Israel doesn’t want ‘all-out war’
Diplomat hopes people in Korea can relate, sympathize with Jewish state
“The point is that Israel is doing whatever it can to protect itself, and part of this is to respond to actions in order to make all those actors to stop attacking. ”
Israel does not seek to trigger an all-out war in the Middle East region but will take necessary steps to protect its people in the wake of Iran’s unprecedented attack on the Jewish state last weekend, according to Barak Shine, Israel’s deputy chief of mission to Korea.
“A U.N. member state has attacked another U.N. member state with very heavy arms which included about 60 tons of explosives … We are worried that Iran will see this as an opportunity that will allow itself to continue to attack Israel,” Shine told The Korea Times in an interview, Tuesday.
“It’s a very, very grave situation not only for us but for everyone in the world because it can give signals to other malicious actors in the world to open wars and launch new attacks in other regions,” he added.
Iran mounted an immense aerial attack on Israel late Saturday night through early Sunday, launching around 350 drones and missiles in an unprecedented scale of direct assault on the Jewish state by Tehran. Despite the severity of the attack, minimal damage with no fatalities was inflicted on Israel, thanks primarily to the effectiveness of Israel’s top-tier air defense system backed by its Western allies.
The damage was light, but its implications are severe, said Shine.
“Let us not forget that because
the damage is minimal, it doesn’t indicate the severity of the attack itself. It could have been much worse. We need to look at the intention of the attacks, not just the results,” he said.
When asked whether the current tensions could potentially escalate into an all-out war in the Middle East region, the envoy replied, “Israel does not have any intention to create an all-out war. This whole situation was forced on Israel. The point is that Israel is doing whatever it can to protect itself, and part of this is to respond to actions in order to make all those actors to stop attacking.”
However, Shine refrained from commenting on a possible Israeli military counteroffensive against Tehran, saying that it is a decision for the Israeli government to make.
The envoy viewed that Koreans could easily relate to the situation in Israel, given that their nation is also under constant threats from its nuclear-armed northern neighbor.
“I hope that people in Korea can relate and sympathize with our situation. I think they can because all the security threats that were launched toward Israel on Sunday are the same security threats that Korea could face. Unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles, ballistic rockets … We hear all about it here as well,” Shine said.
In that regard, he thanked the Korean government for showing its support for his nation.
Hours after the Iranian attack, Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement strongly condemning Iran’s action, calling on all parties to exercise restraint in order to prevent further escalation of the situation.
Shine assured that Korean nationals residing in Israel are currently safe.
According to Seoul’s foreign ministry, no injuries, deaths or damage were reported among around 500 Korean nationals residing in Israel in the wake of the attack on Sunday. However, the government is still on alert, issuing a special travel advisory for Iran on Monday.
“The fact that no one got killed from 350 missile attacks — it’s not a miracle. It’s something that happened because we invest a lot of efforts to protect our people,” Shine said. “So I think that the 500 Koreans who live in Israel are still there because they can stay there and feel secure.”