An Hour with Ambassador Gilad Cohen

It was just yesterday, November 5th, that I had the time to interview Ambassador Gilad Cohen, ambassador of Israel to Japan. It was truly an honor for me to interview Ambassador Cohen yesterday. It was not a person-to-person interview, but I was able to ask various questions, so I could listen to various opinions directly from him. It’s not like a press conference-style interview; the ambassador answers a list of questions I ask. I requested to the embassy.

I wondered, and reached the conclusion that I need to tell straightforwardly what the intentions of my interview were, and at the same time, why it matters that I have an interactive conversation with almost all of the people whom I interview. I wondered while I was trying to tell what my intentions are, because many are like “interviews.” Simply put, people who read this may think that I do for Israel. Of course, I do. However, considering the history of Japan, we have to take pride in having a good relationship with the Jewish people and Israel. After I started organizing this interview, I started to think that it’s important for me to actively write about “Israel” to people in Japan.

These days, it’s very interesting for me that social media like YouTube, X, podcasts, Substack, blogs, and many other platforms have become an important source of information to the public. I’ve been interested in social media for quite some time, not mostly for personal reasons. I’m not a tech person, so it’s been taking time, but I’m slowly learning how convenient each platform it. I was watching both the old media and social media and YouTube. The information on YouTube and social media has improved a lot over time, and social media is now a part of public opinion that can’t be denied.

Anyway, the reason I say this is that I can’t deny the antisemitic attitude I see in Japanese people toward Ambassador Cohen during the Press Conference. It’s not about rudeness, but the scary fact is that the Japanese media, as an organization, has a strong tendency to provide extremely Antisemitic disinformation/vile lies about Israel, which will result in giving wrong information about Israel.

I wonder if the Japanese media would trigger some incitement to antisemitism. I’ve had some fear, especially after October 7th. However, when the ambassador kindly accepted my interview request, I started to feel that I should seriously write about or talk to the Japanese public, “Don’t believe the disinformation. Don’t believe the lies the Hamas supporters create and spread on social media like TikTok.

If you see the public broadcasting NHK loudly airing Al Jazeera, whose journalists were acknowledged as Hamas commanders and fighters officially, as the “right” information about the Middle East. Or, the prominent media in the Middle East. When I heard this in the news on NHK, I wanted to ask, “When did NHK become the ‘prominent’ news in the Middle East?”

Japan has stopped UNRWA after October 7th. President Trump stressed their vile hate against the Jewish people and the State of Israel back in 2016. Who, with normal common sense, doesn’t get disgusted or feel fury against the educational program UNWRA provides students? Israel had tried to cooperate with the UWNRA to support the Palestinians in Gaza in the past. Israel supported and built water pipes for the Palestinians. What happened? They created the rockets to fire at the innocent Israelis in Israel.

UNWRA, referring from Dr. Einat Wilf, has been taken over by Hamas. I actually see clear Nazi ideology in Hamas, and I discussed this with Dr. Einat Wilf back in April. When I see the singing, you’ll probably understand, but you can never forgive or allow the education of children to be terrorists, but there is a reality that the United Nations has funded the terror organizations since UNWRA was founded.

Although UNWRA was an organization of the United Nations, it has been the funding source of the terror organizations not only in Gaza but also in the Palestinian Authority. UNWRA workers were caught on camera and in the surveillance video raping and slaughtering the innocent Israeli people.

After October 7th, what the old Japanese media gave to the ambassador was the possibility of “violence against the Palestinians.” No condolences from the Japanese media, looking at them. They rather blamed Israel on October 7th. They rushed to blame, “Israel will commit mass murder of the innocent Palestinians.”

In the middle of my fear, I saw Ambassador Shingo Yamagami, one of the most prominent diplomats and a former Ambassador of Japan to Israel, visit Ambassador Gilad Cohen. He also questioned what is called “peace in the dreamland(in Japan, people often call this peace in the flower bed).” I totally agree with what he posted on X.

“Peace” is a word, but peace isn’t something unreal. Peace is what the Japanese people want, and so do the Israeli people. Japan has a lot to learn from Israel. As I mentioned, Israel is the very nation that has been successful in defending itself for decades since its foundation. Israel has a very structured and efficient intel organization, which Japan definitely needs. Japan is in serious need of cybersecurity.

There is a lot that Japan is able to share and also learn from Israel. Now that Japan has a very practical female Prime Minister, I strongly believe that she knows who Japan’s ally is. Israel is most definitely one of the most important allies to Japan. The most important Ally of Israel and Japan is the United States. This is an undeniable truth.

Japan and Israel have the same victims, the kidnapped hostages who are not returned. As a Japanese, I strongly believe every single hostage, whether they’re deceased or not, must come back to Japan, and for the same reason, Israel must strongly demand the return of all the hostages. Noa Argamani and the hostages’ family members came to Japan to ask for awareness about the hostages in Gaza.

I strongly believe that telling the Japanese people the right information is required now. There is a reason, and I have a lot of cause as an independent nonfiction author to write about Israel. Especially after October 7th, I have received a number of fondly kind messages from people from Israel, the Jewish people, and non-Jewish people who support Israel like me. And, I will not fear the hate.