Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Quips it would be easier for President Biden to talk to Hamas than the Congress Leadership

President Ranil Wickremesinghe cautioned if Gaza was destroyed it would have a rippling effect from Turkey to the Philippines and governments could lose control.

Destroying Hamas is one thing. They can take military action against it. But what is the reaction, if you go and destroy Gaza, the whole situation will change in 24 hours. There is nothing, the governments here can control. From here all the way to Indonesia and elsewhere, governments will lose control of the situation…. If you go into Gaza, the whole Middle East will be on fire that will affect all of us here. Turkey on one end up to the Philippines, on the other side ,it will affect central Asia,” President Wickremesinghe said addressing the Galle Dialogue 2023 Indian Ocean defense conference on Wednesday.  

Excerpts: What is the new emerging order, while I was free last week, I jotted down some points to talk about the emerging order. Yesterday, I tore it up. What has happened in between has made what I was going to say redundant. But, it will affect what is going to happen now after the Hamas attack on Israel. You could see politics taking its place. Israel has already formed a unity government. Destroying Hamas is one thing. They can take military action against it. But what is the reaction, if you go and destroy Gaza, the whole situation will change in 24 hours. There is nothing, the governments here can control. From here all the way to Indonesia and elsewhere, governments will lose control of the situation.

The whole picture of what I said will change. I would not anyway been involved in those negotiations. What do you do? On one hand, the unity government in Israel wants to strike back. If you go into Gaza, the whole Middle East will be on fire that will affect all of us here. Turkey on one end up to Philippines on the other side. It will, affect central Asia. The next few days will decide what the options are. I wouldn’t like to be in President Biden’s shoes. How does he handle it this way? Bad enough, with allies on both sides. How do you handle it domestically when you have to think of the Jewish vote block at the next election and his difficulty of speaking to congress? It may be easy for him to speak to Hamas than to speak to congress leadership. That is how delicate it is. On his decisions will depend what happens. All what you said today can change tomorrow. Let’s hope wise leadership prevails.  We all see lots of back-door diplomacy is going on. If all that will succeed somehow we can hold the situation. Otherwise, will have to meet again to decide what the new order that has emerged.”