Gabriel Chocron, Israeli Foreign Ministry advisor: ‘Hamas is fighting against Western civilization’

Israel did not start the war, but they will end it. This is according to Gabriel Chocron, former spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces and advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Furthermore, Chocron expressed his sentiment that the country is currently enduring the most tragic moments in its history.

"The situation is still mainly one of pain. We are very scarred, hurt, grieving, shocked by the massacre that took place on Saturday, October 7. Israel's prime minister's office released three photos showing how Hamas terrorists murdered and burned babies. … I can't believe I'm saying that in the home of the Jewish people, in the state of the Jewish people and 78 years after the Holocaust, they are burning Jewish children again, simply for the fact of being Jews," Chocron said during a conversation with Voz Media.

Chocron recalled that Hamas terrorists have murdered people inside their own homes. "We believed that we were in a civilized world, in a world where we would not see these atrocities again. But this reminds us that there are still people with an ideology that openly says that they want to erase us from the face of the earth and that when they have the opportunity to do so, they do it. … That's exactly what we saw this weekend," he said.

‘The reality in Gaza is Hamas’ responsibility’

Chocron condemned statements like those from Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who compared Israel to "Nazis." "This is what the Nazis said about the Jews. Democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to reestablish itself in international politics," Petro said in response to the Israeli defense minister’s announcement that the country would no longer supply food or electricity to Gaza.

Regarding Petro's statements, Chocron maintained that they were an insult to the victims of the terrorists. Furthermore, he highlighted that the crisis in Gaza is the responsibility of Palestine. "His statements are truly an insult to humanity. An insult to this week's victims, the victims of Hamas terrorism. They are an insult to the victims of the Holocaust and also an insult to the civilian people of the Gaza Strip," Chocron indicated.

"President Petro forgets to mention that the party responsible for the sad reality that a large part of the civilians experience in the Gaza Strip is precisely Hamas, which has turned that place into a hell. Hamas, which has been receiving millions and millions in humanitarian aid from all over the world for years and which uses it not for the benefit of the people, not to build schools and hospitals or houses, but to build underground tunnels, where Hamas leaders hide … to convert pipes, which should be used to transport water, into rockets," he added.

‘It is not just against Israel, it is a fight against Western civilization’

For Chocron, this war is not only against the Israelis. In his opinion, the attacks are actually against Western values. For this reason, he insists on the need for the democratic world to support Israel. He explained that other religions, such as Christianity, are also being threatened by terrorist groups such as Hamas.

"It is a fight against Western civilization and I would say more, it is a fight against humanity. After all, Hamas is a terrorist organization similar to the Islamic State in its ideology. It proposes that there must be a radical Islamic regime governed by Sharia law, by Muslim law, where people of other religions do not have equal rights, sometimes they do not even have the right to live. That is what we are seeing here, and this affects not only Israel, but Jews around the world because Hamas in its founding charter calls for the murder not only of the State of Israel but of all Jews. But it also affects, for example, Christians around the world," said the former advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

"When Hamas took control of power in the Gaza Strip it began to persecute Christian minorities. I can tell you, for example, that the owner of the only Christian bookstore was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by Hamas followers. Christians in Gaza, for the most part, had to escape. So, this fight that Israel is doing now against this terrorist revolution is not only for the State of Israel."

Regarding Israeli society, Chocron says that citizens are united, and that is the most important thing in the midst of the crisis. He stressed how civilians have worked together to get food and other necessities to those going to war. He also recalled the long lines of those looking to donate blood. He says an indicative example of this was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the opposition agreeing to a nationally unified emergency government.

"The truth is that the strength of spirit that Israeli society has is simply admirable. The Jewish people are a people that has suffered for generations. They have been persecuted, tortured and despite all that, they returned to their land. They fought wars that seemed insurmountable and won them. They are still living there 3,000 years after they started living on this ancestral land. Now the people are united at this moment behind the force of Israel, supporting the Israel Defense Forces and giving them all possible support," Chocron said.

Finally, he pointed out that Israelis will continue fighting for "our home." And even if it takes time, he said they will end the war. "We in Israel do not fight for the hatred that is in front of us, but for love for what is behind us. Speaking of which, we know the importance of fighting for our home and we understand that here the only option, the only way this can end, is by ending the ability of the Hamas terrorist organization to endanger our citizens."