The Ambassador of Israel to Tirana, Ms. Galit Peleg, gave a lengthy interview with journalist Endri Xhafo in his show “Log” in News 24 TV station. Ambassador Peleg touched on several important points regarding the ongoing war in Gaza and Lebanon, the relations with the United States, European countries, Iran, and of course the bilateral relations with Albania.   

Asked about the recent exchange of missile attacks with Iran, the ambassador stated that after Iran attacked Israel directly for a second time, “Israel had to respond to send a message. Obviously, the attack on Iran was not reflecting all the capabilities of Israel. We can cause a lot of damage. But it was to send a message.”

“…As for the intentions of Israel, we have no desire to start a war with Iran. But I think they need to get the message that Israel is able to react. And I think since it was clear that it was coordinated with the United States this attack, that the message is coming not only from Israel. That Iran should restrain their aggressiveness in their aggression in our region and not to attack Israel again,” said Ambassador Peleg, adding that despite the ongoing talk about a regional, or even worse, a world war, Israel is just protecting its own citizens.

“Yes, we would like to see a change in the regime in Iran. What we have now is a radical terrorist regime. Iran is a very important country. It's a country that has the potential to be a partner with the West in energy, in economy.”

Asked about the elimination of a series of Hamas leaders and their possible replacement, Peleg had this to say to journalists Xhafo:

“All the names that you mentioned, Haniyeh, Sinwar, Nasrallah, these are mass murderers. These are people that are behind the horrible massacre that happened in Israel on 7th of October. These are the people that are killing civilians with no hesitation. And they are the leaders of some very strong terror organizations in our region. And the message is that if Israel wants you to be eliminated, we can find you. So don't mess with us. The fact that these organizations are attacking civilians in Israel is something that should be very, very clear to, not only to them, but to the whole world, that we are not trying to attack civilians.

We are trying to get to those who are the ones behind these terror attacks, the ones who are behind the massacre, and they should pay the price. And also, it's a strong message to their organization and to those who send them that we can reach them and we can eliminate them.”

An interesting question involved the presence of the mujahedeen Iranians in Albania.

“What does Israel think of the Iranian mujahideen in the Manza camp in Durrës? Do you consider them, as they themselves claim, an alternative to the power of the ayatollahs?”

Ambassador Peleg stated that Israel doesn’t get into Albania’s internal decisions, and they don’t have connections with the mujahideen, who as is known, are opposition to the radical regime in Iran.

“But I think that Iranian people deserve something better than what they have now. They deserve an alternative that will let them live as they want,” commented the ambassador, “We see the very courageous people in Iran that are protesting in spite of what they know what will be the fate of those who will be arrested. We get the signals from people in Iran and also from Iranian opposition around the world towards Israel. That they don't have to support Israel, but they want a different future for their own people. And that we support. Whether it will be… whatever they will choose. I mean, I think that we would like to see a democratic Iran that their people can enjoy life as we do.”   

A special space during the interview was dedicated to the US-Israel relations. Asked about the degree of Israel’s dependency on the United States’ arms deliveries, the Israeli ambassador said that the cooperation of Israel and the United States, including the weapons sector, didn't start didn't start during this war. “Everybody knows that we have a long, long history of cooperation with American support. Also, not only in terms of purchase, but also R&D, the development, the research of weapons, also the Iron Dome was in cooperation with, it was an Israeli, maybe, invention, but it was with American investment and with American assistance in the development of this defence system. So, this is no secret that we have long-term relations with the Americans, also in this sense. Israel has its capacities, but look, this is a very long war. I don't think that we ever had a war that lasted more than a year now. And even the capacities of Israel, which are quite impressive for a small country, in this sense, in this area, we need also cooperation with other countries. And I don't think it's a secret that we work with the Americans. We get support from the Americans. We hear different voices in the United States. This is election year, but I don't think it's even a questionable issue for the American administration whether to help Israel or not.”

On the other hand, Peleg criticized the stance of France and Spain vis a vis Israeli operations in Gaza, and specially in Lebanon, a zone of French interest.

