Al-Mikdad: The West’s support for Israel has given it an open mandate to kill Palestinians, and the Security Council must put an end to Israe;i massacres

New York (ST): Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Faisal Al-Mikdad affirmed that the massacres and genocidal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation during its aggression against Gaza Strip would not have occurred without the insistence of well-known Western countries, led by the United States, on granting the occupation a green light to kill, providing it with protection and impunity. He stressed the necessity for the UN Security Council  to assume its responsibilities in putting an end to these massacres and crimes, and holding their perpetrators accountable, far from political hypocrisy and double standards.

Al-Mikdad said in a statement during the ministerial meeting of the Security Council on “the situation in the Middle East,” delivered on his behalf by the Acting Chargé d’Affairs Al-Hakam Dendi: “This month, October, has witnessed dangerous Israeli criminal escalation that has exceeded the imagination, as well as brutal, aggressive practices against the brotherly Palestinian people , war crimes and crimes against humanity, as the Israeli occupation continues to bomb buildings in Gaza using internationally prohibited weapons, cut off water, medicine, electricity, fuel, and the most basic necessities of life for our people living in Gaza Strip, and threatens them with forced displacement.”

Al-Mikdad explained that “Israel” added a new, darker and bloodier chapter to its criminal record, through its barbaric bombing of the Al-Mamadani “Baptist” Hospital and the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius, the third oldest church in the world, in addition to targeting UNRWA schools, which the Palestinians thought might be a safe haven. They suffered from Israeli oppression, stressing that these massacres would not have occurred without the insistence of some Western countries, led by the United States, to grant “Israel” an open mandate to commit crimes, providing it with protection and impunity.

Al-Mikdad affirmed that the main reason for the current escalation taking place in the occupied Palestinian territories is the injustice that the Palestinian people have been exposed to for decades of occupation, and Israel’s attempt, through its brutal war, to liquidate the Palestinian cause by committing massacres and crimes of genocide against the Palestinian people and following a scorched earth policy, to remind us of its dark history, as the number of victims of its aggression during the past days reached about 6,000 martyrs, most of whom were children and women, 1,000 missing persons, and more than 17,000 wounded, which proves once again that “Israel” with its extremist ideology and the terror strategy it pursues, is the other side of the terrorist organization ISIS.

Al-Mikdad expressed Syria’s denunciation of the behavior of the United States and its allies in the Security Council, which caused it to be unable to carry out its responsibilities in stopping the Israeli aggression, noting that Washington was not satisfied with only disrupting the Council, but rather rushed to strengthen the Israeli war machine by sending its aircraft carriers to the region, and supplying “Israel” with advanced military equipment, in addition to providing it with billions of dollars, not to mention harnessing its media to distort the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Al-Mikdad renewed Syria’s demand for the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and put an end to the barbaric occupation attacks on the Palestinian people, by immediately stopping the aggression against Gaza Strip, providing urgent humanitarian support to the Palestinians there, and rejecting any plans or attempts to displace them, stressing Syria’s strong rejection of attempts to equate the killer and the victim, an occupying force and a people who have been suffering under the yoke of occupation and deprived of their most basic rights for 75 years, noting that the region will not enjoy stability as long as the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people continue to be denied, and Israel’s occupation of Arab lands continues, and it persists in refusing to implement the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy.

The Minister reaffirmed Syria’s firm support for the Palestinian cause, and that it has not and will not spare any effort to stand alongside the brotherly Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle to restore their stolen rights, including their inalienable right to defend themselves, resist the occupation, liberate their land, and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Al-Mikdad pointed out that “Israel’s” crimes in Palestine are inseparable from its practices in the Syrian Golan occupied since 1967, which is manifested in the continuation of its aggressive policies against our people in the Golan, and its practice of the most heinous violations of international law and international humanitarian law, such as detentions, killing, and displacement and an intensification of its expansionist settlement policies with the aim of perpetuating the occupation, increasing the number of settlers, and imposing demographic change, in addition to stealing the natural resources of the Syrian Golan, seizing agricultural lands, and erecting huge wind turbines that cause catastrophic effects.

Al-Mikdad pointed out that, in conjunction with “Israel” continuing its aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza, it is intensifying its repeated attacks on Syrian territory, as, two days ago and for the third time in one week, it launched an air attack targeting the Damascus and Aleppo international airports, which led to the martyrdom of a civilian worker at Damascus airport, endangering the safety of civil aviation, and disrupting UN operations, causing material damage to the runways of the two airports and putting them out of service again after they were repaired following the recent aggression, and this is evidence that the disregard for civilian lives and continuous crimes are basic and constant features of the Israeli behavior in the region.

K.Q.