ANKARA

The recent Beijing Xiangshan Forum saw a tense exchange between Chinese scholar Yan Xuetong and Elad Shoshan, military attache at Israel’s embassy in Beijing, over the rising number of civilian casualties in Gaza.

The viral video shows Professor Yan accusing Israel of losing its moral compass and violating international laws while killing civilians, including children and women, in the Palestinian enclave.

The footage begins with Shoshan justifying the country's war on Gaza, saying it continues because the Palestinian group Hamas still holds Israeli hostages.

In response, the Chinese scholar said "your military should have shot the terrorists, not the children and not the women."

“When you shoot children and women, you lose the legitimacy to carry out any actions," he said.

Israel has killed more than 65,000 people in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, most of them women and children.

When the Israeli officer claimed the army tries to minimize civilian casualties, Yan rejected the remarks, saying: "You killed more than 70,000 civilians."

Shoshan confronted the figures, to which Yan replied: "The fact is not decided by you, facts are decided by the international community, not by your government, your government has no legitimacy to decide ... what is fact."

The scholar said a bank robbery cannot be handled by killing the bank's staff and customers first, rather than the robbers.

Asked about a solution, the Chinese scholar said Israel should agree to a two-state solution, and work together with the Palestinians.

On the Israeli's argument that the war will only end once the hostages are released, Yan said: “This is kind of a propaganda ... No one believes it, except a few Israelis."