Haifa [Israel], October 10 : Mark Sofer, former Israeli Ambassador to India, highlighted the issue of ongoing tensions in West Asia, specifically the conflicts between Israel and Gaza. He emphasised the crucial need for a clear exit strategy and a future for the Palestinian people once Gaza is vacated by Israel.
He also stressed that once the war is over, Israel and Palestine should have a future, but this hasn't been adequately stressed by the Israeli government, leading to criticism within Israel.
While speaking with ANI, Sofer said, "There has been a lot of criticism and I think a lot of this is correct about the way the government has been handling the conflict... The government hasn't supplied an exit strategy, a horizon for the Palestinian people, when we leave Gaza. And when the war is over, there will be a future for Israel, side by side with the Palestinians. And this we haven't stressed yet or the government hasn't stressed yet. And this is a big problem, causing a lot of criticism in Israel. And I think that's what is necessary right now."
When questioned about the international community's perspective on the West Asia conflict, he said that the international community consists of serious, intellectual and analytical parts. "There are different parts of the international community. I think you have the serious, intellectual and analytical parts of the community which are looking at the conflict from a point of view that Israel is massively attacked, invaded by 4000-5000 terrorists coming from the outside and like any other country, we have the right to self-defence, we have the right to stop this from happening again...," Sofer said.
He added, "Israel for some people can never be right. Everything we do is wrong... But I think in general, those looking at the analytical truth, understand our right to fight back, understand our right to defend ourselves..."
The former ambassador emphasised the significant threat posed by the Iranian regime, and said that there is violence, instability, and destruction wherever Iran is involved. Sofer said, "The economy is in threat but if you ask about the biggest threat to Israel, in fact not just to Israel but to Arab countries in the Gulf world, Egypt, Jordan, in North Africa such as Morocco, is the threat emanating from the Iranian regime. Wherever Iran is, there is violence, instability, death, destruction. And I am specifically talking here about the Iranian regime, I am not talking about Iranian people."
He added, "Iranian people are totally different, they are people of peace, they want welfare and prosperity for themselves and the surrounding areas. This particular regime is a primitive, medieval-era regime that only wants death and destruction by using its terrorist proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthi in Yemen, militias in Iraq, Syria. Wherever Iran is, there is murder..."
Speaking on the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, Sofer said, "In Lebanon, we have Hezbollah, which is a pure Iranian proxy and gets economical and political support from Iran and this cannot go on. we have a war with Hamas because they invaded us, not with Lebanon. But Hezbollah joined the war, with thousands of rockets raining down on civilians without any reason... This is the Iran pushing them. This cannot go on..."
Sofer also highlighted India's critical role in the global effort to combat terrorism, given its experience in addressing internal and external threats. He said, "India has always played a very important role. We are very fortunate to look at India as a great superpower in the international community. It is also very close to the Gulf... I think we have a lot to learn from India. I think the region has a lot to gain from Indian experience as India has also gone through terrorism, internal terrorism (naxalites), external terrorism."
He added, "I was an ambassador in India at the time of the Mumbai attacks. When they (terrorists) came in Mumbai, they killed Israelis, Jews, Indian people... So sadly, India has a lot of experience, just like we have... So India plays a role because it has respect from all of us, certainly from Israel... The people of Israel love people of India."
Notably, Israel and Hamas have been engaged in conflict since October 7 last year where Israel saw the deaths of over 1200 nationals and in retaliation conducted targeted military actions over the hideouts of leaders of terrorist organisations Hamas and Hezbollah which were responsible for the dastardly act. It was seen that the brunt of the escalations between Israel and the terrorist groups also saw civilians caught in the crosshairs of the conflict.