Envoy: Nigerians in Israel are safe, we’re not fighting Muslims but terrorists

Israeli ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, has said Nigerians in the country as well as citizens of other countries are safe.

Addressing journalists at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Freeman described Saturday’s attack by Hamas, where almost a thousand people died in less than 24 hours, as the gravest since the Holocaust.

The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews during World War II which lasted between 1941 and 1945.

It was time that Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population.

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Describing the attack, Freeman said Hamas is a terror group that wants to wipe out the Israelis, but said Israel will terminate every one of them.

“[Hamas] these are a terror group that have no mercy, and have decided that they want to slaughter the Israelis and destroy the State of Israel,” Freeman said.

“Nearly a thousand Israelis were murdered in one day. That was the gravest number of Jews killed in one day since the Holocaust.

“But, do you know it is not only Israelis? They killed Arabs, they killed Israeli-Arabs, they killed others from different countries.”

The ambassador said Israel has begun a war against Hamas, stating that it was not against the Palestinians, Muslims, or Arabs, but solely against Hamas.

He also said Nigerians and other nationals living in Israel are safe, as the Israeli government and troops will ensure their safety.

Freeman said the Israeli forces will eliminate Hamas so that there will not be a repeat of this in Israel or any other country.

“There is no justification for Hamas to attack. They have no right to hold children and women. Their major headquarters is under a hospital in Gaza. We are focusing on ensuring that everybody is safe, and how we are going to do that is to eliminate Hamas,” Freeman said.

Speaking about the safety of Nigerians, Freeman said, “Everyone is safe in Israel. Nigerians are safe. We will do everything we can to avoid civilian casualties. But the civilians will get killed, we should be prepared for that.”