Israel-Hamas War: Death toll on the rise as clashes reach 5th day | The Final Word
Let's now get the thoughts of Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Let's now get the thoughts of Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines, Elon Fluss, who joins
00:04 us now in the studio.
00:06 Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us.
00:07 It is very disheartening and sad that a lot of innocent lives, thousands of innocent lives
00:15 on the Israeli side, Palestinians, Filipinos, and a lot of other nationalities have been
00:20 lost in this conflict between the Israelis and Hamas.
00:25 It's very difficult, also emotionally, being here, knowing that actually Saturday early
00:33 morning the Hamas has launched a war against Israel and slaughtered so many Israelis, simply
00:42 because they are Jewish Israeli civilians, of course with them, unfortunately, some foreigners.
00:48 And let me first open and really express my sympathy and condolences also to the families
00:55 of the two Filipinos who are caregivers of Israeli elderly people, patients, and they
01:01 stayed with them to the end.
01:03 And this is something that we appreciate and respect a lot.
01:06 But the big question now is, when are we likely to see a negotiated ceasefire between the
01:17 two sides?
01:18 Is it likely to happen anytime soon?
01:20 A lot of Filipinos, close to 30,000 who live in Israel, their relatives here are on edge
01:27 on the state of their health, their situation.
01:31 What more can you tell us about negotiations and potential ceasefire?
01:36 So Rico, Saturday morning Hamas launched a war against Israel.
01:44 This is a beginning of a war.
01:46 We declared, of course, that we are in a state of war.
01:50 And soon you will see the retaliation of Israel against the Hamas, because unfortunately the
01:56 Hamas has terror infrastructure and facilities in Gaza, and we cannot allow them to continue
02:03 and threatening and attacking and killing our people.
02:08 So it is only the beginning.
02:10 When are we going to see discussions?
02:12 It is unfortunately too early to talk about it.
02:16 But let me say about the Filipinos.
02:17 We have 30,000 Filipinos in Israel.
02:20 To the best of my knowledge, and when I talk to Ambassador Lailo in Israel, I understand
02:26 that the Filipinos are not asking to be repatriated and to come back to Israel.
02:31 My father-in-law has a Filipina with him in his home, and we speak to her.
02:37 She feels safe.
02:38 She knows what to do when there is an attack, a siren, to go into a safe area.
02:43 Every apartment and house in Israel would have a shelter or a safe room.
02:47 They know the protocol.
02:48 They know how to respond.
02:50 And we know that they want to stay, because they are treated exactly as any other Israeli.
02:57 So Israel is definitely ensuring the welfare, the safety of civilians, not only of the Israelis,
03:05 but non-Israelis like Filipinos in Israel.
03:10 Well, you know, there is no 100 percent guarantee.
03:13 We are in a war, and missiles have been shot by the Hamas.
03:16 However, the same precautions and the same safety mechanisms that are given to Israelis,
03:21 exactly the same are given to foreigners, including the OFWs.
03:27 And this came just the other day from the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs in a question
03:32 that I posed to him when we met him.
03:34 And he said, "Ambassador Ilan, we are fully committed to the welfare of Filipinos as we
03:40 are for Israelis."
03:42 I spoke a couple of days ago to the Palestinian ambassador to the Philippines, and he said
03:48 that a lot of innocent Palestinians have been killed in this conflict due to the counterattack,
03:56 the missile attacks, the ground attacks of the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
04:02 So let me put things in place and explain to you the difference.
04:08 The Hamas is a terror organization.
04:11 In its charter, it calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, for a jihad, and killing
04:19 Israelis and Jews, meaning there is no political, peaceful resolution possible with the Hamas.
04:27 Now the Hamas is targeting civilians.
04:30 That's exactly the definition of a terror organization.
04:33 The Israeli Defense Forces, the IDF, is targeting only Hamas infrastructure.
04:38 However, the Hamas is using what you call civilian human shield.
04:44 They are based, and they have the infrastructure and the facilities in mosques, in hospitals,
04:50 in schools, using ambulances as launchers for the missiles, in residential areas.
04:56 What we are doing, and we inform the people, the Palestinians, we don't have a war against
05:01 the Palestinian people.
05:02 And we advise them, keep a distance from Hamas operatives and from Hamas facilities, and
05:09 you'll not be affected.
