NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
IRAN DAILY:
-- Int’l electricity exhibition opened in Tehran
The 23rd Iran International Electricity Exhibition (IEE 2023) kicked off in Tehran on Tuesday.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition was attended by senior energy officials including Iranian Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian along with the energy ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan, IRNA reported.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Mehrabian said the IEE is a good opportunity for participating foreign companies to visit the huge capacities of Iran as well as having the opportunity to sign contracts with Iranian companies.
The number of participants in IEE 2023 has grown by 63 percent compared to the figure for the previous edition of the exhibition, the energy minister noted.
The four-day exhibition covers various areas including production, transmission, and distribution, as well as high-, medium-, and low-voltage electrical equipment.
A sum of 474 domestic firms along with 110 foreign exhibitors from different countries, including Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, China, South Korea, Croatia, Turkey, Spain, India, Slovenia, Poland, and Japan, are showcasing their latest products and services in this exhibition.
All kinds of electrical panels, lighting equipment, smart equipment, diesel generators and electric motors, batteries, and UPS; earthing and protection systems, transformers, wires and cables, industrial automation and precision instruments, and measuring equipment are being showcased at IEE 2023.
-- OPEC: Iran’s oil output keeps rising
Iran’s crude oil production continued its rise in October, the latest report of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) showed.
According to OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) – November 2023, Iran’s crude output hit 3.115 million barrels per day (mbd) in October, showing a 46,000 bpd increase from a month earlier.
The MOMR statistics show Iran retaining its place as the third-largest producer of OPEC, standing after Saudi Arabia with 8.992m bpd output and Iraq with 4.329m bpd production.
According to secondary sources, OPEC crude oil production by its 13 members averaged 27.90m bpd in October 2023, 80,000 bpd higher than its September output. Crude oil output increased mainly in Angola, Iran and Nigeria, while production in Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait decreased.
Crude oil price movements
In October, the OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) fell by $2.82, or 3.0%, m-o-m, to an average of $91.78/b. The ICE Brent front-month contract fell by $3.89, or 4.2%, m-o-m, to $88.70/b, and the NYMEX WTI front-month contract fell by $3.96, or 4.4%, m-o-m, to average $85.47/b. The DME Oman front-month contract fell by $4.06, or 4.3%, m-o-m, to settle at $89.31/b. The front-month ICE Brent/NYMEX WTI spread widened in October by 7¢ to average $3.23/b. The market structure strengthened further as the front end of futures forward curves for ICE Brent, NYMEX WTI and DME Oman steepened on concerns over geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Hedge funds and other money managers heavily cut bullish positions, fueling price volatility and contributing to the drop in futures prices.
World oil demand
The world oil demand growth forecast for 2023 is revised up marginally from the previous month’s assessment to 2.5m bpd. Revisions to data for the OECD countries throughout the first three quarters largely offset each other. In the non-OECD, the upward revisions to China’s oil demand in both 3Q23 and 4Q23 outpaced the downward revisions in the non-OECD region in 3Q23. In 2023, OECD oil demand is expected to rise by around 0.1m bpd, while non-OECD oil demand is expected to increase by 2.4m bpd. For 2024, world oil demand is expected to grow by a healthy 2.2m bpd, unchanged from the previous month’s assessment. The OECD is expected to expand by about 0.3m bpd in 2024, with OECD Americas contributing the largest increase. The non-OECD is set to drive next year’s growth, increasing by about 2.0m bpd, with China, the Middle East, Other Asia and India contributing the most.
Global oil supply
Non-OPEC liquids supply growth forecast is revised up to 1.8m bpd in 2023. Main drivers of liquids supply growth for 2023 include the U.S., Brazil, Kazakhstan, Norway, Guyana, Mexico and China. For 2024, non-OPEC liquids production is expected to grow by 1.4m bpd, broadly unchanged from the previous month’s assessment.
