Self defence not measured by Gaza deaths: Israel’s ambassador
The legitimacy of Israel’s attacks against Gaza in retaliation to Hamas cannot be measured in innocent lives lost, Israel’s top diplomat in Australia says.
Amir Maimon
Ambassador Amir Maimon defended Israel’s strikes against Hamas in Gaza and the blockade stopping fuel and supplies entering the strip after two Australian ministers slammed the “collective punishment” of Palestinians.
Asked whether the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians was justified following the Hamas strike, Mr Maimon said Israeli citizens were suffering from the barbaric attack.
Pressed on whether this meant innocent lives were being traded during the retaliatory attack, the ambassador said: “that’s not the equation not also from my side”.
“You don’t measure the legitimacy of the Israeli response by the number of the casualties, you measure it by the adherence of the Israeli government to the international law,” he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
“We are adhering, complying to the international law and I don’t think that you will find another army in the world that orders the civil population, the innocent civil population to evacuate.”
Hamas killed more than 1400 people and took 200 people hostage in an attack against Israel this month.
Israel’s military says it hit more than 400 military targets in Gaza overnight and killed dozens of Hamas fighters.
More than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed since Tel Aviv struck back, nearly half of them children.
Israel Defence Forces chief of staff said the military had no intention of easing up on strikes as troops amass and prepare for a ground invasion.
The Australian government has called for Israel to respect international humanitarian law while reaffirming Tel Aviv’s right to self-defence.
The prime minister and foreign minister have said all innocent lives matter, but Muslim minister Ed Husic has gone further in his condemnation of innocent Palestinian people being killed.
Mr Husic said he was simply calling for “a strategic, more precise way to deal with Hamas” that takes into account the toll being borne by innocent Palestinians.
“No one disputes that Israel needs to be able to respond to the terrible events of October 7 that happened on their soil, that had such a huge and devastating impact on Israeli families,” he told ABC TV.
“People understand Hamas needs to be held to account, but there is genuinely a concern in the community.”
Asked about Mr Husic’s previous comments against collectively punishing Palestinians, the ambassador said the Australian government had been clear about its condemnation of Hamas.
Hamas is a prescribed terrorist group by the Australian government.
Dominic Giannini/AAP
