Hopeful of India designating Hamas as terror organisation: Israeli Ambassador Naor Gilon
New Delhi, Nov 2: Israel is providing to India more information relating to Hamas and it is hopeful that New Delhi will designate the group as a terrorist organisation as done by around 40 nations, Israeli Ambassador Naor Gilon said on Thursday.
In an exclusive interview to PTI, the envoy said India is supporting Israel the way it wanted and that the current "crisis" only proved how strong the ties between the two countries are.
Delving into various aspects of the Hamas-Israel conflict, he said Tel Aviv is fine with New Delhi sending humanitarian aid to people of Gaza as it is in support of extending humanitarian assistance to those in need.
The ambassador, at the same time, underlined Israel's expectation from India to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
"We are in a process of providing information and making it very organised," he said, exuding confidence that New Delhi will heed to Israel's request.
"Israel is doing it all around the world and not only in India. Hamas is already designated (as a terrorist organisation) in around 40 countries. All the European Union member nations and the countries like the US, the UK, Australia, Canada have done it. We want many of our friends to designate it."
Referring to Hamas leader Khaled Mashal virtually participating in a pro-Palestine rally in Kerala, the Israeli envoy said India's designation of Hamas will help prevent such activities.
"I hope India will go down that road (designating Hamas). I didn't even get a promise for that. We are doing it as a sincere effort to add as many friendly countries as possible like we see in Lashkar-e-Taiba and other organisations," he said.
"I think it is very legitimate to request reciprocity," the envoy added.
To a specific question, he said he was "hopeful" of India designating Hamas as a terror outfit.
Asked about mounting global concerns over the death of over 8,000 people and the plight of civilians in Gaza in view of the Israeli military offensive, Gilon said his country was doing its utmost to prevent humanitarian suffering and loss of lives.
"For example we took three weeks before we began ground operation. We told the population in Gaza to go South. Unfortunately many did not because there was pressure on them by Hamas. They (Hamas) are hiding behind human shields," he said.
The Israeli ambassador also asserted that his government was in support of providing humanitarian assistance to people in Gaza.
"We want to avert any humanitarian crisis. We are letting in humanitarian aid. If India wants to send humanitarian aid, it is fine with us. There is no contradiction," he said.
"We are getting strong support in India. Of course, there are elements which are less friendly, but I think the majority here are strong supporters of Israel and they understand the risk of not eliminating Hamas," Gilon said.
"All my expectations from India are fulfilled. India is supporting us vocally, India is helping us in ways that we asked. We are very happy. I expect may be to designate Hamas as a terror organisation... But other than that our cooperation and coordination have been very good," he said without elaborating.
The Israeli envoy said his country was determined to root out the threat of Hamas.
"We went to sleep Friday evening (October 6) thinking Hamas is our neighbour and woke up Saturday morning, October 7, with an understanding that it's ISIS on our border. One of the main failures of Israel is that we wanted to believe and convince ourselves that they (Hamas) are not jihadists and that they are rational people," he said.
Over 1,400 people were killed in the unprecedented attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7. Hamas has held more than 220 people hostage in Gaza.
According to authorities in Gaza, over 8,000 people have been killed in retaliatory strikes by Israel.
Asked if Israel was open to putting a "pause" in the fighting to allow humanitarian aid to reach people in Gaza, the ambassador said "We will see what is the right thing to do on the ground."
He said if there is a window of opportunity for release of the hostages, then Israel is likely to go for a "pause".
We do not want to give Hamas any kind of advantage, he said.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
