By Aysu Bicer
LONDON (AA) - Israel's Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely claimed that all mosques and schools in the Gaza Strip have access to tunnels, emphasizing the need to destroy them and their associated infrastructure.
Hotovely made the remarks while answering questions from journalist Iain Dale on LBC Radio on Wednesday.
Responding to a question about her previous statements rejecting a two-state solution, Hotovely argued that it is the Palestinian side, which rejects any plan and does not want Jews in Palestinian territories, that opposes a two-state solution.
"I think just to make things clear, the Palestinians refused every time they were offered to have their own state since going back even to 1948. They wanted to replace the Jewish state. They didn't want ever to have a state next to Israel. They wanted to replace Israel and this is part of the problem," she said.
When Dale referred to statements by some Israeli ministers suggesting the relocation of Palestinians in Gaza to other countries, Hotovely pointed out that ministers can express their opinions within the Israeli system, which she sees as part of freedom of expression.
"There is something very strange about the Israeli system that ministers can say whatever they want as part of our freedom of speech, but our policy is made at the moment by the Cabinet War. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Gaza Strip should go through two important things for a better future both for us and the Palestinians. One is the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. Second is de-radicalization of the education system in the Palestinian schools," she added.
She also claimed that in schools, Palestinian children are taught that they can kill Jews.
Hotovely, making a characterization of "Nazi ideology" regarding the education provided in Palestinian schools, including those under United Nations control, also addressed a question about the bombing of all civilian structures in Gaza.
"I really want to mention the fact that Gaza has an underground tunnel city and in order to get to this underground tunnel city, those areas must be destroyed.
"And one of the things we were exposed to after getting into the areas in Gaza that we try to find all those tunnels and underground metro city that Hamas has built thanks to this great support of Iran, Qatar, of the international community generosity, everything turned to be this horrible terrorist city. One of the things we realize is that every school, every mosque, every second house has access to these tunnels."
When Dale brought up the destruction of entire streets and buildings captured by the media, Hotovely justified it by saying, "because that entire street is connected to the tunnel system controlled by Hamas, which poses a threat to our cities."
Despite launching a ground operation in late October, Israel has yet to provide concrete evidence of Hamas tunnels.
On Oct. 27, Israel army spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that five hospital buildings were directly involved in Hamas activities and that the buildings sat atop underground tunnels.
However, none of the five hospital buildings that Hagari identified appeared to be connected to the tunnel network, according to The Washington Post's investigative reports published on Dec. 21. Moreover, there is no evidence that the tunnels could be accessed from hospital wards, the daily added.
In response to Dale's suggestion that Israel claims the entire Gaza needs to be destroyed to eliminate tunnels, causing a humanitarian crisis, Hotovely gave the example of Tokyo after World War II.
"The Americans destroyed everything during the Second World War. Basically, Tokyo was devastated all buildings, hundreds of people were killed and Tokyo got back to life because after the Japanese were defeated by the Americans after a long American occupation and a whole change of educational system, Tokyo and modern Japan has become a great country that everyone admires with its great technology. I think we need to remember that the problem is not the devastation of the buildings," she said.
Hotovely claimed that Israel is trying to minimize civilian casualties by relocating Gazans to safe areas, but accused Hamas of using civilians as shields.
Hotovely also called the International Criminal Court case filed by South Africa against Israel for genocide "absurd," claiming that Israel is a victim of Hamas aggression. She argued that Hamas should be the party brought to court.
She expressed her personal belief that Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are legal because they are located in areas where the Jewish people have had a connection for over 3,000 years.
She also commented on the issue of illegal activities by Jewish settlers, emphasizing that Israel is a legal state in which everyone who commits a crime faces justice.