Head of Libyan Presidential Council hits out at Israel’s ‘crimes of genocide’ in Palestine during UNGA debate
Mohamed Al-Menfi also addressed “urgent issues” of illegal migration and terrorism facing Libya today
Updated 25 September 2024
Arab News
NEW YORK CITY: The head of Libya’s Presidential Council on Wednesday joined growing voices of condemnation at the UN General Assembly of Israel’s actions in the Middle East as he spoke of its “crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing” perpetrated against the Palestinian people.
Mohamed Al-Menfi, who was speaking during the second day of the general debate in New York City, said that Israel’s onslaught in the Gaza Strip amid its battle with Hamas, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, was a blatant violation of international law.
He reaffirmed Libya’s solidarity with Palestine, while emphasizing the right of the Palestinian people to determine their own destiny and establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“In this regard, we refer to Libya’s joining South Africa in the case raised before the International Criminal Court regarding Israel and its serious violations of laws, resolutions, and international charters, to promote accountability for the violations and genocide that the Palestinian people are being exposed to,” he said.
Al-Menfi also addressed the “urgent issues” of illegal migration and terrorism facing Libya today.
He said that his country, one that serves as a major transit point for migrants attempting to reach Europe, bears a burden in managing migration flows, adding it was an issue which required the assistance of the international community to tackle.
“We believe that solving this issue requires collective efforts, while ensuring the consideration of national legislations and humanitarian aspects and protecting the rights of migrants,” he said. “There’s need for a balanced approach that respects the dignity of migrants, acknowledging their vulnerabilities in the face of harsh migration conditions.”
Al-Menfi was frank about the scourge of terrorism on Libya, particularly the threat posed by extremist groups such as Daesh.
He said that while Libya had made strides in combating terrorism with the help of the international community, a coordinated effort from within the country was essential to keeping its impact at bay.
“We continue to work on enhancing internal security and securing the borders through cooperation with the international community to establish security centers for coordinating efforts among various national security forces and neighboring countries,” he said.
“The fight against terrorism is not just a military confrontation, it is a multifaceted phenomenon that requires the concerted efforts of local and international parties, and a comprehensive approach that addresses its various dimensions.
“Despite the importance of the UN’s efforts in this regard, we see the necessity of developing a national mechanism to confront these challenges away from negative interventions,” he added.
During his address, Al-Menfi also urged unity among Libyans to overcome internal divisions and foreign interventions that he said threatened national stability.
He called on the international community to support Libya in its journey toward national reconciliation and to help foster a stable and peaceful future for its citizens by backing legitimate elections.
“A comprehensive political solution is the only path to unify institutions and ensure stability, leading to elections, renewing legitimacy for all institutions, and allowing the Libyan people to determine their destiny,” he said.
“The Libyans should be given the opportunity to decide their future by renewing legitimacy and restoring authority that some parties seek to exclude, the Libyan people are the best to determine their fate, and the people should be the arbiter in choosing their representatives.
“Returning to them through free referendums and holding inclusive elections is the best solution to end any political deadlock.”
Saudi aid chief appeals for international assistance to Sudan
Abdullah Al-Rabeeah: It is a ‘collective responsibility’ to help conflict-ravaged country
Kingdom has allocated more than $3bn in aid to ‘brotherly’ Sudan
Updated 8 sec ago
Caspar Webb
NEW YORK CITY: Saudi Arabia’s aid chief on Wednesday issued an impassioned plea for assistance to Sudan at a high-level event in New York City on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly.
Saudi Arabia has allocated more than $3 billion in aid to the conflict-ravaged country, where almost 26 million people are now facing crisis levels of food insecurity.
About 11 million Sudanese have fled the country following the outbreak of civil war, seeking refuge in neighboring states and beyond.
The Kingdom is employing a twin strategy of peacemaking and aid relief to bring an end to the crisis, but the international response to Sudan has consistently underwhelmed, threatening to condemn millions more to suffering, said Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of Saudi aid agency KSrelief. The UN’s own refugee appeal for Sudan is only 25 percent funded.
The event, “The Cost of Inaction,” was hosted by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the US, the EU, the African Union and the UN in a bid to draw global attention to the scale of suffering in Sudan and rally support for a worldwide humanitarian appeal.
In his address, Al-Rabeeah said it is a “collective responsibility” to assist Sudan, a “brotherly country whose people are facing great challenges that they’re attempting to overcome, and they deserve our full support.”
