New York [US]: Palestine’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyan Mansour, has slammed Israel, stating that killing more Palestinians will never make Israel more secure as he held the country responsible for the occupation of their land.
During an emergency session at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday, Mansour emphasized, “For 75 years now, Israel has explained, brazenly justified how it had to dispossess us, how it had to occupy our land, how it had to kill our people, all in full impunity.”
He continued, “Killing more Palestinians will never, never make Israel more secure. 75 years of experience should have been proof enough for those who want to learn there is no logic in this world, no moral in this world, and no law in this world that can justify the killing of people innocent children, women and men, as a pretext to make another secure.”
“The whole world is watching. They’re watching us. The events of the last ten days may shape the next ten years in our region and beyond. What happens next is decisive. If anyone thinks this is a situation under control for which you can plan and implement, they are making false and irresponsible assumptions. This is the kind of war where you know how it starts and have no clue how it ends until now,” he added.
Blaming Israel for ‘massacres in Gaza’, the envoy said, “There is no right to commit massacres in international law. Israel is perpetrating massacres in Gaza every single day.
For over ten days now, you have witnessed it killing entire families, bomb shelters, schools, hospitals, residential buildings and convoys…You will all say civilian lives should be protected and yet some of you, until now, continue being unable to call for a stop to the assault, to call for an immediate ceasefire…:
“Had this Council called for a ceasefire two days ago and acted accordingly, it would have saved hundreds of lives. Maybe for some, saving hundreds of Palestinian lives is not such an important objective to pursue. But are you sure that Palestinian lives are the only ones you would be saving if you act? We told these Council months ago, act to save lives, all lives.
You did not hear us then. Don’t make the same mistake now…This is the kind of war where you know how it starts and have no clue how it ends until now. It can be stopped and it should be stopped immediately. Any further delay is a risk no one should take,” he said.
He did not stop here but further went on denouncing Israel for the Gaza hospital blast.
“…the hospital massacre had such an impact on global public opinion that it had to change tactics and change its original story into a new one. So Israel will deny responsibility for the massacre in the Baptist Hospital Al Ahli, just as it made every effort to deny its responsibility in the killing of Sharina Abu Akli and Muhammad, and in the many massacres it had perpetrated over the decades…,” the envoy added.
The draft resolution on the Israel-Hamas war was not adopted on Wednesday after the United States vetoed the council’s call that would have asked for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza.
Brazil, which headed the ‘call for action’ noted that the focus remains on the critical humanitarian situation on the ground. Brazil’s ambassador to the Security Council, Sergio Franca Danese, stated that his nation responded to a plea from Council members to develop a unified approach to the situation. Brazil is the Security Council’s President for October.
“We heeded the call with a sense of urgency and responsibility, in our view the Security Council had to take action and do so very quickly,” he said, according to the UN News.
“Council paralysis in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe is not in the interest of the international community,” he added.
Notably, 12 members of the UN Security Council voted in favour of the Brazil-led resolution, one (the United States) voted against it, and two (Russia, and the United Kingdom) abstained.
Explaining why the US went for veto, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that “this resolution did not mention Israel’s right of self-defence.”
“Israel has the inherent right of self-defence as reflected in Article 51 of the UN Charter,” she said, adding that the right was reaffirmed by the Council in previous resolutions on terrorist attacks, “this resolution should have done the same.”
Israel has been striking Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip since an October 7 assault by Hamas on Israeli communities near the Gaza border that caught Israelis off-guard. Fighting raged for days as the IDF initially struggled to clear out the terrorists.
More than 1,400 Israelis were killed and over 4,100 more injured. At least 199 hostages were taken to Gaza.
On Tuesday evening, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, held a joint press conference with ambassadors from the Arab Group, a bloc of 20 Arab countries. Mansour called for an immediate ceasefire and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of lying about who is at fault for the hospital strike.
The UAE, which was initially supportive of Israel following Hamas’s Oct 7 attacks, has since fallen back into its role as the voice of the Arab world in the Security Council. The Emiratis issued a statement on Tuesday evening that “strongly condemns the Israeli attack that resulted in the death and injury of hundreds of people.”
