TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Speaking on the 77th anniversary of the Genocide Convention, Palestinian Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Majed Bamya, declared on Tuesday that the international community is failing the survivors of the alleged Israeli genocide in Gaza, "just as they failed the victims who died."
"It is difficult to convey what it means to speak here on behalf of the people of Palestine as they endure genocide," Bamya stated at a high-level UN meeting marking the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of Genocide, Anadolu reported.
He challenged those debating the applicable terminology to "direct your outrage not at terminology, but at the atrocities themselves."
Referring to the devastation in Gaza as "one of the most documented crimes in modern history," Bamya asserted that it was "live-streamed for all to see." He noted that the suffering was recorded both by victims—"in the hope that the world watching would act, and even recorded by those committing the crimes, confident they will never be held to account."
"Which one of them will we prove right? The victims or the perpetrators?" Bamya pointedly asked the assembly.
He highlighted that several leading human rights groups, UN experts, and nations have formally acknowledged the commission of genocidal crimes in Gaza, yet concrete action has been absent. These parties include Amnesty International, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese, and the UN-led independent commission chaired by Navi Pillay.
"But where are the steps to prevent the genocide in Palestine? Where are the measures to punish it?" he challenged.
Citing the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) early warning in the case brought by South Africa, Bamya stated the Court had identified "the real and imminent risk" to the Palestinian population and ordered Israel to change course, "yet Israel refused to comply."
He lamented that despite the issuance of repeated provisional measures by the Court, "the attacks intensified and starvation turned into famine," adding starkly that "the risk became reality."
Bamya underscored that statements made by Israeli officials following October 7 "left no doubt about intent." He pointed to declarations that "there are no innocents in Gaza," oaths of "total destruction," and the dehumanizing reference to Palestinian residents as "human animals."
"To them, there were no innocents in Gaza. Not the children killed, orphaned, or amputated. Not the journalists targeted in numbers unseen in modern times. Not the humanitarian workers and UN personnel killed deliberately and systematically," he said.
He further emphasized that the systematic destruction of homes, hospitals, universities, and infrastructure, coupled with the denial of aid, created "every condition … to make life impossible." These, he stressed, "are not accidents or by product of war. They are premediated actions aimed at achieving clear goals."
Bamya warned that survivors in Gaza continue to face death, injury, displacement, and denial of life-saving aid. "experience teaches us that the denial of justice, for generations, has allowed crimes to return again and again," he cautioned.
He concluded: "We failed those who were killed. We must not continue failing those who survive."
Israel's Genocide Allegedly Supported by Many Countries
Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, condemned what she termed the "brutality of the Israeli genocide" in Gaza, asserting it is being carried out "with the complicity of far too many states."
Albanese reiterated her position at the Doha Forum, writing in a post on the X platform, as reported by Anadolu, "I denounced the brutality of the Israeli genocide, carried out with the complicity of far too many States."
She called for decisive, urgent action from the international community. "The States who want to preserve what remains of multilateralism must build new alliances fast, and stand as UNITED NATIONS for real, cornering the bullies," she stated.
More than 70,000 people, predominantly Palestinian women and children, have reportedly died in Gaza since October 2023 due to the Israeli offensive, which many countries and groups classify as acts of genocide.
Currently, South Africa’s 2023 lawsuit accusing Israel of committing genocide in the region remains before the International Court of Justice.
In her October report titled "Gaza Genocide: a collective crime," Albanese stated that "third states" have provided direct support, material assistance, diplomatic protection, and in some cases, active involvement in Israel's actions in Gaza.
Read: UN Condemns Israeli Raid on UNRWA Compound in East Jerusalem
Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
