On April 15, Mr Ben Hodges, a retired Lieutenant General of the US Army and former commander of the US Army in Europe, delivered the seventh lecture at the National University of Ostroh Academy. The lecture topic was "US Policy Vis-à-Vis Israel and Hamas and the Gaza Strip Conflict: Lessons in Diplomacy, the Use of Force, and Broader Implications for the Region and on Ukraine".
The meeting was moderated by Eduard Balashov, Doctor of Science (Psychology), Full Professor, and Assistant Rector for International Cooperation and Fundraising of the NaUOA.
We present the most important quotes from the lecture of Mr Ben Hodges:
- "The theatre of war in the Middle East causes instability in the world. One of the reasons why the Middle East is important is the stockpiles of gas and oil there. And the second reason – the impact on russia's war in Ukraine."
- "Why USA always support Israel? There is a huge Jewish population in the US and a huge American population in Israel."
- "It is interesting how Iran's last attack changed the calculus. Nobody talks about Gaza anymore. Iran has learnt a lot about the Israeli defence system. There were launched hundreds of drones and missiles ad almost 0-efficiency result."
- "Next step can be that both sides are planning their next fight, and it doesn't look sustainable."
- Netanyahu has to make things clear. The mission for the IDF to destroy HAMAS is clear, but I don't think it is achievable. However, I do not consider this goal achievable. Because of destroying thousands of innocent people, thousands want to join HAMAS. This became a dilemma between the Israeli and the US governments and a political problem for the US president."
- "This war is not about religion. This war is about the land. We have a long way to go."
- "The US want to limit escalation in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. NATO air forces should do in Ukraine what we did in Israel, shooting down missiles. But it will change a lot if the US will join this."
- "It is known that many countries joined Israel to shoot down missiles, but it is also known that some countries joined Iran to launch missiles. That means that Iran has influence on plenty of states."
- "Iranian people are not as religious as the Iranian regime is. It needs russian tech, support to make nuclear weapon. The task is for Ukraine to defeat russia before it helps Iran to create nuclear weapon. The point is to isolate Iran from russia, which will reduce its abilities to create a nuke and abilities to influence on proxies. If we demonstrate that we can do with russia's nuke bluff, it will be a signal for Iran."
"When you hear General Hodges say that every time he listens to the profound and meaningful analytical reflections and questions of the students of Ostroh Academy during his lectures, he believes in a bright future for Ukraine, it makes you think that our university is on the right path to educating the true future elite of Ukraine, who will soon be successfully and effectively building that future."
