Ahead of the year anniversary of the atrocities carried out by Hamas terrorists on October 7,
President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, gave a historic interview to Saudi-based international news channel Al Arabiya. The interview was conducted in English with senior news anchor Riz Kahn, and was broadcast in English and dubbed into Arabic on the channel’s outlets.
In the interview, President Herzog made a direct appeal to the people of the Middle East and said: “We are all the children of Abraham, and I call upon the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran, the people of all of the oppressed nations in the region, to rise up and understand that if we move this empire of evil, if we confront it and be tough together, we surely can hope for a better future and create a NATO like structure in the region that blocks radicalism”.
The President spoke of the pain and anguish in Israel as a result of the ongoing terror attacks against its people, and of his hopes for the future of the region. He said, “We are not dealing with revenge and retaliation. We are first dealing with a lot of pain and agony. I can tell you, as the head of state of Israel, I've seen enormous pain and agony that I've never imagined.”
He added, “Clearly, as we see, this war has been waged against us by the empire of evil, by Iran and its proxies. We have 101 hostages still in the dungeons of Gaza, in immense suffering. And we are fighting in the north and in the south, meaning in Gaza and in Lebanon, we are trying to change the equation and bring hope for the people of the Middle East.” He stressed, “It's a golden opportunity for the powers that want to have a better future for the Middle East to move forward with new ideas and new plans in order to resolve this conflict and exit from the war. But I'm not sure our enemies are there.”
Asked about international criticism of Israel, the President said, “As part of the entire war machine against us, we are attacked in the international legal forums, attacked in public opinion, attacked on campuses and so forth. But we truly believe in our vision, we are a democracy. We are an oasis in the Middle East. We have we have Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Circassians living and dwelling together. Unfortunately, yesterday, Hezbollah has attacked with missiles against Muslim towns and cities, our brothers and sisters.”
The President clarified, “We follow the examples of international humanitarian law. And I want to say something, I care for our neighbors. I care, I deeply care. We care, we care for the pain of our neighbors, but we have the right to defend ourselves, and when we are defending ourselves, we are defending ourselves from missiles in people's homes, in people's shops, in people's mosques, in people's playgrounds or schools. It's unbelievably annoying when you see this in Gaza or in southern Lebanon or throughout Lebanon. It's unacceptable. People who believe in peace and freedom in the region and the world need to stand up and say this is unacceptable.”
Asked about Israel’s potential response to the massive Iranian missile attack on Israel last week, the President said, “I think we are calculating all calculations in this respect. But one has to understand the Iranians. Iran is the only country in the world who calls for the eradication of another member state of the United Nations, that's Israel. And they keep on saying it all the time. I saw the speech of the Supreme Leader. There was no message of accommodation or extending a hand, or saying, let's move together, two great historic nations to help change the life of people in the Middle East. Rather, you see Iran spending billions of dollars of their own citizens money on a huge war machine aimed to create pain havoc. So either we offer hope for hope, or we go for destruction.
Iran offers destruction. We are offering hope.”https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/397173
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