Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 18.09.2024
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is expected to vote on Wednesday on a resolution that verifies that Israel does not have the right to self-defense in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. International law denies a state’s right to self-defense against the people it occupies. Occupation Law prohibits an occupying power from initiating armed force against its occupied territory. By mere virtue of the existence of military occupation, an armed attack, including one consistent with the UN Charter, has already occurred and been concluded. Therefore, the right of self-defense in international law is, by definition, since 1967 not available to Israel with respect to its dealings with real or perceived threats emanating from the West Bank and Gaza Strip population.
We do not trust the UN, which is an imperialist-controlled instrument, but we do not oppose, of course, resolutions against the Zionist state.
The Zionists complain that the text in front of the UNGA ignores the “Hamas terror attack of October 7, ignores Israel’s legitimate security concerns, and seeks to remove Israel’s ability to protect itself,” Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the plenum at a Tuesday debate before the vote. However, this complaint is nonsense as it contradicts international law.
Over 40 countries submitted the document, and it is part of an effort by the Palestinian Authority to give teeth to July’s International Court of Justice advisory opinion that Israel’s occupation of territory over the pre-1967 lines was illegal. Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia were all cosponsors of the resolution.
Israel can claim that Gaza is not occupied territory, but this is a lie that most countries do not accept.
The resolution calls on the Zionist army, which has military control of the West Bank and Gaza, to fully withdraw from those territories within 12 months as part of an extensive list of 19 demands. This would include evacuating all West Bank settlements and outposts. As part of that evacuation, Israel will be asked to withdraw from all parts of east Jerusalem, including the Old City. Israel must remove “all its military forces from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including its airspace and maritime space,” the text stated.
The resolution bans arms sales to the Zionist army of any equipment that might be used in territory over the pre-1967 lines, namely in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. It also calls to boycott all products produced in those territories.
The Zionist ambassador to the UN, Danon, had harsh words for the UNGA for considering a resolution that did not mention October 7, Hamas, or the 251 hostages.
“The UNGA has passed two resolutions on the conflict since October 7, “yet there has not been one word about Hamas and barely a word about the hostages. Those who contribute to this circus are not simply bystanders; you are participants,” he stated.
Danon held up a photograph of the tunnel in which six of the hostages were executed earlier this month.
To whom does he speak? Who killed the six, if not the Zionist army that also killed their guards? When the Zionist army approached a tunnel first, the army shot, and then the Zionist army checked who the victims were, and if they were Israelis, it blamed Hamas. The Israelis in Gaza are Prisoners of War and not innocent victims. This already happened also on December 15, and Israel had to admit it.
The Zionist monster has to be destroyed!
For Palestine, red and free from the river to the sea!