Saudi Arabia is “fully aware” of its duty toward Sudan, he added, highlighting the “great efforts” made by the Kingdom to address the crisis since the beginning of the civil war.
These efforts were carried out “in order to find means to bring hope back to Sudan, and this includes the Jeddah Declaration for the protection of civilians as well as humanitarian access,” he said.
“However, the escalation of violence that has recently been seen in a number of regions has caused even further damage, pushing millions of people to flee their homes, leaving behind their families and their possessions.”
Despite Saudi Arabia allocating $3 billion in assistance to Sudan and carrying out a number of relief missions earlier this year, “the worsening of the security situation has impacted the progress that had been made,” Al-Rabeeah said, adding that in response, the Kingdom has “redoubled its efforts” and stepped up its contributions.
“Since April 2023, we’ve launched a number of projects. Together with the UN and other humanitarian organizations, we’ve brought in assistance through land and sea routes. We’re providing support to the government and also carrying out a campaign to assist the Sudanese people with contributions above $125 million,” Al-Rabeeah said.
“However, despite all of these efforts made by our country, challenges remain, and the crisis requires coordinated efforts in order to bring unhindered humanitarian access to the country and provide a sustainable and coordinated response, as well as safe unhindered access to areas affected by conflict.”
Al-Rabeeah urged the international community to look past “political considerations” to formulate a powerful response to the crisis in Sudan.
“This is a humanitarian tragedy that requires us to overcome existing divisions. We must ensure genuine change that will allow the entirety of the Sudanese people to restore their normal lives,” he said, adding that Saudi Arabia “is making significant efforts to make sure that this necessary assistance is delivered to the Sudanese people, who deserve a dignified life.”
Al-Rabeeah’s address was followed by Dr. Obaida El-Dandarawy, Egypt’s deputy assistant foreign minister for UN affairs.
El-Dandarawy highlighted his country’s hosting of more than 1.5 million Sudanese refugees, in addition to the 5 million who already reside in Egypt.
“We’ve opened our doors widely to host our brothers and sisters from Sudan,” he said. “However, Egypt and neighboring countries on their own can’t continue carrying this burden, and that’s why we need to make sure that various countries, organizations and donors need to shoulder their humanitarian responsibility, and they have to help Egypt and the neighboring countries so that we can carry out this task, a heavy one, both in terms of the social and economic dimensions.”
He added: “We need to send a clear message to the sons and daughters of Sudan, and say that the international community is aware of their suffering and will spare no effort.”
The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the chamber: “I feel, as I know all of you must, a sense of shame and embarrassment that this is happening on our watch.”
Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees, echoed Al-Rabeeah’s appeal, painting a stark picture of the reality on the ground.
“I went to Sudan twice this year, and as many of you have said, and I want to reiterate, conditions are apocalyptic,” he said.
“If people don’t die because of bullets, they starve to death. If they manage to survive, they must face disease, or floods, or the threat of sexual violence and other horrifying abuse, which if perpetrated in other places would make daily headlines.”
Grandi said humanitarian convoys in Sudan face being held up by closed roads due to flooding, or fired on and shelled by fighters.
“The solution to this crisis lies inside Sudan, but I can assure you its consequences won’t be contained to the region,” he warned.
“Let me just join everybody else on this panel in saying that more than anything else we need a political solution, because this is a crisis that can be solved, and it must be solved now.”
‘We feel their pain’: Gazans stunned by strikes on Lebanon
Filled with empathy, fear, Palestinians worry how the widening war might affect them
Updated 5 min 16 sec ago
AFP
GAZA STRIP: As Israeli bombs flattened buildings and sent smoke billowing skywards over Lebanon this week, Gazans looked on with both empathy and fear over how the widening war might affect them.
Israel carried out a third day of airstrikes against Lebanon on Wednesday.
In a dramatic escalation after nearly a year of cross-border violence, Israeli air raids on Monday killed at least 558 people in Lebanon in the country’s deadliest day since the 1975-1990 civil war.
After the unprecedented Oct. 7 attack by militants against southern Israel, Hezbollah said it began striking Israel in solidarity with Hamas, another Iran-backed group.
The Oct. 7 attack sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, marked by relentless Israeli bombardment that has devastated much of the Palestinian territory.
Chadi Nawfal, a 24-year-old resident of Gaza City who said he lost his home in an Israeli strike, said footage from Lebanon was hard to watch.
“The bloody scenes from Lebanon that we see on our television screens are very harsh images,” he said.
