Israel’s war against the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza has generated “a very strong wave of anti-Semitism” and voices that speak of genocide in the area, “a discourse that must be completely denied,” since that the conflict does not seek to “kill the Palestinian people” but rather to put an end to those responsible for the attack, affirms the Israeli ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon.
In an interview with EFE, Radian-Gordon stressed: “I think that Europe may not have learned the lesson of what anti-Semitism is and how to combat it, because we are seeing more and more anti-Semitic acts throughout Europe, including Spain.”
The Hamas terrorist attack , which marks one month today, left around 1,400 dead, 5,400 injured and 242 kidnapped, and has provoked an Israeli military response in the Strip that has already left more than 9,700 dead, almost half of them minors, and 24,800. injured, which has generated protests around the world.
“Many of those who protest do not know the characteristics of Hamas and are not very aware of this conflict,” highlights the ambassador, who points out that in many of these demonstrations the disappearance of the State of Israel is advocated.
“It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t support the Palestinians, but you shouldn’t support Hamas. We make a distinction between Hamas and the Palestinian people. You have to be very careful,” she adds.
Many of these protests send the message that Israel seeks to cause genocide against the Palestinian people. “Making allegations of genocide? People don’t know the definition of genocide. We are not here to kill the Palestinian people, or evict them, or anything. Just so that it is not at the center of the Hamas battle in northern Gaza,” he notes.
“We have reached the most difficult and bloody phase of the fight”
According to the ambassador, Israel is currently focused on destroying the entire infrastructure network created by Hamas in the city’s underground. “We have reached perhaps the most difficult and bloody phase of this fight.”
In this sense, she highlights that “they seek to have their infrastructure under civil institutions such as hospitals, mosques, schools,… Because they know that Israel is going to think two or three times about attacking these institutions.”
However, the Israeli Army has bombed these civilian targets in its war against the Islamist group. “Everything we attack are places where we have complete confirmation that there are military personnel, a headquarters or senior Hamas officials” and always after having urged the population to leave the areas that are military targets, she details.
To destroy Hamas and take control of the Strip, Israel has bombed the enclave during the last month, while entering with its troops to divide the Strip between north and south.
“I understand the horrible photos and images seen in the Gaza Strip. But it is part of Hamas’s way of combat, to use the civilian population as human shields. Furthermore, we have seen that they are not allowed to leave the Strip, with methods of terrorism against their own citizens,” he assures.
This month of war has left more than 11,000 dead between both sides and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, which has caused the heads of the different humanitarian agencies that make up the United Nations to ask for a ceasefire that would allow the entry of food, water , medicine or fuel.
According to the United Nations Humanitarian Aid Coordination Office (OCHA), the distribution of food aid has almost completely stopped due to the intensity of the bombing and the evacuation order issued by Israel.
“We want to know what happens to our hostages. We demand the release of everyone. Without addressing this issue, there will be no ceasefire,” defends the ambassador.
Accusations of Spanish ministers who “incite hatred”
The conflict in Gaza has provoked responses against Israel around the world and, in Latin America, countries such as Bolivia have announced the severing of their diplomatic relations.
“I am very sorry for this behavior. It is a total lack of understanding of what Israeli society is and what has happened in Israel. “I am sure that any government in any country after an attack as barbaric and as cruel as what we have experienced would have done the same,” she says.
Criticism of genocide against the Palestinian people that also came from a part of the Government of Spain, which provoked an immediate response from Israel for statements that it considered “immoral.”
In this sense, the ambassador assured that at this moment they maintain “very good contacts” with Spain, a country with which there is an exchange of information and whose position is one of understanding, although she assured that “the unfounded accusations by some voices that “They are still part of the Government, they not only bother but incite hatred.”
Regarding the possible solution to the conflict, she considers that at the moment they are focused on “destroying Hamas and doing everything possible to return the hostages.”
“What will happen next? It’s very difficult to guess. (…) The mentality and culture of hate in which a good part of the population of Gaza grows up will have to be completely changed. Something very easy to say and difficult to do, but essential,” she concludes.
By Nadeem Faisal Baiga
