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Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Israeli President Isaac Herzog told an international audience in Davos on Thursday that Israel cannot consider peace negotiations as it faces threats from Hamas and other militant groups. In an address to business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Herzog said Israelis lacked the headspace to think about a future peace while they were under constant threat of attack.
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"Nobody in his right mind is willing now to think about what will be the right solution of the peace agreements. Everyone wants to know that he will not be attacked in the same way from north or south or east," Herzog said.
Sat throughout beside a picture of 1-year-old hostage Kfir Bibas, Herzog also called for his release along with the other 137 Israelis being held by Hamas.
Herzog said that by Israel taking on Hamas and Hezbollah, it was containing the threat they posed to the rest of the world.
"If Israel were not there, Europe would be next and the United States is next, too. We are fighting a war for the entire universe, for the free world," he said.
The president's comments came as Israeli forces continued to pound the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis and local health officials confirmed the number of residents of Gaza killed since Oct. 7 had risen to 24,448 with 61,504 injured. The Israel Defense Force said 193 of its troops had been killed.
He added that Israel "lost trust in the peace processes because they see that terror is glorified by our neighbors," accusing Iran of fomenting conflict in the region.
"The world has to face it, no ifs or buts, there is an empire of evil emanating from Tehran spending billions of dollars in arms and money and people's well-being to derail the entire stability of the region and the world," Herzog said.
"They have proxies all over the region quietly lurking to undermine any peace process," Herzog said.
However, he acknowledged that at some stage Israel would look to a political solution and would have to sit down at the table with Palestinian representatives because Israel wanted a "future where we can live together and Gaza can be well managed."
But he categorically ruled out any possibility of Hamas involvement.
"Hamas is out of the question. We have to go and negotiate with those who could be a potential partner. We have to work as hard as possible to find new ways and means to have a dialogue with our neighbors the Palestinians and offer a future," he said.
"When nations come forward and say 'two-state solution,' we have to first ask are we [Israelis] offered real safety? What will be the outcome of any process, and can we guarantee safety for ourselves and our people?"
Herzog also stressed that normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia was key to his country's exit strategy from the war in Gaza, following comments made at the forum Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging Israel's "integration" into the region be fast-tracked.
"If you take a regional approach, and if you pursue integration with security, with a Palestinian state, all of a sudden you have a region that's come together in ways that answer questions Israel has tried to answer for years," Blinken said, adding that the strategy would also have the effect of isolating Iran and its proxies -- the main threat to Israel.
