"Krone" interview

“The world has already written off Israeli hostages”

Major Arye Sharuz Shalicar, who grew up in Berlin, has been explaining the Gaza operation from the perspective of the Israeli army since the start of the war.

(Bild: zVg)

He is the German voice of the Israeli army: Arye Sharuz Shalicar, press spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, grew up in Berlin as the son of Persian Jews. The eventful life of the 46-year-old has already been the subject of a film, and the "Krone" newspaper spoke to him in Vienna about the war in the Middle East.

Kronen Zeitung: Mr. Shalicar, we wanted to talk to you about your life and your amazing biography, but then the war in the Gaza Strip began. In the south, the Israeli army surprisingly withdrew at the weekend, and instead maneuvers are now being held in the north on the border with Lebanon. Even the White House can't make sense of it. Can you explain to us what is happening?
Arye Sharuz Shalicar: It's good that many people are confused. Because that means that the enemy is irritated. In the beginning, we explained too much publicly and gave Hamas and Islamic Jihad too much information. We sent 17 million text messages to civilians in the Gaza Strip and dropped flyers, which of course also warned the enemy. This approach is now outdated after six months; we are once again relying more on surprise effects to achieve results. 

Major Arye Sharuz Shalicar, who grew up in Berlin, has been explaining the Gaza operation from the perspective of the Israeli army since the start of the war.

(Bild: zVg)

Is this a sign of growing impatience in Israel? The operation is already one of the longest armed conflicts the country has ever been involved in.
There is pressure on Israel, firstly from the 133 hostages who are still being held captive by Hamas. But also by our international allies. Incidentally, I miss this pressure on the other side. Our feeling is that no one is really putting pressure on Hamas. 

Deployment of troops: the mighty 98th Division has surprisingly withdrawn from the south of the Gaza Strip.

(Bild: AFP)

There was a solidarity march for the hostages in Vienna at the weekend, while frustration is growing in Israel that they have not yet been freed. Most recently, the anger was vented during a funeral march for an Israeli who was killed. What can Israel do to unload this pressure back onto Hamas?
Militarily, we did everything we could to free the hostages ourselves. Unfortunately, we have only succeeded twice. And that was in six months. If you had asked me in October, I would have said: we will manage more. This shows how deeply Hamas has dug itself into the Gaza Strip over the past 20 years. It took the US a year in Mosul too, and that was just one city. There are 20 such urban centers in Gaza, where the civil administration is also infiltrated by Hamas. It will take time to break that. You know, Israelis are fundamentally impatient. People say "bring them home NOW", now. I want now too, I'd like yesterday. But there is no quick solution, and the slow solution comes at a high price. But we could all save ourselves that price if the Hamas terror government would release the hostages.

How would the international allies react in such a case?
If the hostages were released, the pressure from abroad on Israel to cease hostilities would increase enormously. And many in Israel itself would also say: enough, we have the hostages back. But they won't release them. And so the international pressure should be exerted on Hamas, on the cause. Not on the effect. 

During the recapture of the attacked kibbutzes on October 7, forces left signs on the walls. This means that bodies were found.

(Bild: zVg)

After six months of war, do you see any signs of movement from Hamas?
The only way we see at the moment is to use military pressure to persuade Hamas to release hostages. If anyone has any other ideas - great. Our allies keep saying that they want a ceasefire now, coupled with the release of hostages. We say: it has to be the other way around. We expect the hostages to be released, coupled with a ceasefire. This reversal is the wrong approach, and I don't understand the logic behind it. 

Hamas is not only the enemy, Hamas is also the entire administration in Gaza, from the police to schools and hospitals. If Hamas is weakened, there will also be a vacuum in civilian life, in the administration. Who will fill it?
Israel doesn't want to administer there. We withdrew completely in 2005. In Israel you have a 20 percent Arab minority, in the Gaza Strip not a single Jew. We handed it over "Jew-free", with a lot of hope that the Gaza Strip would develop well. Then Hamas came along and turned everything upside down. Totalitarian, anti-Semitic, with no chance of a side-by-side.

A young Hamas fighter with an anti-aircraft guided missile during the attacks on October 7

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

But what will happen on the first day after this war?
Who will be in charge there is a big question mark. At any rate, it will no longer be Hamas. The hope would be that pragmatic Arab countries - similar to the Allies in Germany and Austria after 1945 - would support the administration with money and personnel and provide security. 

Which countries would come into question?
Gulf states, Egypt. I'm a military spokesman, it's not something the military decides. But I think that's the right approach.

Let's talk about the airstrike on senior Iranian military officials in Damascus. Israel has not claimed responsibility. 

I know. 
It's clear that the head of the snake of all these terror militias, like Huthis, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and others in the region, is in Iran. It is like a spider's web emanating from Tehran. In our defense campaign, we must not only oppose the errand boys, but also those who send them. 

Meanwhile, anti-Semitism is flaring up again in Europe, mainly in Muslim communities. But you also often talk about "German" anti-Semitism. What does that look like?
Nobody sees themselves as anti-Semitic. People with a Muslim background say: "We only have a problem with Israel, not with Jews. The real anti-Semites are the Germans or Austrians who haven't come to terms with their past." The other side plays the ball back, saying that migrants are the real anti-Semites. Today's anti-Semitism is not so much the "Jewish pig" from the Middle Ages. It's always about the Jewish state. People don't approach this conflict in Israel because they really care about the Palestinians, but because they want to get the Jews into trouble. 

How has your life changed in the past six months?
I was called at lunchtime on October 7 and have been in uniform ever since. I worked non-stop for the first 100 days, practically without sleep. I have two small children of my own, and when I heard that little girls had been abducted, I immediately thought: those could have been my children. And I would expect the whole world to stand by me in a situation like that. But somehow I have the feeling that the whole world has already written off the hostages. 

How are you feeling personally?
I don't know how I'm doing. Am I doing well, am I doing badly? I don't know. I laugh every now and then and have had a halfway normal everyday life for a month or two. But a lot of things have disappointed me. We are under attack from all directions, and these attacks can get even stronger. Many friends and allies don't have your back one hundred percent. We are not fighting in the Hindu Kush, we are fighting right on our doorstep. We have soldiers who are deployed one kilometer away from their family homes.