Exclusive – Maya Kadosh: Iran's Goal Is To Wipe Israel Off the Map

As tensions rise across the Middle East and Europe is grappling with the spillover effects of escalating regional conflicts, Israel is conducting military operations against Iran on two main fronts. Firstly, due to the nuclear capabilities that Iran has acquired in recent years; and secondly — and no less importantly — because of its ongoing ballistic missile program, Maya Kadosh, Ambassador of the State of Israel to Hungary, explained in Magyar Nemzet's Rapid Extra podcast.

Maya Kadosh, Israel's Ambassador to Hungary (Photo: Sandor Csudai)

As major cities across the West are grappling with an unprecedented surge of antisemitism, the Iranian regime and its Iranian regime and its proxies have once again mobilized in the Middle East. In an interview with Magyar Nemzet, Ambassador Maya Kadosh spoke about what’s at stake in the ongoing conflict — for Israel, and for the West as a whole.

– At the G7 Summit in Canada, one of the topics that's dominating the agenda is the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel. Iran is under a heavy air campaign from Israel, as targeted airstrikes continue. President Trump issued a warning: besides calling for a complete evacuation in Tehran, he also announced - on the Truth Social platform - that if Iran does not abandon its nuclear program, even the military option could be on the table. Could you please expand on this, and how big of a threat are we facing?  

– I'd like to emphasize that we are now in an operation against Iran for two reasons. The first is the nuclear capabilities that Iran acquired in the last few years. As we know now from the international community, and in part from at International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has enough raw materials to produce as many as nine bombs. The second - none less important - is Iran's ballistic missiles program.

Reacting to President Trump's announcement last night, that America won't allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, the ambassador underlined:

It's too early, and obviously we are not in the loop, and we are not deciding for the U.S., because it's up to the United States to decide how they are going to operate. But the position of the U.S. is very clear, and Israel is very thankful for this position. We are also very thankful for our American allies for helping to protect Israel, to use their defense system to protect our civilians. And I think we will now need to see what that policy means. 

– After the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) carried out targeted airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities "in the 11th hour," just before Iran may have reached a breakthrough in its nuclear program, you issued a stark warning: Iran’s threat is no longer confined to the Middle East, as its missiles can now strike deep within Europe, reaching big European cities, too. „Israel is doing what must be done” – you posted on X. So what should Israel do, and how can the international community assist ?

– Obviously, first and foremost, Israel is concerned about the security of its own citizens. And the Iranian threat over there is not only to hurt or harm Israel, or to start a war with Israel, or the Israeli army. They say „wipe Israel off the map.” They are threatening us that they will eliminate Israel, and they are operating to do so. It’s enough to look at how they finance their system, how they work, and how they have built terror states around Israel during the years –for instance the terrorist-military power of Hezbollah and Hamas – and how try to smuggle weapons into Jordan.

Iran is currently operating two programs: a nuclear program and a ballistic missile program. They are developing ballistic missiles that reach each and every corner of Europe. During the past few years, we saw that the range of these missiles is growing and growing. By now, it's covering all of Europe.

So first of all, Israel is operating to make Israel safer, but also –I think – it is doing some of the job for the European countries. And we happily saw that some of the leaders of the European countries... declared that Iran won't be able to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that Israel has the right to defend itself! This is what we expect from our allies,

– Ms. Kadosh stated. 

Israel Acted in the 11th Hour

– As far as I recall, Iran has been enriching uranium for at least 2 decades now. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has voiced its suspicions and concerns at every audit, and raised some flags, yet Tehran continued its program. How has Iran managed to "frame" it's nuclear program as „peaceful,” and only for civilian „energy supply” purposes for decades, in the face of evidence? In other words: why did Israel strike now, and not – say – years ago?

– It's a question of abilities and means of the Iranian regime. So if we look at over the years, the reports keep saying over and over that Iran’s is not a peaceful nuclear program. We saw the sanctions regime from the Americans and the Europeans, while many other countries tried other means and negotiations with the Iranians, to avoid Iran having a nuclear bomb.

But in the last few months we saw that they are breaking through, and they have enough materials for nine bombs, and they are intending to produce these!

Maya Kadosh underlined: 

Israel operated in the last possible minute, as you said. We couldn't wait more than that, if we wanted to save our citizens.

She added: 

The other question was: are we able to achieve our goals? I think during the last year and a half, after the military operation following October 7th, when Israel got involved, it managed to take out some of the threats on the way to Iran, because flying from Israel to Iran was very complicated.

The ambassador pointed out that the Lebanese army, as well as the Hezbollah, were threatening Israel with missiles, but that threat was eliminated.

And the Iranians attacked Israel a year ago and gave us the opportunity to take out all their defense system. The result: we now have open skies to Tehran, which we didn't have before. So what we did was operational, just like what the Iranian regime did,

– she said.

