Israel is making the Middle East “a better place”, the country’s ambassador to the UK has insisted.
Tzipi Hotovely spoke out as Tel Aviv targeted Gaza and Lebanon with air strikes exactly one year on from the Hamas terror attack which saw more than 1,000 Israelis killed and sparked the latest conflict in the region.
Tens of thousands of civilians have died over the last 12 months, and calls for a ceasefire from western leaders - including Keir Starmer - continue to go unheeded.
Speaking to Radio 4′s Today programme, Hotovely said Israel “will do whatever it takes” to dismantle the threat to it posed by Iran, as she again refused to rule out attacking the Tehran regime’s nuclear sites.
She said: “Israel is a different place since October 7. It was a watershed moment in the country’s history.
“I think people are still under the trauma and the big shock of the barbaric attack by Hamas. Our hearts are still bleeding for the fact 100 hostages are still in Gaza.
“For the world, they just want to pass on, but we cannot pass on. We need to remember why this thing happened. This thing happened because we were surrounded by this ring of fire created by Iran, which wanted to create proxies that can attack Israel simultaneously, from the north from Hezbollah, from the east, from the south from Hamas.
“This plan was shattered on October 7 because Israel is fighting back and we are changing the Middle East. We are making the Middle East a better place without those radical terror groups.”
Asked about the chances of a ceasefire, Hotovely said: “I don’t know how a ceasefire takes us forward to a place where Israelis can live safely.
“We are in a point today that after 11 months of negotiation and giving a chance to diplomacy, in the northern border Hezbollah was firing non-stop since October 8 on Israeli cities. I don’t understand what sort of solution is being offered by people offering ceasefire at the moment.
“Our hostages are still in Gaza. How [will a] ceasefire bring them back when we are dealing with a terror organisation?”
Hotovely also said that, unlike Israel’s enemies, her country’s military “never targets civilians”.
“We actually take so many precautions to make sure that those civilians will be out of harm,” she said. “We do our best to make sure that those civilians will flee from the area of the warzone - when our enemies are doing the opposite.”
In a message to mark one year on from October 7, PM Starmer said “we stand together to remember the lives so cruelly taken” on that day.
He said: “One year on from these horrific attacks we must unequivocally stand with the Jewish community and unite as a country. We must never look the other way in the face of hate.
“We must also not look the other way as civilians bear the ongoing dire consequences of this conflict in the Middle East. I reiterate my call for immediate ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, and for the removal of all restrictions on humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“We will not falter in our pursuit of peace and on this day of pain and sorrow, we honour those we lost, and continue in our determination to return those still held hostage, help those who are suffering, and secure a better future for the Middle East.”