraced the message of unity in the world and condemned the Hamas attack on Israel.

He said, "That's my message, unity and standing strong with one another. I want to thank you all for taking the time to put this effort together to show the rest of the world that there could be peace through strength and through unity to very different communities, two very different ethnic groups to very different religions. Yet we both stand together here in this room representing what's right. This is not about preference. This is about what's right and wrong and what's happening to Israel is wrong. It's abhorrent..."

Meanwhile, Nissim Reuben, Program Director of Indian-Jewish Relations at the American Jewish Committee (AJC), said at a Congressional briefing in support of Israel that India is the only country with no history of antisemitism.

He also expressed solidarity with Israel in its fight against the terrorist group Hamas.

"India is the only country in the world with no history of antisemitism. Never ever were Jews persecuted in India until the Mumbai attacks of 2008, which were perpetrated by terrorists that came from across the border. That's why even today in Israel, Indian Jews say that Israel is our fatherland. India is our motherland. Israel is in our hearts. India is in our blood," he said.

He further expressed gratitude that the Indian American diaspora, the global Indian diaspora, the people of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Indian government have solidly supported Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas.

"It was a brutal terror attack... Israel has gone through a tremendous tragedy, but it will overcome and rebound. And we as Indian Americans and Indians will never forget that Israel came to India's help, assistance with defence, much-needed defence equipment in the wars of 1965 and 1971, and of course, Kargil 1999, when Israel rushed much-needed defence supplies," he added.