New Delhi: The Congress Friday sought an immediate ceasefire in the conflict between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, with senior party leader and former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid calling for the same during a speech at a public meeting organised by Indians For Palestine, a citizen group, in New Delhi.
“Today, it is writ large that we learnt no lessons, that we moved not an inch forward towards securing humanity. That the United Nations (UN) looks upon helplessly as people are slaughtered, as genocide happens and it takes place… Let us demand a ceasefire now and here,” said Khurshid.
The former external affairs minister termed the situation unfolding in Palestine as “almost like a laboratory of hate, a laboratory of violence and a laboratory of genocide”. He asserted that standing in support of Palestine meant standing in support of humanity.
Khurshid’s demand comes a day after party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra termed the violence faced by Palestinians in Gaza as a genocide being “carried out with impunity”.
“Being blind to genocide as it is carried out with impunity, turning our backs to the merciless slaughter of thousands of innocent children, refusing to step in while an entire nation starves and begs for help…all this has now set a horrendous precedent,” she wrote on social media Thursday.
Vadra added that the international community, including India, had set a precedent by allowing the bombing of hospitals and torture of doctors, and by “enabling an oppressive regime by offering its ships our ports, fuelling its inhumane rampage by providing it with more and more funding and arms”.
“All rules of justice, humanity and international decorum have been broken. Humanity has been bled, and each one of us will pay an unimaginable price for this someday, unless we raise our voices and stand up for what is right today,” she stated.
The comments from the Congress leaders come at a time The Wire reported — earlier this month — that an Adani JV had exported 20 Hermes-900 military drones to Israel. ThePrint has not independently verified this information.
The government of India has consistently reiterated its support for the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, while calling the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas — the militant group in control of the Gaza Strip — as an act of terrorism.
In response to Hamas’ attack, in which over 1,100 Israelis were said to have been killed and more than 200 taken hostage, Tel Aviv launched a counter-offensive in Gaza, in which more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gazan health authorities.
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‘Indian govt has a positive attitude’
Adnan Abu Al-Haija, the Palestinian ambassador to India, told ThePrint after Friday’s public meeting that the Indian government has a “positive attitude” towards Palestine.
“It (Indian government) has a positive attitude — in the (United Nations) General Assembly voting — and has also called for a ceasefire. Mr Jaishankar (India’s foreign minister S. Jaishankar) at the Munich Security Conference made a good speech and called for a ceasefire,” he said, adding that the stance taken by India is along “expected” lines.
At the Munich Security Conference last week, Jaishankar, during a panel discussion with US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that “it is more urgent than it was before” to have a two-state solution to the crisis.
“Number one, we must be clear that what happened on October 7 was terrorism. No caveats, no justification, no explanation. It was terrorism. Number two, as Israel responds, it is important that Israel should be — should have been very mindful of civilian casualties, that it has an obligation to observe international humanitarian law,” Jaishankar said.
He called for the return of hostages by Hamas as well as a “sustainable humanitarian corridor to provide relief”.
“India has long believed in a two-state solution; we have maintained that position for many decades. And I think today, many more countries in the world feel not just that a two-state solution is necessary, but it is more urgent than it was before,” Jaishankar asserted.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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