Israel and African countries bedeviled by terrorism need to take matters into their hands to fight radical Islamic terrorism and not wait for assistance from the international community, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Wednesday in Kenya.
Liberman’s words in Nairobi, at the tail end of a 10-day visit to Africa, came in a country where more than 60 people have been killed by terrorists since Sunday.
Liberman told Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta that Israel and Kenya were dealing with the same “evil axis” spreading from the Middle East to east and western Africa.
Liberman said that organizations like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Hamas, Boko Haram in Nigeria and Al-Shabaab in Kenya are all part of a global jihad network.
Liberman said that endless discussions on the situation take place in international organizations around the world and generally end with only “theoretical condemnations,” while the organizations making up the global jihad network act almost without any hindrance.
The countries in these areas, Liberman said, need to “take their destiny in their own hands and not rely on help from outside, because with all due respect to the international community, the reality as it is possible to see in Syria, Libya and Iraq has proven that the international system has not developed the proper tools to give a swift and effective national answer to global terrorism.”
Liberman suggested setting up a framework and mechanism whereby Israel and the terrorist-plagued countries in Africa exchange information that could provide a swift and effective answer to these threats.
Liberman, during his meeting with Kenyatta, strongly condemned this week’s attacks in Kenya, and the Kenyan president expressed his hope that the three kidnapped Israeli teens will soon be returned.
Liberman, meanwhile, continued from Africa to call his counterparts in countries that have condemned the kidnappings of the Israeli teenagers to thank them for their support and stress that the abductions show the true nature of Hamas.
Among the countries condemning the kidnappings was Italy, which did so already on Saturday.