Main drivers for liquids supply growth next year are set to be the U.S., Canada, Guyana, Brazil, Norway and Kazakhstan. OPEC NGLs and non-conventional liquids are forecast to grow by around 50,000 bpd in 2023 to average 5.4m bpd and by another 65,000 bpd to average 5.5m bpd in 2024. OPEC-13 crude oil production in October increased by 80,000 bpd m-o-m to average 27.90m bpd, according to available secondary sources.
Balance of supply and demand
Demand for OPEC crude in 2023 remained unchanged from the previous month’s assessment to stand at 29.1m bpd, which is 0.6m bpd higher than in 2022. Demand for OPEC crude in 2024 is also remained unchanged from the previous month’s assessment to stand at 29.9m bpd, 0.8m bpd higher than the estimated level in 2023.
-- Iran, Saudi Arabia bankers brace for promoting monetary-banking cooperation
Bank officials from Iran and Saudi Arabia started negotiations to expand monetary, banking and foreign exchange relations between the two countries after a 7-year hiatus.
Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) for Foreign Currency Affairs Mohammad Aram traveled to Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh on Tuesday to hold talks with his counterpart for the resumption of banking and monetary cooperation, Tasnim reported.
According to the scheduled program, the CBI deputy governor will hold high-profile talks with Saudi bankers on bilateral ties and issues of mutual interest.
A specialized delegation consisting of senior currency managers of the Central Bank of Iran and directors of the concerned organizations accompany the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran on his visit to the Arab country.
In congratulatory messages to Saudi Arabia’s leaders on the country’s 93rd National Day on September 23, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi expressed hope for the enhancement of relations between the two nations in various fields.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
-- Raisi Slams Gaza Massacre in Letter to World Leaders
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has slammed the collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip which he says is being done in an organized manner.
In a letter addressed to world leaders on Tuesday, Raisi said that the Zionist regime’s killing of thousands of people in Gaza, including many women and children, its destruction of hospitals, mosques, churches, houses and critical infrastructure as well as its refusal to lift a blockade that has led to a shortage of water, electricity and
food in the enclave amounts to an “intensive and organized collective punishment” of the people in Gaza and is in clear violation of all fundamental principles of the international law.
Raisi said in the letter that Palestine, as a nation under occupation, is entitled to the right to resist aggression and occupation through all means, including armed struggle, adding that the same international laws do not give the Zionist regime of Israel a legitimate right to defend itself through killing civilians.
He called on world leaders to condemn the crimes committed by the Israeli regime in Gaza and to force the regime to stop its aggression on the enclave.
President Raisi said the international community has a duty to force the Israeli regime to lift its blockade on Gaza to allow humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and fuel, to reach the people in the territory.
At the end of letter, the Iranian president expressed hope that the Almighty God may save the oppressed Palestinian nation from occupation, aggression and crimes of the Zionist regime.
-- French Ambassadors Rap Macron’s Pro-Israel Stance
Around 10 French ambassadors to West Asia and North Africa have criticized the pro-Israeli stance adopted by President Emmanuel Macron.
The French daily, Le Figaro, which first reported the news, described it as an “unprecedented” rebellion in the recent history of French diplomacy in the Arab-speaking region. Their note to Macron said: “Our position in favor of Israel is misunderstood in the Middle East and it breaks with our traditionally balanced position between Israelis and Palestinians.”
The pro-Israeli position by France had resulted in a “loss of credibility and influence” for the country in the region largely due to Macron’s public statements, they said.
The crisis of trust between France and the Middle East is “serious” and risks being “long-lasting”, warned the authors of the note.
“We have experienced crises in the past with the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, but we were able to defuse them quite quickly,” said the diplomats.
“This time the distrust towards us is deep and likely to last. Our interlocutors feel that we are betraying ourselves; they believe that our discourse based on humanism is in contradiction with our new approach. For them, France with its alternative voice no longer exists,” they added.
-- Houthi: Ansarullah to Target Israeli Ships in Red Sea
Yemen’s Ansarullah leader said on Tuesday his forces would make further attacks on Israel and target Israeli ships in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
The movement launched several missile and drone attacks against Israel. Ansarullah, at war against a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, has emerged as a major military force in the Arabian Peninsula, with tens of thousands of fighters and a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles and armed drones.
