New Delhi, April 24 (IANS) Drawing similarities between Tuesday's terror attack in Kashmir and the October 7 massacre that took place in 2023 back home, Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar on Thursday termed the horrific terrorist ambush on innocent civilians in Pahalgam as "barbaric" and "atrocious", asserting that the fact that Hamas terrorists were invited to Pakistan is a bad sign of things to come.

"This is an atrocious, barbaric attack. People have the right to go on vacation without being attacked in such a terrible way. This is shocking. It's absolutely unacceptable. We must do whatever we can, not only to catch the perpetrators but to prevent such incidents from happening again," Azar told IANS in an exclusive chat.

Much before Pahalgam, the diplomat had expressed concerns over reports of leaders of Palestinian terror outfit Hamas going into a huddle with terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"Terror cannot be tolerated, cannot be contextualized, cannot be justified. The fact that terrorists are not only being hosted but embraced by other organisations is something that cannot be accepted. The fact that Hamas terrorists were invited to Pakistan is a bad sign of things to come, because these terrorists are copying each other, inspiring each other, and we have to defend ourselves against them," he said on Thursday.

Pakistan's involvement with terrorist organisations to fuel unrest in the region came to the fore after Hamas Commander Khaled al-Qaddoumi and other Pakistani terrorists were spotted during a rally in PoK, this February.

"You have a similar situation in which people were going to a music festival and were massacred, and people here were on vacation, and they were massacred. It's the same death cult, the same distorted interpretation of religion, the same supremacist thoughts - the fact that people think that by breaching every norm of humanity, they will achieve something. This is something that has to be completely eliminated. That’s why Israel has had the resolve to attack Hamas the way it did. We're going to continue doing it while defending our principles, our laws, and our values. And I am sure India is going to do the same," he said.

Vowing to share intelligence, the Ambassador praised the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its "tremendous achievements" in stabilising Jammu and Kashmir, emphasising that this is something that Israel can learn from India.

"I trust the Indian government that will do whatever necessary, and they know it best because they have the intelligence. They know the terrain, they know the nature, not only of the terrorists, but of those who are sponsoring them. And I am actually happy that there is determination that is being shown by the Indian leadership, not only by the defence forces, but also by the foreign policy establishment, by the Prime Minister and the entire leadership. This is a watershed moment, and it's very natural that India will take steps and say enough is enough," the Israeli Ambassador stated.

Azar remarked that the perpetrators of the terror attack must be caught soon, and it should be made sure that such incidents do not happen again.

"All countries that support terrorism must be exposed and isolated. We are suffering from a similar situation in our region, where the Iranian regime sponsors terrorists. They have been exposed. We were once trying to hide it and deny responsibility, but we have now exposed them. I'm happy that India is doing the same," he said.