Mr Gilon claimed that Iran has been training, arming and financing Hamas for years.
Israel has confidence in India and its swift condemnation of Hamas terror attacks has given the country a place on the table when it comes to resolving the current crisis, Israel’s ambassador to India said.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV on Tuesday, Ambassador Naor Gilon also blamed Iran for the war between Israel and Hamas, which started on October 7 and has claimed at least 4,000 lives.
To a question on whether India can play a role in resolving the decades-long issue between Israel and Palestine, Mr Gilon said: “I don’t think we are going to resolve the decades-long issue. We have to solve the crisis that we have to solve. I have done that now. I believe that India has gained a lot of credibility over the years with its relations with Israel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is highly respected in Israel.”
The ambassador said he had seen some recent surveys showing that Israelis had the most positive views of India among the countries surveyed.
“We have seen the incredible emotional support for Israel. I think people, like Prime Minister Modi and India, who were quick to condemn the terrorist attack as a terror attack, which not everyone did at the beginning, have bought themselves the right to the table. In the sense that they understood the situation,” Mr Gilon said.
“The Americans are there, India is also very close to the US these days. I don’t know what the big picture solution is, but India certainly has Israel’s trust and we have no problem seeing them involved in our problems. We trust India,” he added.
The ambassador said that around 1,000 Indians have been evacuated from Israel and that 20,000 Indians are still there, claiming that most of them did not want to leave Israel.
Humanitarian aspects
When pointed out that US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday and asked whether a diplomatic solution to the crisis was possible, Mr Gilon said he did not think so.
“I think the humanitarian aspect of the war, such as releasing Israeli hostages who have been kidnapped, could be a solution. But when it comes to Hamas, ISIS and terrorist organizations, there is no solution for them. The only solution to ensure that they cannot carry out horrific, barbaric attacks like last Saturday’s is to go after them and kill them. We don’t see any other solution,” he said.
On allowing aid into Gaza, Mr Gilon said negotiations are ongoing as part of the wider humanitarian aspect of the conflict. He claimed that people talk about the humanitarian issues in Gaza, but not about the 200 families from Israel whose relatives are being held hostage by Hamas.
The WHO has warned of a real catastrophe if there are only 24 hours of water, electricity and fuel left. When asked about this, Mr Gilon said people are missing the context and forgetting what happened in Israel, where 1,400 people were killed in the October 7 attack. He said water supplies have been restored and claimed that Israel cares more about Gazans than Hamas and warned them to evacuate from the north, while Hamas held them back and used them as human shields.
‘Can fight on multiple fronts’
Asked about the possibility of the war spreading and seeing the involvement of more countries, Mr. Gilon turned his guns on Iran.
“I think the Arab nations, the moderate nations, know that jihadist-Islamist extremism is as much (or more) a risk to them as it is a risk to us. It is not about the Arab states, but about a non-Arab state that we call Iran. It is closely linked to everything that has happened… We know that Iran has been training, arming and financing Hamas for years. Just three days ago, the Iranian Foreign Minister went to Beirut and met with Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. representatives,” he said.
“Hezbollah, Iran’s de facto ruler and wing in Lebanon, has threatened to open a new border on its northern border and has begun shooting and killing some Israelis on our side. We prefer not to have another front, but we say very clearly that if Hezbollah and Iran decide to open a new front, Israel can fight on multiple fronts,” he claimed.
Mr. Gilon said that Hezbollah is not the master of its own will and that Iran has its back, claiming that the country is even closer to Iran than Hamas. “They are Shiites and Hamas are Sunnis. (Hassan) Nasrallah, their leader, has said more than once that he is a soldier in Iran’s army,” he said.
Derailment of important initiatives
He said he hoped the attacks would not turn back the clock on the normalization of Arab-Israeli ties, claiming this was something Iran and the perpetrators of the attack on Israel would want.
“The Middle East was changed by the Abraham Accords. Now Saudi Arabia was closing in. The I2U2 economic initiative, of which India is a part, was also part of it. Now we were talking about creating a route from India to the Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia I think they wanted to derail all that, that was their goal. But logically, these extremists like Hamas and ISIS are the enemies of Saudi Arabia,” the ambassador said.