“We people in the Gaza Strip are the only ones who can currently feel the pain that the Lebanese people are experiencing.”
The sustained Israeli aerial assault on Lebanon is the latest in a series of attacks that began last week with coordinated blasts of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies.
The explosions killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000, and were followed by a deadly strike on Friday on south Beirut, with leading Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil among the dead.
Another strike on the Lebanese capital on Tuesday killed Hezbollah rocket forces commander Ibrahim Kobeissi.
Taken together, Israel’s onslaught confirmed its Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s claim a week ago that the war’s “center of gravity” was moving northward.
Ayman Al-Amreiti, another displaced resident of Gaza City, said he was worried the fighting in Lebanon would mean the ongoing war in Gaza gets less global attention.
“The military weight is now shifting to Lebanon, so even the media attention on the Gaza Strip has become secondary,” the 42-year-old said.
“This encourages the appetite of the occupation (Israel) to commit more crimes.”
Hamas’s attack on Israel nearly a year ago resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people.
Of the 251 hostages seized by militants that day, 97 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least nearly 41,500 people in Gaza, mostly civilians.
There are obvious differences in time frame and scale, but Umm Munzir Naim, 52, said she could not help but see similarities between the fighting in Lebanon and in Gaza.
“The war against Lebanon and Hezbollah is a war like in Gaza. The victims are the people,” she said.
“The small, the big, the properties, everything is targeted — humans, trees ... they say it’s against Hamas and Hezbollah, but on the ground it’s people who die.”
Amreiti said he hoped the fighting would end soon in both places, and that their fates could even be linked given Hezbollah’s past pledges to stop fighting once a Gaza ceasefire comes about.
“The outcome, the hope is that any settlement with Hezbollah will also involve Gaza,” he said.
“Right now, that is the hope that the children of the Palestinian people are turning to.”
Macron urges Israel, Hezbollah to de-escalate tensions
French president calls for creation of Palestinian state with ‘security guarantees for Israel’
‘Israel can’t, without consequence, just expand its operations to Lebanon. We can’t have a war in Lebanon’
Updated 34 min 43 sec ago
Zaira Lakhpatwala
NEW YORK CITY: French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called for Israel and Hezbollah to de-escalate tensions.
“Israel can’t, without consequence, just expand its operations to Lebanon,” he told the UN General Assembly. “We can’t have a war in Lebanon.”
Macron said France would act to “ensure a diplomatic voice can be heard,” adding: “We should look for peace everywhere and not accept any differences at a time when human lives are at stake.”
Regarding Gaza, he said Israel “has a legitimate right to protect their own people and to deny Hamas the means of attacking them again.”
However, he added that Israel’s invasion of Gaza has gone on for “too long,” and there is no justification for the deaths of Palestinians.
He called for the release of hostages held by Hamas, including several French citizens, along with a ceasefire and humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
Macron offered France’s participation in “any initiatives that will save lives and will allow for everyone’s safety to be protected” because “it’s imperative that a new page is turned in Gaza, for the guns to be silent, for humanitarian workers to return, (and) for civilians to finally be protected.”
France is committed to the creation of a Palestinian state with “security guarantees for Israel,” he said, reiterating his country’s commitment to working with Israelis, Palestinians and other partners to create the conditions for a just and lasting peace.
What will become of the Lebanese displaced by intensifying Israel-Hezbollah conflict?
Israeli forces have struck multiple Hezbollah targets in recent days, forcing civilians in the south to flee northward
Hobbled by political deadlock and economic meltdown, Lebanon’s government is in no position to mount a significant relief effort
Updated 10 min 15 sec ago
ANAN TELLO Robert Edwards
LONDON: Nearly half a million Lebanese civilians have been displaced from their homes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley since Israel intensified its air campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia this week, raising the prospect of a major humanitarian emergency.
In a country already grappling with a profound economic crisis, the exodus of thousands of civilians from towns and villages bordering Israel is stretching Lebanon’s limited resources and further destabilizing its fragile society.
The most pressing question on the minds of those fleeing, however, is whether their displacement will be temporary or permanent.
Areas such as Tyre, Sidon and Nabatiyeh have experienced a mass exodus. (AFP)
Indeed, villages closest to the border have been the most heavily damaged, with entire areas reduced to rubble. Israeli forces have been accused of creating a “dead zone” as a buffer between the two countries.
“We don’t think this is going to last only for a short duration,” Tania Baban, Lebanon country director of the US-based charity MedGlobal, told Arab News. “Some people may not be able to go home if their home is no longer standing.”
