It Took 1 Year For The Arab Leaders To Realise Israel's "Genocide" In Gaza (image @OIC_OCI)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: It took one year for the Arab leaders to recognise Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza as a “genocide”. Since the beginning of the brutal war, which has garnered global wrath against Israel, and Arab leaders for their pointed silence, the latter were observed to be extremely elusive in calling out the level of Israel’s aggression in the Strip, and voicing solid support for the Palestinians other than declaring aids.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) condemned Israel’s conduct of war in Gaza as “genocide”. This is the harshest public criticism the Saudi leader had used against Israel since the war started more than a year ago. He made the comment while speaking at a summit of Muslim and Arab leaders, Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). He condemned Israeli “massacre committed against Palestinian and Lebanese people”.
While asking Israel to refrain from any further act of aggression, he also called on countries across the globe to recognise Palestinian statehood.
As a sign of improving ties between rivals Riyadh and Tehran, MBS warned Israel against launching attacks on Iranian soil. He was joined by other leaders present in the summit calling for a total Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza.
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Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud, accused Israel of causing starvation on Gaza, and called out international community for its failure in stopping the war in the territory. He said: “Where the international community primarily has failed is ending the immediate conflict and putting an end to Israel’s aggression”.
In the closing statement on Monday, the assembled leaders said they “condemn in the strongest terms” the Israeli army’s actions “in the context of the crime of genocide … especially in the northern Gaza Strip during the past weeks”, citing torture, executions, disappearances and “ethnic cleansing”.
The statement also condemned attempts to cement Israel’s grip on Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem, calling it the “eternal capital” of the Palestinian territories, and called for the unification of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem under a Palestinian state.
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“We reaffirm the full sovereignty of the State of Palestine over occupied East [Jerusalem], the eternal capital of Palestine, and reject any Israeli decisions or measures aimed at Judaising it and consolidating its colonial occupation of the city,” the summit’s closing statement said.
During the last summit, which took place a year ago, the Arab leaders condemned Israel’s attack against the Palestinians as “barbaric”.
At the same time, the leaders were unable to agree on action against Israel despite calls to sever economic and diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv, or disrupt its oil supplies. The 57-membered OIC and 22-membered Arab League include countries that recognise Israel and those firmly opposed to its regional integration.
Israel started its war on Gaza on October 7th last year after Hamas, the resistance group of Gaza, launched an attack on Tel Aviv, which was the result of decades long Israeli aggression against the Palestinians.
More than 1,100 Israelis were killed during the attack, and most were civilians. Since then, Israel unleashed most brutal war on the Palestinians which killed more than 43,600, most of whom were women and children. Israel also killed more than 3,100 people in Lebanon since October 7th 2023.
