Child killers: Israel side by side with ISIL

EghtesadOnline: Israel has been dealt another major international blow as it is set to join a UN blacklist that has already included terror groups such as ISIL, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram.

On Friday, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, announced that his boss has added the Israeli military to the annual "list of shame", which is a global list of offenders that have committed violations against children.

Israel’s inclusion on the list comes more than eight months after the regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Gaza.

Israeli savagery

Israel has slaughtered more than 36,800 Palestinians since the war erupted on October 7 following a surprise military operation by Hamas in southern Israel.

According to the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, more than 15,500 Palestinian children are among those who have been butchered by Israel.

Doctors in Gaza have reported that an alarming number of Palestinian children have lost limbs due to Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian territory.  They say up to 3,000 children have lost one or two limbs over the past eight months. The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization warned in a joint report on Wednesday that over one million Palestinians in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by the middle of next month if Israel continues the Gaza onslaught. They added that hunger is worsening because of heavy restrictions on humanitarian access and the collapse of the local food system in Gaza.

Important step

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations said the inclusion of Israel on the “list of shame does not restore the lives of children who were killed or left permanently disabled in the regime’s military strikes.”

Riyad Mansour, however, hoped the UN move would help end Israel’s impunity in the face of its crimes against Palestinians.

"But it is an important step in the right direction towards ending the double standards and the culture of impunity Israel has enjoyed for far too long and that left our children vulnerable," Mansour said on X.

Long overdue

The UN’s expert on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory welcomed the UN move but said it is long overdue.

Francesca Albanese said in a post on X, “It should have not taken 15,000 children killed, much more mutilated [and] 20,000 orphaned, to list Israel among the states who commit heinous violations of [international] law against children.”

The UN rapporteur called for imposing heavy sanctions on Israel.

UN blasts Israeli envoy

Nonetheless, Israeli officials came down hard on the United Nations.

“The only one who is blacklisted today is the secretary-general, whose decisions since the war started, and even before, are rewarding terrorists and incentivizing them to use children for terror acts… Shame on him!,” Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said on X.  

The comments are part of a video Erdan recorded of himself making a phone call from his office to a UN official and leaked it to news organizations.
The UN chief’s spokesman condemned the Israel envoy’s move.

Dujarric said, “The call was a courtesy afforded to countries that are newly listed on the annex of the report.”

He added, “The partial release of that recording on Twitter is shocking and unacceptable and frankly, something I’ve never seen in my 24 years serving this organization.”

Israel calls itself the only democracy in West Asia but Erdan uses offensive words against Gutters in an attempt to distract global attention away from the horrific crimes of the child-killing regime.  

Erdan also calls Hamas fighters terrorists, while they are only defending their people against Israel’s decades-long occupation and oppression.

Israel has hit hospitals and residential buildings under the pretext of targeting Hamas fighters. The regime has claimed that Hamas members use hospitals as command centers and use Palestinian children as human shields without providing any evidence to back up its claims.

Growing desperation

Such allegations clearly show that Israel is playing the blame game and attempting to demonize Hamas.

However, reports by the Israel military’s intelligence and the US intelligence community have revealed that despite Israel’s propaganda against Hamas, the resistance movement remains popular among Palestinians.

Israel is killing Palestinian civilians in retaliation for its military defeats on the battlefield.  The Israeli army has not only failed to destroy Hamas over the past eight months, but it has recently been struck by crushing blows at the hands of resistance fighters.

US obstructionism

Guterres will send the “list of shame” which is attached to an annual report that documents rights violations against children in armed conflict to the Security Council on June 14.

The official report will be published days later on June 18.

The Security Council will discuss it on June 26 and it

can then decide whether to take action against Israel.

But, it is as clear as day that the United States will block any moves against Israel at the council.

Since the start of the Gaza war, the US has used its veto power at the Security Council in support of Israel.

The US has also turned a blind eye to growing calls to attach conditions to military support for the regime.

Hand in glove with terrorists

The inclusion of Israel on the “list of shame” along with ISIL and al-Qaeda is reminiscent of its support for such terror groups.

Israel stands accused of supporting these terror groups when they occupied parts of Syria.

Whenever Syria’s military gained victory against the terrorists, Israel pounded the positions of the country’s army to impede their progress.

ISIL overran large swathes of Syria in 2014, but the Arab nation’s army and its allies defeated the terror group in late 2019.

The Syrian army also drove out al-Qaeda-affiliated groups that had seized parts of the country.

The United States has also been accused of abetting ISIL.

In August 2016, Donald Trump who was the Republican presidential nominee, accused then-president Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton of founding ISIL also known as ISIS or Daesh.

“ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. He is the founder of ISIS, OK? He’s the founder. He founded ISIS. And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton,” Trump said at that time.
 
Now, Israel will join the rank of ISIL in the UN blacklist. ISIL was defeated in West Asia but its remnants still carry out sporadic terror operations.

Sinister similarities

Israel and ISIL bear close similarities. They have no scruples about massacring civilians, including women and children. Likewise, both of them have been supported by the United States. Furthermore, ISIL displaced a large number of civilians and Israel is doing the same. Moreover, they occupied lands that did not belong to them.

Presently, Israel’s inclusion on the UN blacklist has deepened the regime’s international isolation as it is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice.  The International Criminal Court has also requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his war minister Yoav Gallat over war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Nonetheless, it seems that the past strong and close alliance between Israel and ISIL has been reborn!

First Published by Tehran Times / Mehr