Dhaka urges ICC to act against Israel

Bangladesh has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take Israeli atrocities in Gaza into cognizance and bring the offenders to justice.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Sunday said the Hague-based international tribunal should uphold its mandates to address the issue and expressed Bangladesh’s readiness to extend “all possible support”.

“It would be an affront to call this only as an Arab-Israel conflict. It is something far beyond,” he said. “The humanitarian tragedy that we witness in the Gaza Strip relates to the issues of humanity, morality, law, and war ethics”.

Bangladesh is a party to the Rome Statute that gave birth to the criminal court mandated to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

“Bangladesh remains ready to extend all possible support to our Palestinian brothers and sisters to advance their just and legitimate cause in the ICC,” the foreign minister said at a discussion on the Gaza situation in Dhaka.

Palestine ambassador in Dhaka Shaher Mohammad was also present among others.

Israeli attacks have killed about 2,000 Palestinians and devastated wide tracts of densely populated Gaza.

The UN has formed an international commission of inquiry into possible human rights violations and war crimes committed by both sides during Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

File Photo

Bangladesh has been vocal against Israeli brutalities from the beginning.

Dhaka strongly condemned the Israeli aggression and called upon the members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to impose sanctions on Israel to send “a strong message” against its aggression in Gaza.

The cabinet meeting has brought two resolutions condemning the attack while the government is preparing to send medical team in Gaza.

The foreign minister said Bangladesh regretted that repeated appeals of the international community towards ceasefire and minimum level of humanitarian approach to the Palestinian people remained unheeded.

“We call upon the international community, including conscientious citizens of the world to exert their collective pressure on Israel to refrain from its atrocities, human rights violation, and indiscriminate killing of civilians including women, children and the elderly, on a sustainable basis”.

He lamented “the absence of sufficient response and reaction” from the world powers to timely and effectively address this issue, including through the UN Security Council.

“We have pledged through the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to pursue the issue through the UN General Assembly under an Algerian initiative in the face of the UN Security Council’s inability to take a decisive action in this regard,” he said.

He said the “Israeli war machine is no longer satisfied with the slaughter of civilians, the demolition of homes, the burning of farms and the destruction of infrastructure”.

“…Worse, it has unleashed its barbarism even onto UN shelters and schools as well as places of worship with shameless indifference to all moral codes and sheer disregard for the basic humanitarian principles.

“When did it happen? In the “International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” declared by the UN.

“When did it start? In the month of Ramadan, the most sacred month of the year for Muslims all over the world,” Mahmood Ali said.

The foreign minister termed those crimes “war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression”.

He also described the atrocities as “the worst instance of human rights violation” and a threat to “international peace and stability”.

He urged all countries to send “a strong message of denial” to Israel.

The minister suggested imposing “trade embargo, a ban on transfer of arms, and visa restriction on its citizens responsible for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

He also called for “a comprehensive approach” to address all outstanding issues for a lasting peace and reconciliation in the Middle East.

“If we continue to fail in our responsibility to bring an end to this humanitarian tragedy, we shall be failing our pledge to the UN Charter to ensure an independent, secure and stable statehood that remains ever elusive to generations of Palestinians,” he said.

He said Bangladesh remained “steadfast” in reaffirming the ultimate goal for Palestine in line with its constitution.

Bangladesh demands independent and sovereign State of Palestine based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“We shall not rest or relent till that goal is achieved,” the foreign minister asserted.

He said Bangladesh’s people of all walks of life condemned the heinous Israeli attacks.

He also announced that Bangladesh was considering “increasing the number of scholarship for the Palestine students in our universities”.