LONDON, Monday, May 24, 2021 (WAFA) – The European Muslim Forum (EMF) said in a statement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be held personally accountable for the inhuman treatment of the people of Palestine, the encroachment on its sovereignty, and the desecration of the holy sites of Islam.
“This man as the political leader of Israel, more than anyone else is involved in organizing punitive operations against the civilian population of Gaza, the military destruction of its infrastructure, police violence against the Arab community, military operations that damage world cultural heritage sites, including Al-Aqsa,” said EMF.
“EMF is convinced that Netanyahu’s inhuman orders and hate statements must receive the most serious and rigorous assessment from the standpoint of international humanitarian law. We should not allow a criminal clothed with power to escape punishment by shifting all responsibility to the command of the armed forces and police subordinate to him.”
Following is the full text of the statement:
European Muslim Forum welcomes the investigation launched by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the spring of 2021 regarding the alleged crimes of Israel in the Palestinian territories. Now, when the wave of escalation is spreading in the Middle East due to the actions of the Israeli leadership, the international community must resolutely stop these atrocities before their consequences become irreversible. It is these days, wishing to remain in power at all costs, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plunges his state into disaster, pouring blood over Palestine and Israel.
EMF, as an actor representing the will of Muslims from over than 36 European countries, does not intend to let this executioner get away with it and will not remain aloof from what is currently occurring.
EMF believes that Netanyahu should be held personally accountable for the inhuman treatment of the people of Palestine, the encroachment on its sovereignty, and the desecration of the holy sites of Islam. This man as the political leader of Israel, more than anyone else is involved in organizing punitive operations against the civilian population of Gaza, the military destruction of its infrastructure, police violence against the Arab community, military operations that damage world cultural heritage sites, including Al-Aqsa. On top of that, Netanyahu strikes a blow at the Middle East peace settlement, driving a wedge between Arabs and Jews, Jews and Muslims, Palestinians and Israelis. Netanyahu’s adventurous course is leading Israel to foreign policy isolation and collapse. As a result, the sound forces of world Jewry (human rights organizations, spiritual leaders, sober-minded politicians) have become unwitting hostages of the unseemly image of the country and nation that the Israeli prime minister creates for them in the vast Muslim world.
Thus, EMF is convinced that Netanyahu’s inhuman orders and hate statements must receive the most serious and rigorous assessment from the standpoint of international humanitarian law. We should not allow a criminal clothed with power to escape punishment by shifting all responsibility to the command of the armed forces and police subordinate to him.
The perpetrator must face inevitable and personal retribution, as was previously the case with numerous other political or military leaders, who committed war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Hereby EMF calls on constructive forces from among the Palestinian victims of Netanyahu’s cabinet’s policies and from Jewish organizations that disagree with his actions – as well as human rights organizations in Europe and America to work together to hold Netanyahu accountable to the fullest extent of the law and prevent the region from slipping into a conflict of everyone with everyone.
We expect that no one informed and interested in justice will remain indifferent to the legal initiatives of the EMF, realizing that peace between religions, peoples, and states depends on their collective actions.
To this end, the EMF announces the creation of a Working Group to collect evidence that Benjamin Netanyahu is guilty of a number of war crimes. The results obtained by the Working Group will be submitted to the International Criminal Court, complementing and supporting the investigation already conducted by Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
T.R.
