Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Speaks To UN Security Council: 'Treat Us As Human Beings'
Riyad al-Maliki, Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister, speaks to the UN Security Council about the situation in Gaza.
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00:00 Mr. President, Doug Hammarskjold said, and I quote, "The United Nations was not created
00:08 in order to bring us to heaven, but to save us from hell."
00:15 End of quotation.
00:18 Gaza is now hell on earth.
00:21 You've heard that not from me.
00:23 You've heard it from Lazzarini and many others.
00:27 Gaza is now hell on earth.
00:30 Saving humanity from hell today means for the United Nations to save Palestinians in
00:37 Gaza.
00:40 The 2.3 million Palestinians living there are enduring suffering that no human beings
00:47 should endure.
00:50 They are besieged and bombed with nowhere safe to go.
00:55 Again, you heard Lazzarini.
00:58 He said there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip.
01:03 Half the homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged.
01:08 Gaza population is comprised of 70% of refugees.
01:14 Over 1.4 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
01:21 Again, Mr. Lazzarini.
01:25 Now virtually all of our people in Gaza are homeless, displaced, moving from one family
01:33 home to another, from a hospital to a church, from a mosque to an honor school, sleeping
01:42 in their cars, sleeping in the streets, and still being killed wherever they go to convince
01:49 them they will not be safe anywhere in Gaza.
01:56 A leaked document prepared by the Israeli intelligence ministry confirms that in fact
02:06 really relocating Palestinians from Gaza to tent cities in Sinai is not a threat we imagined,
02:17 but a reality Israel is trying to impose.
02:23 They want to depopulate the Gaza Strip completely from the entire population and throw them
02:31 in the lap of Egypt in the Sinai desert.
02:36 Over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 3,000 in the south of Gaza,
02:46 where Israel has pushed, forcibly transferred hundreds of thousands of people.
02:55 These staggering figures keep rising with every minute that action is delayed to stop
03:02 the onslaught against our people.
03:07 One figure more than any other explains the magnitude of this man-made tragedy.
03:15 3,500 Palestinian children have been killed by Israel in just three weeks, more than the
03:24 annual number of children killed across the world's conflict zones since 2019, according
03:34 to Save the Children, as my sister, the minister from United Arab Emirates, Her Excellency
03:42 Lana, has alluded to.
03:46 Let me repeat, 3,500 Palestinian children have been killed by Israel in just three weeks,
03:55 more than the annual number of children killed across the world's conflict zones combined
04:02 since 2019.
04:06 Every five minutes, a Palestinian child is killed.
04:10 How many more days will you wait to say enough?
04:15 How many more days will you wait to say enough?
04:19 Paralyzed, not acting, not carrying out your duty to maintain international peace and security
04:28 and to stop that war as a derivative of that.
04:33 To recognize this is a war against our children, how long will it take you to recognize that
04:41 thousands of children being killed before your own eyes and you're still paralyzed?
04:50 Our children, our children who are like yours, children of God, children of light, the angels
05:01 on earth, enough darkness, enough death, save lives of our children and all children and
05:10 the children of others.
05:14 Mr. President, the General Assembly representing the countries of the world adopted a resolution
05:23 grounded in humanity, morality, legality, and the rejection of double standards and
05:32 of any justification for the killing of innocent civilians, the siege against them, their captivity
05:43 and their forced transfer.
05:47 It took a stand that we will not forsake humanity, we will not forfeit international law.
05:59 The General Assembly acted, the Secretary General acted, the army of his humanitarian
06:08 agencies and the heroes leading them and those who are working in implementing that message
06:15 acted.
06:18 And there is one important body still not acting, it is you.
06:25 The General Assembly called for an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce.
06:34 This must happen immediately.
06:37 It stressed that humanitarian aid and access cannot be further delayed or obstructed and
06:45 must be at levels that correspond to the immense needs created by this inhumane Israeli siege
06:54 and the indiscriminate attacks it is perpetrating as we speak.
07:05 And more lives hang in the balance.
