Israel is right to respond to Hamas attacks on its cities the way it has, said former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, adding that the United States could be doing more to support that response.
“We should first of all say that the idea that your neighbor can fire missiles at you is totally, utterly unacceptable,” he said. “I don’t understand why we don’t cut off all of our aid to Hamas and to the refugee camps and so forth. Just say, ‘Look, we’re not helping you until you decide you’re going to live in peace with your neighbors.’"
Story continues below video:
He said that U.N. refugee camps have become a "breeding ground" for terrorists. "And we are really negligent and not being honest about this fight,” he said.
Gingrich said the lack of support from the White House is disconcerting, especially in light of the United Nations' blanket denunciation of Israeli defense of its people and land.
“My impression is that so far there’s been no response to it,” he said. “I don’t know of anything they said. The secretary general of the United Nations put out a totally one-sided statement that Israel should show restraint; nothing about all of the missiles being fired into Tel Aviv and into Jerusalem.”
Although he is unsure whether Iran, or other countries will get involved in the quickly escalating conflict, Gingrich referred to the Israeli-Palestinian situation as an ongoing war. He added that peace talks are impossible with the way that Hamas, and the PLO before them, says one thing and then continues to attack Israel with bombs and suicide bombers.
“This actually makes a point I’ve been trying make for several years now,” Gingrich said. “There is no peace process. This is a war. This is an ongoing war. It has occasional temporary truces. Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. You don’t get a peace process with somebody actively trying to destroy you."
He added that the Israelis should do whatever it takes to restore security for its people.
"They had over a million people in bomb shelters two days ago. So the Israelis should do whatever they need to do to clean out Gaza and to break up Hamas," he said. "And we ought to understand this is a war. This is not something where some clever diplomatic maneuver’s going to work.”
See more from our exclusive interview with Newt Gingrich:
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.