Israel's genocide against the Palestinians has completed its first year. But it does not stop. Just the other day it bombed tents in the garden of a hospital in Gaza. The images of civilians and children who burned to death while being given blood in a hospital bed do not belong to this age!
Tel Aviv, which is attempting to shape the region under the pretext of Hamas, continues its occupation campaign in Lebanon and Syria. Last Friday, Israeli forces struck the Nakura base of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission for the second time. Two U.N. peacekeepers were wounded. On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also hit a watchtower at the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, wounding two more peacekeepers.
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that there was no justification for Israel's attack on the UNIFIL: “Another line has been dangerously crossed in Lebanon. The IDF rained bullets on U.N. peacekeepers whose positions were known.” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, reminds us that Israel has hit U.N. missions 20 times so far. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also says that Israel's attack on the UNIFIL constitutes a war crime.
What would happen if any U.N. member state, say Iran, did the same thing? Not 20 times, but just once, what do you think would happen to it? What kind of sanctions would it face? Okay, Israel has very powerful friends in the U.N. Security Council. It is protected by the U.S., France and the U.K. So it is very difficult to pass a resolution against Israel. But again, other members of the U.N. and Guterres can also do something. Israel has literally declared war on the U.N., of which it is a member. So much so that Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz has declared Guterres “persona non grata”. Is this unprecedented? So what can Gutteres do? How can he lead the way?
First of all, let me underline that I am not claiming that the secretary-general is insensitive to the problem. As a human being, I believe that he was devastated by the loss of more than 40,000 civilian lives in Palestine, 17,000 of them children. We are witnesses to his efforts to stop this genocide during his tenure.
However, the glass is now overflowing. Diplomacy is deadlocked. We have entered a period where individual initiatives are worth their weight in gold. Guterres should describe this jam and resign, noting in history that Israel has turned the U.N. into a child's play and that the organization no longer has any function. It is clear that this shake-up would benefit the U.N., which has 193 member states, and humanity more than Guterres sitting in that seat. Perhaps some U.N. member states and nations that still feel responsible for honor and law will follow him and support his campaign.
After all, there are great states like Türkiye, Ireland, South Africa, Spain and Hungary that have stood up against the last genocide in history. Such a movement would also have many supporters in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. Russia and China will also find it difficult to remain indifferent to the process. And it may turn out that even among Muslim states there will be those who support this rebellion!
