Express News Service
BENGALURU: With a temporary truce declared between Israel and Gaza and hostages being exchanged, the big question on everyone’s mind is whether the war is finally over. To this, Israeli Consul General Tammy Ben Haim said action against Hamas would continue. She was speaking in response to a question by students of Bangalore City University, at an official interaction on campus recently.
To a student’s question about accusations of war crimes against Israel by some nations, she explained, “Israel has done its best to avoid civilian casualties. In the Al-Ahli Hospital bombing, the rocket was a misfired Hamas explosive which fell in the parking lot and damaged the hospital. When this was pointed out with evidence, Hamas accusations against Israel stopped.
“As far as the Geneva Convention norms are concerned, Hamas raped and murdered young innocent civilians, and even video recorded these ghastly acts on October 7. They set up terror bases in tunnels below mosques, hospitals and kindergartens, which is a violation of Geneva rules. They fired rockets against Israel and when Israel retaliated they used human shields.’’
Asked if the October 7 attack was a failure of Mossad, which is rated among the best intelligence agencies in the world, she said the lapse would be investigated at some point in the future, but now Israel is focused on winning the war against Hamas. “On a regular basis, Israel thwarts terror attacks or attempts and you can never be 100 per cent fail-proof. Mossad provides intelligence inputs about many different kinds of attacks, which have been useful in the past,” she said.
On the state of tourism, considering around 35,000-40,000 Israelis visit India every year and about 80,000-90,000 Indians visited Israel in 2018 before the Covid-19 pandemic, and things had begun looking up again, she said it is hoped tourism will flourish again, now that there is truce.
Later, speaking exclusively to this newspaper, she said Israel’s priority is to get its 200-plus hostages back, and that process has started. Israel would be “very interested in demolishing the terror network, considering there are tunnels running about 500km through Gaza”. Asked if Gaza would be handed back to Hamas, since war is nearing completion, she replied in the negative, saying that when Israel left Gaza 18 years ago, Hamas moved in built a terror network.
Varsity tie-up possibleIn response to a question on suggestions of a possible tie-up between Bangalore City University or other universities in India with universities in Israel, Haim said it was possible when universities reopen after the war. She said Israel is very much in favour of it and that many Indian origin students are studying in Israel, which is proof such a tie-up would be mutually beneficial. Follow channel on WhatsApp
BENGALURU: With a temporary truce declared between Israel and Gaza and hostages being exchanged, the big question on everyone’s mind is whether the war is finally over. To this, Israeli Consul General Tammy Ben Haim said action against Hamas would continue. She was speaking in response to a question by students of Bangalore City University, at an official interaction on campus recently.
To a student’s question about accusations of war crimes against Israel by some nations, she explained, “Israel has done its best to avoid civilian casualties. In the Al-Ahli Hospital bombing, the rocket was a misfired Hamas explosive which fell in the parking lot and damaged the hospital. When this was pointed out with evidence, Hamas accusations against Israel stopped.
“As far as the Geneva Convention norms are concerned, Hamas raped and murdered young innocent civilians, and even video recorded these ghastly acts on October 7. They set up terror bases in tunnels below mosques, hospitals and kindergartens, which is a violation of Geneva rules. They fired rockets against Israel and when Israel retaliated they used human shields.’’googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Asked if the October 7 attack was a failure of Mossad, which is rated among the best intelligence agencies in the world, she said the lapse would be investigated at some point in the future, but now Israel is focused on winning the war against Hamas. “On a regular basis, Israel thwarts terror attacks or attempts and you can never be 100 per cent fail-proof. Mossad provides intelligence inputs about many different kinds of attacks, which have been useful in the past,” she said.
On the state of tourism, considering around 35,000-40,000 Israelis visit India every year and about 80,000-90,000 Indians visited Israel in 2018 before the Covid-19 pandemic, and things had begun looking up again, she said it is hoped tourism will flourish again, now that there is truce.
Later, speaking exclusively to this newspaper, she said Israel’s priority is to get its 200-plus hostages back, and that process has started. Israel would be “very interested in demolishing the terror network, considering there are tunnels running about 500km through Gaza”. Asked if Gaza would be handed back to Hamas, since war is nearing completion, she replied in the negative, saying that when Israel left Gaza 18 years ago, Hamas moved in built a terror network.
Varsity tie-up possible
In response to a question on suggestions of a possible tie-up between Bangalore City University or other universities in India with universities in Israel, Haim said it was possible when universities reopen after the war. She said Israel is very much in favour of it and that many Indian origin students are studying in Israel, which is proof such a tie-up would be mutually beneficial. Follow channel on WhatsApp
