Israel’s ambassador to Uganda, Gideon Behar, who is based in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, recently travelled to Uganda and met up with Weekend Monitor’s Derrick Kiyonga. The diplomat explains why Israel and its ally, the United States of America, maintain a mood of hostility in the Middle East. Excerpts:-
When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was last in Uganda in 2020, tangible things in Uganda-Israel relations were discussed, such as direct flights from Uganda to Israel. We don’t see any progress. Why?
Israel has been a main partner of Uganda after independence and [in] the ’60s and the ’70s. We do like to develop our relationship to see more activities. This is my second visit [to Uganda] as an ambassador to Uganda. I’m learning the potential and opportunities and am working on increasing our partnership with Uganda at either business-to-business level [or] the economic sphere.
As an ambassador, you oversee Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Seychelles. It had, for one, been suggested that by now Uganda would have an ambassador of its own.
My wish is that indeed there should be a Ugandan embassy in Jerusalem and the Israeli embassy here [Kampala]. But these are things that have to be worked out. In the past, we had an embassy here, but now we have to work on it.
Israel has been engaged in two or three large scale wars since Mr Netanyahu’s last visit here. Hasn’t that affected the budgets in foreign offices?
Let me be more accurate: We were attacked. It is not that we have been engaged, we were attacked. First of all, on October 7, 2023, we were attacked by Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organisation. And in one day, over 200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. And immediately after that, we were attacked by Hezbollah in the north in Lebanon, Shiite militias from Iraq, the Houthis from Yemen and the Iranian regime. All of these [were] really to destroy Israel, but we have come out with [the] upper hand; though we were taken by surprise by this attack [on October 7, 2023]. Of course, when there is a war like this, all your efforts are diverted, and attention is put to how you win and how to survive.
So, now we are faced with another existential threat coming from the Iranian regime. This Iranian regime has declared many times that they are going to destroy the State of Israel. They say that Israel is a small Satan and America is a big Satan and that we should be destroyed. They are serious about it because they have developed the strategy and means to do that. This strategy is based on three pillars. One, the development of atomic bomb capabilities. The second pillar of this strategy is the development of a vast ballistic missile programme. And, the third one is to support terrorist organisations in the region like Hezbollah, the Houthis, like Hamas. This strategy is meant to destroy the State of Israel. They were creating a ring of fire around Israel. This was their strategy to encircle Israel.
So, we had no choice but to prevent this because the Iranian regime was in the process of concealing its atomic programme and ballistic missile programme under the ground. We knew that once they do that, it will be very difficult to stop them. And once they have an atomic bomb we are in no doubt that they will use it against Israel. Israel is a very small country because Uganda is 11 times bigger than Israel. So, we knew the window of opportunity was closing and that we [needed] to take pre-emptive action to stop it.
That is why we started this action against Iran. It is also very important to say that we have no problem with Iranian people. The Iranian people are suffering as a result of this regime, and this regime, you know, promotes the Islamic revolution. This is against the wishes of the people. Iran has put hundreds of billions of dollars in atomic weapons development, ballistic missile programmes and support terrorist organisations at the expense of the Iranian people who are suffering. […]
Let us take the issue of ballistic missiles-they were producing 100 ballistic missiles per month. This was the production rate and they were increasing it. Their aim was to have 7,000 or 8,000 ballistic missiles by 2027. And they were developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. And then you have to ask yourself why the Iranian regime needs intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Iran is saying if Israel has a right to formulate its defence, Tehran also has the right to do the same.
I think the comparison you are trying to make isn’t in place. Israel has no intention to destroy Iran. […] Iran [is] saying that let us erase Israel from the map. We don’t seek regional hegemony; Iran is seeking regional hegemony. And you see how they are attacking all the countries in the region. Why would they attack all the Arabic countries in the region? […] If Iran acquires atomic bombs, intercontinental ballistic missiles, they will take the whole world hostage.
This is what is happening today with the Strait of Hormuz. They have blocked it. They didn’t consider how it will affect Uganda, how it will affect Asia […] Once they have these weapons, believe me, they are planning dominance and Islamic revolution style. Remember, the regime is interested in exporting the Shia revolution of Iran.
But the Strait of Hormuz was open before you attacked Iran. Did you, as antagonists, cause this problem?
I don’t think so. They are not reacting. They are acting because they decided to block the Strait of Hormuz to create international pressure without considering how it will affect the world. The fertilisers, the energy supply, et cetera. Today, look at how they have asked for it in the negotiations. Do you know what they want? They want full control of the Strait of Hormuz. Now I want to remind you that the Strait of Hormuz is an international maritime area of passage. According to international maritime law, all passage of ships and maritime vessels should be free. Now, Iran is changing international law to say we control it. They are not the only country there. You have the Gulf States there.
Israel has been accused of carrying out a genocide in Gaza. How do you respond?
What I can tell you is that we fully support the peace plans of [US] President Trump to end the war in the Gaza Strip. It is very important that Hamas disarms. Hamas can’t remain an armed force in [the] Gaza Strip. Hamas must disarm, and they haven’t done it. If we want to have lasting peace and stability in that region, Hamas must be disarmed. As long as Hamas possesses heavy weapons, as long as it keeps weapons underground, they are a threat to peace and security. They have taken the population hostage. They want to remain in power at any cost.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says Israel is now the leading killer of journalists in modern times. Around 260 journalists have been killed by Israel, following the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas…
I can tell you that you should be asking yourself who is behind these committees, and most likely, you will find out their supporters. Secondly, I want to bring to your attention the atrocities committed by Hamas. There is a report about the sex atrocities that Hamas committed. There is an English version. There is a whole report documenting the things that Hamas did, how they raped women and children.
The sexual atrocities they committed in a systematic way. I think it is very important for you to read this report and also report on that. Israel doesn’t target civilians. It is a waste of our energy [to attack civilians]. We are after our enemies and terrorists. The problem is that Hamas has created a system in which they use civilians as human shields. They have built military bases inside hospitals. They were shooting rockets and missiles from residential areas. For instance, they would take rockets and put it on rooftops of houses and shoot from there. They know if we try to stop it, we shall kill the civilians, and they will come say we targeted civilians. We have tried our best to prevent the death of civilians, and we are sorry for the civilians who were killed.