Palestinian negotiator Erekat compares Netanyahu to ISIL leader

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has compared hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the leader of the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group, Ibrahim al-Samarrai, also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Erekat said in a TV interview that the Israeli premier’s policies had “led to the immolation of the boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, same as they burn people in Daesh (ISIL),” Israeli media reported on Saturday.

The Palestinian official was referring to the death of 16-year-old Khdeir who was kidnapped by several Israeli settlers from a neighborhood of East al-Quds (Jerusalem) last year. They burned the Palestinian teenager to death.

“Extremism is blind, and it does not belong to any religion,” Erekat stated.

He also defended the Palestinian Authority’s recent move to join the International Criminal Court, a move which enables Palestinians to sue Israeli officials for war crimes.

There are “pressures” on the Palestinians against filing suits against the Israeli regime, Erekat said, adding that the Palestinians have made it clear that pressure should be exerted on those who commit crimes.

The official said the Palestinian Authority has already opened proceedings at the Hague-based court, which will focus in the first stage on the illegal Israeli settlements and on incidents that occurred during the latest Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip last summer.

Israel started its latest war on the Gaza Strip in early July last year. The offensive ended on August 26, 2014, with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in Israel’s 50-day onslaught. Over 11,100 others, including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people, were also injured.