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25 countries call on Israel to end its war on Gaza [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-22
In his article dated July 22, Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan writes:
25 Nations Toothlessly Demand Israel end Gaza War Now: Suffering of Civilians has Reached “New Depths”
Cole begins his article:
The foreign ministers of 25 nations, including much of Europe along with Japan, Canada and Australia, have issued a Joint Statement demanding that the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu end its total war on Gaza immediately.
Cole reports that in their Joint Statement the foreign ministers say the current militarized aid distribution mechanism is “dangerous” and “deprives Gazans of human dignity.” Cole gives these details:
Referring to the tiny amount of aid being delivered by the Israeli army, and the propensity of its troops to shoot down dozens of aid seekers every day, the foreign ministers write: “We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food…. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.”
Cole quotes the foreign ministers calling the Israeli blockade on food and other aid to the Palestinians in Gaza “unacceptable.” In addition, Cole says they “instruct the Israeli army”
to obey International Humanitarian Law and to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively.
Cole reports the foreign ministers “are frank about the unacceptability of the Israeli government’s commitment, endorsed by US President Donald Trump, to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians and to bottle them up in a tiny strip of territory in the far south of Gaza.” Cole quotes from the Joint Statement:
Proposals to remove the Palestinian population into a ‘humanitarian city’ are completely unacceptable. Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law.
Cole says the foreign ministers also condemn Israeli plans to “further divide the Palestinian West Bank, expel its population, and replace the Palestinians with Israeli squatters.” Quoting again from the Joint Statement:
“settlement building across the West Bank including East Jerusalem has accelerated while settler violence against Palestinians has soared. This must stop.”
Cole says the foreign ministers urge “the parties” to “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire…..Further bloodshed serves no purpose.” They end their statement, says Cole, with “a cryptic assertion” that they are
“prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region.”
Cole reports this statement has been signed by:
The Foreign Ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK; and The EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management.
Cole notes that Germany ”is AWOL here.” He also says that statements like this one are “toothless.”
None of these countries has committed to doing anything practical. Most of them are implicated in supporting the Israeli arms industry and its technological advances in one way or another. Most of them allow Israeli squatters to steal Palestinian land, grow crops on it, and then export those crops for profit. Among them, France and Poland have openly repudiated their obligations under the International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute to arrest Netanyahu and to deny him overflight rights, and the government in Britain has criminalized speaking out for Palestine.
Cole says for some of the governments the statement may be “merely a way of appeasing the left wing of the ruling party or the increasingly distressed electorate, and consists of mere posturing — genocide washing — if you will”. However, Cole says Ireland, Spain, Norway, Slovenia and some of the others are sincere in considering practical steps, but “relatively minor ones.” Cole concludes:
[END]
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