by Enrico Oliari –
Despite the very high number of civilian deaths, 7 thousand according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, including 2 thousand children, Israel continues to bomb the Strip, and army sources have stated that units have already entered the Palestinian territory governed by Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “we will continue until we have brought home the 229 hostages” and dealt a definitive blow to Hamas, but it is clear that if the Tel Aviv government and its allies accuse the Gaza party of terrorism, the ongoing massacre shows that Israel is not behaving less.
And so the justification of the Italian ambassador Maurizio Massari and the Italian government regarding the gray abstention at the UN General Assembly is weak, very weak: the motion, presented by Jordan on behalf of the Arab countries and supported by Russia, Bolivia, North Korea and Venezuela, called for an immediate truce, but the absence of an explicit condemnation of the 7 October offensive by Hamas militiamen pushed Italy to a neutral vote, which however smacks of full support for Israel and that ” right to defend oneself”, which has currently killed 7 thousand people under bombing.
For Massari, the motion lacked “the clear condemnation of Hamas attacks on Israel”, “the recognition of the right to defend itself of every state under attack” and “the humanitarian imperative for the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages taken on the 7th October”, although UN Secretary General Guterres himself had mentioned in recent days that the Hamas attack did not come out of nowhere.
The non-binding motion nevertheless passed with 120 votes in favour, including those from the more courageous France and Spain, there were 45 abstentions and 14 against, including the USA and Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen was furious, calling the motion a “despicable call for a ceasefire”, as “Israel intends to act to eliminate Hamas just as the world acted against the Nazis and ISIS ”.
Massari had nothing left to do but reiterate the hot air, that is, the request for humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinians in the Strip and for the conflict not to spread, adding that “the Palestinian people have the right to be an autonomous and free state” (note, he did not use the term “independent”) “just as Israel has full right to exist”.
The reality, however, sees both Israel and Hamas reject the idea of ”two states”, with the former having an interest in expanding as much as possible to the detriment of the Palestinians, so much so that already in 2019 Netanyahu had spoken of a plan to annex the valley of Giordano, and the second which has in its statute the disappearance of Israel, whatever the cost.
Then there is the complete disinterest of the Israeli government in any solution of coexistence, just think that in 2018 Benjamin Netanyahu himself passed the definition of the country as a “Jewish state”, in evident contempt towards the Arab populations and closing the way to ethnic equality .