The group controls northern Yemen and its Red Sea coasts.
“Our eyes are open to constantly monitor and search for any Israeli ship in the Red Sea, especially in Bab al-Mandab, and near Yemeni regional waters,” Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a broadcast speech.
He also called on Arab countries and the Muslim world to adopt a clear stance against Israel’s ongoing atrocities in the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a televised speech broadcast live to commemorate the anniversary of “Martyrs” in the Yemeni capital, he said the Zionist regime is committing genocide in Gaza and the Muslim world has shown a “weak and limited” stance on the occupying regime’s atrocities.
“Gaza is experiencing genocide and cold-blooded killing of its people even at the mosques, schools, hospitals, and the international organizations in which they take shelter,” he said.
“In the face of the major tragedy that the Palestinian people have been facing for more than 70 years, a limited and weak stance has been shown by over a billion Muslims,” he lamented. “Arab regimes are losing seriousness and do not have the will to act seriously towards Gaza.”
Houthi underlined that the Gaza Strip is subjected to a joint Israeli-Arab siege, and the neighboring countries are not seriously trying to deliver food, medicine, and humanitarian aid that the blockade area needs.
The Ansarullah chief also expressed his disappointment with the final statement issued by the Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh at the weekend.
“Although the Arab-Islamic Summit was an emergency meeting of 57 countries, it did not come up with a position or practical action, and this is shameful and sad,” Houthi said.
“The summit that claimed to represent all Muslims only produced statements with no practical stance. Is this capability of over a billion and a half Muslims?” he said. “Fifty-seven Arab and Islamic countries, with all their … capabilities, came out with a statement that could have been issued by a primary school and by one person.”
The Ansarullah chief said the outcome of the summit was a very ordinary statement that was “ridiculed by the Israelis.”
-- Bodies Buried in Mass Grave at Shifa Hospital
The director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest hospital, on Tuesday said that at least 179 people have been buried in a mass grave inside the hospital premises.
“We were forced to bury them in a mass grave,” said Muhammad Abu Salmiya, adding that seven babies and 29 patients from the intensive care patients are among those buried, Al Jazeera reported.
The hospital, in a statement, said that the bodies were buried after the hospital’s fuel supplies ran out and were in a state of decomposition.
Orthopaedic surgeon Fadel Naim, based in Gaza, said that the patients with injuries “up to the moderate level” have to undergo surgery without anesthesia because of a lack of medical supplies.
“It’s to preserve the remaining supply of anesthesia, which is on the verge of depletion at any moment, for major and critical surgeries,” he wrote on X.
Al Jazeera reported that the pain experienced by the patients during the surgical interventions without anesthesia is beyond what humanity can endure.
The Al-Shifa Hospital was cut off from the world for over 72 hours last week after a deadly blockade by Israeli forces that included tanks at the front gates.
According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, the occupying regime of Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza since October 7, equivalent to two nuclear bombs.
Eyewitnesses at Shifa Hospital painted an apocalyptic scene at the besieged Palestinian territory’s largest medical facility, which is besieged by Israeli forces who are not allowing anyone to move in or out of its buildings.
Palestinians say Israeli tanks, warplanes and snipers encircling the hospital have adopted a “shoot to kill” policy, which does not discriminate between medics, wounded Palestinians and those seeking refuge within the hospital’s walls.
Mustafa Sarsour was one of the
last remaining journalists at Al-Shifa. He described doctors leaving the bodies on hospital grounds so that they would not decompose inside.
There is no power for refrigerators to store bodies and access to electricity is functionally non-existent.
He estimated there were 100 bodies, which have been left at the mercy of the elements and feral animals.
“Stray dogs and other animals bite at and eat the bodies,” he told Middle East Eye, adding that he and others at Al-Shifa were powerless to intervene.
“We watch them eat but no one can move because Israeli snipers and quadcopters shoot at anyone who walks out of the hospital’s buildings.”
He further described the horror of witnessing those inside the hospital seeing their relatives’ bodies desecrated.
