As he denied genocidal actions in Gaza and pointed to the horrific onslaught against Israel’s civilians especially women and children on October 7th last, an Israeli envoy yesterday appealed to Guyanese to fact-find on the issue while declaring that Jerusalem remains ready to end the war.
And with an interim ruling expected today following South Africa’s action against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for what Pretoria sees as genocide against the Palestinian people, the envoy said that the way forward in ending the war and bringing peace in the region requires both parties’ sincere participation.
“The narrative that has been mostly spoken in media here…is simply not true, and it’s important for me to share this perspective,” Non-resident Ambassador for the Embassy of Israel to Guyana, Barbados, Suriname Trinidad and Tobago and Caricom, Itai Bardov told Stabroek News yesterday in an exclusive interview.
Pressed on a number of issues including the daily deaths and casualties in Gaza, the bombings of hospitals, killing of children and women and other civilians and this being viewed by many as genocide, Bardov said that posture is “Just absolutely untrue!”
“The only side perpetrating a genocide was Hamas who really had no regard for any civilian, none whatsoever. Show me where Hamas gives warning like Israel does before actions, show me the humanitarian aid that Hamas gives. Show me the humanitarian effort to the 136 Israeli hostages that are being kept in tunnels…,” he added, while pointing to actions Israel has taken to ensure that it stays within international conventions on fighting war.
Asked how the massive loss of life in Gaza since the start of Israel’s retaliation – approximately 214 persons each day – can be justified, Bardov queried the numbers.
He said Israel sees the overall number of deaths as a tragedy and does not at all want any loss of life. The envoy said that from discussions he believes that Guyanese are misinformed in a number of ways including data that is coming from Gaza where its citizens are in charge of disseminating statistics. He said that a proper count of deaths on civilians is difficult as many Hamas terrorists have died.
“It is sad and it’s a tragedy; loss of life on both sides… I feel very sorry for any innocent life on the Gaza side and it’s just sad for Israeli victims that have lost their lives. When you mention the numbers it’s important to know all the numbers coming out from Gaza are all based on Hamas and it’s a Gaza Health Ministry that runs the hospitals,” he said.
Asked what Israel’s numbers are, he replied, “We don’t know. It’s very difficult to differentiate because Hamas operates with civilian clothes. They recruit many times teenagers …13, 15, 16 years old. And when they are killed in combat, they’re deemed as children who were killed in Gaza…but I’m not I’m not claiming that there’s no [civilian death]…war is a horrible, horrible thing and it’s tragic,” he added.
Pointing to October 7th, he said that his country “suffered the worst terrorist attack in our history and it was a day of holocaust”. For the terrorist attacks, the Israeli Ambassador reasoned, there was retaliatory action.
On October 7th 2023, violence erupted in southern Israel when terrorists from Hamas broke through the militarized border with Gaza at a time when Israel was celebrating the last day of its Jewish holiday- Sukkot.
Then over 1,100 persons, including women and children – many from a music festival – were killed in heinous ways and hundreds of hostages taken including children and the elderly.
The Israeli Ambassador admitted that the infiltration by Hamas was a “huge failure from our side, on the intelligence side.”
Israel doesn’t believe that Hamas’ actions were triggered because of decades of repression of the Palestinian people but recognising that Jerusalem was on the verge of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.
“To draw attention to the decades-old conflict? They don’t need that to draw attention they’ve got a full attention from United Nations and they don’t need that to draw attention. Murder 1200 people and raped girls and beheaded babies to draw attention?” he questioned dismissively.
“…They saw that Israel was warming up (ties) with Saudi Arabia after the Abraham Accords and peace is the largest and biggest enemy to Hamas and Iran and their proxies,” he argued.
Documents
He said that from documents seized by Israel, Hamas hoped that their attack would bring an Israeli retaliation that would mobilise the entire Arab world militarily against Israel.
Instead, Israel says that Hamas’ plan backfired because they would not match terrorist attacks and instead dealt with it according to international guidelines. On another front, he believes that Hamas is also disappointed in the reaction from the Arab world as Israel believes they wanted mass uprisings.
“It was not as they expected. No! Jordan is not going to, you know, sacrifice its soldiers for Hamas especially after what Hamas did,” he posited.
Told that his country’s retaliation has seen numbers of deaths on the Gaza side far exceeding the numbers of Israelis killed, he said that it cannot be looked at in just in the way of casualties.
“It terrible, but what you’re trying to suggest is, when we go to look at the Second World War where much more German civilians were killed than the Brits, you would say the Germans were on the right side because they had much more casualties. So when you speak about International law they do not address numbers what they address is intent and what the sides are doing in order to minimize casualties.
“Israel has given warnings five to six days prior. Warning Hamas as well because you don’t want civilians providing humanitarian corridors. There are hundreds of thousands of pamphlets thrown from the air …” he said.
He added that his country also assists in humanitarian aid whereas nothing is done for its captives from the Palestinian end.
Holding a chain that reads, ‘Our hearts are captive in Gaza, Bring them home now’, Bardov said that the sentiment is felt by his nation’s entire population for the hostages still being tortured in Gaza.
And given that the ICJ will issue an interim ruling today following South Africa’s action brought against Israel, the Ambassador was asked if his country would accept the edict.
He made clear that he has not yet been told by his government what their actions would be but said that it depends on what the findings are.
“Now that is a complicated question because it depends what the findings are,” he said while noting that the ICJ ruling should be one that is merit-based and legally sound.
Pressed further on complying, he responded, “As long as we feel that the resolution was fair and that they really listened with each side. I cannot say right now how the Israeli government is going to react because I haven’t been given any [information from the government],” he stated.
Nonetheless, he said that he was disappointed in South Africa’s actions, something which he believes is birthed out of the closeness of that country to Iran.
Told that his country was at one time close to South Africa under their institutionalized racial segregation system of apartheid, he said that Jerusalem never supported racism or the politics of South Africa but looked out for its own interest.
“Israel was working with interest… it wasn’t an ideological thing,” he stated.
Bardov was asked about his take on the two-state solution which the US and the European Union are pressing for in the aftermath of October 7th and if there is there going to be impetus towards this when the conflict ends as it would only be a matter of time before another Hamas arises.
He said that what needs to be clear to all is his country has no intention to rule over the Palestinian people.
“Israel is not going to risk another October 7th I can tell you that for sure. We are not going to risk the homes of young girls being raided and them being kidnapped, babies burnt in front of their parents. We do not want to govern the Palestinians. There were offers on the table in the past. You have to ask yourself do the Palestinians want a two-state solution?” he asked.
He said that all the polls conducted before the October 7 attacks show that the Palestinian people are against a two-state solution. “You are coming to Israel and asking us but peace needs two to tango”.
On the war, he said, “There are two objectives, this can end tomorrow. It can end today I promise, if Hamas surrenders and releases the hostages the war is over. I promise you Israel will stop”.