Since Hezbollah began rocketing northern Israel in solidarity with its Hamas allies following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, southern Lebanon has been transformed into a battleground, with Israel mounting retaliatory strikes.
The region, a stronghold for Hezbollah, has faced near daily bombardment, leaving towns and villages in ruins and devastating forests and farmland.
Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, has said that about 500,000 Lebanese have been displaced since Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah ramped up, with more than 110,000 fleeing prior to the recent escalation.
Areas such as Tyre, Sidon and Nabatiyeh have experienced a mass exodus. Some 70 percent of Tyre’s population has evacuated, according to the city’s mayor, Hassan Dbouk. “People could not tolerate it anymore,” he told the Washington Post.
Baban believes the official number of displaced is an underestimate. “We started distributing some much-needed basic items to the shelters on Tuesday, such as mattresses, towels, pillows, water and personal hygiene kits,” she said.
“We went to several schools to get their information and do our assessment, and there were displaced people flooding in, and this is only in Beirut.
“They’re mostly from the south. I’m sure Bekaa as well, but we don’t have those types of details yet, because people are still flooding in.”
The exodus of thousands of civilians from towns and villages bordering Israel is stretching Lebanon’s limited resources. (AFP)
Safa Kosaibani, 21, who fled from Nabatiyeh to the coastal city of Sidon with her daughters and sisters-in-law, said that she heard Israel was telling civilians to leave southern Lebanon, but did not trust the warnings.
“We thought it was just psychological warfare,” she told the Washington Post. “That they were just trying to push us to leave our land, because we pushed them away from their land in the north. They want to do the same to us.”
An estimated 60,000 or so Israelis are internally displaced from the other side. On Sept. 17, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu updated his government’s war goals to include returning those people home.
Nour Hamad, a 22-year-old student in the Lebanese city of Baalbek, described living “in a state of terror” all week. “We spent four or five days without sleep, not knowing if we will wake up in the morning,” she told the AFP news agency.
“The sound of the bombardment is very frightening, everyone’s afraid. The children are afraid, and the grown-ups are afraid too.”
Israeli forces have struck multiple targets across Lebanon, leading to the death of almost 600 people, many of them civilians. (Reuters)
As civilians tried to escape the conflict zones this week, they found highways from the south clogged with traffic. Roads to safety were so busy that many spent 12 hours or more on a journey that previously took just one or two.
While some have found refuge with friends or relatives, the sheer volume of displaced people is overwhelming Lebanon’s capacity to provide accommodation, with schools, community centers and unfinished buildings quickly being converted into temporary shelters.
Lebanon’s government is in no position to mount a significant relief effort. In recent years, it has been paralyzed by political deadlock and financial collapse, with its currency losing more than 90 percent of its value.
“Lebanon has been dealing with multiple crises and has still not recovered from the devastating of the Aug. 4, 2020, Beirut port explosion, as well as the economic crisis that engulfed the country starting in late 2019,” Hovig Atamian, director of programs at CARE International in Lebanon, told Arab News.
About 500,000 Lebanese have been displaced since Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah ramped up, with more than 110,000 fleeing prior to the recent escalation. (Reuters)
“Humanitarian organizations have been preparing for the worst case scenario of a very significant escalation for months now, but the reality on the ground, including access constraints due to the security risks will always remain a challenge.
“We call on the parties to the conflict to uphold the provisions of international humanitarian law, including taking measures to avoid and minimize loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects as well as protecting all humanitarian personnel and operations.”
With international funding already stretched due to crises in Gaza, Ukraine and other conflict zones, there is a fear that Lebanon could be overlooked in terms of humanitarian assistance.
Imran Riza, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, has allocated a $24 million emergency aid package from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund to address the urgent needs of those impacted by the hostilities. Those needs are now likely to grow rapidly, however.
Lebanon is “grappling with multiple crises, which have overwhelmed the country’s capacity to cope,” Riza said in a statement.
“As the escalation of hostilities in south Lebanon drags on longer than we had hoped, it has led to further displacement and deepened the already critical needs.”
The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it had hit 1,500 “terrorist infrastructure targets in southern Lebanon and deep inside Lebanese territory.” (AFP)
Charities such as MedGlobal are now mobilizing to deliver essential items to the temporary shelters.
“We are going to distribute food that is pre-prepared, because they don’t have cooking supplies, but also mattresses, winterization kits, blankets — because winter is on the doorstep, so they need to be prepared,” Baban said.
