The Moldovan authorities’ attitude to the war in Israel is correct and decent and is stated explicitly and unequivocally, while the Moldovan population’s attitude is clearly empathic. There are a series of factors that make the Moldovan citizens take sides with Israel, expert Igor Boțan stated in a public debate hosted by IPN.
Igor Boțan noted that the Moldovans have always been impressed by the way in which the Jewish people, after 2,000 years, owing to their culture, managed to return to the Promised Land and to develop. Also, tens of thousands of Soviet compatriots at that time immigrated to Israel and the Moldovans maintain ties with them. About 20,000 Moldovans work in Israel and this is another significant factor. These things can produce only an attitude of sympathy and empathy with the Jewish people.
The permanent expert of IPN’s project said the situation in Israel reached a point when it is hard to find solutions. Israel can enter the Gaze Strip, but such a move will imply casualties in the Israeli army and among the civilian population in Gaza. “There are no simple solutions. There is also the interest of Russia that had the intention of distracting attention from the war it wages on Ukraine and Hamas even thanked Russia for blocking a UN Security Council decision,” stated Igor Boțan.
“The current international conditions allow such a behavior on the part of the terrorist organization Hamas as there is the example of Russia, which launched a military aggression against Ukraine. Russia is implicitly the beneficiary of this war in the Middle East. Therefore, evidence of Russia’s interest in the launch of this war is being looked for. The further developments cannot be predicted. Initially, Israel, by methods it used earlier too, tried to destroy the infrastructure of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, knowing that the Hamas leaders hide themselves in crowded places so as to later speculate about the loss of human lives. Israel also stopped the supply of water and electricity to this region and reactions as to a humanitarian catastrophe in the region appeared at international level”.
Igor Boțan considers that Israel can refrain from a land operation in the region, but can take the energy and other resources that go to the Gaza Strip under control so as to avoid introducing its army there and endangering the lives of the own soldiers and of the civilians there. “To avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, the assistance should be portioned so that it is not used by the Hamas leaders to produce or import weapons with which to shell Israel,” said the expert.
The public debate entitled “War in Israel: What is it and what should we expect?” was the 291st installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
