Close to 8000 have been killed in Gaza, in Israel’s retaliation, many of them children. Despite mounting global pressure, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire. Israel’s envoy to India Naor Gilon tells News24 Consulting Editor Sreenivasan Jain “No one asked America to justify 9/11”.
Israel also claims to have created a safe zone in the south of Gaza for civilians to take refuge. But there is mounting evidence that Israel’s bombings are targeting south Gaza as well. To this Ambassador Gilon on being pursued says Hamas is hiding behind the civilians.
Whether it is the United Nations, or one of Israel’s leading dailies, the increasing “annexation and dispossession” of Palestinian land and its people has been cited as the context for the horrific Hamas attack. But Israel’s Ambassador to India tells Sreenivasan Jain that anyone who is trying to contextualise “murder, beheading, rape, is a.. supporter of terror.”
Here’s what the Israeli ambassador to India Naor Gilon said to Sreenivasan Jain in an interview at News24:
The question in the eyes of the world is turning to what is going on in Gaza where the latest reports suggest close to 8000 killed in the Israeli offensive. Many of them were children. How is this justifiable?
I don’t think anyone asked Americans to justify anything after 9/11. I don’t think anyone asked India to justify any reaction they take after Mumbai. For us, it was worse than 9/11. 1400 people in Israel are more than 2 lakh Indians. The brutality of how it was done revealed that on Friday evening we went to bed thinking we had Hamas as a neighbour. A terrorist organisation but we can work with them. Saturday morning we woke up with ISIS on our border. Because the behaviour is that of ISIS. It is a watershed event. Not just another skirmish between us and the Palestinians. The reaction has to be only one. With these guys, like ISIS, you have to eliminate them. If you don’t eliminate Hamas/ISIS it will not work any other way.
I understand the target is only Hamas. But when you look at the fact that the 8000 who have been killed in Gaza are mostly civilians, including children, how is that targeting Hamas? That’s targeting civilians.
Don’t take any data from there, unless you’ve been there, for granted. You saw with the hospital it was a misfiring. They recounted 471 bodies. The difference is Israel does its utmost not to hurt citizens or civilians. We try to adhere to all international laws. We give them warnings, we asked them to go south. What is Hamas doing? Threatens, and shoots them if they go south.
Even when it comes to going south, a safe zone, Israel is continuing to strike in the South. The New York Times plotted a series of locations including the South of the Gaza Strip where Israel is continuing to strike.
Israel is making all efforts to avoid hitting any population. Throughout history, Hamas always had the same tactic. Attack Israel and then play the victim. So they are playing the victim. They are hiding behind, or we should say under the population. In tunnels under hospitals, behind civilians. Not allowing civilians to evacuate. We are going physically into the north. We don’t want civilians on the way when we are going to fight Hamas. They are hiding behind civilians. Their aim is to have as many civilians on their side. Because that would be an international crime. They don’t want to face Israel in a real fight. They want to shoot and cry.
You say Israel is behaving in a responsible manner. But the world doesn’t seem fully convinced. The UN Secretary-General recently said, “We are witnessing clear violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza.”
We have a lot of criticism of the UN. Hamas stole gasoline and diesel from their organisation but nothing. They tweeted and then took it down. Out of fear.
The UN relief organisation?
Yes the UNRWA. We have a lot of criticism of the secretary general. About the fact that on 7th Oct there was brutal murder of men, women, elders, children… cutting limbs, beheading, raping…people did not come out with condemnation. That is very clear-cut. He said there is a context. By the way, the UN’s resolutions are automatically against Israel by the majority there.
If you look at the hostages, only a handful have been released. The latest figure Israel put out is 230 in all. Aren’t you fearful that as you intensify the assault, and go into a ground offensive, the lives of hostages are at risk?
Of course, we are afraid, everyone is nervous about it. Yesterday IDF was able to retract by force one of the hostages. A female soldier. But we have to do it. Hostages aged 9 months to 85 years old were taken ruthlessly. Ground operation is the only way to release them or put pressure to release them. Hamas is going to play psychological warfare.
Hamas has proposed a prisoner swap.
No, they are speaking of different ideas. What Hamas is trying to do is avert Israeli ground offence. They are playing psychological games. These games won’t work with us. We are going to finish them. We will finish Hamas, and release the hostages.
What if there is an overlap in conflict? In the process of finishing Hamas, hostages could be at risk.
Hostages are at risk even without us. If Hamas is not shy of using its own population as human shields, of course, they are at risk. They are in the hands of ISIS.
Israel’s Economy Minister Nir Barkat has said – “Hostages and civilian casualties will be secondary to destroying Hamas, even if it takes a year”.
I am telling you what the instructions from the cabinet are – 2 elements, get rid of Hamas, destroy its capabilities and the regime, and release the hostages. While taking on the operation to destroy Hamas, we are also releasing hostages. That’s the reality of life.
There is the business of cutting off food, water, electricity, and other supplies. 8 trucks are still piled up at the Egypt border. How is that justified?
First of all, we have spoken to President Biden, and have agreed to increase the amount of trucks. I will ask you the question, you have been to the region. How does the supply of rockets not end, but the rest of the supplies end? This means all through the year they are smuggling in quantities of ammunition. Secondly, Hamas handles the supplies and takes them from the UN. By international law, we are allowed to not give electricity if rockets are being fired from ‘human areas’, to hit civilians.
But food, water? Those are for civilian populations. The number of trucks that have been allowed in is minuscule. Barely enough for 2 million.
We are monitoring the humanitarian situation. We are making sure there is no crisis. Water supply from Israel before was 10%. One of the three channels was bombed by their rockets. We are fixing it. Electricity – out of 10 lines from Israel, 9 were hit by rockets.
Your minister of defence, Yoav Gallant said, “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. We are fighting human animals.”
When was that?
Some weeks ago.
By the way, I agree. I don’t want to say animals because I think animals deserve more respect. In the beginning, we were in a different direction. Now we are calibrating our policy. Our policy is to make sure that the humanitarian crisis is averted.
The UN chief said it “did not happen in a vacuum”, you are asking for resignation.
Everyone who is trying to put context on murder, beheading, rape is an accomplice and supporter and terror. There is no justification for any attack on civilians. Don’t put it in context. There is a political issue. Not with Hamas. Hamas from 2005 is ruling Gaza independently. We don’t have a fight with Palestinians. This is what you don’t get. People think – not you personally – this is another scrimmage. It’s not. It’s ISIS. We will eliminate them. It’s not in the context of the Palestinians. It will help the Palestinians. It will help the moderate regimes in the Middle East.
Open to a two-state solution?
We don’t want to create another failed state on the border between Israel and Jordan. We can discuss solutions this is not the time. The time is to eliminate jihadists. We cannot tie what Hamas is doing to any political thing. It is not the Palestinians that committed. It is Hamas, it is ISIS.
