As the war between Israel and Palestine continues, there is apprehension that if not curtailed, it may snowball into a religious war. But the Ambassador of Israel to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, who spoke to Bridget Chiedu Onochie, dismissed that, saying that the activities of Hamas violate Islamic tenets. He maintained that until Hamas surrenders, calls for ceasefire remain unacceptable.

There have been pockets of protests across the world over Israel’s attacks on Palestine. Do you not worry that it may escalate into a religious war?

This is not a religious war nor a war between Israel and Palestine. It is a war against brutality, and people need to decide where they stand. We have seen Boko Haram and ISWAP kill Christians and Muslims. Terrorists kill whoever they want to kill. This is not about religion but terror and evil. Christian and Muslim religious leaders have said that what Hamas did has nothing to do with Islam. The same way Boko Haram and ISWAP have nothing to do with Islam. What I have in common with my Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters is much more than anyone has in common with Hamas. It is not even about Israel and Palestine because eventually, Israel will make peace with the Palestinians but anyone who wants peace needs to see that Hamas are no longer around because we cannot have peace once Hamas are there.

How do you explain the current situation in Gaza?

To know the true position of things, it is critical that we to go back to October 7 to understand what happened that day. That day, thousands of Hamas terrorists burst through the border between Israel and Gaza and went on a violent rampage, murdering, terrorizing, torturing and raping our civilian citizens. People need to understand what happened. We are talking about going from house to house, shooting innocent people, torturing them in the middle of the street, torturing children in front of their parents, torturing parents in front of their children, burning people alive. We are talking about 1200 of our people murdered, including Muslims, foreigners, Thais, Philippians, Ukraine, Russians, Africans; every country has people there. Beyond that, Hamas kidnapped 240 Israeli citizens. Men, women, children, grand-mothers and babies were kidnapped for no reason other than that they were able to be kidnapped alive. A number of them have been released but they are still holding 138, including four- year old and ten-month old babies.

Hamas leaders have said openly that if they are given the opportunity, they will do it again and again. They have no interest in stopping; they do not want to have any form of long term cease fire. They want us to stop attacking them so that they can rearm, rebuild and do it again. They have fired over 9000 rockets in the civilian population and Israel is doing what any normal country will do and that is to defend our people and make sure that Hamas can never do this again. We cannot ever have the situation where Hamas can sit on the border (and if you understand the border we are talking about, it is 200 to 300 meters from Israeli communities). So, we are carrying out a war that we didn’t want, we didn’t start and we are going to do what we need to do to release our hostages and to stop Hamas from doing this again. We will also make sure they are no longer in control in Gaza and that is what we will continue to do till we succeed.

Talking about the current situation on ground, our troops are on ground, they are attacking on ground and they are in various areas within Gaza. We have given warning to the Palestinian population on where we are going to be carrying out the conflicts; we have no interest in harming Palestinian civilians but in a war, civilians get hurt. There has never been a war in history where civilians haven’t been killed and this war is not different. We are doing what we can to minimize civilian casualties. Also, please, understand that the numbers that are being provided out of Gaza are being provided by Hamas and I do not believe in the numbers they are producing. I am sure civilians have died and it is tragedy because I am a father and I have two young children. Death of children whether they are Israelis or Palestinians is a tragedy but there is a difference between Israeli children deliberately murdered in front of their parents and burnt alive by Hamas terrorists and Palestinian children used by Hamas as human shield and in the course of the conflict, were accidentally killed. The pain of both parents are the same. I am not undermining the pain of both parents but there is a difference in the motivation. We want to avoid civilian casualties but we need to do what we can to get rid of Hamas but up till this point, no one has given us any answer as how to get rid of Hamas without involving military action. If Hamas leadership surrenders unconditionally and release their hostages, this will be over immediately. We have no interest in waging a war, we have no interest in having a fight in Gaza, we do not want to be in Gaza. We left Gaza in 2005 and we have no interest in staying there again. We want this area to be Palestinian area but it cannot be ruled by Hamas.

But Israel has been accused of permanently occupying Gaza Strip against several rulings:
We left Gaza Strip in 2005 and since then, we have not built anything there. There has not been a single Israeli soldier in Gaza. There is no building in Gaza Strip. Since 2005, there has not been a single Israeli building, a single Israeli community, settler, civilian or soldier there. No one has been in Gaza Strip since then. We have no interest in being there. We are only in there to try and stop Hamas, and if Hamas will surrender tomorrow, this will be over. If all of the Hamas leadership said ‘okay, we get the tragedy we were bringing on Gaza, we surrender’, it is over. But Hamas won’t do that because their aim is the death of every single Jew in the world. Their constitution says they will not end until they kill every single Jew.

