Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Speaks To UN Security Council: 'Treat Us As Human Beings'

Forbes Breaking News

Riyad al-Maliki, Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister, speaks to the UN Security Council about the situation in Gaza.

Transcript

00:00 Mr. President, Doug Hammarskjold said, and I quote, "The United Nations was not created

00:08 in order to bring us to heaven, but to save us from hell."

00:15 End of quotation.

00:18 Gaza is now hell on earth.

00:21 You've heard that not from me.

00:23 You've heard it from Lazzarini and many others.

00:27 Gaza is now hell on earth.

00:30 Saving humanity from hell today means for the United Nations to save Palestinians in

00:37 Gaza.

00:40 The 2.3 million Palestinians living there are enduring suffering that no human beings

00:47 should endure.

00:50 They are besieged and bombed with nowhere safe to go.

00:55 Again, you heard Lazzarini.

00:58 He said there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip.

01:03 Half the homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged.

01:08 Gaza population is comprised of 70% of refugees.

01:14 Over 1.4 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes.

01:21 Again, Mr. Lazzarini.

01:25 Now virtually all of our people in Gaza are homeless, displaced, moving from one family

01:33 home to another, from a hospital to a church, from a mosque to an honor school, sleeping

01:42 in their cars, sleeping in the streets, and still being killed wherever they go to convince

01:49 them they will not be safe anywhere in Gaza.

01:56 A leaked document prepared by the Israeli intelligence ministry confirms that in fact

02:06 really relocating Palestinians from Gaza to tent cities in Sinai is not a threat we imagined,

02:17 but a reality Israel is trying to impose.

02:23 They want to depopulate the Gaza Strip completely from the entire population and throw them

02:31 in the lap of Egypt in the Sinai desert.

02:36 Over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 3,000 in the south of Gaza,

02:46 where Israel has pushed, forcibly transferred hundreds of thousands of people.

02:55 These staggering figures keep rising with every minute that action is delayed to stop

03:02 the onslaught against our people.

03:07 One figure more than any other explains the magnitude of this man-made tragedy.

03:15 3,500 Palestinian children have been killed by Israel in just three weeks, more than the

03:24 annual number of children killed across the world's conflict zones since 2019, according

03:34 to Save the Children, as my sister, the minister from United Arab Emirates, Her Excellency

03:42 Lana, has alluded to.

03:46 Let me repeat, 3,500 Palestinian children have been killed by Israel in just three weeks,

03:55 more than the annual number of children killed across the world's conflict zones combined

04:02 since 2019.

04:06 Every five minutes, a Palestinian child is killed.

04:10 How many more days will you wait to say enough?

04:15 How many more days will you wait to say enough?

04:19 Paralyzed, not acting, not carrying out your duty to maintain international peace and security

04:28 and to stop that war as a derivative of that.

04:33 To recognize this is a war against our children, how long will it take you to recognize that

04:41 thousands of children being killed before your own eyes and you're still paralyzed?

04:50 Our children, our children who are like yours, children of God, children of light, the angels

05:01 on earth, enough darkness, enough death, save lives of our children and all children and

05:10 the children of others.

05:14 Mr. President, the General Assembly representing the countries of the world adopted a resolution

05:23 grounded in humanity, morality, legality, and the rejection of double standards and

05:32 of any justification for the killing of innocent civilians, the siege against them, their captivity

05:43 and their forced transfer.

05:47 It took a stand that we will not forsake humanity, we will not forfeit international law.

05:59 The General Assembly acted, the Secretary General acted, the army of his humanitarian

06:08 agencies and the heroes leading them and those who are working in implementing that message

06:15 acted.

06:18 And there is one important body still not acting, it is you.

06:25 The General Assembly called for an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce.

06:34 This must happen immediately.

06:37 It stressed that humanitarian aid and access cannot be further delayed or obstructed and

06:45 must be at levels that correspond to the immense needs created by this inhumane Israeli siege

06:54 and the indiscriminate attacks it is perpetrating as we speak.

07:05 And more lives hang in the balance.

