Israeli Ambassador to BiH: Iran was close to completing a nuclear bomb, we had to act

Peleg claimed Iran was close to completing a nuclear bomb, citing reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in May and June that indicated how advanced Iran’s nuclear program had become. She asserted that the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites—carried out with U.S. assistance—had eliminated or damaged key facilities and infrastructure related to uranium enrichment and missile production, and that more than 60% of Iran’s missile launch sites and some nuclear scientists had been targeted or killed.

Peleg criticized claims by Iran's ambassador to BiH that Tehran had not provoked the conflict, calling them absurd given Iran’s decades-long work on nuclear weapons and threats to destroy Israel. She said that Iran’s ballistic missile program, combined with nuclear ambitions, posed an existential threat to Israel and others, with missile ranges extending well beyond Israel’s borders.

Speaking about Gaza, she emphasized that the war is primarily about rescuing the remaining 51 hostages still held by Hamas since October 7, and eliminating the "terrorist threat" Hamas poses to Israel. Peleg defended Israeli military actions, claiming that most casualties in Gaza were Hamas fighters, not civilians, and that Hamas is responsible for prolonging the conflict by refusing to release hostages or surrender.

Regarding criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and accusations of genocide or war crimes, Peleg argued that such claims are baseless and anti-Semitic if they ignore context or single out Israel unfairly. She added that many pro-Palestinian voices wrongly defend Hamas, which she accused of stealing humanitarian aid, oppressing Palestinians, and fueling the conflict.

Speaking about the cancellation of a rabbinical conference in Sarajevo, she expressed concern over "anti-Semitic" remarks by certain Bosnian politicians.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina has adopted the definition of antisemitism as prescribed by the IHRA, and according to that definition — and despite it — we still hear antisemitic voices from Sarajevo and certain statements that mask that antisemitism by claiming it is merely constructive criticism, but it is not," said Peleg.

She stated that the comments made by Minister Adnan Delic were shocking, calling his attack on the Jewish organization of European rabbis "antisemitism because they are not an organization of the Israeli government."

Responding to the claim that his reaction was based on media reports alleging that those rabbis support Israel, which is "committing crimes in Gaza, starving the people of Gaza, and denying those crimes," and to N1's question about Israel's goal in Gaza since everything appears like genocide/ethnic cleansing, she replied:

"The use of such terms — I addressed this when I spoke about how Israel is being singled out in these accusations. Claims of genocide and war crimes are made without facts, and only when it comes to Israel," said Peleg, speaking about conflicts and mutual killings among Muslims in Syria and Africa.

"It’s fine to criticize Israel as a country and the policies of a particular government, but when labels and slogans are thrown around without verifying the facts, and from that emerges a portrayal of Israel as the source of all the world’s evil — then that is antisemitism," Peleg stated.