Nicaraguan President: Netanyahu Is ‘Possessed By The Devil’

CBS DC

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is possessed by the devil.

The Nicaraguan leader made the comments to Globovision while he was slamming Netanyahu’s role for the current war in Gaza.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to be possessed by the devil,” Oretga told Globovision. “He needs Pope Francis to exorcise it, to become appeased.”

Ortega also claimed that Israel was “committing genocide” in Gaza, and compared it “to the crimes of the Nazis.”

“Why doesn’t anyone condemn or sanction the state of Israel?” Ortega questioned to Globovision, adding that Netanyahu wants to “annihilate the Palestinian people.”

Meanwhile, relations between the U.S. and Israel have grown tenser as the conflict drags on.

The Obama administration lashed out at Israel for a deadly attack near a U.N. school in Gaza Sunday that they called “horrifying” and “disgraceful.”

“That suspicion – that Hamas fighters are operating in the vicinity of innocent civilians – does not justify taking strikes that put the lives of those innocent civilians at risk,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stated.

Ron Dermer, Israeli ambassador to the U.S., told CBS News that the White House did not have all the facts on that incident.

“They do not know the facts, it was a rush to judgment,” Dermer told CBS News.

Dermer added that Israel listens very carefully to what President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have to say.

“We’re in alignment 99 percent of the time, and when we don’t agree on something that one percent of the time, we work it out as allies work it out,” Dermer told CBS News.

A three-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas went into effect Tuesday morning. During this time, Israel and Hamas are expected to hold indirect talks in Cairo, Egypt.