U.S. leadership needed to ensure Middle East stability, Israeli official says in Iowa

JOHNSTON — It is critical that America remain a moral compass to help Israel, both now and beyond next year’s presidential election, Israel’s Consul General to the Midwest said Thursday in Iowa.

Yinam Cohen discussed the Israel-Hamas war, and the rise in antisemitism in the U.S. during this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.

Cohen praised U.S. President Joe Biden for his leadership on the world stage since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. He also expressed his appreciation for the widespread, bipartisan support for Israel from the U.S. Congress.

“President Biden really showed a lot of leadership since the beginning of the violence in our region, since the heinous attack that cost the lives of more than 1,400 Israelis,” Cohen said.

“He has really been a moral compass, not just only here in America, but also to the world, and his leadership and setting the goal for really eliminating Hamas, and this is very important.”

Republican candidates for president, who have spent a lot of time campaigning in Iowa before the state’s first-in-the-nation Republican caucuses, have been discussing the Israel-Hamas war on the campaign trail.

Cohen said regardless of who wins next year’s presidential election, the U.S. must lead the world with its values.

“We want the world to be led by the values of freedom and democracy of America, not by other values that are promoted by other countries maybe in other sides of the world,” Cohen said.

“We need the world to be led by America. We need the world to be led by the values of freedom and democracy. And this is why I think it is very important that America continues to play a major role in setting the right moral compass for the world.”

While discussing the conflict, Cohen said he agrees with Biden’s remarks earlier this week, in which he said it is important for Israel’s military to focus its effort on eradicating Hamas, and not at the expense of the Palestinian people who live in Gaza.

Cohen said Israel is coordinating daily with the U.S. administration on “every humanitarian issue,” including efforts to help American citizens currently in Gaza — estimates put that number at roughly 500 to 600 — who are trying to leave.

“I think the President (Biden) is very correct because … we have declared war on Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization that is inspired, financed and trained by Iran. Their only aim is not to advance Palestinian well-being or the two-state solution or whatever that would be. Their declared goal is to destroy the one and only true state, the state of Israel, and to kill as many Jews as they can,” Cohen said.

“So, we have declared war, and our goal is to eradicate the leadership and the terrorist capabilities of Hamas in the Gaza strip.”

At the same time, he said, Israel is “well aware” of the civilian population in Gaza and that the nation will “really try” to distinguish between Hamas and civilians.

If Israel’s military is successful in eliminating Hamas, a coalition of nations must help broker a long-term solution for peace in a region that has not had peace for decades, Cohen said.

“This is the most important question. When we think of the military goal, fully eradicating Hamas’s capability of perpetrating terror attacks, we should also think of the day after the war. How should the Gaza strip be ruled and managed?” Cohen said.

“I think that the most important thing on the day after is to make sure that both the international community but also our Arab friends and allies in the region … to make sure that the day after Hamas, they are able, the Palestinian population there, to set a road map and future for the civilian population there for a better life, better infrastructure, better education, eradicating the radicalism that is so deeply rooted right now among the population.

“This is our goal. … It is a plan, a road map for the next years. And we need the whole international community and the Arab allies to do that.”

Cohen also expressed concern for a spike in antisemitic incidents around the world, including in the U.S., since the Oct. 7 attacks.

According to preliminary data from the Anti-Defamation League, reported antisemitic incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault from Oct. 7 to Oct. 23 increased by 388 percent over the same period last year.

“Iowa Press” airs on Iowa PBS at 7 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday and at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on Iowa PBS World. The program also can be viewed at iowapbs.org/iowapress.

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