In one case he recounts a woman watching the body of her brother being mauled by street dogs. “The scene was horrible as she was watching, unable to move or do anything.”
On October 9, the occupying regime of Israel imposed a full siege on Gaza and completely cut off its electricity, fuel supplies, water and food.
This means that power generators running hospitals, including Al-Shifa, have completely shut down.
In intensive care units, which rely on a continuous flow of electricity for incubators and other medical equipment to work, people are dying, including premature babies.
On Monday, Sarsour managed to get out of the hospital complex, joining a band of displaced people who were sheltering at Al-Shifa.
Even then, the reality of death was ever-present. Despite there ostensibly being a safe corridor through the hospital, Israeli snipers continued to shoot.
“While we were walking, many people were shot dead although they did not do anything. They were just walking,” Sarsour said, adding: “I recorded a lot of footage proving that they were shot while peacefully crossing the safe corridor.”
A number of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals feel they have no choice but to remain at the hospital and stay with their patients until the end.
However, the staff are limited in the treatment they can offer to those in need.
Doctors are currently unable to give their patients the procedures they require due to a lack of resources. Even coordinating treatment between different departments is impossible as walking over to another building is a life-and-death matter.
In some cases, doctors have been stuck inside the hospital since the start of Israel’s assault, and are reaching the end of their mental limits.
“[The hospital] is totally surrounded by snipers and tanks. Drones are targeting whoever tries to move between the buildings of the hospital and within the hospital area,” Dr Ahmed Mukhallalati, the chief of plastic surgery at al-Shifa, told MEE.
“We had many incidents where the wounded were in the adjoining block of the hospital, and they asked for help, and no one was able to reach the place,” he continued.
“One of the members of the Alami family got injured. Her sister is a doctor here, and she tried to call an ambulance.
“No one was able to arrange for an ambulance to get there. She died waiting for help in the other block of the hospital.”
The stresses of war are causing a higher rate of miscarriages and premature births among pregnant women in Gaza.
Mukhallalati stated that his hospital’s officials had tried to arrange the burial of bodies with the International Committee of the Red Cross but there had been no progress at the time of writing.
On Tuesday, Palestinian health ministry officials confirmed that they would bury the bodies at a mass grave on site as a consequence.
The doctor, like his colleagues at Al-Shifa, said Israel’s aim was to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system.
“This is the fifth day since the siege on Al-Shifa started. The day before yesterday, they attacked the water well and the water tank on top of the building,” he said.
“Currently, we have no water in our buildings. The hospital is without water. This would affect the basic hygiene for the patients and workers, as well as for displaced civilians in the hospital,” he continued.
“The hospital has not received drinking water and food for the past four days. We have no fresh food to eat and the food we do have is about to finish.”
Mukhallalati said the hospital was “no longer a suitable place” to treat patients and that it could not offer any benefits to its patients.
Hospitals and medical facilities have been caught in the crossfire during the Zionist regime’s war in Gaza - both literally and in the clashing narratives over the conflict.
Palestinian officials have said a staggering 22 hospitals and 49 medical centers have completely stopped working because of airstrikes and Israel’s decision to suspend all fuel and electricity supplies to the strip since October 9.
Heavy rainfall and flooding in the besieged Gaza Strip has compounded the misery of the displaced Palestinians.
In southern Gaza, where many displaced Palestinians are now living in temporary accommodation, the rain has seeped through their tents, soaking belongings and causing makeshift beds to become damp.
People are also struggling to stay warm in the cold conditions, with little to no source of heating due to the cutting of electricity and scarce levels of fuel.
-- China, Iran, Arab States Blast Israel’s Nuke Gaza Threat
China, Iran and a multitude of Arab nations condemned an Israeli minister’s statement that a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was an option in the Zionist war on Gaza, calling it a threat to the world.
At Monday’s long-planned opening of a United Nations conference whose goal is to establish a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, many ambassadors expressed condemnations and criticisms of comments by heritage minister Amihai Eliyahu.
The occupying regime of Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its atomic arsenal. It is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, and a former employee at its nuclear reactor served 18 years in Israeli prison for leaking details and pictures of the Zionist regime’s nuclear arsenal program to a British newspaper in 1986.
