Today, 9:22 am
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya tells the world body that Israel does not have the right to self-defense under international law in its fight against Hamas because it is an “occupying state.”
“I also cannot leave unmentioned the hypocrisy of the US and its allies, who in other, completely different situations call for compliance with humanitarian law, establish investigative commissions, impose sanctions against those who use force only as an extreme measure to stop the years-long violence,” TASS quotes Nebenzya as telling a UN General Assembly special session on the conflict.
“And today, seeing the horrifying destruction in Gaza, which exceeds everything that they criticize in other regional contexts multifold — strikes at civilian facilities, death of thousands of children and horrifying suffering of civilians amid a total blockage — they play mum. All they can do is to keep saying about Israel’s alleged right for self-defense, which, as an occupying state, it does not have, as was confirmed by the [UN] International Court consultative ruling in 2004,” he says.
He adds that Russia recognizes Israel’s right to ensure its security, but “it could be fully guaranteed only in case of a fair resolution of the Palestinian problem based on recognized UN Security Council resolutions.”
Israel launched the war against Hamas after the terror group’s mass assault on southern Israel where it killed some 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 hostage.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/russia-tells-un-israel-does-not-have-right-of-self-defense-in-war-with-hamas/.