Israel, the ambassador to Italy says no to the truce and warns the Pope

Alon Bar, Israeli Ambassador to Italy since September 2022, closes the door on the truce with Hamas and opens the solutions for a humanitarian pause. The diplomat, interviewed by Sky Tg24, expressed himself as follows about the conflict in the Middle East: “We are not against humanitarian ‘pauses’, which allow the evacuation of people with dual nationality, the wounded and children and the entry of humanitarian aid . The truce, however, would allow the reorganization of Hamas and would be counterproductive, causing the deaths of Israelis and Palestinians. We must do everything necessary to prevent them from doing so. We only have bad options before us – explained the ambassador – we are not faced with simple choices, no one could tolerate a new attack in a few months, we must protect the hostages and civilians, as well as the humanitarian situation. We must not forget the need for a new attack like the one on October 7th to not occur. The violence continues and we do not believe that with a ceasefire this will not happen again. Hamas’ ability to attack Israel must be eliminated and there is no other way than what we are doing now.”

Bar then focused on the two-state solution proposed by Pope Francis in yesterday’s interview with Tg1: “I believe it is premature, it is difficult to identify the best way to move forward, historically the solution was strong, but it has disappeared in recent years due to attacks from Hamas and Israel’s responses. Hamas, for example, does not support the two-state solution. For there to be conciliation, Hamas must be deprived of the possibility of killing us. The international community must distinguish between those who want a negotiating table and those who are absolutely against any form of dialogue.”