On 7.10.2024, the general secretary of KISE Victor I. Eliezer participated in the show "On the air" with Niki Lymberakis on R/S Parapolitika and they discussed the developments in the Middle East. The transcript of the interview follows. Listen HERE the audio clip (33.00' – 46.35').
N. Lymberakis: We will talk with Mr. Victor Eliezer, Secretary General of the Central Jewish Council of Greece and journalist. We will also talk about the climate in Israel, the commemorative events and images that are going around the world and about the big question I think is whether there is a visible end to this bloodshed which of course starts from a barbarity, from a ferocity. The Hamas attack last year on the Nova festival with 1.200 dead and 250 hostages.
October 7th today marks exactly one year since this ferocity, this atrocity, the slaughter of young people, 1.200 in number and 250 hostages – no one knows exactly how many are still alive a year later – since then of course we are talking about a war, a a war that tends to take on the characteristics of a regional conflict now involving both Lebanon and Iran. 41.000 dead Palestinians according to the count we have from Gaza, there are many questions, first of course due to memory. Next to us is Victor Eliezer, Secretary General of the Central Jewish Council of Greece and journalist. Thank you very much Mr. Eliezer. Good morning.
B. Eliezer: Good day, and thank you very much for the invitation Ms. Lymberakis.
N. Lymberakis: I will ask you to convey the climate to us first. It's been a year now and I don't even know if there is clear information, reliable information about the fate of those hostages who have not yet returned or who have not been found dead.
B. Eliezer: a year later, today is a day of mourning, it is a day of mourning for Israel, I would tell you that the society of Israel is mourning with very spontaneous events in the Kibbutz and at the Nova party site, with gatherings of former hostages, rescued from that black morning of Saturday October 7, 2023. At the same time, various commemorations are planned throughout Israel but not only throughout Israel, because let me tell you Ms. Lymberaki: what happened on October 7, 2023 is not only about the people of Israel . It is if you will the trauma, the return of a trauma for the entire Jewish people throughout the world. It was the largest massacre suffered by the Jews since the Holocaust. So you realize that – and because we all have relatives, friends who are in Israel – we are all in a day of remembrance and mourning and of course sadness.
N. Lymberakis: Do you know Mr. Eliezer how many of the hostages are alive today or do you suppose they are still in the hands of Hamas?
B. Eliezer: Today there are 101 hostages, Israeli hostages in the hands of Hamas, in the bowels of Gaza. I have to tell you that there isn't, and they don't allow any access to any international organization, not even the Red Cross, so we don't have valid information about how many of them are alive and how many are not. The Israeli military estimates that at least 50 of them are still alive. But I must tell you that among the hostages there is a baby who has completed a year and a half of life and for one year, 365 days, he has unfortunately spent as a hostage, if he is still alive and of course there are also old people who have exceeded 85 years of their age and you realize that it is their second experience as hostages.
N. Lymberakis: Mr. Eliezer, I think the big question - at least for us who you know have the luxury of a distance from this story - is when it can end? under what conditions can it end? because obviously the big picture along with all this savagery, all this barbaric thing that we see going on, there is also a very heavy toll in the lives of Palestinian civilians. The authorities in Gaza – there are no independent sources – but the authorities in Gaza are talking about 41.000 civilians. What is your estimate? is there an end in sight? under what conditions can we reach an end to this bloodshed?
B. Eliezer: Mrs. Lymberaki, I think we should all learn from history. This conflict is not happening in Europe. Conflicts in Europe ended with some political agreement between the victor and the vanquished. Painful agreements but agreements to end the war. History in the Middle East unfortunately teaches us that from 1948 when the State of Israel was created until today, where there have been 5 wars and many conflicts at the level of fighting terrorism and corresponding terrorist attacks on the State of Israel, no one has war, no conflict in these 70-plus years has ended with a political agreement.
N. Lymberakis: Therefore;
B. Eliezer: So, it is very difficult to predict when this conflict will end. I have two things to say: the first is that you realize that no state, no society - because many times I hear "it's Netanyahu's war etc" - no state and no society can allow the repetition of October 7th. He cannot allow 80.000 residents of Northern Israel to be refugees in their own country because Hezbollah has been bombing Northern Israel since October 8.
N. Lymberakis: Allow me a question, why did you say that there is all this discussion that says that this prolongation of the war is actually an extension of Netanyahu's political life. It is true, however, Mr. Eliezer, that there have been cases with proposed cease-fire agreements or, in any case, a truce of a few days, a very typical case of last June with the intervention of the Americans, which, at least according to the largest media on the planet, Netanyahu was not entirely negative, however he was threatened to be overthrown by his more hard-line government partners. That is why it enters the debate whether the prolongation of this war is done by Netanyahu and as an extension of his personal political existence.
