Israel’s ”revenge” on Gaza was so ”insufferable” that Western leaders letting it go on risked shedding the World South and their very own voters, a Danish former president of the United Nations Basic Meeting (UNGA) has warned.
”We have now by no means seen such a ruthless marketing campaign, navy marketing campaign in opposition to civilians within the Arab-Israeli battle. By no means. By no means. By no means,” stated Mogens Lykketoft, the Danish former overseas minister, who chaired the UNGA in 2015.
”It appears to be like rather more like revenge than a rational navy response,” he stated.
Army specialists had suggested him that ”if it is about taking out the management of Hamas it may have been performed with a lot fewer civilian casualties,” Lykketoft added.
Israel has killed roughly 19,700 individuals in Gaza, most of them kids and ladies (based on UN-cited figures), up to now 10 weeks.
Hamas, the Palestinian group which guidelines Gaza, killed some 1,200 Israelis and took round 240 hostages on 7 October.
The Danish politician spoke to EUobserver forward of a UN Safety Council (UNSC) vote on Gaza.
This was first scheduled for Monday (18 December), then delayed until Wednesday, as a result of the US was vetoing a decision calling for a full ”cessation of hostilities”, whereas signalling it’d again a brief ”suspension”.
The final time the UNSC voted, on 8 December, 13 out of its 15 members, together with EU states France and Malta, had wished a ceasefire. The US vetoed and the UK abstained.
The overwhelming majority (153) of UNGA’s 193 members, and 17 out of the 27 EU international locations, additionally voted for a ceasefire on 12 December.
Talking of Hamas’ 7 October assault, Lykketoft stated: ”I believe each respectable human being within the [Global] North and South discovered the Hamas terror motion grotesque, unforgivable”.
”However what has occurred afterwards shouldn’t be utilizing the appropriate to self defence, it’s a mass killing of civilians,” he added.
The actual fact the US and lots of EU leaders weren’t even urging Israel to cease meant they had been hardening anti-Western feeling in African, Asian, and South American international locations, he warned.
”It is turning into insufferable, each from an abnormal human perspective, but in addition political and geopolitical, to proceed the help for this [Israeli] marketing campaign,” he stated.
”The limitless help for Israel’s proper to self-defence expressed by main Western powers has been one more illustration for a lot of international locations within the World South that we now have double requirements after we discuss simply wars and respect for civilians,” Lykketoft stated.
And the ”double-standards” on Gaza had been particularly poisonous for historic causes, he added.
”Not solely within the Arab world, or the Muslim world, but in addition in lots of, many international locations in Africa, they see the Palestinian battle over the previous 75 years for their very own state as a continuation of the de-colonisation of their very own international locations,” Lykketoft stated.
Western leaders who stood by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu risked paying a political in addition to a geopolitical worth, he stated.
”The one energy on the earth that may change Israeli coverage is the US,” he famous, giving US president Joe Biden a ”particular obligation”.
And Biden was polling behind ex-president Donald Trump in states corresponding to Georgia and Michigan forward of subsequent 12 months’s US elections partly as a result of Gaza impact, Lykketoft stated.
”He [Biden] misplaced the Muslim votes, however can be shedding younger individuals,” the Danish politician stated.
”On this very new, ugly state of affairs of the mass killing, mass destruction happening in Gaza — public opinion is altering. It’s altering [also] in Europe. We see all of the demonstrations,” he added.
Lykketoft warned that Netanyahu espoused excessive views.
”Netanyahu, and that is crucial to know, is of the background of these individuals who need to drive Palestinians out of Palestine,” together with Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, Lykketoft stated.
Perpetually warfare
And if Israeli aggression had been allowed to proceed unchecked, it’d by no means finish, he added.
”It is going to be a unending marketing campaign. And Hamas shall be like a Hydra [a mythological monster]. You narrow off one head, however then two come out”, he stated, referring to expectations that Israel’s warfare on Gaza will radicalise extra of its enemies.
”Should you attempt to bombard the help of a authorities out of the inhabitants by carpet bombing, you get the other. We all know that from historical past,” Lykketoft stated.
The Danish politician tried to go to Gaza 4 instances in several official capacities, however was all the time blocked by Israel.
Israel accuses the UN of antisemitism on grounds it points extra resolutions on Palestine than different wars world wide.
However that was disingenuous, Lykketoft stated, as a result of it not noted key info.
”The battle within the ’historic’ Palestine has all the time had the potential to explode the entire Center East,” he stated.
”Israel is among the few nations created by a call of the UN,” he added, referring to UNGA decision 181 in 1947.
”We all the time should do not forget that there was additionally a call that there must be a Palestinian state and Jerusalem must be an internationally-controlled space,” he stated.
And the UN was central to the battle in sensible methods, as a result of it supplied meals, schooling, and healthcare in Gaza, he famous.
Israeli hearth has killed greater than 100 UN employees since 7 October. ”UN amenities have been indiscriminately bombarded,” Lykketoft said.