– Concerns are growing about rising antisemitism in Europe, and across the globe. Just recently, two Israeli embassy officials were shot dead in Washington, D.C, and there are constant protests at universities that are anti-Israel, or pro-Palestine in nature. Is this renewed antisemitism, in your view, a by-product of unfettered mass illegal migration in Europe? 

– People think, or used to think that antisemitism is only confined to attacks against the lone Jew somewhere in Europe or in America. But what we saw in recent years - and this is a sponsored movement that came from the Muslim countries - is that they are attacking the right of Israel, of the Jewish state, to defend itself. So they are no longer attacking single Jews, because it is considered politically incorrect, but they are attacking the Jewish entity, the Jewish state.

We see this growing trend in an increasing number of European countries. We also see that the policies of various governments often respond to the voices of their own domestic political audiences. Here in Hungary, we have not encountered such attacks, but elsewhere — where there is a significant Muslim population — governments tend to be less active in countering antisemitism or anti-Israel demonstrations. This is something we deeply regret and observe with great concern.

Maya Kadosh, Israel’s Ambassador to Hungary, was a guest on Magyar Nemzet’s Rapid Extra podcast (Photo: Sandor Csudai)

– For the average viewer who may not fully understand the word antisemitism, let’s introduce the concept of global Intifada. Perhaps simplistically, we could break down the forces involved in this global Intifada into regions: in Iran its the government (a known sponsor of terrorism) and the Revolutionary Guard, in Lebanon it’s the Hezbollah, in Gaza it’s the Hamas, and in the West, it's led by the Free Palestine movement. What’s the driving force behind these, and what partnerships does Israel build to tackle these? 

– We see this a lot at university campuses. It's usually not the single student who wakes up in the morning and decides that he's pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel. It's movements that have been sponsored by states for a long time. I think the Palestinians, and some of the Muslim world, saw that they cannot win over Israel in traditional wars, and that they will fail over and over again.

So they changed their strategy, trying go to put pressure on us through the legal and political sphere, and trying to isolate Israel - or the Israelis, or the Jews - with their boycotting campaigns.

The goal is clear: if they manage to make Israel an unwanted player in the international arena, then Israel will be "surrounded" and will disappear. 

I think the Hungarians understand it very well that Jews have the right to have a country for themselves, just as any other minority, and that Israel is a democratic country that's fighting for its own existence, and it has the right to defend isself - and this is precisely what we are doing.

– Coming from a Polish family yourself, with Holocaust survivors. You've been to Budapest before your appointment, but now you're stationed here. When on the streets, what's your take about public security in Hungary? How safe is it for the Jewish community or Jews, in general, and is Hungary's zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism, in your view, a model to follow? 

– First of all, personally, I salute Prime Minister Orban and what he's doing with the „zero tolerance” policy. You feel it in the street.

I think more and more Israelis are coming to Hungary, and to Budapest. We have over a quarter of a million tourists coming to Budapest. And even now, when the skies are closed and people are stuck in many other cities, on a daily basis, we - in Budapest - have more and more tourists coming from different, mainly Western European cities to Budapest, because they feel safer here.

After being stuck for weeks in Paris, or London or Amsterdam, they say they don't feel safe. They feel that maybe they are targeted. They see the demonstrations starting, so they're coming over here. This is for the Israelis. As for the local Jewish community, I think I haven't seen any community that's thriving the way this community thrives. Just think of the ahe amountof exhibitions, events, community life, synagogue openings here in Budapest, and Hungary, overall . People don't have any fear to appear Jewish here. They are free to wear the kippah, or their traditional clothing. I see many dressed in traditional Jewish clothing. I see people speaking Hebrew openly in the street. I see that the synagogues are working, without any extra measure of security. Obviously, we are living in sensitive times, and the local police is really, really helpful in making sure that our communities are safe. But, in general: 

it's very safe to be a Jew in Hungary.

– On April 3rd, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu paid a visit to Budapest and met PM Orban. Hungary honored Netanyahu’s visit and announced that it would withdraw from the ICC, which it decribed as a political body, making the friendship deeper between the two countries. What are the main pillars of this deepening friendship, and what role is your embassy planning to play in this? 

– I think both countries share the same values, which are - first of all - democracy. Second, it's the local identity. The identity of the Jewish state, or the Hungarian state, is something that we both respect very much.

Both countries reject any outside interference into what they view as building their national character, their own identity. Also, the personal friendship and the connection between the Christians and the Jews, the Christian and Jewish values and family values are very important to both leaders.

I hope that once we are over with this operation and war, I will be able, as an ambassador, to develop more people-to-people relations, that we will have that opportunity for more people to visit Israel, and to have delegations of students to come, so we can learn about each other, about each other's culture, and forge even closer economic ties.

Cover photo: Maya Kadosh, Israel's Ambassador to Hungary (Photo: Sandor Csudai)