B. Eliezer: First of all, let me clarify that I am the last or one of the last people who will support the Netanyahu government.
N. Lymberakis: No, no, we try to understand as you understand.
B. Eliezer: But, we must face the facts and not our sentiments. Because we all understand and we all grieve for the death of any Palestinian or Israeli civilian. So the question is to what extent Hamas is ready to proceed with a truce conditional on the release of the hostages. This is the first question. Of course, the Israeli Prime Minister is responsible because while he had initially fully accepted the Biden plan and the truce for the release of the hostages, he subsequently backed down.
N. Lymberakis: But he is under constant threat from his government partners.
B. Eliezer: Of course, he is under constant threat and that is why he retreated. And he is also under constant pressure, but at the same time from the demonstrators, the weekly demonstrators, and we are talking about hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in the streets of the major cities of Israel who are pressuring Netanyahu to accept the plan for a truce and the release of the hostages. But the question is, has Yahya Sinwar, the new leader of Hamas, accepted the Biden plan? has he accepted the truce?
N. Lymberakis: So you're saying that the other side doesn't want it either.
B. Eliezer: or is he hiding in the burrows of the tunnels of Gaza City? and just a few minutes ago Ms. Lymberaki, rockets were fired again into central Israel from Han Younes, resulting in the Israelis being in shelters.
N. Lymberakis: Mr. Eliezer I want to ask you one more - perhaps it is a more personal question - but I submit it to you with great respect and with a sincere question for your answer. I also read an article that you signed and in it you also talk about hysteria and fanaticism against the State of Israel. But I want to ask you: isn't it leveling to charge anti-Semitism? Should anyone who says this bloodshed must stop be charged with anti-Semitism? Because the starting point for most of the international community I want to believe is to stop this bloodshed, without anyone denying the savagery that was the beginning of this war. Not to deny Israel's right to self-defense, but isn't it a little level-headed to charge anti-Israel hysteria to anyone who says the slaughter of civilians can't go on?
B. Eliezer: No. Anti-Israel hysteria and anti-Israel bigotry does not precede anyone who criticizes the State of Israel or the Government of Israel or calls for an end to the bloodshed and a ceasefire. Of course not. What I wrote about the bigotry and the hatred against Israel is and comes - and I explain it above - comes from the so-called axis of evil, that is, from Iran and its proxies who have no other goal than extermination of the State of Israel. What are the limits Ms. Lymberakis - that I, at least, because you asked me personally, and I will answer you directly - that I set to judge whether I have a phenomenon of anti-Semitism towards me or not: if today Iran and its proxies and its proxies they were simply asking for the creation of a Palestinian state next to Israel, I would not speak of hatred or fanaticism. Because today 1.000.000 Palestinian Arabs live with equal rights inside Israel.
N. Lymberakis: Under tragic circumstances right?
B. Eliezer: No, no you are wrong. I am talking about the 1.000.000 Arab Israeli citizens who live with equal rights within the State of Israel.
N. Lymberakis: Oh yes yes, excuse me. Right, right.
B. Eliezer: But over here we don't have anything like that. Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas...no such thing happens. You realize that the slogan "From the river to the sea" seeks the annihilation of the State of Israel, and then yes, this is anti-Semitism.
N. Lymberakis: The dividing line you draw is clear, I wonder how you listen to the other point of view, that is, the point of view that is not at all identified with the axis of evil, that does not at all subscribe to the declared goals of exterminating Israel but on the other hand says that this must stop somewhere. We cannot accept the slaughter of civilians. We cannot accept it. How do you hear that? how does it sound to your ears?
B. Eliezer: That sounds very reasonable to me. Very reasonable appeal, and that would be if you want the desired result after 365 days of war and bloodshed. But you know the agreements are made between two partners, there is no unilateral agreement. In other words, Israel cannot cease operations in South Lebanon, but Hezbollah can bomb Haifa. So the international community should rush and urge and pressure both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah to return to the borders of the Litani River and implement UN resolution 1701 from 2007. Sorry if I tired you.
N. Lymberakis: No, you haven't bored me at all and I'd love to continue the conversation, I'm just running out of time, the news colleague has come so I have to interrupt you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good morning.
B. Eliezer: I thank you very much. Good morning.
N. Lymberakis: Mr. Victor Eliezer, Secretary General of the Central Jewish Council of Greece, for today's first anniversary of the massacre at the Nova festival. You know, it's too complex a topic to cover in a few minutes, but we couldn't miss a mention today.