Israel’s ambassador to Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe Ofra Farhi has urged African countries to join the rest of the world in condemning Hamas after it launched an attack on the Middle East country unprovoked.World leaders among them the United States, UK and France have all condemned the Hamas attack on Israel but African leaders have refrained from commenting with only South Africa coming in support of Palestine.
“Obviously, we would want solidarity from Africa because Israel did not start this war. Children, women and elders were all killed in broad daylight. It must be noted that those who were killed were not in contested lands. These people were on Israel soil,” she said. Farhi said there were no Southern African people who were victims of the attack.Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Israel will fight a long war against terror and defeat those that are responsible for the attack that has killed hundreds of people.
Addressing an online press conference attended by the global media, Cohen hit out at Hamas and Iran and claimed that Israel has “no dispute” over land with Palestinians.“Israel is at war. We didn’t choose this war. Hamas is the proxy of Iran. Hamas orchestrated a massacre the world will not forget. We are defending our homeland. Israel is the last Frontier of the west. We are the only real democracy in the Middle East (West Asia). Right now we have to fight for the western world,” said Cohen, issuing a stinging condemnation of Hamas that carried out Saturday’s multi-layered attack that exposed Israel’s security loopholes.
Cohen expressed appreciation for the outpouring of solidarity from various international leaders and said Israel is fighting for the western countries.
“Israel is the last Frontier of the west. We are the only real democracy in the Middle East (West Asia). Right now we have to fight for the western world.” – said Cohen. He also called upon Hamas to release the people taken hostage during the attack on Saturday but cautioned that Israel’s immediate focus is not on negotiation.
“We are not negotiating with anyone right now. We are focused on securing our territory. We demand that Hamas not harm any of the hostages” said Cohen who maintained that there was no provocation for Hamas to attack Israel and argued, “There is no dispute in regards to the land.”
Ahead of the foreign minister, IDF Spokesperson Libby Weiss said the attack by Hamas that targeted Israeli cities, villages and community farms known as kibbutz has left more than 700 dead and around 1000 wounded. The attack which is unprecedented in the history of Hamas drew international solidarity and support for Israel.
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“Situation is very dire. Men, women, children, elderly , many of whom were in bed were killed by the terrorists. Challenging days ahead of us,” said Weiss.
