As the Israeli army prepares its operation in the Gaza Strip, the former Israeli ambassador to France defends this decision.
“I see no other choice,” defends Elie Barnavi, historian and former Israeli ambassador to France, on Franceinfo on Sunday. Israel is preparing a large-scale ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip after ordering Palestinians living there to flee south. They were granted additional time on Saturday.
This is “not the ideal way,” but it makes it possible to “ensure the army’s freedom of action,” he explains. “We are doing the minimum to ensure a certain level of safety for these people. The easiest thing is to carpet bomb Gaza without asking questions,” continues Elie Barnavi.
According to Elie Barnavi, an inevitable military operation
This Israeli military operation is inevitable after the Hamas attack on October 7, said this former Israeli diplomat. “I don’t see how we could do that after what happened in the border areas, after this truly unprecedented massacre.”
“No one in this country would have understood it and the army would have stood idly by.”
Elie Barnavi, former Israeli ambassador to France
at franceinfo
The Jewish state has declared war on the Palestinian Islamist group. According to the Israeli army spokesman, the conflict claimed at least 1,300 lives, most of them civilians. In Palestine, the latest report from local authorities recorded 2,329 deaths, most of them civilians, including at least 724 children. “We have never experienced a war without civilian casualties. There is necessarily what we call, in terrible terms, ‘collateral damage’,” responds Elie Barnavi.
International community condemns Gaza evacuation order
The United States said Saturday it would send a second aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean “to deter hostile actions against Israel or any attempts to expand this war following the Hamas attack.” But the day before, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on “the Israelis to take all possible precautions not to harm civilians.” In a statement, the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly condemns the repeated Israeli orders to evacuate 22 hospitals treating more than 2,000 patients in the north of the Gaza Strip, stressing that due to the overload of structures in the south, this is “the equivalent of …” is a death sentence”.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has called a summit of heads of state and government of the 27 countries of the European Union for Tuesday. “The tragic scenes unfolding in the Gaza Strip due to the siege and lack of access to basic needs, coupled with the destruction caused by heavy bombardment, are a wake-up call,” he said in a press release, reiterating his “solidarity” and “Israel’s right.” to defend themselves in full respect of international law.
NGOs do “humanitarian work”, not “politics”
Elie Barnavi hears that the international community is concerned about the humanitarian risk. “This is nothing new. Every time we have conducted a military operation, there have been organizations that have been displaced, people that have been displaced, governments that have been displaced. You are in the role.” But he adds: “I would like to ask you: What is the alternative?” According to the former Israeli ambassador to France, these states and associations are “not at all a political dimension, but a humanitarian dimension”. However, he believes that “humanity has its limits.”
Elie Barnavi describes himself as “an excited dove”, symbol of peace, and affirms: “We must liberate Gaza, and we.” [Israël] at the same time from the power of Hamas”.