The Financial Times reported on Friday that the United States has invited the foreign ministers of Israel and several Arab countries to attend the NATO summit in Washington next month.
The newspaper quoted a statement from an official within the alliance, revealing that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has extended invitations to the heads of state and government of all 32 member allies, as well as leaders from partner nations in the Indian and Pacific Oceans region.
“Secretary-general Stoltenberg has invited heads of state and government of all 32 allies, plus the leaders of our Indo-Pacific partners (Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea),” the statement reportedly read.
“Meetings at ministerial level with representatives from other NATO partners are being organized by the US authorities,” it added.
According to FT, “Arab invitees include Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.”
While NATO member states are unified in their support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, there is significant division among members and partners regarding the war in the Gaza Strip.
Typically, NATO invites some of its partners to its annual meetings. However, as the host of this milestone summit, the US has extended invitations to foreign ministers from 31 countries with partnerships with the alliance, including Japan, Australia, and South Korea.
‘Different in Many Ways’
Last November, addressing accusations of Western double standards, Stoltenberg stated that international law must be upheld in all conflicts, though he emphasized that the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are very different.
Arab leaders had criticized Western countries for not applying the same standards to Israel’s war in Gaza as they do to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Speaking at a press conference at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, Stoltenberg said: “My message is that international law, humanitarian law, has to be respected in all conflicts and civilian lives have always to be protected.” He added that it was “important to recognize that the situation in Gaza and the situation in Ukraine is different in many ways.”
“Ukraine never posed a threat to Russia, Ukraine never attacked Russia,” he stated.
Full-Scale War on Hezbollah Will Backfire on Israel and America’s Arab Client-Regimes
Ongoing Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 37,765 Palestinians have been killed, and 86,429 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(PC, AJA)
Defund NATO!