Netanyahu's Twitter account deletes controversial James Foley tweet

A tweet by the Israeli prime ministers’ office, using an image from the execution of American journalist James Foley, has been deleted. It had compared Hamas to the Islamic State (IS).

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to build a media campaign around a comparison of the two groups, even though IS have accused Hamas of being “unbelievers”.

The prime minister’s Twitter account then put out a similar comment but with a different photo, showing just a black flag associated with IS.

"We wanted to show the similarities between IS and Hamas. But then we understood the sensitivity of the picture and put out a different one," an Israeli official who declined to be named told dpa.