"My parents who are 88 years old, and live in Haifa, have to run to the safe room 3 times during the night due to sirens that worn from rockets launched by Hezbollah. This situation effects the politics, the economy, the stability for children. Many civilians are post traumatic from this situation, not to mention thousands who are still recovering, physically and mentally, from the atrocities of October 7th."

This is what Israeli Ambassador Galit Peleg told in an exclusive interview with Albanian Daily News.

According to the Ambassador, the war definitely caused damages to the economy. It has been the longest war we experienced and especially to the small businesses it is very challenging. The government invests a lot of efforts to find ways to support small SMEs, but no doubt some of them will have to close or start all over.

Since this war was forced upon us, we don’t have too many choices, said Ms. Peleg. "We literally see it as an existential war. So, there is no question here whether we decide to stop fighting. It’s either we win this war or we seize to exist. So yes, there are some countries that decided to put pressure on Israel, it makes them look good in the eyes of their Arab voters."

The Ambassador said she admired the government of Albania, which as a small country which is very serious about EU integration, a member of NATO, but at the same time has close relations with Turkey and is a member of OIC, is standing firm and tall when it comes to values such as fighting terror and Antisemitism.

"Israel will survive and continue to exist. 80 years ago, the Jewish people was facing the danger of extinction. We did not have anyone to save us. Today it must be very clear to Iran, to all their terrorist proxies: There is no plan B to the existence of the Jewish state," said the Israeli Ambassador Peleg in the following interview:

Albanian Daily News: Madam Ambassador, please could you tell ADN's readers about the internal situation in Israel when it is at war in many fronts. I mean the situation of the population, how do they feel morally, hospital system, schools, in general the daily life?

Israeli Ambassador Peleg: Israel has been in a state of war for more than a year now. We have 101 hostages in Gaza, and thousands of soldiers fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

But besides the military fronts you can feel the war in every walk of life. the civilians back home are in war too. Tens of thousands of Israelis are still displaced in temporary housing solutions, many businesses are closed, children cannot go to their schools, but even in their temporary locations they stay at home due to daily missiles attacks from Lebanon and Iran.

Only last Thursday we received the sad news of 5 civilians killed in the north of Israel while picking apples. Four of them were foreign workers from Thailand.

My parents who are 88 years old, and live in Haifa, have to run to the safe room 3 times during the night due to sirens that worn from rockets launched by Hezbollah. This situation effects the politics, the economy, the stability for children.

Many civilians are post traumatic from this situation, not to mention thousands who are still recovering, physically and mentally, from the atrocities of October 7th.

But at the same time the spirit of the people never seizes to amaze me. Mainly among young people, they are so motivated, dedicated. Thousands of volunteers are the backbone of the resilience of the society in Israel.

I have to admit that most of the population is exhausted of the situation, but at the same time realize that this time it is an existential war. If we let terror win, we will not survive.

- War situation: How is economy running, especially when many allies do not behave like before? Which are the countries and regions that Israel is developing normal economic relations?

- Luckily enough, Israel entered this war in a very good economic situation, and that enables us to keep the head above the water. In normal times Israel is not only in good shape but rather a world economic leader.

The war definitely caused damages to the economy. It has been the longest war we experienced and especially to the small businesses it is very challenging. The government invests a lot of efforts to find ways to support small SMEs, but no doubt some of them will have to close or start all over.

Also, the war effected the foreign investments and many of them were put on hold.

Having said that, we always say that the main resources in Israel are the human capabilities, so there are global companies that have long lasting business and R&D relations with Israel so they trust that once the war will be over restoring the strength of Israeli economy is very likely.

- I have been a close follower of the situation in the Middle East and especially Israel, but it has never happened that some western countries (Europe) have exerted such pressure on Israel. How is your country copying with a sort of isolationist situation? So, which is the level of the cooperation with them and are you worried about what is happening?