07:10 This resolution, moral one, powerful one, in which 11 of you members of the Security
07:18 Council voted for, three of you abstained, one voted no.
07:26 This resolution must be immediately and fully implemented.
07:34 If you were able to vote in the General Assembly, what is stopping you from voting here?
07:40 The 11 who voted yes, the three who abstained, among them four permanent members voted yes
07:48 and one abstention.
07:52 Do what the bigger body is doing.
07:57 Rise up to your responsibility and what you should do instead of dragging the paralysis
08:04 I don't know for how long while thousands of Palestinian innocent civilians, including
08:11 children, are being slaughtered.
08:15 The Security Council must take example of the General Assembly and its wisdom and uphold
08:23 its responsibilities to put an end to this bloodshed, which constitute an affront to
08:29 humanity, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and a clear and imminent danger for regional
08:38 and international peace and security.
08:42 I want to thank the Arab group led by my brother, Ambassador Mahmoud of Jordan, who has demonstrated
08:51 an outstanding leadership in leading our group during this very difficult month.
08:58 We salute him and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and its foreign minister who was with
09:04 us participating in what we've accomplished together with all of you, with many of you
09:11 in the General Assembly.
09:14 And the OIC member states for their relentless mobilization, the countries of the Global
09:21 South for their support as well as all the countries which engaged constructively and
09:29 responsibly to allow us to adopt a substantive humanitarian resolution with overwhelming
09:38 support from across the globe.
09:42 121 countries versus 14.
09:47 Given that 11 members of this Council have voted in favor of the resolution, that three
09:56 abstained and one voted against, it is clear that the text enjoys broad support and must
10:06 serve as basis for a clear and unequivocal position of the Council at this critical juncture.
10:16 Mr. President, 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza face death every day and every night.
10:25 Save them.
10:27 Save them.
10:30 Look at them as human beings.
10:33 You cannot look only at one side and ignore this tragic humanity completely.
10:41 Wake up from revenge.
10:45 Look at us as human beings.
10:50 Save them.
10:52 We have 2,000 people under the rubble.
10:57 Allow us to find them.
10:59 Save those who still can be saved and bury in a dignified manner those who have perished.
11:11 Allow the 20,000 wounded to be properly treated.
11:16 Allow doctors to fix broken bodies and God to heal wounded souls.
11:26 Allow humanitarian workers, the brave ones, the heroes, to perform their life-saving duties
11:35 even as they mourn their colleagues.
11:39 Sixty-four alone among UNRWA staff killed in Israeli attacks.
11:47 Allow them to conduct their sacred mission in safety and not under the bombs.
11:54 Allow hospitals to resume their work to save lives and not be transformed into morgues.
12:02 Allow members of the same families who have survived to embrace each other and to mourn
12:13 their loved ones who did not.
12:16 Allow us to pay the tribute owed to the families wiped off the face of this earth and whose
12:24 names join the long list of bereaved families etched in our collective memory.
12:33 Allow people who will have homes standing to go home and allow millions of people to
12:41 start thinking once more about how to rebuild their lives despite the depths of the death,
12:50 devastation, and destruction they endured.
12:54 Despite the indelible traumas.
13:00 Treat us as human beings with the respect we deserve.
13:05 We are not subhuman beings.
13:08 We are not from another planet.
13:11 We are exactly like each and every one of you.
13:15 We are humans, human beings.
13:19 Treat us in this manner with respect we deserve.
13:25 Show respect for our inherent dignity, not in words but in deeds, in action, in doing
13:36 something to stop this crime against our people and our children and our women and our wounded
13:43 and our sick.
13:45 No one should justify our killing or find reasons to give more time to the killer.
13:54 Call for an end of this assault on an entire nation.
14:01 Stop the killings in the West Bank by settlers and occupation forces and the forced displacement
14:10 underway there.
14:13 Palestinians as human beings have rights that must be upheld and they are entitled
14:21 to protection and we are entitled to be defended.
14:30 Many of you talk about one narrative, about one state to defend itself.