Time ripe for Israel’s expulsion from United Nations: Iran deputy FM

Iran says the time is ripe for Israel’s expulsion from the United Nations amid the regime’s genocidal war in Gaza and its aggression against Lebanon.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, made these remarks while addressing the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)-Arab League foreign ministers' meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday. The meeting aimed to discuss Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and was held in advance of an emergency summit scheduled for Monday.

He said the time has come to expel Israel from the UN because of the regime’s hostile actions against the legitimacy of the United Nations, including the tearing of its Charter, declaring the world body’s Secretary General persona non grata and banning the activities of UNRWA in the occupied territories.

Gharibabadi added that Israel should be expelled from the United Nations given the regime’s killing of hundreds of UN employees, its complete disregard for the temporary orders of the International Court of Justice and violation of the provisions of the UN Charter.

Israel kills another UNRWA staff member in Deir al-Balah

“I can confirm that an UNRWA car was hit. One UNRWA colleague was killed,” spokeswoman Juliette Touma said.

The Iranian diplomat described the ongoing developments in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon as a “shame” for humanity and a double injustice against a nation that has been under occupation and aggression and deprived of its basic rights for more than seven decades.

He said the United States and Western countries have been providing the Israeli regime with unwavering support to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, racial discrimination and genocide against the defenseless Palestinian people.

“As an illegitimate child of the West, the Zionist regime has been spared from any accountability and responsibility for its crimes,” Gharibabadi emphasized.

He reiterated the Palestinian people’s legitimate right to defend against and resist the occupation and aggression, saying they do not need to obtain permission from anyone to exercise their inherent right.

He hailed “collective and individual but insufficient” efforts by the member states of the OIC and the Arab League in support of Palestine, emphasizing that Iran expected more “practical and effective” measures to end the Israeli crimes.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister called on the participants to pay heed to issues such as the immediate establishment of a ceasefire in Palestine and Lebanon, the reopening of humanitarian crossings, the release of all Palestinian prisoners, and the dignified return of refugees to their homelands as well as the dispatch of international aid to begin reconstruction in Gaza.

He also called on the member states to impose full arms, economic and commercial embargoes on Israel and all institutions supporting the regime’s occupation of Palestine.

Gharibabadi stressed the need to revive the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid in an attempt to investigate the Israeli regime’s crimes.

He called for a strong condemnation of Israel's aggression against other countries in the region, including Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, in line with the regime’s deliberate policy to spread a full-scale war throughout the entire region.

In a letter to OIC Secretary-General Hussein Ibrahim Taha last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called for collective diplomatic efforts to stop the Israeli regime’s atrocities against the innocent people of Gaza and Lebanon, secure a ceasefire and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.

At least 43,603 Palestinians, mostly children and women, have been killed and 102,929 people wounded in the war that Israel began on October 7, 2023 following a retaliatory operation by the Palestinian territory’s resistance movements.

Israel also launched a ground assault and massive air campaign against Lebanon in late September after a year of exchanging fire across the Lebanese border in parallel with the Gaza war.

More than 3,180 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the last year, the vast majority in the past six weeks.

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