‘Justifying genocide, famine, gang rape’ now part of Israeli mainstream: Riyad Mansour
Palestine’s UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) that the memory of the Holocaust has become “instrumentalised” in Israel to justify crimes against humanity.
Instead of the memory of the Nazi persecution of Jews “serving as an un-breachable barrier against the commission of such atrocities”, it is used as their justification, Mansour said.
“Something terrible is happening in Israel, something that has made justifying genocide, famine and gang rape mainstream ideology,” he told the UNSC meeting, which was called by Algeria over Israel’s August 10 attack on the al-Tabin School in Gaza City, which killed at least 100 people as they attended dawn prayers.
Mansour also told the UNSC that “Israel does not care about your condemnations. It dismisses your resolutions. It does not even listen to your debates… Israel is a rogue state, with a rotten government due to the unbridled impunity it has enjoyed so far”.
At the Security Council, Ambassador Dr. Riyad Mansour highlighted a disturbing reality: in Israel, justifying genocide, famine, and gang rape has become mainstream ideology. The memory of the Holocaust, instead of serving as an un-breachable barrier against the commission of… pic.twitter.com/hY4wmFs9ae
— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) August 13, 2024
US has the power to end Israel’s war on Gaza ‘right now’
Tarek Khalil, a Palestinian human rights activist, said the US had the power to force Israel to sign a ceasefire deal in Gaza by withholding weapons.
“The fact that we’re not even discussing the annual aid that Israel already receives from the United States is really beyond belief,” he told Al Jazeera from Chicago.
“You’ve had the international community, you’ve had the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court – Israel has been condemned and embarrassed worldwide and it still continues its barrage of attacks against the defenceless civilian population of Gaza.”
“The United States can do something right now. It can end [the war] tonight. Right now,” Khalil said.
The US should not be appeasing “Israel by providing it with more weapons – ‘Here’s more weapons, please stop using them’,” he said. “No. How about you just deny the sale, deny any future aid to Israel and also enforce – not just call for a ceasefire – but enforce a ceasefire?
“This could end right now if the United States had the courage.”
Palestinian group calls for closure of ‘Israeli torture camps’
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights has called for accountability for Israeli abuses against Palestinian detainees, saying recent testimony and evidence from Israeli detention centres “reveal a level of violence that resounds with the atrocities documented in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib”.
Citing lawyers, Al Mezan said Palestinian prisoners and detainees are enduring severe physical and psychological torture in Israeli facilities.
This includes “being hung in stress positions, beaten with hammers, having their nails pulled out with wire-cutting pliers, attacked by dogs, and beaten with soldiers’ fists, feet, and rifle butts,” Al Mezan said. Detainees “have been exposed naked to the scorching sun while standing on sharp gravel stones, subjected to verbal abuse, and threatened with rape, death, and bombing, along with threats against their families”. They have also been “deprived of food, water, sleep, and access to sanitation for extended periods, all while facing extremely harsh living conditions,” Al Mezan said.
The torture has resulted in several deaths but there is no definitive record of the total number of Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody, Al Mezan said. It noted that the Palestinian Prisoners Club has disclosed the full identities of 22 Palestinians who have died as a result of torture or medical negligence since October 7, while the Israeli rights group B’Tselem said that at least 60 Palestinians, including 48 from the Gaza Strip, have died behind bars since the war began.
Al Mezan said the international community must take prompt and decisive measures to protect Palestinian detainees and called for the “immediate closure of Israeli torture camps where Palestinian detainees are forcibly disappeared”.
