“Hamas is first and foremost a group of murderers,” Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said on Saturday, speaking in response to international figures’ recent characterization of the terrorist group as a political party.

Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, and Ian Williams, president of the Foreign Press Association New York, “both excused Hamas” by considering it a legitimate political party, Leiter said in a recorded message posted on X.

Leiter continued his remarks on Saturday, saying, “Calling yourself a political party does not provide you refuge from being a murderer. Hamas is a political party, yes, but in its charter—its political charter—it clearly calls for the annihilation of Israel and the murder of Jews.

“The fact that

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