In the midst of fresh violence between Israel and Palestine, Israel’s ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, has accused Iran of planning Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Freeman alleged in a live appearance on Channels Television’s program on Monday that Iran is supporting the violence in order to destabilize the region surrounding Israel.
“It’s a major concern for us. We know that Iran is behind these attacks by Hamas. Iran are the ones who gave permission. Iran are the ones who fund Hamas. They are doing everything in order to destabilise the region.
“They are also backing Hezbollah and Lebanon; they are backing other terror groups in the West Bank. They are backing terror groups in Syria. Iran is doing everything because they don’t want to see progress.
“They don’t want to see peace, they want to see death and destruction,” he said.
Under the cover of a large rocket bombardment, Palestinian militants from the Iran-backed Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, infiltrated Israel at daybreak on Saturday.
So far, about 1,100 people have been killed in the fighting, with Israel estimating over 600 deaths and Gaza’s health ministry reporting 370 deaths.
When discussing the situation between the two Middle Eastern countries, Ambassador Freeman stated that while Israel does not seek conflict under any circumstances, it is committed to safeguarding its citizens in any manner necessary.
“We will do what we need. We hope that Hezbollah and other groups understand we do not want any engagements, we do not want any war in any other areas, but we will defend our population, our citizens.
“Some of the horrific photos [shared on social media] of old women, grandmas gunned down in the street, young babies shot, children murdered in front of their parents – all of these are going around – women and children, young people at a music festival gunned down and blown up.
“This is what we’ve done with them; we will do what we need to do now to protect our population, and this war, which started by Hamas, will end this war,” Freeman said.
Furthermore, he said that there was no true reason for the conflict, instead blaming it on Hamas, whose ideology states that their purpose is to kill Israelis.
“They say that their aim, their life, and their motivation is to destroy Israel. So they saw an opportunity that they felt they could take in order to come across the border to slaughter and murder women and children because that’s what they believe, but the reality is that the reason they were formed is to wipe Israel out and kill Israelis,” he said.
