Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned on Sunday that Iran continued to threaten the Middle East and stressed that disarming Hamas was essential to implementing the next phase of the Gaza peace plan.
Herzog spoke during a meeting at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem with a delegation of ambassadors and diplomatic envoys to the United Nations from Europe, Africa, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The delegation, led by Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon, was also welcomed by the president’s wife, Michal Herzog.
“The issue of Iran is looming over us, threatening the entire region. There are also issues to resolve here through dialogue with Lebanon, dialogue with Syria, and of course the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2803 on Gaza, which calls for the disarming of Hamas as the next step, which is the real test for everything,” the president said.
“Once Hamas is disarmed, the technocratic government will go in, and there will be a brand new chapter in the history of the people of Gaza, including on the humanitarian issues,” he added.
The president thanked the visiting diplomats and praised Danon for defending Israel at the United Nations.
Michal Herzog addressed the use of sexual violence during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre and against Israeli hostages held in Gaza, criticizing the response of international organizations.
“The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war on Oct. 7 and thereafter, as we heard the stories from the hostages who came back from Gaza, is a major issue,” she said.
“Frankly, we were very disappointed by some of the international organizations, specifically UN Women, who not only closed their eyes to what happened on Oct. 7, but actually denied it,” she continued.
The first lady said Israeli experts in international law had developed tools, subsequently adopted by the United Nations, for collecting evidence of sexual violence.
“We, as Israeli women, took it upon ourselves to deliver a universal message: not only a message on behalf of the Israeli victims who no longer have a voice because they were murdered, but also on behalf of women around the world,” she said.
Danon said the visit was intended to provide diplomats with a firsthand understanding of Israel’s security challenges.
“We brought the ambassadors to Jerusalem so they could see the reality on the ground firsthand, a reality that is too often distorted in the halls of the United Nations,” he said.
