Palestinians Need a State, Not Symbolic Moves - Ex-Netanyahu Security Advisor

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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said he will consider moving the Australian Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Sputnik has discussed this with Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the former head of Israel’s National Security Council.

Sputnik: In your opinion what would be the most likely reaction from the Arab world to Australia's reported intentions to move its embassy to Jerusalem?

Yaakov Amidror: I think it's very natural. We would be more happy if Russia will be the next one in line after the Americans, and some countries from Latin America. We would be more than happy to see more embassies in Jerusalem.

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Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, should be the capital of Israel, was the capital of Israel and will be the capital of Israel; and in Moscow, I'm sure that all the embassies are in Moscow. So why not in Jerusalem?

Sputnik: Who would benefit the most from that move if that happens?

Yaakov Amidror: Australia. They can be proud they moved to the oldest capital of Israel. Israel‘s capital in Jerusalem is more than 2,000 years old, almost 3,000 years and they can be proud that they move their embassy to the Holy city of Jerusalem which is the capital of Israel.

Sputnik: How significant is the decision by UNGA to allow Palestine to act like a member state during meetings next year? And what message does that send to Israel, the US and Australia?

Yaakov Amidror: I think the decision of the United Nations is very symbolic but at the end of the day the Palestinians need a state not symbolic moves. What they do instead of doing all the efforts to gain a state they're making symbolic efforts instead of negotiating.

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They're going United Nations. They will not get anything real by going to the United Nations. For real results, they have to negotiate with the state of Israel and it is something that they have to learn to do.

Sputnik: Egypt was the country that drafted that resolution in support of Palestine in the UN General Assembly, how vital is Egypt's support for Palestine?

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Yaakov Amidror: The Palestinians need the Arab world behind them. They lost part of this support in the last few years when the Arab countries learned that the Palestinians are not serious about negotiating with Israel; but the Arab world cannot neglect the Palestinians.

What we see as a result they don't bring to the Palestinians any practical solution or help; but they're ready to help the Palestinians in those symbolic steps that the Palestinians want to gain.

Sputnik: What are your expectations for how the situation will continue right now following the violence that we saw and the rising tensions between Israel and what's going on in Gaza?

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Yaakov Amidror: The decision is in the hands of the Palestinians and if they decide to continue the big operation, in the end, it's the Palestinian civilians in Gaza will be those who will suffer because Hamas is launching its rockets and missiles from within the populated areas.

So Israel will have to retaliate and to bomb those launches and it will be Hamas members that will be killed and probably civilians; because, as I told you, Hamas is using the Palestinian civilians as a shield, and we don't have any other way but to bomb and to destroy the launches and they're hiding behind the backs of their own people. So this is the nature of their organization.

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Hamas is launching an Islamic jihad, the organization is launching rockets from within populated areas into populated areas, into Beersheba and other places. So the question is what Russia would do if an organization would launch rockets into big cities in Russia. We will do the same.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of Yaakov Amidror and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.

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