H.E. Mr. Boaz Modai:

Civilians. When I speak about hitting a hospital, it was after the people there were notified in advance and were asked to leave the premises because missiles were being fired from it.

I am not saying that every person who criticises Israel is an anti-Semite. People who know me a little better know I am ready for any kind of criticism.

I once said to an editor of one of the newspapers here that he should not try to compete with the Israeli press because they criticise our Government better than any other press in the world. Anyway, there is a difference between that and people going all the way and saying that Hitler was right and that Hitler did not finish the work - we have Facebook. That is anti-Semitism, I do not know any other way to describe it. That is when people single out Israel and say that Israel has no right to defend itself or criticise it for many other things while at the same time they do not criticise other countries. The singling out of Israel by the EU at the time was decided as anti-Semitism. We know the tricks. It is not politically correct to be anti-Semitic or to speak against the Jews but people speak against the only state of the Jews, namely, Israel. I am not saying that everyone does that, not at all. That is not the motive behind every criticism, of course. However, I am saying that there are people who go from criticising Israel to claiming that Israel has no right to exist. From there, it is a very fine line to anti-Semitism. That is actually what it means.

Those in Hamas are not partners for peace. I am sorry. I know that some committee members may think differently. That is the position as long as Hamas has its charter. If the committee wishes I can send on the charter translated into English. One of the chapters states that as long as there are Jews, it is the mission of every Muslim to kill them. As long as this is in the charter of that organisation I do not believe there is anything to speak about, except the fact that they keep on using terrorism and violence against Israel. As long as there is violence we are not going to sit and speak with anyone.

There is no parity of esteem. I believe that Israel has an obligation in this regard. It is engaged in trying to find a solution to the conflict in the Middle East. I am not only referring to the conflict with the Palestinians. We would like to see a comprehensive agreement between us and all the moderate countries that still exist in the area. After the Arab spring some of them cannot really be seen as functioning countries. We would have far preferred to have seen something like that happen and we believe it is possible. I am optimistic. Just like H.E. Mr. Abdelrazek I believe there will be a solution. The question is how long it will take. I hope it will be in our generation. If not, it may take until the time of our children or grandchildren but it will come at the end of the day because there is no other choice for the people who live there.