Israel’s Ambassador to Ghana, Roey Gilad, has justified his country’s renewed military strikes against Iran, describing Tehran as a long-standing and active threat to Israel’s existence.
His comments come amid a sudden escalation in hostilities between the two nations, which reignited just days ago in June 2025.
Speaking on PM Express on Monday, June 16, Ambassador Gilad pointed to Iran’s decades-old rhetoric and actions against Israel as justification for the current military response.
“Whenever your enemy clearly declares his will and wish to get rid of you, to annihilate you, to destroy you, to erase you from the face of the earth—as the Iranian leaders have done since February 1979—that’s when we become worried,” he stated.
He emphasized the danger of an adversary like Iran, which he said combines both the will and the capability to do harm.
“We have many enemies who would like to erase us from the face of the earth but do not have the ability.
“We have states that have the ability but do not want to. But when we have an enemy that has both—this is when we become worried,” Ambassador Gilad explained.
The ambassador’s remarks follow a sudden flare-up in tensions between Israel and Iran in early June 2025.
Reports indicate that Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting strategic locations in Israel.
The Israeli Defense Forces responded with a series of precision strikes against Iranian military infrastructure, both inside Iran and in neighboring territories believed to be hosting Iranian operatives.
This marks one of the most direct and intense confrontations between the two nations in recent history, moving beyond the usual proxy warfare and covert operations that have defined much of their decades-long rivalry.
Iran has openly opposed Israel’s existence since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Its leaders have repeatedly declared the intention to resist and dismantle the Jewish state, and its government has supported militant groups across the Middle East that have carried out attacks on Israeli interests.
Ambassador Gilad framed the current conflict not as a sudden provocation, but as a culmination of years of hostility that Israel can no longer afford to overlook.
“We don’t react lightly,” he added. “But when an enemy demonstrates both the determination and the means to harm us, we are forced to act.”
.
