Tehran, November 18 (RHC)--Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has taken a swipe at the United Kingdom for its denial of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, saying such an “outrageous” stance makes London complicit in the Israeli regime's crimes.
Baghaei made the remarks in a post published on his official X account on Sunday, days after a United Nations committee said Israel’s warfare in the Gaza Strip features the characteristics of genocide. In a report published on November 14, the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices also lashed out at the Tel Aviv regime for “using starvation as a method of war,” which has resulted in “mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions” for Palestinians.
The new UN report has found that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip are consistent with genocide.
Baghaei noted that the UN Special Committee's finding that the Israeli war on Gaza is consistent with genocide is no less than reconfirmation of what has already been repeatedly said by other UN officials, such as Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on Palestine, and warned by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“What is new though is UK's outrageous denial of an ongoing ostentatious genocide,” the spokesman wrote, stating that the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023, has reached 43,846, with injuries up to 103,740.
Baghaei stressed that UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s remarks denying Palestinians were facing genocide in Gaza are “simply in line with his government's policy of persistent provision of lethal weapons and political support to the genocidal apartheid regime, which makes the UK complicit and accountable in the carnage due to violation of international obligations enshrined in the Genocide Convention.”
He concluded that such acquiescence of genocide is extremely appalling and reminiscent of deeply rooted colonial mentality that is dangerously coming to the fore in Europe through systemic anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia.
During a British parliamentary session on October 28, Conservative MP Nick Timothy urged Lammy to clarify that there was no “genocide occurring in the Middle East.” Timothy added that terms like “genocide” in reference to Gaza were “not appropriate” and were “repeated by protesters and lawbreakers.”
In response, Lammy answered that these were “quite properly, legal terms that must be determined by international courts.” He then added, “I do agree with the honorable gentleman. Those terms were largely used when millions of people lost their lives in crises like Rwanda, the Second World War, and the Holocaust, and the way that they are used now undermines the seriousness of that term.”
