"Eyes and Ears" at risk: Martin accuses Israel of undermining international order
LUXEMBOURG – Tanaiste Micheal Martin has accused Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of undermining the United Nations and the international rules-based order after he ordered UNIFIL forces to evacuate from fighting zones in south Lebanon.
Mr Martin is in Luxembourg for an EU foreign ministers’ conference, which will overshadow the rising Middle East crisis and the Russian war against Ukraine.
Mr. Martin said at the meeting that Prime Minister Netanyahu undermines the UN, its peacekeeping mission, and the rules-based international order. He urged Netanyahu to step back.
“The international community and my European Council colleagues must be extremely clear about the supremacy of the global rules-based order.
“The United Nations is at the heart of that, and United Nations peacekeepers are at the heart of that.”
Following international criticism of attacks on UNIFIL personnel and bases, Mr Netanyahu stated in a video message yesterday evening: “We regret the harm to Unifil soldiers and are doing everything we can to prevent such damage.
“However, the simplest and most obvious approach to achieve this is simply removing them from the danger zone.”
The Tanaiste accused Israel of aiming to “drive the eyes and ears out of south Lebanon and give itself free rein” by attacking UNIFIL positions.
He admitted that a war was taking place in south Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces, and he said Ireland had also urged the militant group, which the EU considers a terrorist organization, to stop shooting rockets into Israel.
He said that once the conflict ended, there would need to be a UN presence in south Lebanon to sustain whatever peace or political arrangement developed.
“We cannot have an undermining and a chipping away of the status or authority or structures of the United Nations and particularly its peacekeeping forces,” he said to reporters.
Mr Martin stated that recent IDF attacks in northern Gaza, including one on a school sheltering displaced people, demonstrated that the world did not have a whole picture of what was going on in Gaza.
He requested that an EU or foreign delegation be allowed into Gaza to monitor the situation.
“The recent mass expulsions in northern Gaza are shocking…Innocent people were killed and destroyed.
“That is no longer ethical or morally tolerable. Many of our EU member nations must now take a stand to support what is right, proper, and moral regarding humanity.”
“I’m shocked that certain EU member states haven’t been as vocal or emphatic in their support for UN peacekeepers as they could be,” he said.
“The statement we published is welcome, but I believe the EU’s response on this topic could be far stronger,” he added.