“We do understand the special relations between France and Lebanon. I remember when I was a kid, they used to call Beirut the Paris of the Middle East, and there were a lot of expectations that really Lebanon would be flourishing. We always thought when I was a kid that Lebanon would be the first Arab country that we would have peace with. In the 70s, we used to call the border between Israel and Lebanon the Good Fence, even though we didn't have diplomatic relations, but villagers from south of Lebanon used to come to Israel to work in Israel. We really had very good relations with the Lebanese. But having said that, and I understand the feelings that a French president has towards a country like Lebanon, but I would like to ask Mr. Macron, why didn't he raise his voice when Hezbollah or Iran, who is the sponsor of Hezbollah, took over Lebanon? Why didn't he stand for the Lebanese people when they were taken over by this terror organization that made their life miserable, when they destroyed Lebanon? So, when we attacked in Lebanon, and actually and also another question, for a year since October 8th, 2023, one day after the massacre from Gaza, Hezbollah started launching missiles towards Israel. 9,000 missiles, can you imagine?”, said Peleg.

According to her, if President Macron cares about Lebanon, he should join Israel and protect Lebanon from Hezbollah and from Iran. “I think that is a lot of pressure, internal pressure on president of France because of the population, because of a large number of voters, that are coming from Arab countries originally and become citizens of France,” commented the ambassador.

Ambassador Galit Peleg had a blunt comment when asked about the protests in Europe and US against the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israeli attacks. She had this to say:

“You know, this reminds me a story of someone who killed his parents and then he told the judge “please consider that I'm an orphan”. You come to Israel, you go to the civilian's houses, you conduct a horrible massacre, you kill, you slaughter men, women, children, you rape, you burn them alive, – whole families were burned alive, – you destroy property, you loot, you kidnap people, then you go back to your territory. You hide behind civilians and then you say, oh, wait, wait, wait, why are you killing civilians? We are not fighting Palestinian people. We are fighting Hamas. If Hamas is hiding in hospitals, in schools, in mosques, unfortunately, there are civilians who are being injured.”

The Israeli Ambassador had words of praise for Albania and its international stand. According to Ms. Peleg, “I mention it in every occasion that I can. I really admire the courage of Albanian leaders, of Prime Minister Rama, and other members of the leadership of Albania. Because I think that Albania is a small country, and I know that it has a lot of ambitions to integrate into the EU and to align with the sense of EU. But you have values, and you stand for your values. Prime Minister Rama stood up to President Erdogan during the last visit, and said that Hamas is a terror organization and Albania stands against terror. I think it takes courage, and I appreciate it very much. The relations between Albania and Israel are very special. It didn't start today. It started eighty years ago during the Second World War. But it's not only the memory of these saving Jews during the Second World War. I think it continues every time in standing by each other in crisis, but also in good times. And I'm glad that I have this platform to thank Albania for presenting a very firm stand against terror”.

Although Albania's vote in UN wasn't always aligned with the US and Israel, Peleg stated that countries are being guided by their own interests, and “I don't expect Albania to work by Israeli interests. I expect Albania to work by Albanian interests. But showing the friendship and showing the strong position of values is very important… Albania was one of the first countries that joined the designation of Hamas and Hezbollah as terror organizations. It joined the statement against anti-Semitism. I think that the values are strong. And once your values are in the right place, then we have a lot of common values to stand for.”

Journalist Xhafo asked this intriguing question: “Are the Israelis, the Israeli government, or Hebrew lobbies within the UN, behind the idea of the Bektashi state in Albania?”

Ambassador Peleg responded: “Look, we have very good relations with the Bektashi, I have very good relations with Baba Mondi. I appreciate him very much and I know that he also supports Israel. But this is an issue that we don't interfere. I don't know if to say it's an internal issue of Albania, but we don't meddle, not in the Vatican, not in the Bektashi community, not in the Orthodox Church, and not in the Muslim community. It's not our business.”

Asked how comethat the Bektashi leader Baba Mondi has a special relation with the Israelis, to the point that even President Herzog met him, Ambassador Peleg replied:

“Since I've build the program of president Herzog and since I accompanied him from the minute he landed until the minute he took off, I can tell you President Herzog met Baba Mondi at the monument for commemoration of the Holocaust, together with representatives of all the religious leaders. We had an event there, we invited the President to lay wreath at the monument, together with Mayor Veliaj, and we invited the representatives of all religious leaders, all religious communities in Albania to join us, and this was the only event where he met him. He shook his hand, that's it, there was no meeting. Anything else is a myth. And believe me, because I was with the President, for every second of his visit”. 

/ Summary of Endri Xhafo’s interview with Ambassador of Israel Galit Peleg