CAIRO – 21 October 2023: Jordan’s King Abdullah II condemned the ongoing Israeli bombing campaign underway in Gaza as an act of “collective punishment” and a “war crime.”
He made the remarks in a speech at the Cairo Summit for Peace chaired by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to discuss the Israeli operations in Gaza in the presence of leaders and officials from 35 countries and four international organizations.
“The relentless bombing campaign underway in Gaza, as we speak, is collective punishment of besieged and helpless people. It’s a flagrant violation of int’l humanitarian law. It is a war crime,” King Abdullah said.
He added that all civilian lives matter, expressing outrage and grief about the acts of violence committed against those innocent civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
“Attacking civilian infrastructure and deliberately starving an entire population [and prohibiting] them from food, water, electricity and basic necessities will be condemned. Accountability will be enforced immediately and unequivocally,” he stressed.
He also rejected the global silence with regard to the targeting of civilians in Gaza, saying that this silence conveys a “message that the Arab world is hearing is loud and clear: Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli ones.”
He added that this silence reflects that the application of international law is optional and human rights have boundaries, including borders, races and religions.
“That is a very very dangerous message,” he stressed.
Jordan’s king urged an immediate end to the war in Gaza, the protection of civilians, the adoption of a unified position that indiscriminately condemns the targeting of all civilians.
“This comes in line with our shared values and international law, which loses all values if implemented selectively,” he stated.
Earlier during the summit, President Sisi also delivered a speech, where he reiterated condemnation of targeting all innocent civilians and the collective punishment imposed on around 2.5 million citizens in Gaza.
He also voiced rejection of attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians toward Egypt, affirming that this will mean a liquidation of the Palestinian cause.
“I clearly affirm to the world the will and determination of every individual of the Egyptian people that liquidating the Palestinian issue without a just solution will not happen, and in any case, it will never happen at Egypt’s expense,” Sisi stressed.
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