KUALA LUMPUR (Report : Muhammad Waqar Khan) We laud the UN chief’s refusal to retract condemnation of Israel’s Jenin raid.
We stand in support of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for standing firm on his abhorrence of Israel criminal act. We condemn Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan who blasted Guterres’s over his criticism of Israeli military raid on Jenin.
Israeli forces had used excessive force and harming civilians during their devastating raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
We, however, view that the UN needs to do more than just condemnation. Israel’s attack on Jenin was a clear war crime. Istael must not be allowed to go unpunished for its barbaric attack on civilians.
In the attack, the civilian population were the obvious target. It left over 100 civilians injured, uprooted thousands of residents, damaged schools and hospitals, and disrupted water and electricity networks.
Guterres was right that the air strikes and ground operations in a crowded refugee camp were the worst violence in the West Bank in many years, with a significant impact on civilians.
Even worst, Israel prevented the injured from receiving medical care and humanitarian workers from reaching those in need during the military raid.
We reject strongly Erdan’s claim that Guterres’s criticism of the Israeli military assault was “shameful, far-fetched and completely detached from reality”. It is Israel that should be ashamed of its cowardice act for attacking defenceless refugees in the camp with heavy bombardment from air and ground offensive and deadly assault.
The attrocities by Israel is clearly proven with facts on the ground which cannot be denied.
In a statement on Wednesday, three independent human rights experts said the Israeli air attacks and ground actions in Jenin “amount to egregious violations of international law and standards on the use of force and may constitute a war crime”.
Unfortunately, the Security Council took no action.
We call the UN to take Israel to be fully accountable for the brutality. Israel must be dragged to the ICC for its crime and measures must be taken to prosecute Israel.
UN has seen the continuous violence against all international laws by Israel. Israel had always got away with every criminal action, violating all human rights clauses in the declaration of the UN.
UN cannot be double standard in responding to the criminal act of Israel. Condemnation is far from enough. UN has the mandate to act on Israel.