Israeli Violence in Gaza Sparks International Condemnation

May 15, 2018 Blog, News
Israel's killing of 59 Palestinians on Monday, May 14, sparked international criticism. (Photo by Abdallah Aljamal, PC)

Several countries have condemned or voiced concern over Israel’s violence against Palestinian protesters on the day the US relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

At least 58 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed on Monday and hundreds more injured by Israeli army forces deployed along the area bordering Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday:

“This is genocide no matter where it comes from, either Israel or the United States.”

 

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence in Gaza, the French presidency said on Monday, adding that he will talk to all involved parties in the region over the next few days.

European Union

The European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement that “dozens of Palestinians, including children, have been killed from Israeli fire today”, without condemning the violence.

“Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest and the principle of proportionality in the use of force,” Mogherini added.

Great Britain

The British Prime Minister office also expressed concern over the violence in Gaza in a statement, reading:

“We are concerned by the reports of violence and loss of life in Gaza.”

Germany

Germany said it was “shocked and deeply concerned” by the reports concerning the protests in Gaza, in which dozens of people were killed or injured.

The German foreign ministry said:

“Israel has the right to defend itself and to secure the fence against violent incursion. However, the principle of proportionality applies. That includes only using live ammunition when other, less forceful methods of deterrence do not work and in cases of concrete threats.”

Berlin underlined that people in Gaza Strip has a right to carry out peaceful protests, but also warned against inflammatory moves.

Qatar

Qatar decried Monday’s violence as a “massacre”, condemning the Israeli army’s “systematic murder” of Palestinians near the blockaded Gaza Strip’s eastern border with Israel.

Lulwah al Khater, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, said her country was “calling on all regional and international powers to pressure Israel to stop the killing”.

Kuwait

Kuwait has requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to discuss continuing violence along the Gaza-Israel border, diplomats said on Monday.

“We condemned what has happened,” the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United Nations, Mansour al Otaibi, told journalists.

Russia

Sergey Lavrov, the head of Russian diplomacy, said in a joint news conference in Moscow that Russia has evaluated the US decision negatively several times. He added:

“One cannot in such a way, unilaterally, revise the agreements, fixed in decisions made by the international community.”

Egypt

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s use of deadly force against peaceful protesters, describing the move as a “serious escalation” that could lead to dangerous consequences.

Iran

In Iran, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif described Israeli violence against unarmed Palestinian protesters as “shameful”.

Zarif described the Gaza city, which remains the target of a decade-long Israeli and Egyptian embargo, as the “biggest open-air prison in the world”.

Lebanon

In Lebanon, lawmakers denounced Monday’s relocation of the US embassy while also slamming Israel’s “brutal and barbaric” response to the Gaza protests.

South Africa

South Africa said it was withdrawing its ambassador to Israel until further notice following what it called the “indiscriminate and grave” attack on Monday.

In a statement, the South African government condemned the killing of protesters in Gaza.

Pakistan

Pakistan also expressed grave concern on Monday on the rising tensions.

In a statement, the Pakistani government said that despite calls by the international community to comply with UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on the two-state solution, US is moving its Embassy to the Holy City of Jerusalem.

“The Government and people of Pakistan stand firmly with the Palestinian people,” the statement said.

Morocco

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI condemned the relocating of US embassy in Israel in a statement, according to the country’s state news agency MAP.

MAP reported that the king was “following with concern the implementation of the US administration’s decision to recognize Al Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of Israel and move its embassy there.”

Bahrain

Bahrain’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the Israeli violence.

In a statement the ministry said that it “warns against the grave dangers and negative repercussions of this serious provocation in the occupied Palestinian territories, stressing its total rejection of the use of force in the face of peaceful marches that call for the rights of the Palestinian people.”

The ministry reiterated its “firm position and support to the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people”, the statement added.

US President Donald Trump sparked international outcry last December when he unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and vowed to relocate Washington’s embassy to the city.

(TRT, PC, Social Media)

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