The Ambassador educating the media on the situation in Southern Lebanon
THE ISRAELI Ambassador to Ghana, Roey Gilad, has disagreed with President John Dramani Mahama over his comments on the situation in Gaza, stating that the President’s description of Israel’s actions as genocide is wrong.
Speaking in a media engagement, Ambassador Gilad said while he has huge respect for President Mahama as an international figure, he believes the President got it wrong both at the United Nations and in his recent interview with Turkish broadcaster TRT.
“I think President Mahama, which we have a lot of huge respect to him as an individual, however, we think he was wrong at the UN, and I think he was wrong yesterday. I heard very clearly the interview he gave to TRT, and I think he is wrong,” the Ambassador stated.
According to him, the definition of genocide is not based on casualty figures but on intent. “The definition of genocide is not the number of casualties, and I do not deny that the number of casualties in Gaza was big, but the definition of genocide is the intention.”
According to international humanitarian law, what defines genocide is the intention of one side to annihilate, to destroy completely the other side,” he explained. Ambassador Gilad argued that Israel’s military activity in Gaza following the October 7 attack was defensive and had no intention to annihilate Palestinians.
“Israeli activity in Gaza following the 7th of October was a defensive one. Indeed, the toll in human life, what is known as collateral damage, was big, painful even for us. However, there was no intention whatsoever to destroy, to annihilate the Palestinian people. In that sense, I think the President is wrong,” he added.
The Ambassador noted that TRT is an official Turkish network and that Turkey is currently not a friendly state to Israel, but stressed that Israel and Ghana have historically friendly relations dating back to 1957, though the war in Gaza has cast some shadow over it.
On the escalating tensions between Israel and Turkey over Syria, Ambassador Gilad said Israel has no intention to take on Turkey, but wants to ensure Syria does not pose a threat to Israel.
“Israel has no intention to take on Turkey. Our conflict is not with Turkey. We want to make sure that Syria… is not facing any threat to Israel. We have enough challenges,” he said.
He described Turkey’s occupation of a large part of northern Syria and Israel’s current holding of a small part of southern Syria, explaining that the recent Israeli airstrike on sites in northern Syria, about 70 kilometres from Turkey, was intended to send a message to Ankara. “The incident that took place over the weekend, in which Israeli Air Force bombed sites which are in north Syria and not very far from Turkey, was there to send a sign to Turkey that leave Syria alone. I think this message was understood in Ankara.”
He noted that the targeted site was an airport suspected to be used by Turkey to deploy soldiers and radar systems. “Our Prime Minister was very clear about it. We do not consider Turkey as an element… But between the Israeli people and the Turkish people, there are very good relations that go way back, and I believe that with the changing of guard in Ankara, the relations will go back to where they need to be.”
Ambassador Gilad also acknowledged that Israelis remain traumatised after the October 7, 2023 attacks.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke