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Tel Aviv/Paris/Beirut/New York: Responding to the growing calls for an arms embargo against Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named French President Emmanuel Macron in particular and other Western leaders, and hit back saying, “Shame on them”.
He declared, “Israel will win with or without their support. But their shame will continue long after the war is won”. Macron had told France Inter radio that “the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza”.
Netanyahu brought to their notice that today Israel was defending itself on seven fronts “against the enemies of civilization”, and asserted that as Israel fights “the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side”.
He went on to ask, “Is Iran imposing an arms embargo on Hezbollah, on the Houthis, on Hamas and on its other proxies?” and went on in the same breath, “Of course not. This axis of terror stands together. But countries who supposedly oppose this terror axis call for an arms embargo on Israel. What a disgrace!”
He claimed that Israel, by defending itself against “barbarism”, was defending civilization against those “who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us”.
Netanyahu said Israel was in the “heat of a gruelling war against Iran’s axis of evil”, aimed at destroying Israel. He added: “That will not happen, because we shall stand together, and with God’s help, we shall emerge victorious together. We will return our hostages in the south, return our residents in the north, and ensure the eternity of Israel,” he said while offering condolences to the families of soldiers who fell today in Lebanon.
“May God avenge them. May their memory be a blessing,” he said. “Rest assured, Israel will fight until the battle is won – for our sake and for the sake of peace and security in the world,” he vowed amidst an announcement today by an umbrella group of Iran-aligned militias in Iraq of three separate attacks on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, two days after the group launched two drones at a military base in the occupied territory. One was reportedly intercepted but the other hit Israeli soldiers, killing two and wounding 24.
Netanyahu highlighted Israel’s fight on different fronts – “We are fighting in Gaza against Hamas, the savages who murdered, raped, beheaded and burned our people on October 7th. We are fighting in Lebanon against Hezbollah, the most heavily armed terror organization in the world, which was planning an even greater massacre than October 7th on our Northern border, and that has rocketed Israeli towns and cities for nearly a year. We are fighting against the Houthis in Yemen, and the Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, that together have launched hundreds of drones and missile attacks against Israel. We are fighting against terrorists in Judea and Samaria, who are trying to murder civilians in the heart of our cities. And we are fighting against Iran, which last week fired over 200 ballistic missiles directly at Israel and which stands behind this seven-front war against Israel”.
He added: “Yet President Macron and other Western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) continued to pound Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. On October 3, 2024, the Israeli airstrike in the Tulkarem refugee camp was the most intense in the West Bank in the past 20 years, killing 18 Palestinians, including children, and injuring many others.
The IDF said an air attack was carried out on a former school in northern Gaza, targeting a group of Hamas fighters. Israel has again ordered north Gaza civilians to flee as tanks and troops entered the zone today. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, visited the site of an attack the previous night in the Maan area, east of Khan Younis and reported that ambulances trying to evacuate the injured could not reach them due to the ongoing incursion. Hours later, when first responders were finally able to access the area, their bulldozer ran out of fuel while recovering bodies from beneath the rubble. A new assessment this week by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and humanitarian partners found that at least 87 per cent of school buildings in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged since October of last year, including one-third of UNRWA [UN Relief and Works Agency] schools.
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health stated today that 23 martyrs and 93 were wounded, the result of enemy raids on towns and villages in southern Lebanon, Nabatieh, the Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel, Mount Lebanon, and the North yesterday. Beirut residential areas have been subjected to intense Israeli airstrikes, apparently injuring rescue workers. Also, strikes continue unabated in other parts of Lebanon.
Incidentally, Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi was in Beirut on October 4, 2024, and from there moved to Damascus a day later. He said his visit to Beirut made clear that Iran will always stand with the people of Lebanon.
“The toll on civilians from this campaign is totally unacceptable. All parties must do whatever they can to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and ensure that civilians are never put in harm’s way,” Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, said in New York.
Given the worsening humanitarian needs, Imran Riza, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, announced an additional $2 million from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund to address the deteriorating situation, bringing the total allocation to $12 million so far. This comes alongside a previous $10 million Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), allocated very recently. The first flight with World Health Organization (WHO) medical supplies — enough to treat tens of thousands of injured people — too arrived in Beirut on October 4, and more such flights were planned in the coming days.
OCHA stated it remains concerned about the safety and well-being of civilians as Lebanon experiences a surge in airstrikes and displacement orders. There were new orders given by the Israelis in the south, for areas above the Litani River and areas such as El-Buss — which hosts a Palestinian refugee camp — that forced families to flee from areas previously considered safer. Civilians on both sides of the Blue Line — in Lebanon and in Israel — must be allowed to live in peace and tranquillity.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said many of Lebanon’s 177,000 migrants, including many female migrant domestic workers, have also been now forced to flee in search of safety but face limited shelter options.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Jean-Pierre Lacroix had quoted peacekeepers saying that within their area of operations, they still observe intense airstrikes and heavy clashes. Significant exchanges of fire are occurring in Sector West, particularly Marun ar Ras, Yaroun and Bint Jbeil and in Sector East, focusing on the Khiam, Kafer Kila and El Adeisse areas.
UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) peacekeepers continue to remain in position despite the dangerous environment, while the intensity of fighting hampers their movement and ability to undertake the full range of their mandated tasks.
– global bihari bureau
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
