The situation in West Asia has further worsened due to Iran’s attack on Israel with a barrage of missiles. This region is important for the whole world and also matters for Bharat’s interest. In this background, Amit Halevi, a Member of the Israeli Knesset, talked exclusively to Organiser Assistant Editor Ravi Mishra. He said, “Israel will not accept this missiles shooting. There will be a painful response”: Excerpts
The world is in shock due to growing tension in West Asia, especially due to energy security concerns. The latest development between Iran and Israel has surely created trouble for many countries in the region. How do you see this conflict?
Look, the Iranian regime is threatening peace not only in the Middle East, but also peace across the world. Wherever it is involved, it has brought destruction to society, to the country, drugs, terrorism and all the bad and evil things. And as we saw a few days ago, without hiding behind others or through proxy or something, missiles were directly launched from the territory of Iran. And that’s why I think the main goal of the free world, including India and Western states, should be liberation of the Iranian people from the regime of the Ayatollah. Actually, this regime has taken over the population and controlled them by force. As far as Israel is concerned, we will not accept this missiles shooting and as our Prime Minister Netanyahu said there will be a painful response. But as I said there should be a necessary response. For this we need support of India and Western powers together to eliminate this evil empire. If I will use the term that one of the Western leaders used in the past, this evil empire of radical Islam will be over. And that’s our real mission.
Iran defended its decision to use missiles by saying that this was in response to an attack by Israel on its consulate in Syria on April 1. How would you respond to this allegation?
It’s all fake because it doesn’t matter if you shoot me directly or you give your money and you sponsor, support and have real power. Who is Nasrallah? Who is Hezbollah organisation? These are all Iranian forces. They get a monthly salary from the Iranian Government. So all these diplomatic excuses are nothing. The Iranian regime is a very dangerous cancer in Middle East and in the world. It’s also for the Iranian people who are under this radical occupation of those forces. We need to liberate them. This is the same extreme Muslims who actually threaten the regime in India. The radicals in Pakistan and elsewhere actually don’t like the fact that the Shia Iranians are leaders of world terrorism. And they actually imitate them. So this competition is to be bigger and greater. I think our real mission is to understand the sources and the roots of the extremist Muslims ideology and to fight in proper way.
“The war is for the US, Paris, Rome and London. For them, the great devil is not Israel. In their terms, we are the small Satan, but the great Satan is the US”
It is being said by political pundits that Iran’s action against Israel will force to unite Islamic world against Israel. Is this realistic?
Of course, the Muslim world is in the middle of a junction of crossroad. And I think the decisions of Mohammed bin Salman and before October 7 and in recent years that the Islamic regimes in the Emirates and Morocco made a serious step to protect Abrahamic heritage. And that’s the fact that we got close and we have the peace agreement between us reflects actually the common values of the Abrahamic culture. Extremists want to take over the whole world, I am just reminding your readers that this vision is not hidden. It is in an old book somewhere. And the vision of the Iranian regime and Sunni extremist regimes are to take over the whole world, to implement the rules of the Sharia over the whole world.
In the light of your comment, can we see Israel versus Islamic world?
I mean, we are in the middle of this war. For more than 100 years, nothing has changed. We are confronting the same ideology, the same methods and the same brutal ways. And you can’t imagine what was here on October 7. I am just saying that in order to make a real change in the head of this octopus (Iranian) regime, I think we need to be all together. We need the Indian regime, which is a great superpower in our world, and of course, Western superpowers also, because this is a big issue. We will to do it for the benefit of the citizens of Iran.
But the US, which is the strongest ally of Israel, has categorically said that it would not support Israel’s response to Iran’s attack.
Look, I am just repeating the Prime Minister’s announcement that we will respond and it will be a painful response for the Iranian regime. But again, in order to rebuild and change, we need other people to be with us. And I am saying we need to turn to the public opinion in the Western world, in the United States and to explain again and again, because the war is not for Israel and Jerusalem. The war is for the United States of America, for Paris, for Rome and for London. I mean, for them, the great devil is not Israel. In their terms, we are the small Satan, but the great Satan is the United States of America. So I think we need to be more clear about the in-depth understanding of the ideological dimension of our enemy to explain it again and again.
What is the current situation of your country’s action against Hamas?
Look, we are in the middle of a war. We are not really at the end of it. Hamas is not an organisation operating in the middle of an innocent society. This society of 1.7 million people in Gaza Strip actually were educated in the last 16 years by these extreme educational system of Hamas. Everyone is not a soldier of Hamas, one of our settlements in Kibbutz Nir Oz was murdered, burned alive by these terrorists. They raped the women. They didn’t see, actually women. They saw a demon. I mean, they saw a monkey. They saw a pig, as they were educated by the extremist teachers of Hamas. That’s why we are here, actually, in front of a large population. And in order to remove the roots of Hamas, we must take over their land, we must control their aid, we must control their energy sources, we must be there. Otherwise, the terror will grow again.
“In order to take off Hamas, We must control Gaza. At least the army should be there”
So you are saying that Israel must control Gaza Strip?
Israel must control Gaza. This is the rational conclusion from October 7. Maybe my fellows from the Left parties did it (handed over Gaza) with an honest intention for peace. But in 2005, we actually disengaged from Gaza and we gave those extremist forces two years later to take over again with a brutal force that many of the Muslim forces did in the last hundreds of years. They took over the Gaza Strip. They actually promoted and created a small Palestinian state. And we saw how many monsters were developed there and what they did on October 7. So we did this experience. You can make one mistake but when you repeat it, it is a crime. So my conclusion and these conclusions should be to take over Gaza. I am not talking about the civic issues there. Maybe there will be mayors, Arab mayors in different places, like we did it in 1968 in Judea and Samaria. Our first step is to take over the border in Rafa, Rafia and in Philadelphi Corridor. We should split them into five or six strips. And anybody who wants to be re-educated can have this. Also they can avail humanitarian aid. But today when Hamas gives the aid it becomes the owner. I mean, the people there, if they get food from Hamas they owe it to Hamas. So their sons became new soldiers of Hamas. And people think that Hamas will be here tomorrow. So why would they cooperate with America or with Israel? So in order to take off Hamas, we must be there. We must control Gaza. At least the army should be there.
When do we expect the situation to normalise in West Asia?
Normalisation with whom? We expect normalisation from people who are normal. We are not expecting normalisation from our enemy. I mean peace. We are dealing with a force whose goal is war like the Hamas Fatah of Abu Mazen or the Iranian regime or others. Israel is here not for itself. We want to share our achievements with the whole of humanity and with our neighbours. But for this, we need to see that the other nations also respect
us. And it’s not just like they called it in the radical Muslim terms, ‘taqiyyah’. They are making fake peace in order to kill you tomorrow.
