Israel has declared war on Hamas after the worst terror attack in its history. In an interview with BizNews, it’s ambassador in South Africa, Eli Belotserovsky, describes how- under a barrage of missiles – armed bands of terrorists penetrated Israel through tunnels, in boats and by paragliders. More than 700 people have died and over 2 000 wounded, while an estimated 150 have been taken to the Gaza Strip as hostages. The ambassador says Israel will destroy terrorist infrastructure that has been developed in Gaza Strip by Hamas. Meanwhile, he is sure there will be a “thorough investigation” into why the Israeli military and its intelligence services were caught off guard. – Chris Steyn
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Relevant timestamps from the interview
- 00:07 – Introductions
- 00:27 – Eli Belotserovsky on what sparked this war
- 03:23 – How has Israel retaliated thus far
- 04:18 – How come the Israeli military and intelligence services were caught off guard
- 04:46 – Who do you think was behind it
- 05:59 – ANC’s support of Hamas
- 0745 – Israel’s 9/11
- 08:14 – A long and bloody war
- 08:59 – Conclusions
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Highlights from the interview
Israel has declared war on Hamas after the worst terror attack in its history.
In an interview with BizNews, it’s ambassador in South Africa, Eli Belotserovsky, describes how it happened.
“…the Israelis were awoken by a massive barrage of missiles that targeted civilian population in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv…and in very many towns and cities of Israel. The initial barrage had lasted for hours. People were under in bomb shelters. And the initial barrage was about 6000 missiles that were fired on Israeli civilians.
“But in addition to this, and under the protection of these missiles, the Hamas terrorist organisation had sent armed bands of terrorists that penetrated Israeli territory through tunnels that were dug especially from this, to paragliders that landed on the Israeli territory, to boats that landed on the shores of Israel with armed terrorists in them.”
He says the aim of the operation was to “spread terror, to attack civilian population in the south of Israel”.
So far more than 700 victims have been confirmed dead. “Most of them were civilians, whole families were erased. And we are afraid that the numbers are getting higher and higher and higher…we have close to 2,000 wounded. Out of them, a few hundreds that were severely wounded and some are in a life-risking situation.”
In addition an estimated 150 people were “forcibly kidnapped” and taken to the Gaza Strip. “Again, civilians, families, old people. This is something that is absolutely unprecedented.”
As for Israel’s response, Belotsercovsky, says: “…we are not dealing with retaliation. Our purpose is to defend our people. And we need to do it by attacking the Hamas installations, the perpetrators of this massive attack. We are not fighting against the Palestinian people. We have no conflict with the people themselves. Our conflict is with the Hamas terrorist organisation and with the Islamic Jihad that supported the Hamas on this massacre. And our target is to destroy the infrastructure, the terrorist infrastructure that has been developed in Gaza Strip by the Hamas.
Asked if Israel is likely looking at a long and bloody war, he says: Well, we hope not, but as of now we have, as I said, people in Gaza that were kidnapped. And we will need to see how to manage the situation. We haven’t experienced something on such a scale before. And of course we need to make sure that this will not be repeated…”
Asked why the Israeli military and intelligence services were caught off guard, he says: “Well, this question that we will deal with this later on; it’s a legitimate question. As of now, we are still engaged in fighting, so it’s a bit early to draw the conclusions, but I’m sure that there will be a thorough investigation of what has happened.”
He adds that Israel also has some information “regarding the Iranian involvement in these attacks.”
“We had 82, we have actually more now, more than 80 countries that have expressed their sympathies to Israel, that expressed their condemnation of this heinous attack. We have one country, Iran, that congratulated Hamas on this terrorist activity, on killing innocent people. Well, that speaks for itself.
The ambassador declines to comment on a statement by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) that expresses support for Hamas.
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