China’s deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang said Beijing was “shocked,” calling the statements “extremely irresponsible and disturbing” and should be universally condemned.
He urged Israeli officials to retract the statement and become a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, considered the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament, as a non-nuclear weapon state “as soon as possible.”
Geng said China is ready to join other countries “to inject new impetus” to establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Mideast, saying there is greater urgency because of the situation in the current region.
UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu, who opened Monday’s fourth conference, didn’t mention Israel. But she said: “Any threat to use nuclear weapons is inadmissible.”
Nakamitsu reiterated the “urgency ... of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction,” stressing that “cool heads and diplomatic efforts” must prevail to achieve peace.
Oman’s UN Ambassador Mohamed Al-Hassan, speaking on behalf of the six-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council which includes Saudi Arabia, said the threat to use nuclear weapons in Gaza “reaffirms the extremes and brutality of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people” and their “disregard for innocent life.” He called on the UN Security Council and the IAEA to take decisive action on the matter.
Lebanon’s Charge d’Affaires Hadi Hachem also condemned the Zionist heritage minister’s comments, stressing that “this self-acknowledgment of having nuclear weapons and the threat of using them by its officials, poses a serious threat to both regional and international peace and security.”
He urged the occupying regime to stop “such rhetoric or posturing” and join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state.
Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Iravani told the conference the nuclear threats directed toward Palestinians by high-ranking Israeli officials highlight the occupying regime’s “pride” in having these weapons in its hands.
“The secrecy surrounding Israel’s nuclear capabilities poses a significant threat to regional stability,” he said. “In these critical times, the imperative to establish such a zone in the Middle East has never been more urgent.”
Efforts to create a nuclear-weapon-free zone date back to the 1960s and include a call by parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1995 and a 1998 General Assembly resolution asking countries to contribute to establishing it. The first UN conference aimed at creating a zone was held in November 2019.
Russia’s ambassador to the IAEA and other UN organizations based in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, told delegates Monday that given the new escalation of violence in the Middle East, a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region “is more pertinent than ever.”
But he said Moscow is “extremely uncomfortable” that along with the two other sponsors of the 1995 resolution – the United States and the United Kingdom – the promise to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Mideast has not been met after almost 30 years. And for more than 20 years, “there’s been almost no progress whatsoever,” he said.
-- FM Amir-Abdollahian: World Must Press Zionists to End Gaza Onslaught
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian in a phone call with his Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjártóhas has strongly condemned the ongoing massacre of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip by Zionists as a blatant violation of international law.
During the conversation, the two top diplomats discussed various aspects of bilateral relations as well as the latest developments in the West Asia region, especially the situation in Palestine and Zionists’ genocide in Gaza.
Referring to deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza as a result of Zionists’ savage crimes, Iran’s foreign minister said, “Through indiscriminate bombardment and massacre of people in the Gaza Strip, this Israeli regime has blatantly violated all norms of human rights and international law.”
Amir-Abdollahian also underlined the necessity of mounting pressure on Zionists by the international community to put an immediate halt on the regime’s aggression against Gaza, establish a ceasefire across the territory, and pave the way for the dispatch of humanitarian aid.
Zionists started the war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s resistance groups launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm in response to the regime’s intensified crimes against Palestinians.
Since then the Palestinian death toll from Zionist strikes has climbed to 11,240, including 4,630 children and 3,130 women. More than 28,000 people have been also injured in the regime’s military onslaught.
Zionists have also blocked supply of water, food, electricity, and medicines to Gaza, plunging the coastal area into a humanitarian crisis. The regime has been defying global calls for a ceasefire as well.
On Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sounded a stern alarm about the humanitarian situation in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying, “The situation in Gaza is rapidly approaching a humanitarian disaster.”
“An unbearable human tragedy is unfolding in front of our eyes. People call us day and night saying they are afraid to open their doors for fear of getting killed and pleading to help them reach safety,” said William Schomburg, head of the ICRC’s sub-delegation in Gaza.
