What happened on the 7th of October is indeed a black day in the history of the state of Israel, a black day in the history of the Western world. October 7 was the bloodiest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust - the Ambassador of Israel to Poland Yacov Livne said in an interview with TVN24 BiS.
Israeli forces carried out their biggest Gaza ground attack overnight in their 20-day-old war with Hamas as anger grew in the Arab world over Israel's relentless bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said Israeli troops were still preparing for a full ground invasion, while the U.S. and other countries urged Israel to delay, fearing it could ignite hostilities on other Middle East fronts.
The U.N. agency providing aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza said it may soon have to shut down operations if no fuel reaches the Hamas-ruled territory amid a desperate need for shelter, water, food and medical services.
Israel has bombarded the densely populated Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities. Israel says Hamas killed some 1,400 people including children, and took more than 200 hostages, some of them infants and older adults.
Israeli ambassador: Oct. 7 was the worst day since Holocaust
"What happened on the 7th of October is indeed a black day in the history of the state of Israel, a black day in the history of the Western world," Israeli Ambassador to Poland Yacov Livne told Michał Sznajder of TVN24 BiS.
"The 7th of October, as we understand today, was the worst day, the bloodiest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. This is something we haven’t seen in eight decades," he added.
"The unbelievable cruelty of Hamas, of these new Nazis, is something that we must understand and, having understood what happened, we must fight in the most decisive way because there is only one way to defeat such an evil - to fight it to win, so that we can have a better, more peaceful, situation in the future. This is what we are facing now," the ambassador stressed.
Livne: it's a fight of civilization against barbarity
Asked what he would say to those who don't share his view, ambassador Livne replied: "People should not be blind".
"People should not be blind to what has happened, and we have all seen the scenes, the pictures, the movies of innocent people being murdered just for being Jews. And people also shouldn’t be blind to the meaning of this to the Western world," he added.
"What is, I think, encouraging is that the leaders of the free world - a vast majority of the leaders and countries of the free world – understand this. People today, responsible leaders, understand this is not only a fight of Israel against the Hamas, but it is a fight of civilization against barbarity," Yacov Livne stressed.
"It’s a fight of civilization against Nazi jihadists whose only aim is to murder, to terrorize the West – they perceive Israel – and rightfully so – of being a part of the West."
"So, this is something that responsible people understand today. I think this understanding will deepen in the future, but we see today very positive messages coming out of Washington, New York, Berlin, also Warsaw," the ambassador said.
"These messages are important. It’s important that the Hamas and those who support it understand that this is not the way in which they can gain something. Otherwise, we will just see more and more death."
WATCH THE WHOLE INTERVIEW WITH THE ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO POLAND YACOV LIVNE BELOW
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN24, Reuters