05:11 But the Palestinians are also complaining, Ambassador, that they have also been oppressed
05:16 by the Israelis for many, many, many years in the Gaza Strip.
05:21 Well, if we want to look back, we have to look really way back to 1948, when the state
05:27 of Israel was established by a UN resolution with an Arab state next to it.
05:34 The Arab countries did not respect this resolution, and immediately when we were established,
05:39 seven armies have attacked us, and we were able to survive.
05:43 1948, the Independence War, 1956, 1967, 1973.
05:48 It is a very, very long history.
05:50 Exactly.
05:51 It's a long history, but the history here is the Jewish people, the Israelis, after
05:57 2,000 years of persecution, and we remember the Holocaust, and there were other persecutions
06:02 in Europe, also in Arab countries.
06:05 We are seeking for respect to be accepted, to be recognized as an independent state and
06:12 homeland for the Jews, and obviously, if you talk on the same level, you can create peace
06:19 and peace discussions.
06:20 And these peace discussions have been also ongoing now, Ambassador, for decades, from
06:26 one US president, UK Prime Minister, Western countries all want peace in the Gaza Strip
06:33 and the West Bank.
06:36 What can put both sides together, sit down?
06:38 Does it need a third country, a fourth country, a fifth country, to be able to get both sides
06:43 to the negotiating table and have a ceasefire, so no more Israelis, Palestinians, will die
06:51 in this conflict?
06:53 It's a very complicated question, Rico.
06:54 More complicated than this question.
06:56 No, we are in a news program, but let me say first thing, the Jewish most famous prayer
07:02 is may God bring peace upon us, "Oseh shalom bimumav."
07:06 We are "Oseh shalom aleinu, val kol isel vimumav," and basically bring peace upon Israel.
07:10 It's a prayer for peace, which is every Jewish prayer ends with this prayer.
07:14 We want peace.
07:16 Secondly, we do not have to give up.
07:19 Today we are in a war.
07:22 We have to destroy Hamas infrastructure.
07:25 When this is done, we believe that we have to move, yes, to negotiations and to acceptance.
07:32 As long as we are being victims of terror, we have to fight terror.
07:37 But Ambassador, you're not only being hit on some fronts by Hamas, but also on other
07:44 fronts by the Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad.
07:48 So Israeli military forces have to really defend the borders of Israel.
07:54 That's exactly the challenge.
07:56 We are surrounded by other countries.
07:58 With Egypt, with Jordan, we have peaceful relations, we have peace agreements.
08:02 However, in the north we have Hezbollah controlling southern Lebanon.
08:06 In the border of Syria last night, they were firing rockets from there, Islamic Jihad and
08:12 other militant groups.
08:13 So we are surrounded by terror organizations, supported by Iran, who call for the destruction
08:19 of the state of Israel.
08:21 So now we're in a very volatile situation.
08:23 We would like to contain the situation and to fight the Hamas and not to enter into other
08:28 fronts.
08:29 You can see the strong support we're getting from the US and very strong messages to Lebanon.
08:34 Make sure not to be part of this escalation.
08:38 There were a few incidents in the last few days.
08:40 Hezbollah did shoot to Israel, the operatives who came into Israel.
08:44 We had a few incidents.
08:45 It's still contained.
08:46 We have to make sure it doesn't erupt into a full-scale war, also in the north, because
08:51 it will be terrible for everybody.
08:54 Before we end this interview, what would you say to the Filipino families who have relatives
08:58 and friends working in Israel who are currently caught, Ambassador, in this crossfire?
09:04 Communications are open.
09:06 Talk to your loved ones in Israel.
09:08 Be in touch.
09:10 If a Filipino feels unsafe and wants to go home, the airport is open.
09:15 There are still flights, maybe less, but there are still flights.
09:19 So if you don't feel safe, go back home.
09:23 To the best of my information, and including, as I said, Edna is working with my father-in-law,
09:28 they do not want to leave because they are part of us.
09:31 And we appreciate it and we'll give you what we can.
09:34 And we'll be happy also to talk to the families here and to hear from them and to explain
09:38 to them the situation.
09:40 This is one of the reasons why we are reaching out with you and in other TV channels.
09:46 We're hoping for the best that this conflict will end sooner rather than later.
09:50 Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines, Ilan Flus, thank you so much for joining us.
09:54 Thank you, Rico.