‘Genocide is only possible because of impunity’
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s envoy to the UN, has demanded the Security Council act to protect civilians enduring more than a year of Israel’s attacks.
“Israel has crossed every red line, broken every rule, defied every prohibition. When is enough really enough? When are you going to act? You are the Security Council. You have to reach every single one who is in pain among the Palestinians. That is your duty,” the envoy said at a council meeting.
Besides the 43,000 people killed in Gaza, he noted 100,000 Palestinian have been maimed in Israeli strikes, many with amputations and other permanent disabilities. Two million Palestinians are displaced with “people enduring unspeakable pain”, Mansour said.
“By ending impunity and ensuring accountability, by finally bringing to an end this terrible injustice, let your actions match your words. Stop this genocide or forever remain silent.”
At UN Security Council, Algeria says post-WWII system is ‘crumbling’
Algeria’s ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, says the international framework built after World War II is crumbling, “unable to stand against an Israeli power shielded from accountability and enjoying total impunity”.
Speaking to the UN Security Council, Bendjama also said:
- The situation in northern Gaza is beyond catastrophic, and Israel’s war is not driven by military objectives but by a policy to forcibly displace Palestinians.
- Relentless bombing there has denied people – even UN staff – food and medical care.
- The healthcare system in Gaza is on the brink of collapse, and the polio vaccination campaign is halted now, leaving children unprotected.
- In the south, the situation is rapidly deteriorating too as Israel “weaponises starvation against civilians, especially children, by denying them essential food”.
Israel’s UN envoy says UNRWA ‘beyond saving’
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council that UNRWA is “a terrorist front camouflaged as a humanitarian agency”, accusing staff members of killing and kidnapping Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023 – without providing any evidence.
“These are not aid workers, these are savages who have seized UNRWA Gaza and transformed it into a Hamas chapter. The entire UN must accept the reality that UNRWA Gaza is beyond redemption, beyond saving, beyond reform. We must turn a new page now,” said Danon.
Israel has been “hard at work delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza” for weeks, he said, accusing Hamas of holding up deliveries. As for captives still held in Gaza, he said: “To any hostage who might hear me, we will never forget you, never abandon you, and never stop until you are all safely home.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon
Why is there no arrest warrant yet for this despicable human being. I thought hate speech is against the law, at least it is in civilized nations.
Section 319(1): Publicly inciting hatred—makes it an offence to communicate statements in a public place which incite hatred against an identifiable group, where it is likely to lead to a breach of the peace. The Crown prosecutor can proceed either by indictment or by summary process.
How can these people just sit there and not throw him out of the room.
UN agencies describe UNRWA’s work as indispensable
The WHO has said that about a third of healthcare workers helping with the ongoing polio vaccination campaign in Gaza work with UNRWA, which has about 1,000 health workers in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief’s spokesperson, said that “UNWRA is the principal means by which essential assistance is supplied to Palestine refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory and there is no alternative to UNWRA”.
“And as the Secretary-General has said before, UNWRA is indispensable,” Dujarric added.