Is that threat be possible?
Of cause, that is not possible but it doesn’t matter. We are not going to let them. Remember, Hitler tried this and he managed to kill six million. We are not going to allow Hamas to wipe out Israel. Anyone who wants to see peace between Israel and Palestine will not see peace if Hamas is there. If you really want peace, you need to get rid of Hamas. Gaza strip has received billions of dollars in aid from the international community over the last number of years. Where is that aid gone? They built an underground network of tunnels. Under the ground in Gaza is the largest underground tunnels anywhere around. The London underground has 400 kilometers of tunnels, the Paris Metro has 300 kilometers of underground tunnels, Hamas has built for their workers, fighters, terrorists, rockets, 500 kilometers of underground tunnels. Leaders of Hamas are worth between three and five billion dollars each. They have stolen the money, stolen the future of Gaza and the future of Gazans, and that is why Hamas need to go.

All those people asking us to stop now and cease fire, I say this, a cease fire that leaves Hamas in place is not acceptable. Hamas said they will use the ceasefire to rearm and do it again. The answer is to remove Hamas, to return our hostages and then, we can go on.

Are you saying there would be no ceasefire until Hamas group surrenders?

Absolutely. The war continues until we eliminate their leadership and military capability. Ask anybody, if you have a terrorist group 300 meters away from your house, who said they will continue to carry out their terrorism over and over again until they kill everybody, and two months before, they kidnapped 240 of your people, raped your women, murdered your children, burnt your grand-mother, knifed your parents, would you want or accept them to stay there? No one will accept it and therefore, until Hamas are stopped and don’t have the capability, this war will continue.

Will you be able to put in figure how much your country has lost to this war considering that it is a tourist destination?
The monetary loss is significant but the personal loss is greater and for us, we don’t count money when we are still counting our dead, there will be a financial loss but we will recover, and we will come out of this stronger. There is definitely a financial cost but that isn’t our major concern at this point. And I will say to all of those Nigerians who will want to come and visit, Ethiopian airline has started flying again and there are other airlines too. Tourists are beginning to come back to Israel and we are open for business and we are hoping to see more people coming in. I also hope that in the new year, we start to see large groups of tourists come back to Israel.

You had condemned an opinion article in the November 23 edition of The Guardian Newspaper, what did you find wrong with the article?

I saw the opinion piece that was published in The Guardian in late November and I was disappointed, angry, surprised and bewildered that The Guardian, a great newspaper with a great reputation in Nigeria, across Africa and the world, and has very high editorial and journalistic standard should publish that opinion piece. We don’t have problem when people criticize Israel, we are living in the world of free press. Free press is the bedrock of democracy. But what was published in The Guardian was a piece that basically says that the Jews rejected and killed Jesus and as a result, they have been punished ever since; that the holocaust, pogroms and even the acts of Hamas were all carried out because the Jews rejected Jesus and that if they will come back to Jesus, then that will stop. Apart from being absolutely wrong, it is the most-base antisemitism. It is antisemitism that for the last 100 years, has caused the death of millions of Jews. The Vatican and the Christian world have rejected that concept. The Guardian will never run an article by anybody saying that all those Muslims who died deserved it because they believed in the wrong faith. It is outrageous, untrue and deeply offensive, not only to me but to millions of Jews around the world. You can have a political disagreement but you do not fundamentally attack the principle of another person’s religion and say they deserve everything they get because you don’t believe in their religious faith. It is deeply offensive.

What is your view about the allegation that US is indirectly extending the war?
The United States of America is Israel’s greatest ally and friend. We share core values of democracy, liberalism, freedom of religion and so many different values. The reason that America, Britain, European union, large part of South America and large part of rest of the world support Israel is very clear, because they recognized that Israel is fighting against radical terrorism and that if you don’t stand up to evil, evil will come and get you eventually. We have seen what this evil is, we have seen Boko Haram in Nigeria, they kidnapped the Chibok girls simply because they wanted to. We have seen the ISWAP here in Nigeria carrying out barbaric terrorism because it is who they are. We have learnt that if you don’t stand up to terrorism when it happens and you don’t do what you need to do, then, it will come back and it will affect you too. Americans and all of those others recognized that and that is why we will continue to be partners with those that share on our core values.

You tagged Hamas a terrorist group but Palestinian government thinks otherwise
You saw the pictures, is that not terrorism? If murdering babies deliberately, cutting a pregnant woman open, taking out her baby while she is alive and killing the unborn baby and then, killing the mother isn’t terrorism, if taking a mother and a child and tying them together and burning them alive isn’t terrorism, if murdering parents in front of their child is not terrorism, raping a woman, cutting off her breast and playing with it isn’t terrorism, if 10 people gang-raping a woman and shooting her in the head after isn’t terrorism, then there is no terrorism the world.
This is the most brutal, base terrorism that exist. If you say that your course is just and you are going to have a war, then, have a war, fight against solders, dress in military uniform and declare war. Don’t hide behind your own population, don’t fire rockets on my civilian population from out of Mosques, don’t use a hospital inside Gaza to store all your weapons and rockets, don’t use your motorbikes to cross over to Israel and kidnap people, don’t bring your hostages that you have taken into a hospital and hold them in a hospital. There is nowhere kidnapping a 10-month baby, a four-year old boy, a 77-year old woman and 18-year old girl, and refusing to release them is anything other than terrorism. If all these are not terrorism, then what is terrorism?