00:00Hello and welcome to this special broadcast on one year anniversary of the dastardly attack
00:10by the Gaza on Israel and what transpired 365 days ago needs no introduction now.
00:19And things since then have changed and changed for good.
00:23Joining us to discuss further this morning is Azuika Klein, Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem
00:29Post.
00:30Azuika, I know you are in Tel Aviv and the situation there must be somber.
00:35This is one morning that Israel would always want to forget, but situation as such does
00:42not allow.
00:43So 365 days later, how is it that the families and people are holding up there?
00:50So good morning from Jerusalem, actually.
00:53And you know, it's overwhelming.
00:58We just published our cover this morning with 10 words basically saying, you know,
01:04there are no words to explain what happened.
01:09And on the one hand, as you said, Israel is still in a moment of pain and of remembering
01:18those that were killed.
01:20But also, you know, in the past few weeks, Israel has been succeeding in many military
01:26operations, something that has both, you know, long-term will help Israel, but also
01:33assisted Israeli pride and Israeli nationality.
01:39I think it's something that definitely affects the day-to-day feeling of Israelis, whether
01:46it attacks in Lebanon, attacks in Iran, a potential attack in Iran in the near future.
01:55So all those together kind of, you know, a bit ease the pain, though I would say it's
02:02just still so overwhelming, you know, still hundreds of thousands of Israelis who haven't
02:08been able to return to their homes.
02:11Thousands were killed.
02:13So it's definitely not a day, you know, it's not an anniversary.
02:19It's a commemoration day while we're still at war.
02:23Just this morning, 629 is when Israel stopped for a minute to remember what happened a year
02:30ago.
02:31And then the exact minute, Hamas sent rockets at southern Israel.
02:41So as much as Israel is a strong and powerful army, etc., they still have the ability to
02:50shoot rockets at civilians.
02:51So that's the situation that has to change.
02:56Right, absolutely.
02:58And Gaza, after staying silent for some days with the focus shifting on Hezbollah, the
03:04fight against Hezbollah, now Gaza choosing the same day to inflict more injury, there's
03:12something which is unimaginable.
03:14Zika, more than 1400-1500 people killed in that attack.
03:21And now on the other side of Gaza, roughly around 40 to 45,000 people have lost their
03:27lives.
03:28At one platform, you see it as the right to retaliate.
03:34On the other, if we talk about humanitarian situation at this point of time, Prime Minister
03:39Netanyahu too has rejected the peace and all the efforts that were made by several Western
03:47allies.
03:48Do you think the way Israel is choosing to go, the path that it is taking as of now,
03:55is the only path available?
03:56I just want to correct two things that you said.
03:59You mentioned the numbers of casualties in Gaza.
04:04That is debatable, including the United Nations saying that there were mistakes made because
04:10it's a Hamas-run health ministry.
04:14It really is unknown exactly.
04:17And also, unfortunately, Hamas did not allow many civilians to leave when the IDF kept
04:23on telling them day after day, leave this area because we are going to bomb or search
04:29for terrorists.
04:30As for Prime Minister Netanyahu also, he actually did agree with too many peace suggestions
04:36by countries, by the negotiators, as well as suggest his own peace agreement and release
04:48of hostages, Israel releasing terrorists with blood on their hands in return.
04:57But Hamas kept on changing the conditions or just disappearing and not giving an answer.
05:06So regarding Prime Minister Netanyahu, I think, first of all, there may have been more to
05:15be done at a certain point.
05:17I think now, he's definitely after he said yes so many times to a peace treaty and succeeding
05:25in a military operation and so many fronts, seven fronts.
05:31His popularity has surprisingly actually grown within Israeli society.
05:37I was meaning to ask that, domestically, how Bibi has fared, I mean, is he facing some
05:45sort of internal heat also, we saw, we heard him giving the ultimatum to France President
05:51Macron, and he made an impassioned speech, I must admit.
05:55At the beginning and after the war, and for many, many months, he was rock bottom when
06:00it comes to public support and polls, he still is not a very positive figure for most Israelis
06:07or for, let's say, at least half of the Israelis.
06:10That said, there have been many successes and if your opposition is supporting what
06:17you're doing, it's kind of a win-win situation for the person who's running the country.
06:24One final question, it's early morning there, you have to continue with your official work
06:30also on this very, I would say, not a red letter day, but a day that Israel won't forget
06:37ever.