07:10 This resolution, moral one, powerful one, in which 11 of you members of the Security

07:18 Council voted for, three of you abstained, one voted no.

07:26 This resolution must be immediately and fully implemented.

07:34 If you were able to vote in the General Assembly, what is stopping you from voting here?

07:40 The 11 who voted yes, the three who abstained, among them four permanent members voted yes

07:48 and one abstention.

07:52 Do what the bigger body is doing.

07:57 Rise up to your responsibility and what you should do instead of dragging the paralysis

08:04 I don't know for how long while thousands of Palestinian innocent civilians, including

08:11 children, are being slaughtered.

08:15 The Security Council must take example of the General Assembly and its wisdom and uphold

08:23 its responsibilities to put an end to this bloodshed, which constitute an affront to

08:29 humanity, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and a clear and imminent danger for regional

08:38 and international peace and security.

08:42 I want to thank the Arab group led by my brother, Ambassador Mahmoud of Jordan, who has demonstrated

08:51 an outstanding leadership in leading our group during this very difficult month.

08:58 We salute him and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and its foreign minister who was with

09:04 us participating in what we've accomplished together with all of you, with many of you

09:11 in the General Assembly.

09:14 And the OIC member states for their relentless mobilization, the countries of the Global

09:21 South for their support as well as all the countries which engaged constructively and

09:29 responsibly to allow us to adopt a substantive humanitarian resolution with overwhelming

09:38 support from across the globe.

09:42 121 countries versus 14.

09:47 Given that 11 members of this Council have voted in favor of the resolution, that three

09:56 abstained and one voted against, it is clear that the text enjoys broad support and must

10:06 serve as basis for a clear and unequivocal position of the Council at this critical juncture.

10:16 Mr. President, 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza face death every day and every night.

10:25 Save them.

10:27 Save them.

10:30 Look at them as human beings.

10:33 You cannot look only at one side and ignore this tragic humanity completely.

10:41 Wake up from revenge.

10:45 Look at us as human beings.

10:50 Save them.

10:52 We have 2,000 people under the rubble.

10:57 Allow us to find them.

10:59 Save those who still can be saved and bury in a dignified manner those who have perished.

11:11 Allow the 20,000 wounded to be properly treated.

11:16 Allow doctors to fix broken bodies and God to heal wounded souls.

11:26 Allow humanitarian workers, the brave ones, the heroes, to perform their life-saving duties

11:35 even as they mourn their colleagues.

11:39 Sixty-four alone among UNRWA staff killed in Israeli attacks.

11:47 Allow them to conduct their sacred mission in safety and not under the bombs.

11:54 Allow hospitals to resume their work to save lives and not be transformed into morgues.

12:02 Allow members of the same families who have survived to embrace each other and to mourn

12:13 their loved ones who did not.

12:16 Allow us to pay the tribute owed to the families wiped off the face of this earth and whose

12:24 names join the long list of bereaved families etched in our collective memory.

12:33 Allow people who will have homes standing to go home and allow millions of people to

12:41 start thinking once more about how to rebuild their lives despite the depths of the death,

12:50 devastation, and destruction they endured.

12:54 Despite the indelible traumas.

13:00 Treat us as human beings with the respect we deserve.

13:05 We are not subhuman beings.

13:08 We are not from another planet.

13:11 We are exactly like each and every one of you.

13:15 We are humans, human beings.

13:19 Treat us in this manner with respect we deserve.

13:25 Show respect for our inherent dignity, not in words but in deeds, in action, in doing

13:36 something to stop this crime against our people and our children and our women and our wounded

13:43 and our sick.

13:45 No one should justify our killing or find reasons to give more time to the killer.

13:54 Call for an end of this assault on an entire nation.

14:01 Stop the killings in the West Bank by settlers and occupation forces and the forced displacement

14:10 underway there.

14:13 Palestinians as human beings have rights that must be upheld and they are entitled

14:21 to protection and we are entitled to be defended.

14:30 Many of you talk about one narrative, about one state to defend itself.

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