2024-07-22 20:44:41
The Houthis are holding two hostages from Bulgaria. Hamas is also holding two hostages from Bulgaria. There are steps that Bulgaria – like every other EU country – must take to prevent future attacks and fight this terrorist activity, said Israel’s ambassador to Bulgaria H.E. Yossi Levi Safari before BNR.
Both of them belong to Iran – he pointed out and added to the list “Hezbollah” – the Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.
The steps envisaged by the ambassador are diplomatic and include EU sanctions against Iran and the designation of the organizations as terrorists, which would limit their access to funding and travel opportunities.
This – warned H. Pr. Safari – necessary so that the entire free world does not face war: “We may reach a point where the free world will have no alternative but a military campaign. This war will be very difficult because we see that Iran is supported from Russia, as well as Russia – from Iran. In order not to reach the moment when a military conflict will be necessary, which is extremely dangerous for the world, we must use diplomatic means.”
Instead of dealing with this, the EU is dealing with other issues that are not relevant to its security, such as declaring Iran for what it is and using sanctions against Iran – Ambassador Safari criticized the Union.
He dismissed the request for details about our four hostages – about whom the Bulgarian authorities are silent – saying: “I don’t think more should be said. For us, the most important thing is the fact that we are talking about 120 human beings, some of them civilians , who were abducted from their beds while they were sleeping (referring to the attack by “Hamas” on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 – note a.) The free world must demand the immediate release of these hostages”.
Ambassador Safari assured that the end of the war in the Gaza Strip “can be achieved easily, as early as tomorrow morning, if Hamas stops the war, lays down its arms and surrenders. That’s it, it’s simple. But, unfortunately, Hamas won’t to do it by diplomatic means, but only by military means”. Therefore, “we will continue our military campaign against Hamas for as long as it takes to achieve its complete destruction. We will continue to fight against the existence of Hamas … until it is completely destroyed in Gaza, whether that means take a week, months, years, even 20 years. This is the goal and we will achieve it.”
On the issue of the release of the hostages, the ambassador recalled that Israel offered an agreement for a ceasefire, humanitarian aid and the release of prisoners in exchange for the hostages.
“We must not forget that when we talk about exchanging prisoners, it means that these are murderers or terrorists who have been tried by a democratic country to serve a prison sentence. That is what the exchange of civilians is all about. So there is no basis for comparison. And yet we are ready to do it because it is very important for us to release the hostages,” Ambassador Sfari emphasized.
Attacks from the north, by the Lebanon-based terrorist organization “Hezbollah” towards northern Israel are becoming more and more intense, and 100,000 residents have been evacuated from there for nine months now. The children, accordingly, did not go to school for a whole year, and the beginning of the new one is approaching, but it is not clear whether they will be able to return to class and if so, where.
Israel has not declared war on Hezbollah, as it declared war on Hamas on October 8.
When asked whether we can expect a war with Hezbollah, and because of it a major war with Iran, and then with Russia, the diplomat replied: “There is no doubt that the war with Hezbollah represents a different kind of risk. The capabilities of ” “Hezbollah” are different from those of “Hamas”. As we hear from Iran, he clearly states that if an open war is waged against Hezbollah, Iran will also participate in it, and then the situation can easily deteriorate because in other countries may also be involved.
This is very dangerous. This is very dangerous for the security of the world, of the whole world, of Europe, of course, of the countries that are close to… to our region, and it is about waves of refugees, because the Lebanese are not exactly like in Gaza . I can assume that more refugees will come from Lebanon. Now is the time to take action against Hezbollah.
Israel is demanding that Hezbollah withdraw from Lebanon’s border areas with Israel beyond the Litani River, as required by UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The authorities in the country expect diplomatic pressure from the USA to achieve this goal and to stop the attacks against Israel – it became clear from the ambassador’s words.
“I mean, it’s very clear. There is a Security Council resolution from 2006. It clearly states that Hezbollah must be beyond a line and not come close to the border with Israel. In recent years, they have come to border with Israel. This is exactly what we want – implement Security Council Resolution 1701,” the diplomat insisted.
Otherwise, more serious military action can be expected.
Asked whether the risk for our region also includes Bulgaria, HE Yossi Levi Safari answered in the affirmative. He warned that such a conflict could grow into a global one: “It can. Remember that Hezbollah has already threatened Cyprus, so…” he replied significantly.