Noam Katz: «We are not at war with the Iranian people, but with its extremely radical regime»

Exclusive interview of the Ambassador of Israel to Dnews.gr.

Noam Katz, who has been serving as Israel’s Ambassador to Greece since September 2022, speaks to Dnews.gr about the escalating Israel-Iran conflict.

May I respectfully request

Our main objective is to remove an imminent and existential threat to the security of the state of Israel and its people. And these two threats are: one is the race of Iran to achieve an atomic bomb, and the other one is the ballistic missile threat that is covering the entire state of Israel and was meant to cover Israel and bypass Israel’s defenses.

It’s part of an annihilation plan that Irans’ mullahs has held for a long time and promoted for a long time and have built the tools to achieve it.

we had a unique window of opportunity that would have been lost if we weren’t operating.
It is because the threat was imminent, we went into this operation. This operation is done in a wider context of an ongoing military conflict between Israel and Iran that goes beyond the current phases. Of course, it is part of the aggression on 8th October when Iran and all its proxies joined Hamas in its war against Israel.

Part of this on going military conflict is that is the Iranian retaliation shooting missiles at Israel.

This morning, 4 missiles penetrated our defenses. One of them hit a hospital, the main hospital in the southern part of Israel, Hospital Soroka in Beersheba. Other missiles hit a residential neighborhood in the center of Israel. We have casualties since that operation has started, but we are very determined to complete and remove those existential threats.

So Ambassador, do you believe that the United States finally will be actively engaged in this confrontation?

We have very strong, close, and intimate relations with the United States, and there is strong coordination between Israel and the United States on all issues and also around this operation. We thank the Americans for their support and of assisting us in defending the State of Israel.

As for further action by the USA I think that this is an American decision. We have to listen very carefully to the President of the United States. President Trump said loud and clear that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. And the decision will be taken by the president and by the United States based on the American interest that was described also by the president. Time will tell.

Given this context, do you believe there is a realistic scenario where we could see a broader regional escalation—possibly involving countries like Turkey, Russia, or even China? I understand this may involve some speculation, but based on your analysis, how likely do you consider such a development?

Well, we certainly don’t want this war to be expanded. And I don’t think that the powers or the countries in the region would like it to be expanded, despite the fact that some of them are assisting Iran during all these years, including in the recent week.

I think all the countries in the region and of course powers understand what the ambitions of Iran are, when it comes to nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

They know also that the repressive Mullahs’ regime cannot be trusted and that proliferation, if Iran breaks through, will destroy the international order. It will threaten world order, peace, security, and stability.

I think that the statement by the Chancellor of Germany, reflects also the inner understanding also of those countries.

Yes, that may sound extremely cynical, but it reflects the reality. Let me ask you this: what, in your view, are the prerequisites for de-escalating this situation? What would it take for Iran to return to the negotiating table and put an end to this ongoing confrontation?

Well, from our own perspective, the dual threat on Israel should be removed. This is the nuclear one and the ballistic. And so far, when we had the negotiations with Iran — not Israel, but the international community — it was futile.

It was meant by the Iranians mainly to stall time and to accelerate and to continue with their programs. The dialogue in the past didn’t include the aspect of the ballistic missiles, despite the fact that it is in clear violation of world treaties and UN resolutions.

So if there will be an agreement that will secure that these threats will be removed now and for the future, it’s certainly an option.

Thank you, that was extremely clear. Over the past decade, Greece — and Europe more broadly — has experienced significant refugee flows, particularly from Syria. Currently, there’s growing concern that the renewed tensions in the Middle East could trigger another wave of migration, potentially leading to a new refugee crisis. There is a real fear that Greece may once again find itself on the front line of such a development. In your view, what would be the most effective mechanism to coordinate the response and mitigate the impact of such a crisis — whether it’s related to refugees coming directly from Iran or involving those already residing there?

I will say that I think that all the countries along the shores of the Mediterranean, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean, share the will that this neighborhood will be stable and that we will not have waves of refugees.