06:40Middle East has been pulled into this equation like never before.
06:45And Iran, no matter how silent it tried to stay with its proxies, Hezbollah doing the
06:51frontal war.
06:52I don't know if they're trying to stay silent or not, but yeah, okay, yeah, I mean, yeah,
07:00so they try to have his proxies make the noise and then them just talking but not doing.
07:05Yeah, exactly.
07:06Yes, absolutely.
07:07Do you think that Israel wanted Iran to know that they are not going to take this quote
07:16unquote silence from Iran?
07:19You know, lying down and now what is unfolding the direct conflict between Iran and Israel?
07:26Where does it go from here?
07:27So Iran, I mean, I would just disagree in the fact that Iran has been silent Iran, their
07:33leaders have been saying for decades, they will not acknowledge the existence of the
07:37State of Israel.
07:38They call it the Zionist state, which is fine, you know, I see it as a compliment, but they
07:44won't call it by its name.
07:46They seek the destruction of the State of Israel and they say it out.
07:50It's not even like insinuated, they say it, they say Israel should not exist.
07:56And you know, so I think Israel and definitely because of all the direct and through proxy
08:03attacks on Israel, Israel and Israel, because it has seen Iran as a threat for so many decades,
08:13just like they were able to allegedly, according to foreign reports, blow up thousands of pagers
08:20and cell phones at the exact moment they wanted to and kill terrorists and to exactly eliminate
08:31Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political wing of Hamas in Tehran without, you know, in a
08:39very secure area without harming anyone else.
08:42You know, Israeli intelligence is so strong in Iran, and it's just a matter of time until
08:49those capabilities are going to be shown.
08:52This is something that Israel has said outwardly.
08:56And you know, at the beginning, we call this the Israel-Hamas war, but it really isn't
09:00the Israel-Hamas war, it's the Israel-Iranian war because the Houthis, Hezbollah, you know,
09:07the militants in Syria and in any other country around the world that's shooting rockets at
09:14Israel now, just because they're all funded by Iran, and they're all identified with Iran.
09:22Right, right, absolutely.
09:25And yes, the final assault, the final blow as Prime Minister Netanyahu has promised once
09:34again that the victory will be theirs.
09:37Zwicka, we spoke earlier also in this course of 365 days, this is our second or third interaction,
09:43I remember.
09:45We hope to speak in better situations in the coming days or years.
09:50Are we seeing another anniversary attached to this, this whole episode, or do you see
09:56the war finally reaching to or the retaliation finally reaching its conclusion soon?
10:01I try to be optimistic and think that, you know, sometime within this next year, there
10:06will be an end.
10:07It's just very difficult to imagine because there are seven fronts, and even more, I guess,
10:14but there's so many, so many details that need to be worked out in order for this war
10:20to end.
10:22I think it is inevitable at a certain point to stop and also think of the day after this
10:29because Israelis haven't really had the time to think about that, but it's definitely something
10:34that we need to think about.
10:37I do also want to say that I think, you know, from my many conversations with the Indian
10:43diplomats, and obviously these are things that happen under the radar, but India has
10:49been a very close ally of Israel throughout this time, assisting Israel militarily, intelligence-wise,
10:58etc.
11:00And I think that's something that, you know, in a time when Israel feels more isolated
11:07and probably is more isolated than it was a year ago, definitely from Western countries
11:13that are now asking it to retain and to stop and to reconsider, you know.
11:21And the state of Palestine also.
11:25Exactly.
11:26A hundred percent.
11:27Or acknowledging one side, acknowledgement of certain states.
11:33I think the friendship and the support we've been receiving from India, and as I said,
11:39most of it is quiet, as Indians do in a very, you know, smart and sensitive way, is something
11:47that most Israelis aren't even aware of.
11:51I am aware of, and I think it's something to be commended.
11:54Well, Zwicka, thank you so much for speaking to One India.
11:57I really appreciate your time and inputs here.
11:59Zwicka Klein there, Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Post, joining us on this grateful
12:03day of October 7th, all the way from Jerusalem.
12:06We wish you, your family and your countrymen all the very best, Zwicka.
12:10Thank you so much.
12:12Thanks.
12:14Don't miss out.
12:15Log on to OneIndia.com for more updates.
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