Media Statement: Israel's Escalating Aggression in Jerusalem

MEDIA STATEMENT

Israel's escalating aggression in Jerusalem

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Geneva, April 7th, 2023

The Israeli occupying forces escalated their attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They carried out an aggressive campaign against the Mosque and attacked and provoked worshippers during performing their religious rituals of the holy month of Ramadan.

We follow with great gravity the Israeli Government's insistence on changing the status quo in the Al-Aqsa Mosque according to its declared racist and extremist agenda.

What is happening today in Jerusalem, which has great religious status for the Palestinian people and for Muslims everywhere, is a visual translation of the Government's priorities, whose mandate began with a provocative break-in by the fascist Interior Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir to Al-Aqsa mosque. Ben-Gavir then encouraged extremist organizations to do the same and then urged Fascist Finance Minister Smotrich to annihilate Palestinian villages and blessed the settlers' burning of the town of Hawara in the West Bank. Acts of aggression and mutilation targeting Christian religious monuments and facilities by Israeli extremists have also recently escalated.

It is shameful that the EU and European governments continue to stand by and watch this aggressive campaign, which includes the invasion and terrible desecration of Jerusalem's holy sites and the intimidation of worshippers of men and women of all ages at Al-Aqsa Mosque. It also involves mobilizing armed occupying forces within and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque , and  launching large-scale mass arrests targeting worshippers. In addition, large numbers of Palestinians were denied prayers and their access to Al-Aqsa Mosque was hampered despite the special season of Ramadan.

There is no doubt that this lax and simply verbal reporting encourages the occupying Power and its forces to further escalate aggression and strain the situation while feeling immunity from international accountability for their grave violations.

As we follow up with further concern, we ascertain the following:

• We condemn in the strongest terms this continuing barbaric aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque and the City of Jerusalem, which reflects the extent of persecution targeting the Palestinian people under occupation even within the holy sites and in the seasons of prayer and worship.
• We warn of the seriousness of European and international laxity with the Israeli Government's and the aggression against the Palestinian people by its forces and settlers, and call for urgent and serious European and international positions that amount to an event, including firm steps in response to this escalation.
• We urge our partners to launch lobbying moves towards greater solidarity with the Palestinian people and impose punitive measures on the Israeli occupation authorities, including boycotts, sanctions and disinvestment.
• We urge the European media, social media influencers, public figures, writers , artists and human rights and values defenders to fulfill their duty to support the Palestinian people and to advocate legitimate rights and justice in Palestine.

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Geneva Council For International Affairs and Development / GCIAD

15 Rue des Savoises

1205 Genève /Switzerland