- Since this war was forced upon us, we don’t have too many choices. We literally see it as an existential war. So, there is no question here weather we decide to stop fighting. It’s either we win this war or we seize to exist. So yes, there are some countries that decided to put pressure on Israel, it makes them look good in the eyes of their Arab voters. Unfortunately, what some western leaders refuse to admit, some for political short sight and some for internal interests, that this war is not only about Israel’s ability to survive. In a worst-case scenario, if Israel would have lost to the terror organizations in the region, to Iran proxies – Europe would have been next. And Europe will be next, if the international community will not wake up and stand against terror firmly.

In this sense I admire the government of Albania, which as a small country which is very serious about EU integration, a member of NATO, but at the same time has close relations with Turkey and is a member of OIC, is standing firm and tall when it comes to values such as fighting terror and Antisemitism.

- How much the US stance affect Israel?

-US is the strongest power in the region. It affects not only Israel. And it is also our closest ally. So naturally we try to work together with the Americans and coordinate our activity with them. Having said that, Israel is an independent country and when it comes to our right and capability to defend ourselves, sometime we have to take brave decisions.

- Trump or Harris?

- I think we have to leave this decision to the American voters. The US has always been Israel’s closest ally and it was never a question of this party or the other. So, we hope it will stay like that. In any case Israel will respect the will of the American people and happy to continue close cooperation with the next president whoever it will be.

-Is there a danger of the spread of the conflict after the exchange of heavy strikes by Israel and Iran? Secondly, are there any possibilities that any other Arab countries could get involved in the war? Does Israel have a plan B?

- Unfortunately, Israel was dragged to this current situation when it is forced to conduct a war in several simultaneous fronts. There is no desire in Jerusalem to spread the fighting to additional or wider fronts.

It is no secret that the head of the snake, behind all the local terrorists in the region: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Houthis, etc. – is Iran. The radical regime in Teheran repeatedly states their desire to exnihilate Israel. For decades they built and nourished their proxies in the region on the borders of Israel and since April they opened a direct attack on Israel via missile attacks. Can Israel absorb these attacks without retaliation? I don’t think anyone believes so. But that doesn’t mean we wish to see the war spreading.

As I already mentioned, also for Iran Israel is a kind of a buffer. If we fail, Europe is next. Iran did not develop ballistic missiles that end at the range of Israel, it has the capability to lounge missiles to London if it wishes. And we can all imagine what will happen if they will use it. Therefore, this war is not a question if Israel will survive or contain this war, but rather where Europe and the rest of the western world want to be in the near future.

In this sense I don’t see Arab countries getting involved, unless, like we already hear, they come with initiative to solve the situation. I assume that Israel is willing to consider any suggestion that that will meet the security needs of Israel and first will insist on the immediate release of ALL hostages.

Israel will survive and continue to exist.

80 years ago, the Jewish people was facing the danger of extinction. We did not have anyone to save us. Today it must be very clear to Iran, to all their terrorist proxies:  There is no plan B to the existence of the Jewish state.

-There have been many peace plans between Israel and Palestinians during the years, to end the conflict. Do you think that one day peace will return to the region? 

- Israel always declares that our wish is to live in peace with our neighbors. In order to do so, first our neighbors must genuinely digest the fact the Israel is here to stay. Once the Palestinians will accept the fact that they will never have a state from the river to the sea, that they will never return to Jaffa or Acre or Haifa, that they will not “march with millions Shahids” to Jerusalem, only then we will have a chance for peace.

When you educate generations of children that terror is the solution to all your problems you just create bigger problems.

To overcome such a long conflict, we need brave leaders from both sides. When the Palestinians will have leaders such as Egyptian president Sadat, or King Hussein of Jordan, they will find partners on the Israeli side. There are a lot of people in Israel, even today, despite the pain, the grief, that understand that we cannot live on our swords till the end of the days and that a solution must be found. But it takes two to tango.

- Russia has its hands busy with its war with Ukraine. How do you assess this and is it a favorable situation for Israel?

- No war is a favorable situation for Israel.

Also, Israel does not have a front with Russia. We had good understanding in the past with the Russians and for a long time they restrained some of the extremist forces in the region. Having said that, the fact that a big country like Russia is preoccupied in another region helps to contain the current events and avoid escalation.