New Delhi: Israel on Wednesday appealed to India to join many other countries in banning Hamas as a terrorist organisation, while thanking New Delhi for its “solid support” to its fight against the group. Israeli ambassador to New Delhi Naor Gilon said they had discussed the issue of banning Hamas as a terrorist group with India after the deadly attacks on Israeli cities on October 7. He also said they had raised the matter before as well.


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“The democracies of the world are with us. They are the important countries for us. And I think it is time for India to officially ban Hamas as a terror group,” Gilon said at a press conference. The Israeli ambassador said several countries like the US, Canada and the European Union had already banned Hamas as a terror group.


“We have talked to the authorities here. It is not the first time we have done that. We both understand the threat of terrorism. We are not pressuring anyone. We think it is the right thing to do because of our shared war on terror,” Gilon said about Israel’s request to India to ban Hamas as a terror group.


“We brought up the issue after the attack and we are still talking. We are having a friendly conversation with India. We agree on most things, including counter-terrorism and other strategic issues,” he said.


More than 1,400 people died in the unprecedented attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7. Hamas has taken more than 220 people hostage in Gaza. According to officials in Gaza, about 6,500 people have died in Israel’s retaliatory strikes.


Gilon also expressed his gratitude to India for its “100 per cent” support to Israel in its anti-terror operations against Hamas and especially mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post on X expressing his shock over the terror attacks and standing with the people of Israel.


“Prime Minister Modi ji was one of the first leaders in the world to make a very clear statement,” he said. The envoy said Modi’s words strongly condemning terrorism set a “very clear tone”.


“It is important for us because India is a very close ally. But India is also a very important moral voice in the world. India knows what it is talking about when it comes to terrorism, because it has been a victim of terrorism itself,” Gilon said.


Israeli Envoy Says War With Hamas Is About Survival


On Israel’s war with Hamas, he said it was about the country’s survival in the “tough neighbourhood” of the Middle East.


“For Israel, it is a war of survival in the Middle East. We live in a very tough neighbourhood. In the Middle East, if you are seen as weak, your life will be miserable,” he said. “If people think they can attack Israel, we will be attacked all the time. So we cannot afford to be vulnerable. We have to make sure that people who have bad intentions towards us cannot carry them out,” he said.


The envoy said any sign of Hamas winning in the war against Israel would have serious consequences in the region and beyond and that was not acceptable at all. “The success of Hamas is not an option for moderate regimes in the Middle East. They do not want that scenario,” he said.


The Israeli envoy also accused Iran of supporting Hamas. “Iran has been funding, training and arming Hamas for years,” he alleged. Iran has denied the allegation in the past.