By Rodolfo Benítez Verson on March 26, 2025 in Geneva
Mr. President:
Israel threatens to exterminate the Palestinian population, under the unmoved gaze of the international community.
Not only are their human rights and all United Nations resolutions being flagrantly violated, but the Palestinian people are facing an existential threat.
The genocide being committed is the continuation of more than seven decades of illegal occupation, abuse and exclusion.
How much more destruction is needed before real action is taken against the massacre instead of speeches?
Every minute of inaction will cost new innocent lives, more people maimed, detained and displaced. There will be more suffering.
The United Nations and this Council cannot continue to fail Palestine.
The impunity with which Israel acts is only possible because of the declared complicity of the United States government, which gives its full support to the Occupying Power. Also guilty are those who are indifferent, those who remain silent or try to justify what is happening.
The International Court of Justice has asked all States to refrain from providing aid to Israel. However, we hear very few voices in this chamber demanding that the United States stop sending the arms and military aid that Israel uses to kill more innocent people.
Mr. President:
The Palestinian people are suffering a humanitarian catastrophe of extreme proportions. Starvation and water deprivation are being used as weapons of war.
Cuba demands the immediate and lasting reestablishment of the ceasefire and the entry of unrestricted humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Our country has joined the lawsuit filed against Israel before the International Court of Justice, so that the aggressor may be held accountable for violating its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
It is not possible to achieve peace in the Middle East without a fair and lasting solution to the Palestinian question. A sovereign and independent Palestinian state is not possible without Gaza. No formula for peace is viable that does not include Palestine’s admission as a member state of the United Nations, where it belongs.
The brotherly Palestinian people can always count on the firm support and solidarity of Cuba.
Thank you very much.
Statement by Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Verson, Permanent Representative of Cuba, in the general debate on item 7 of the agenda, entitled “Situation of human rights in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories”. 58th session of the Human Rights Council. Geneva, March 26, 2025.
Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English