'The Israeli government has an insatiable thirst for blood and tears,' says Turkish communications director, accusing Israel of genocide
Gizem Nisa Çebi |28.05.2024 - TRT/AA
-'The Israeli government has an insatiable thirst for blood and tears,' says Turkish communications director, accusing Israel of genocide
-'US complicit in Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestine,' says Fahrettin Altun
ISTANBUL
Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun accused the Israeli government on Monday of perpetuating a regime characterized by relentless violence and human rights abuses against Palestinians.
"The Israeli government has an insatiable thirst for the blood and tears of innocent people. There is a murderous regime in Tel Aviv that has been committing a genocide right before the eyes of the civilized world," he said on X.
Altun also said that the international community has failed to respond adequately to the crisis.
He highlighted what he described as an ongoing and systematic campaign of aggression against "starved, homeless and defenseless people," which he said constitutes a severe affront to humanity's collective conscience.
He criticized the deeply rooted disregard for human life within the Israeli government, labeling it "shameful, horrible and disgusting."
Altun pointed to the role of global superpowers in enabling Israel's actions, noting that Israel's longstanding occupation and dispossession of Palestinians have been sustained with the support of powerful allies, particularly the US, which he said has pretended to broker peace while in reality facilitating the continuation of the occupation.
"Israel is telling us all very openly that it was all lies and deception. Their only goal was to perpetuate and expand the occupation," he said.
Addressing the broader international community, he also called for a united stand against the violence inflicted upon Palestinian civilians, including women, children and the elderly.
He emphasized the necessity of global action, despite potential resistance from Israel's allies.
"We must stand up to Israel together, even if its patrons will continue to protect them," he said.
Altun called for immediate efforts to end the violence and establish a Palestinian state, emphasizing that the world cannot afford further delay.
He also stressed the importance of accountability, insisting that those responsible for the violence must be brought to justice.
"Human rights and dignity cannot remain on paper only," he said, urging so-called civilized nations to live up to their professed ideals.
In concluding his statement, Altun reiterated the urgency of holding Israel accountable for its actions, calling it a matter of moral and ethical responsibility for the global community.
"It is past time that Israel is held accountable for its crimes against humanity," he asserted, underscoring the need for concrete international measures to address the ongoing crisis.
Nick Robertson
Mon, May 27, 2024
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) blasted an Israeli strike on Rafah that killed at least 45 people over the weekend as “an indefensible atrocity,” as criticism rises of the Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city.
The Israeli strike on the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah targeted a humanitarian zone filled with tents, where Israel’s military previously instructed displaced Palestinians to shelter from the ongoing war against militant group Hamas, the Gaza Health Ministry said. The Israeli military claimed the strike killed two senior Hamas leaders.
“The IDF’s attack on a tent camp of innocents in Rafah is an indefensible atrocity,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote Monday on the social platform X. “This was done in open defiance of President Biden’s red line and the ICJ’s call for a ceasefire.”
She added that it is “long past due” for Biden to “live up to his word” and stop military aid shipments to Israel, following through on a threat made earlier this month in an attempt to prevent Israeli attacks on Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strike a “tragic mistake” and called for an investigation into the civilian deaths Monday.
“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake,” Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament. “We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion, because this is our policy.”
The attack comes just days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop its operations in Rafah, the last remaining major settlement in Gaza that has not been invaded by the Israeli military.
The strike was widely denounced, as criticism rises on the Israeli military operation in Rafah. A White House National Security Council spokesperson told Axios on Monday that the attack was “heartbreaking.”
“Israel has a right to go after Hamas… but as we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians,” the spokesperson said. “We are actively engaging the IDF and partners on the ground to assess what happened.”
French President Emmanuel Macron used the strike as an opportunity to again call for a cease-fire in the conflict.
“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians,” Macron wrote in a post on X. “I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.”
The Israeli military has slowly encroached on Rafah, despite strong warnings from the Biden administration.
More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people are believed to be sheltering in Rafah, and more than 80 percent of the territory’s population overall are displaced from their homes. The U.N. said famine has begun in parts of the region as civilians struggle to get access to humanitarian aid.
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EU calls for Israel to explain Gaza offensive
EU foreign ministers agreed Monday to call a meeting with Israel to get it to explain its actions in its Rafah offensive despite a UN court ruling, the bloc’s top diplomat said.
“We got the necessary unanimity to call for an association council with Israel to discuss the situation in Gaza,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
Israel has faced a wave of international condemnation over a strike that Gaza officials said killed 45 people when it set off a fire that tore through a tent city for displaced Palestinians.
Borrell called the strike “horrifying” and said “It proves that there is no safe place in Gaza”.
He insisted that Israel should stop its attacks on Rafah after a ruling on Friday from the UN’s International Court of Justice.
The meeting with Israel would be held under an association agreement with the EU. Spain and Ireland have called on the EU to review the agreement over Israel’s Gaza offensive.
EU foreign ministers on Monday also held talks with counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar as part of a diplomatic push for a two-state solution after the Gaza war.
The push for a Palestinian state gained momentum last week when Ireland, Spain and Norway said they would recognise a Palestinian state from May 28.
But the move underscored divisions within the 27-nation EU, which has struggled to reach a unified position on the Gaza war.
One area where the EU could play a practical role after the war is the possible monitoring of the Rafah border crossing from Gaza to Egypt.
EU ministers are to discuss relaunching a mission suspended back in 2007 to monitor the crossing after calls from Israel and other states in the region.
Borrell said he had received preliminary approval from ministers to plan for the mission.
“This could play a useful role in supporting the entry of people into Gaza, in and out, but this has to be done in accordance with the Palestinian Authority,” he said.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages. Some 121 remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,050 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
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