“The people who are coming into the shelters, a lot of them are elderly people who left their medications, who left their money, who need to get their medicine for their chronic illnesses as well.
“We’re talking about diabetes, heart problems, hypertension, and some patients are on dialysis. Some patients are maybe on chemotherapy, and we haven’t even begun to speak about the risk of communicable diseases.
“These are going to be overcrowded school turned shelters and winters coming, and we haven’t even discussed flu, COVID-19 and all of that. So it’s a very grim situation.”
Synchronized Israeli attacks last week on Hezbollah’s communication devices, which killed 39 people and injured more than 3,000. (AP)
Israeli forces have struck multiple targets across Lebanon, leading to the death of almost 600 people, many of them civilians. The strikes followed a synchronized attack last week on Hezbollah’s communication devices, which killed 39 people and injured more than 3,000.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it had hit 1,500 “terrorist infrastructure targets in southern Lebanon and deep inside Lebanese territory.”
“Hezbollah today is not the same Hezbollah we knew a week ago,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, claiming that the group “has suffered a sequence of blows to its command and control, its fighters, and the means to fight.”
INNUMBERS
• 500,000 People displaced across Lebanon. • 600 Fatalities, including 50 children and 94 women.
• 1,700 People injured by strikes across Lebanon.
• 60,000 Israelis evacuated from border areas since October.
The violence escalated on Wednesday when Hezbollah said it had launched a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv. Although Israel intercepted the missile, it represents an unprecedented move and a dangerous new phase in the conflict.
Early on Wednesday, Hezbollah confirmed that the commander of its missile unit, Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, had been killed, hours after the Israeli military said that he had been “eliminated” in an airstrike on Ghobeiri in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
An estimated 60,000 or so Israelis are internally displaced from the other side. (AFP)
The escalation comes nearly a year after Hezbollah began launching attacks shortly after the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 240 taken hostage.
Israel responded by invading the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, leading to a conflict that has claimed more than 41,000 lives, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict have so far failed. US President Joe Biden, addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, warned of the dangers of full-scale war in Lebanon, urging for restraint from all sides.
Since Hezbollah began rocketing northern Israel in solidarity with its Hamas allies following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, southern Lebanon has been transformed into a battleground, with Israel mounting retaliatory strikes. (Reuters)
“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” Biden said. “Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible.”
For Baban of MedGlobal, the unfolding humanitarian emergency could have serious implications for the wider region.
“Something needs to be done to stop this, to prevent this catastrophe from not only hitting Lebanon but becoming a regional catastrophe.”
Turkiye’s Erdogan tells Lebanese PM urgent international solution needed to stop Israel
Erdogan has previously condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory
He called for international steps to halt Israel’s war in Gaza and cross-border fire with Hezbollah
Updated 25 September 2024
Reuters
ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday that the international community must urgently implement a solution to stop Israel’s aggression, the Turkish presidency said, adding he had also voiced support for Lebanon.
A NATO member, Turkiye has denounced Israel’s devastating military offensive in Gaza prompted by Palestinian militant group Hamas’ cross-border attack last Oct. 7.
Turkiye halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court. Israel has said the genocide accusations are baseless and has repeatedly denied targeting civilians.
Erdogan has previously condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory, which Israel says are targeting Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure, and has called for international steps to halt Israel’s war in Gaza and cross-border fire with Hezbollah.
Turkiye’s presidency said Erdogan told Mikati in a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that the international community must urgently implement a solution to stop “Israel’s aggression.”
“President Erdogan said Israel was disregarding fundamental human rights, committing a genocide in front of the world, noting that stopping this and the humanitarian crisis that emerged as a result of the attacks was a humanitarian duty,” the presidency said in a statement.
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in New York that Israel’s attacks in Lebanon were “unacceptable” and meant to “drag the region into chaos,” according to the Turkish diplomatic source.
Bou Habib thanked Fidan for a Turkish shipment of medicine that arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday, the source added, and also briefed Fidan on the latest developments in Lebanon.
Separately, Fidan told a G20 foreign ministers meeting in New York that it was unclear whether the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah would spread further, though the world was facing a wider conflict.
Fidan also reiterated Ankara’s long-standing call to reform the UN Security Council to make it “fully effective,” adding Turkiye wanted to see a structure in which “one country’s veto does not determine another’s destiny,” the source added.
The United States, Russia, China, France and Britain are the permanent, veto-wielding members of the Security Council. There are 10 non-permanent members that serve two-year terms.
