Riz Khan Show: Israel-Gaza in the crossfire

As Israel prepares for a military operation in Rafah, the war of words with Washington continues to test the limits of US-Israeli relations. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson Tal Heinrich maintains there’s little daylight between the two nations.

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In a wide-ranging interview with Al Arabiya English’s Riz Khan show, Heinrich also described Israel’s conflict in Gaza as “the most justified war one could imagine.”

Israel will do “what it takes to achieve a legitimate military objective and the objective of bringing our stolen people back home and eliminating Hamas so that Israelis and Palestinians will never, ever suffer from the rule again,” she told Al Arabiya English. “That’s a very legitimate, objective, the most justified war one could imagine.”

Hamas ‘sexually abusing’ hostages in Gaza

The Israeli government aide also said released hostages told her that Hamas continues to sexually abuse those still in captivity.

“One of the released hostages described her conversations with some of the young women still in the Hamas terror dungeons. And she said we know for a fact that they are being sexually abused...” Heinrich said. “They told her how they were forced by Hamas terrorists to take showers in front of them, touched them, and some other things that I won’t describe on TV, but it’s horrendous.”

Heinrich also spoke about the need for Palestinians in Gaza to de-radicalize the day after Hamas is defeated and understand that “Israel is here to stay.”

Palestinian perspective on Israel-Hamas war

For a Palestinian perspective on the latest developments in Gaza, Khan spoke with the Palestinian-American political analyst Omar Baddar, who believes US President Joe Biden “lacks the courage and the backbone” to change Netanyahu’s policy on Gaza.

“We’re beginning to see a little bit of harsher rhetoric coming out of President Biden about this issue. He just lacks the courage and the backbone to actually do something about it,” Baddar told Al Arabiya English.

He also said Arab-Americans are “stuck between a rock and a hard place” when choosing who to support between Biden and Trump as presidential candidates.

“The problem is that the primary choices are Joe Biden and Donald Trump. As horrific and horrible as Joe Biden’s policies have been so far towards Palestinians and this embrace of Israel, there’s every indication that Trump is just as bad, if not worse, on this issue, and a wide range of other issues that impact the Palestinian-American and Arab American community more broadly,” Baddar said. “So the community is stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Starvation of Palestinians ‘deliberate policy’ by Israel

Baddar also described the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza as the result of a deliberate policy by Israel.

“We are witnessing what is happening in Gaza right now, where entire hundreds of thousands of people are desperate to get their hands on food and water in order to make it through,” the political analyst said. “It’s all due to a deliberate policy of starving the Palestinian population that Israeli officials were quite open about.”

‘Lunacy’

When it comes to Israel’s approach to a ceasefire, Baddar described the proposals as “lunacy.”

“All Netanyahu has offered is a six-week pause. I mean, think of the lunacy of this. How does it make sense for Palestinians to accept the deal in which you stop slaughtering them for a temporary period of time, and then you continue the onslaught while Israel gets everything that it wants, the complete release of hostages and leaving basically Hamas with no leverage at all. That simply makes no sense,” Baddar said.

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