Malta’s plans to recognise a Palestinian state next month would mean awarding a “strong prize to Hamas”, according to Israel’s new envoy to Malta.
Speaking during an interview with Times of Malta, ambassador designate Ruth Cohen Dar – who assumed the post in July but is yet to formally present her credentials in Malta – said her government thinks it is “really not the right time” for recognition.
Malta has historically maintained close and friendly relations with the Palestinian people and has consistently supported a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. But it was only last month that Malta officially announced it will recognise a Palestinian state during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in September.
Cohen Dar insists this is a mistake and hinted at possible repercussions: “Firstly, recognising a Palestinian state when there is nothing to recognise is really just a symbolic step, on the one hand, but, on the other, it’s a very strong prize to Hamas and to the brutality they have shown towards Israelis on the seventh of October [2023 attacks].”
While not being drawn on an exact “right time” for recognition of a Palestinian state, Cohen Dar stressed the 2023 attacks had led to a “trust crisis” between Israel and its neighbours.
“We do not want to rule the Palestinians, but we do want to make sure that whatever is being created on the other side of the border will not be a risk to Israeli lives.”
Describing recognition as a “terrible thing by the international community”, Cohen Dar said she hoped there would be “no recognition by Malta and that the right thing will be done”.
The ambassador admitted that Israel was having “discussions” on a possible diplomatic response to Malta’s plans to recognise a Palestinian state, but did not provide further details.
The Times of Israel reported that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar was pushing his government to close the French embassy in Jerusalem in response to France’s plans to recognise Palestine next month.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese and accused him of having betrayed Israel, after Canberra recognised a Palestinian state and cancelled the visa of an Israeli lawmaker.
Pressure is mounting on Israel following its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians since the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Cohen Dar was speaking to Times of Malta via video call in her first interview since taking over from former ambassador Ze’ev Boker, as Israel bombarded Gaza City ahead of a planned offensive to take control of the city and the EU warned of a “famine unfolding” in the Palestinian enclave.
She also serves as ambassador to Slovenia, director of the Department for Combating Antisemitism and Holocaust Remembrance and the head of Israel’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Cohen Dar will assume the role three months after Israel was accused of targeting a Gaza-bound activists’ vessel off Malta, which aborted the mission.
Quizzed on possible Israeli involvement in the alleged drone attack off Malta, Cohen Dar said she had “no information” about the attack.
“I have no information about that, so I cannot answer honestly and properly… as far as I know, there is no information about who attacked this ship, so I don’t know on what you’ve based the conclusion that Israel did.”
Flight tracking information showed a military aircraft leaving Israel and circling Malta in the hours before the attack, with military experts telling Times of Malta the pictures of the blast’s damage indicate it was likely caused by loitering munitions such as an Orbiter 1K, an Israeli drone designed for precision strikes.
Asked if she was concerned about international condemnation of Israel following reports of alleged breaches of humanitarian law and starvation of the Gazan population, Cohen Dar described such reports as a “propaganda campaign organised by Hamas and its allies Iran, Qatar and Turkey”.
“Yes, it’s very much concerning. And what’s more worrying than the fact that Israel’s reputation is being smeared is the way truth is being manipulated and twisted,” she said, questioning official casualty statistics.
More than 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Gazan casualty figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
“It’s Hamas controlling it [the Gaza health ministry] – it’s their data and it’s their interest to publish that twisted data and those twisted pictures.”
Last month, a Palestinian mother of three recounted to Times of Malta how her face was burned in an Israeli airstrike on a Rafah refugee camp that killed 22 members of her family.
She described desperate conditions that had left her children “malnourished” and said one of her husband’s companions had been shot by IDF forces while going to collect aid.
Responding to the Palestinian woman’s claims, Cohen Dar said it was “heartbreaking that this is happening to so many people” and that Israel was “trying to do our best to make the conditions as easy as possible”.
However, the ambassador said a network of tunnels underneath Gaza operated by the terrorist group “is something that needs to end”.
“If we cannot make sure that we can live in security and without the threat to the lives of Israeli citizens, then this is something that will stay as a breaching point between us and the Palestinians.”
Pressed on whether the woman’s experiences undermined the ambassador’s characterisation of reported conditions in Gaza as a propaganda campaign, Cohen Dar said she was not disputing the woman’s experience at all.
Responding to questions about an Israeli strike that killed five journalists working for Al Jazeera, the ambassador stressed her country was “not targeting members of the press” while reiterating her country’s claims that intelligence gathered on reporter Anas al-Sharif marked him as a “Hamas operative”.
The ambassador said journalists were not allowed into Gaza because it was a “dangerous war zone”, while claiming Hamas were “shooting indiscriminately”, including at Palestinians.
Last month, Israeli left-wing opposition leader and retired IDF major general Yair Golan was accused of “antisemitism” by far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he criticised the military for “fighting against civilians” and “killing babies as a hobby”.
Asked if criticising Netanyahu’s government or its policies was considered antisemitic, the ambassador said if someone challenged the “basic right of Israel to exist, then yes, you cross the very thin line between legitimate criticism towards policy and antisemitism”.
Reflecting on the October 7 attacks, the ambassador said Israel’s trust in its neighbours would take “ages to rebuild”, while noting there was also an “internal breach of trust” within Israel, pointing to recent protests.
“I have very strong trust in the Israeli society, that we will overcome this two-year crisis and come out of it stronger and better when the hostages are back and the war is over.”
