Need leaders who know meaning of terrorism, says Consul General of Israel to Midwest India

Consul General of Israel to Midwest India, Kobbi Shoshani talks India-Israel ties and a fragile ceasefire looking increasingly frayed

Even by US President Donald Trump’s seismic standards, his recent statement of the US taking over the Gaza Strip, turning it into a Riviera or something else has shaken up the world. Even as an always volatile region is further roiled, threats fly faster than supersonic jets and the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war sparked by the October 7 2023 terror attack by Hamas, hangs by the slenderest of threads, Kobbi Shoshani, consul general of Israel to Midwest India speaks from his Mumbai office about India-Israel ties and terrorism. 

Edited excerpts from the interview...

How many years have you been in India now?
I have been in Mumbai for 3.5 years now. I remember coming to New Delhi in 1992 as a young diplomat. Look at India today, the landscape in Mumbai has completely changed too, the infrastructure, and the skyscrapers. I see some parallels too… New Delhi is a bit like Jerusalem and Mumbai a little like Tel Aviv.
 
US President Donald Trump’s statements about Gaza have shaken the world...
The world needs leaders who can take strong decisions. They should be able to get their heads up during a crisis and show that they understand the true meaning of terrorism.

The hostage deals (exchanging a few Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners) are seen by some as caving in or a defeat for Israel. There are trenchant critics of this deal…
This is not a defeat. Israel has not been defeated and will not be. Life is the most important thing in Israel. We saw thousands killed, butchered and massacred on October 7, 2023. We celebrate life. To understand the deal, you must understand the most fundamental part and must understand the Israeli DNA. You must understand the Israeli mind. We like to live; we do not like to die. The top Hamas cadre has been eliminated. The Hezbollah had been dealt some decisive blows. That is the power of Israel. We are never going to lose the war.

There have been so many protests across universities and in public spaces accusing Israel of genocide…
Let me put it this way. It takes a minute to lie. Just one minute. Then that lie has a cascading effect. The truth takes time. You need to cross-check and verify… in an instantaneous world, the lie goes around faster. The truth is at times complicated. The truth is also painful or uncomfortable to hear. Anti-Semitism for 
instance, is an uncomfortable truth. So is the fact that people were celebrating as Israeli kids died that day on October 7, 2023. That is the plain though uncomfortable truth.

Coming to India now, many construction workers (labourers) from India have gone to work in Israel, because of the demand...
Yes, there are at least 15,000 workers. Overall, we will need at least 80,000 persons. We may take more Indians. We need that expertise… and though the cost of living in Israel may be high, there are very high salaries too. We live in a global, interconnected world more than ever before. The Narendra Modi years are different from what I had seen before. Today, the world is looking at the power of India, who is putting her people first. Jews have lived in India for more than 2000 years without fear and persecution. For that, I want to say: thank you, India.

1992
First time Kobbi Shoshani came to India

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