The ICRC also expressed alarm at the regime’s targeting of heavily populated urban areas, saying, “Zionist attacks taking place in heavily populated urban areas in the Gaza Strip, including around hospitals, endanger the lives of the most vulnerable people like medical staff, patients, the wounded, premature babies, people with disabilities, and the elderly.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Amir-Abdollahian expressed satisfaction over the growing ties between Iran and Hungary, declaring Tehran’s readiness to hold a meeting of the two countries’ joint commission.
The Hungarian top diplomat, for his part, expressed hope that relations between the two countries would further develop in all areas of mutual interest.
TEHRAN TIMES:
-- Iran’s deputy FM repeats calls for sanctions on Israel
Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs has emphasized the importance of promoting sanctions on Israeli goods, calling on Islamic countries to showcase their commitment towards the Palestinian cause. Ali Bagheri-Kani made the remarks in a meeting with students from the School of International Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sharing insights into the tragic events unfolding in the Gaza Strip. Bagheri-Kani asserted that Palestine has become a global human rights focal point, with no international rule safeguarding Zionist invaders from their aggression. He stressed the conflict’s asymmetric nature, portraying one side as an aggressor and criminal, while the other is the oppressed Palestinian nation fighting against all odds to preserve its rights. Tehran’s four-decade-long approach toward the Palestinian conflict is aligned with Iran’s strategic and national interests, he pointed out. He also said Iran’s farsighted support for the people of Palestine in their struggle against Israeli occupiers has won global recognition.
-- How Hezbollah helps Gaza
To understand how Lebanon’s Hezbollah is helping innocent civilians in Gaza from the Israeli bombardment, it is important to first revisit the words of its chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. In his second speech on Saturday since the start of Hamas’ retaliatory al-Aqsa Storm operation on October 7, the Hezbollah leader said the front with the Israeli occupation will remain active. Sayyed Nasrallah explained that Hezbollah “would continue with its position”. “This front will stay, and we are going to continue with our heroic fighters,” he said. The enemy, he said, will ultimately be forced to back down. Nasrallah said his resistance group had used new types of weapons and struck new targets in Israel in recent days. There had been “an upgrade” in Hezbollah’s operations along its front with the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories in the north, he said. “There has been a quantitative improvement in the number of operations, the size and the number of targets, as well as an increase in the type of weapons”.
-- Israel’s Eliyahu is criminally insane: nuclear physicist
A senior nuclear physicist describes Israeli far-right minister Amihai Eliyahu who proposed using nuclear arms against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as “criminally insane”. Frank N. von Hippel, who is also a professor of public and international affairs emeritus with Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security, tells the Tehran Times that he does think that this “criminal statement” by a “lunatic” like Eliyahu “changes the situation significantly” in the ground. The following is the text of the interview: Amihai Eliyahu, an Israeli far-right minister, has said that “one of Israel’s options in the war in Gaza is to drop a nuclear bomb on the Strip.” What does this dangerous threat indicate? I would take it as an indication that Eliyahu is criminally insane and I am glad Prime Minister Netanyahu, whose policies toward the Palestinians I also find abhorrent, immediately removed Eliyahu from the cabinet.
-- South African FM: “Arrest Netanyahu and halt the genocide in Gaza”
In an article published on Sunday Times, the Foreign Minister of South Africa called on the International Criminal Court to detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to stop the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In her article published on November 12, Naledi Pandor drew parallels between the overthrown apartheid regime in South Africa and the occupation in Israel, explaining that even during the darkest days of apartheid, no hospitals, schools or residential buildings became the targets of bombs in the African country. She called Israel an occupying power that has been violating countless international laws in its attacks against civilians. The official noted that any person living under occupation has the right to resist. “The root causes of this war go back to Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians over the past 75 years, the illegal occupation of their land, and the ever-expanding web of illegal settlements deep into Palestinian territory,” she wrote. The South African diplomat also criticized governments supporting Israel, saying those states are abetting the genocide of Palestinian people by not holding Israel accountable for any of its crimes.
NOURNEWS