Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said Russia is using the war in the Middle East to distract the world from its invasion of Ukraine.
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The Ediot Ahronot newspaper explains that the Israeli diplomat responded in this way to the words of Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzi, who said that Israel does not have the right to self-defense.
Everyone understands how Russia would react if thousands of its citizens were killed and kidnapped by a terrorist organization. “Unfortunately, Russia is using the Hamas terrorist attack in the most perverse way possible to distract the world’s attention from the invasion of Ukraine,” Erdan said.
The diplomat also called Russia “the last country” that can teach Israel how to comply with international law:
It’s funny to hear from a representative of Russia morality addressed to Israel regarding human rights and international law. Representative of a country excluded from the UN Human Rights Council. Russia is the last country that can teach us,” Erdan emphasized.
Previously, Nebenzya said that Israel has no right to self-defense in the war against Hamas:
There is no such right, which is confirmed by the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice [ООН] in 2004.
At the same time, the Russian newspaper Kommersant noted that the court’s conclusion from 2004 is not about this. The document stated that Israel’s construction of a separation barrier in Palestinian territory was a violation of international law. The right to self-defense was not mentioned in the court’s ruling.
In Israel’s war with Hamas, Russia took a pro-Palestinian position. In particular, Russian President Putin called the Palestinian-Israeli conflict “a striking example of the failure of US policy,” and also noted the need to create an independent Palestinian state.
At the end of October, a Hamas delegation arrived in Moscow, starting a war in the Middle East for the first time. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the meeting discussed “the release of foreign hostages located in the Gaza Strip,” and also touched upon “issues related to ensuring the evacuation of Russian and other foreign citizens from the territory of the Palestinian enclave.”
Later, the head of the Hamas delegation, Musa Abu Marzouk, said that the group was “more positive and attentive” to the Russian Federation’s request for the release of hostages with Russian citizenship from the Gaza Strip “due to the nature of relations with the Russian Federation.”
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.