Hamas can end the war by releasing hostages; Gaza health ministry inflating number of casualties: Israeli envoy Orli Weitzman

Israel Consul General to South India Orli Weitzman on Monday said Hamas can end the war by releasing the hostages. “The war with Hezbollah is basically over. I hope that Hamas will show reason and free the hostages so that we'll be able to discuss the end of the war there as well," the diplomat told THE WEEK.

The consul general claimed the number of people killed in Gaza has been misreported. "First of all, every death that's happening (in Gaza) is reported as an Israel-related death. Which is, of course, nonsense. There are people there who are dying of diseases and accidents. Secondly, the numbers are inflated. I don't trust the guys in the (Palestinian) Ministry of Health. I don't think they report accurately. I think they're lying about that as they're lying about many other things. But the most important thing is, of course, the issue of using human shields," she alleged.

Weitzman, who pursued her bachelors in psychology and sociology from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, completed her MBA in organisational behaviour studies and finance from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Appointed as Consul General in Bengaluru in August 2024, her jurisdiction covers southern states, including Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu besides the Union territory of Puducherry.

The envoy said in Karnataka, she will look at improving ties in the innovation and technology sectors in Bengaluru where Israel can contribute. However, Weitzman said unlike Israel, which is focused on innovation, Tamil Nadu is more focused on manufacturing and that they are looking at sectors where they could find overlapping interests.

In Kerala, she said, there is a misunderstanding at the political level regarding the conflicts in the Middle East. "My aim is to try, at least the first year or so, to reach out to people in a way to make them open-minded– to realise that the situation is not one side good, one side bad–it is a much more complicated situation than that," she said. "Before we can start talking about deeper cooperation and innovation in other areas that might interest people of Kerala, there has to be an openness to understand and work with Israel."

Weitzman said there is a rise in the number of Indians immigrating to Israel since the war started. “There is an increase in the number of workers coming from India and Thailand. And I think it will probably be the same. We still need a lot of workers as there will be a lot of rebuilding on the northern and southern borders. Some of the work that was done by Palestinians in the past is now being done by other countries.”

Touching upon Bashar al-Assad being supplanted by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), she said, "We don't know what kind of regime we'll see there. I'm praying that (HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) will take the Syrian people in the directions that will lead them to prosperity and happiness, because they deserve it. But we don't know that for sure." Comparing the two regimes, the envoy said, "It wasn't good before, it might not be good again, but at least a change is an option for something better."

"Assad was stable but because of Iranian abilities at our border. His regime was tactically quiet but that doesn't mean it was good for Israel. It was also tactically quiet in Gaza for a while and we thought everything was OK," Weitzman said, "Within Syria itself, there's so many groups, there's so many dynamics that it's really hard to say. I know that it could be a problem, but it could also not be."

In the past, Weitzman has served in various roles in the foreign ministry, including as Israel's deputy ambassador to Ireland. Talking about Tel Aviv closing its embassy in Dublin over "extreme anti-Israel policies" on December 15, Weitzman said unlike in Ireland, people in India are open-minded and are able to understand different points of view when it comes to the Palestine issue.

"Indians are able to have these thoughts partly because of the history of the country... there's an understanding that not everything is clear-cut, black or white. In Ireland, I didn't feel that they had that," she explained.