Israeli Attacks on UN Peacekeepers Seek to Cover Up What is Happening in Lebanon: Martin
UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon, 2024. X/ @DailyD1ss1dent
October 14, 2024 Hour: 8:24 am
The EU called for an immediate halt to attacks on UNIFIL, which it considered a serious violation of international law.
On Monday, during a meeting of the European Union’s Council of Foreign Ministers, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin stated that Israeli attacks on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) aim to expel those who could bear witness to what is actually happening.
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When asked about Israel’s objective in requesting the withdrawal of UNIFIL troops, he said that it is “essentially, to drive witnesses out of areas in southern Lebanon and have free rein. There’s a battle developing there.”
On Sunday, the European Union called for an “immediate” halt to attacks on UNIFIL, which it considered a serious violation of international law, while also urgently demanding explanations and a thorough investigation from Israeli authorities.
Israel “is essentially undermining the United Nations and the UN peacekeeping forces,” Martin said, urging Israel to step back and calling on the international community to be “very clear” about the primacy of the rules-based international order. The Irish diplomat also found Israel’s behavior along the “blue line” on the Lebanon-Israel border, which the UN mission safeguards, to be very concerning.
“The war must end,” Martin declared, adding that a UNIFIL will be necessary to maintain peace or any political agreement that arises after this conflict. “We cannot undermine or erode the status, credibility, or structures of the United Nations, and particularly its peacekeeping forces,” he said.
“We see what is happening in northern Gaza, for example, regarding the need to have eyes and ears on the ground. The world doesn’t really have a full picture of what’s happening in Gaza… What has been happening in recent days in northern Gaza is quite shocking in terms of the mass expulsion of people from the north,” Martin said.
“The death and destruction of innocent people is no longer acceptable nor morally tolerable… Many EU member states need to stand on the side of what is right and moral in terms of humanity,” stressed the Irish Foreign Minister, who said he was surprised that some European countries have not been as strong or firm as they could be in their support for the UN peacekeeping troops.
“The statement we have issued is welcome, but I think it could have been much stronger,” the Irish foreign affairs minister concluded.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
