What happened on October 7 has inflicted a collective national trauma on Israel, “it was a fulfilment of our worst nightmare, and we are at war forced upon us and not chosen by us,” Israeli Ambassador Oren Anolik told MPs.
During Tuesday’s meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Middle East crisis, Anolik said Hamas needs to be eradicated.
He shared a brief video and pictures with the Chair of the Committee, saying that these are rough scenes of corpses and Hamas terrorists chanting, “I killed Jews”.
Anolik said: “This is a war, and we are fighting Hamas; it is the mechanism that controls Gaza; we are not fighting civilians.
“We have to remove Hamas, who is the de facto ruler, and if we do not remove it, there is no future.
“This war has a goal: eliminate Hamas”, the Ambassador said.
He said there is no war without fatalities among the civilians, but Israel is trying to minimise the loss and the damage.
“This is what we are doing, and we are telling them to leave to the south.
“We do not say that is safe; once we say one spot is safe, it is the target for the terrorists, and we do not designate it is as safe, but we say it is safer”.
He argued that Israeli bombing raids follow the law of the rule of proportionality.
Anolik claimed Hamas is not promoting Palestinians’ rights but the war on Israel, adding that they want one Islamic Palestinian state and no negotiations with Israel.
The Ambassador said that Hamas are not interested in dialogue but wants to eradicate Israel.
“We are fighting a just war; it has to be the last war, if not many more will die in Israel and Gaza”.
Anolik also said that Israel wants to normalise its relations with its neighbours, but Hamas, he argued, want to sabotage progress.
He also called on the MPs to ask the Palestinians what they really want, adding that he believes they don’t want extremists.
He argued there is no siege on Gaza, as it has a border with Egypt.
“It is not my responsibility to supply my enemies.”
All MPs condemned the atrocities of Hamas, but there were different views on Israel’s responsibilities and their stance on a two-state solution.
They also called for a ceasefire and humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
