Opposition to Israel Continues to Grow

Destruction caused in Gaza by Israeli bombardment, October 25, 2023.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is being mercilessly attacked by Israel and its accomplices for saying on October 24 that the attacks carried out by the Palestinian resistance groups inside Israel on October 7 "did not happen in a vacuum." He said, "The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing."

In response, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called Guterres' comments "shocking" and demanded his removal from office. A minister of Israel's government called Guterres "a terror apologist." Israel then announced it would deny visas to all UN officials and has already denied a visa to Martin Griffith, the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs. According to Erdan, "the time has come to teach [the UN] a lesson," the Times of Israel reported. The intensified bombing of Gaza that followed is likely part of Israel's response.

Such a bloodthirsty response has intensified the crisis in the ranks of even Israel's staunchest supporters. The U.S. State Department itself is dealing with dissent by administration officials who object to the U.S. government greenlighting and supporting the Israeli attempt at ethnic cleansing through the bombardment of Gaza. "There's a lot of people who disagree with the current policy that the top folks have set," an unnamed U.S. official said in one media report. Several diplomats have expressed that they are torn between staying in their jobs to try to influence policy and leaving in protest over Biden's unconditional support for Israel's bombardment and looming ground invasion.

One message of dissent for example, which has been documented by sources familiar to Middle East Eye (MEE), reports rumours that "a mutiny" is brewing inside the State Department over Biden's unflinching public support of Israel's actions in Gaza. In one draft dissent cable, seen by MEE, diplomats write that Hamas' attack on Israel cannot be used as a justification for Israel to carry out the indiscriminate killing of innocent people in Gaza. The draft calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Israel, Gaza, and the occupied West Bank and implores Washington to promote truthful and balanced public messaging towards resolving the crisis that is slowly spiraling out of control. "When Israeli officials no longer differentiate between Hamas and civilians of Gaza -- when strikes target or threaten civilian institutions such as places of worship, schools, or medical facilities -- Israel must work double to rejoin adherence to international norms we so proudly, and rightly preach to other nations," the cable says.

The number of Palestinians being massacred by the Israelis is such that their bodies are being buried in mass graves.

So too in Europe. The Spanish Prime Minister rejected Israeli objections to the remarks of the UN Secretary General, stood by the Secretary General and called for an international peace summit to find a long-term solution to the Israel-Hamas crisis. The Foreign Minister of Portugal said his government supported Guterres' position and dismissed Israel's call for Guterres to step down. Christoph Heusgen, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference who also served as former Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief foreign policy adviser for 12 years, likewise said Guterres was justified in his remarks -- which itself has sparked a huge controversy in German government circles. Volker Beck for example, a former senior figure in Germany's Green Party who now leads the German-Israeli Society, a group that promotes solidarity with Israel, said Heusgen proved himself to be "a dyed-in-the-wool enemy of Israel."

Chinese media said: The recent attitudes of Israel toward Guterres, as well as the unilateral actions of the U.S. at the UN and their refusal to support a consensus on a ceasefire, highlight one of the root causes of the prolonged Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the failure to implement and enforce UN resolutions. Global Times said Guterres' remarks were a "factual statement ... Therefore, from any perspective, the authority of the UN must be upheld, and even in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, UN should be supported to play a greater role."

This article was published in

Volume 53 Number 16 - October 2023

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53162.HTM

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