Weapons Suppliers to Israeli Military Makes Them ‘Complicit in the Genocide against Palestinian People’, First Committee Hears During General Debate
There has not been a single moment in the past year when the Palestinians have not felt a “terrible pain that rips our heart because of the massacres and the destruction by the Israeli war machine,” said the representative of the State of Palestine, as the general debate in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued.
He said the occupying Power has used illegal arms, including the deadliest explosive weapons, killing innocent people in some of the most densely populated areas of the world, particularly in Gaza. The Israeli military is bombing and burning people in tents, in refugee centres, in front of the world. Nobody is spared and nobody is saved. “The occupying forces have killed what humanity would never have imagined could be targeted,” including patients in hospitals and newborns. “We mourn those who are in the rubble” and those “in the incubators that are coffins today”.
Some States are providing and transferring weapons to the Israeli military, which makes them complicit in the genocide against the Palestinian people, he said. It is a moral duty to call for an end to this and uphold international law. He urged States and international organizations not to assist the occupying Power and to stop the supply of all weapons and ammunition. Above all, nuclear weapons must be eliminated, without conditions, to end the Israeli threat. The possession and use of mass destruction weapons contravenes international law and the UN Charter.
Turkiye’s delegate said Gaza’s entire population is being subjected to indiscriminate targeting by Israel, with 42,000 Palestinians killed, predominantly women and children. Regional spillover is no longer a risk but a bleak reality, as each day without a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon brings the situation closer to a broader regional war. Advancing towards the establishment of a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free zone in the Middle East is ever more critical since it is not possible to ignore Israel’s “almost formal confession” of being a nuclear-weapon-possessing State outside of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The representative of Bolivia said that the international community has failed to protect human rights and prevent atrocities. A clear example of this failure is the genocide of the Palestinian people, who suffer daily violations of their fundamental rights. While Israel's impunity persists without a strong response, it is using hunger as a weapon of war. Tunisia’s delegate called on States to respect their international obligations by ending the supply of weapons to the occupying Power, which are being used in the genocide in Gaza and against civilians in Lebanon.
The situation in the Middle East, said the representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is an example of how the United States threatens global security. The country not only actively patronizes and supports the Israeli authorities but also foments bloodshed in that region by delivering a huge amount of war materials, including highly explosive bombs and missiles. Likewise, in Ukraine, the West drove Europe into the turbulence of war by the continued eastward advance of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The West now fosters the prolonged Ukrainian situation with casualties of innocent civilians by providing lethal weapons of various kinds to the Ukrainian authority.
Due to the reckless expansion of the military bloc system led by Washington and its evolution into a nuclear-based military bloc, the security landscape in the Korean peninsula is closer to a more dangerous phase, he said. Last year, the United States “framed up” a nuclear consultative group whose mission is to jointly plan, operate and execute a nuclear attack against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The United States upgraded its full-fledged "nuclear war alliance" with the Republic of Korea and is staging intensive nuclear war simulation drills against his country.
Meanwhile, Japan cast off even the mask of a “pacific State” and runs at full speed to become a dangerous military Power by revising its Constitution and acquiring long-range missile capability, under the active protection and support of the United States. Exposed to a serious nuclear threat, his country possesses nuclear weapons for self-defence. They pose no threat to anyone, he emphasized, adding that his country will continue to fully discharge its responsibilities and role in safeguarding peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the rest of the world.
The delegate of Italy is concerned about the irresponsible behaviour of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which represents a serious threat to international peace and security. It must refrain from further provocations and take concrete steps towards a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization. He also underscored the Russian Federation’s multiple irresponsible, if not illegal, actions, which undermine peace and security. In particular, the Russian Federation systematically attacks the disarmament architecture. Built over decades, its gradual erosion is of growing concern.
In the same vein, Iceland’s representative said, “We are in a period of exceptional turbulence”. His country believes that protecting and developing the global architecture for arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation is “fundamental to our existence”. In fact, he said, arms control has never been more important. The turbulence is, in large part, due to flagrant violations of the UN Charter, international humanitarian law and norms related to arms control, non-proliferation and nuclear safety.
He said he is shocked at the Russian Federation’s war in Ukraine, and how that country is “evoking the possibility of nuclear conflict” and involved in arms transfers with countries under Security Council sanctions. The Russian Federation’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus is concerning, and withdrawal of its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is deeply regrettable. Also worrying is the Russian Federation’s focus on expanding novel nuclear systems, including in space.
Slovakia’s delegate said international security faces an unprecedented number of threats and challenges. “We are at the critical stage”. Ukraine has been devastated by the full-scale invasion by a nuclear-weapon State for the third year, in flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter. She called on the Russian Federation to “stop this senseless war”. Under present circumstances, more than ever, it is crucial to uphold the Non-Proliferation Treaty as the cornerstone of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament architecture.
The representative of Guyana highlighted the “increasingly pervasive and dangerous nuclear weapons rhetoric,” even in conflicts among nuclear-weapon States. The United Nations authority is being undermined “by the selfish ambitions of a few, channeled through false narratives and mis- and disinformation campaigns”.
Also threatening to many regions and countries, including Guyana, is the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, she said, urging exporting States to take effective measures to safeguard against their illicit diversion by ensuring appropriate export controls and implementation of existing instruments. Haiti’s speaker said that conventional weapons, including small arms, light weapons and landmines, are relatively easy to divert. The illicit circulation entails significant consequences for the Caribbean region. Those weapons have been circulating freely in her country for years and used by gangs, which has plunged Haiti into a persistent security crisis.
Indeed, the proliferation of those weapons, noted Niger’s delegate, is linked to the most urgent challenges in Africa. In these meetings, most of the attention is focused on nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, whereas small arms and light weapons generate tremendous destruction and devastation in the continent. In the Sahel region, their uncontrolled illicit availability contributes to terrorism, fuels organized crime, extends armed conflicts, facilitates violations of international law and international humanitarian law, and exposes civilians to a heightened risk of death and maiming.