We are almost two years in a war which is intensive within the Middle East with all the Iranian proxies. It involves Gaza, it involves Lebanon, it involves the changes in Syria. And we didn’t see waves of refugees coming. in the long run, I believe, I strongly believe that we are creating conditions for more stability in our region.

We don’t have a war with the Iranian people. We have taken a preemptive, targeted operation within the context of a military conflict with Iran that is led by a very radical extremist regime.

I hope that we will find a way to stabilise the situation, and that the problem of the people within the region will be solved within the region.

We see the efforts of the international community to stabilize Syria. We see the efforts to stabilise and strengthen Lebanon. I hope that one day we have also a more stable reality in Gaza and also in Iran.

In light of the ongoing criticism, particularly regarding the recent situation in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis — including reports of starvation — do you believe that Israel will be more willing in the near future to respond to the concerns raised by the international community?

Well, maybe I will say one sentence before I answer directly. We’re in a war that we didn’t want to be in. It was forced upon us by the decision of Hamas an Islamic terror organisation that has established in Gaza an Islamic terror state to wage a war on Israel. A war which started with genocidal acts against Israeli civilians within Israel. Our war is not with the Palestinians. Our war is with Hamas, which is still holding most of Gaza under its governmental control and still maintains some terroristic guerrilla capacity.

Most of its army was decimated. The war, from an Israeli perspective, will be over when our hostages — and we still have 53 hostages — are back home. It will end when the military and governmental capacity of Hamas is dismantled.

And that can happen tomorrow. If Hamas breaks down, its leaders leave the Gaza Strip, and all the hostages are released, the war will be over instantly. So we are interested in ending this war.

That’s why we accepted also proposals that were set by the mediators, many by the chief mediator Witkoff, the American special envoy. We accepted his proposals and Hamas is rejecting them.

So the war goes on because of Hamas, not because of Israel.

We are not interested in supplying Hamas — by the way, acknowledged by international law that we don’t have to supply our enemies.

Yes, we want to see that the uninvolved Palestinians will be getting humanitarian aid through channels that will verify that the aid is going to the right people and not to Hamas.

Basically, there are two main channels today to supply Gaza. One, which is less effective at the moment, is through the UN organizations that are supplying Gaza. Two problems with their supply. First, they’re incompetent in taking all the supply that is there and distributing it. There are tons of humanitarian aid that are waiting for the UN organization to take and supply.

The second problem is that Hamas is taking this supply for itself, and it’s not reaching all the places that are under the control of the southern part of Gaza that are controlled by Hamas.

The third way is the mechanism, supported by Israel. There is a new organization, GHF, that is applying food directly to people, and people can come to their stations. It supplied last week more than 15,000,000 meals to Gazans. But the only way that the situation in Gaza will be improved is to end the control of Hamas in Gaza. Then everything will be much easier. It will be possible to rebuild Gaza, to rehabilitate it. Hamas must be out.

We are listening to the calls by the world we are trying to facilitate supply. We are supplying much directly to the people through the GHF mechanism despite the fact that the UN, out of — in my opinion — wrong reasons, is opposing the GHF mechanism, maybe out of pride or a desire to keep the monopoly of the UN organization of humanitarian supply. We see the needs of the people, and that’s why we operate that mechanism and we should give it a chance.

Your Excellency, one final question. Given the ongoing tensions in the border region, do you believe there will be obstacles to the implementation of the major economic cooperation projects that Greece and Israel have already agreed upon — most notably, the Greece–Cyprus–Israel electricity interconnection?

Well, I’m a strong believer in this project and in these corridors and connectivity ideas between our countries and beyond. I’m a strong believer in that because it reflects not only the need of our countries, but the international need for more chains of supply and more connectivity across regions. And I believe in it because it is supported by the vast majority of the countries in the international community. It is going, of course, through the Eastern Mediterranean, what we are speaking about, but there are other corridors in the world and people understand the importance. We are now under smoke of tension and of conflict within the Middle East. Having said that, I think that we should think, we should promote and we should push forward these kinds of projects that are viable, that are giving real solutions to real needs, and therefore I believe that we can carry them on eventually and secure them.