Craig Mokhiber, director of the New York office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, resigned at the end of October to denounce the Israeli bombings of Gaza, which he described as “genocide”, as well as the “complicity” of the Western governments in the attack on Israel.
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It is about of a resignation letter little disseminated by the French-speaking media but which, for the last week, has been circulating on social networks. In this letter addressed on Saturday, October 28 to Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Craig Mokhiber, director of the New York office, explained that he was leaving his position to denounce “a genocide that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza.
“The large-scale massacre of Palestinians, based on a colonial ethno-nationalist ideology, as a continuation of decades of systematic persecution and purges (…,) as well as the explicit statements of leaders within the Israeli Government and Army, leave no room for doubt or debate,” laments this experienced diplomat who was a senior advisor on human rights in the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan and Sudan.
According to him, the UN had previously been unable to prevent genocides against the Tutsis in Rwanda; the Bosnian Muslims; the Yazidis in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Rohingya in Myanmar. “Mr. High Commissioner, we are failing again,” he wrote in a letter that does not mention the October 7 massacres that marked the beginning of the latest cycle of violence.
At least 1,400 people, most of them civilians, were killed in Hamas attacks while Israeli bombings left nearly 10,000 dead in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Craig Mokhiber also points out the “complicity” of Western governments in the offensive led by the State of Israel against the Palestinian enclave.
“These governments not only refuse to fulfill their conventional obligations to ensure compliance with the Geneva Conventions, but they also provide weapons and intelligence and politically and diplomatically cover up the atrocities committed by Israel,” protests the American diplomat, known for being close to the Palestinian cause.
Distancing yourself from the UN
Human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber lived in Gaza in the 1990s. He has regularly faced criticism from pro-Israel groups, in particular for showing his support for the boycott of the Israeli movement and for denouncing a situation of apartheid in the Palestinian Territories.
Asked by ‘The Guardian’, the UN distanced itself from the content of the resignation letter written by Mokhiber. “The views expressed in your letter are your personal views (…). The office’s position on the seriousness of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel is reflected in our reports and public statements,” said a statement sent to the British newspaper.
Mokhiber’s resignation reveals once again the fissures that have crossed the international community and world public opinion since an avalanche of fire fell on the Gaza Strip in response to the attack carried out by Hamas on Israeli territory.
Every week, hundreds of thousands of people march in the Arab world but also in New York, Paris and Berlin in support of the people of Gaza. Protesters who rebel against the “double standards” of the Western world and denounce war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine but are timid, according to them, when it comes to questioning the Israeli bombings against Palestinian civilian infrastructure.
Cases of conscience
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, Craig Mokhiber has not been the only senior official to throw in the towel. Two weeks ago, a US State Department employee responsible for arms transfers to the State of Israel resigned, expressing concern about the consequences of these shipments for Palestinian civilians and the prospects for peace in the Middle East.
“I am leaving my position today because I believe we have reached the limit of our action regarding the continued, intensified and accelerated supply of lethal weapons to Israel,” Josh Paul said in a resignation letter made public.
Since this announcement, Paul has been making the rounds in the media to explain his action after 11 years of loyal service within the State Department’s military bureau.
“It is not the first time that we are faced with complex moral issues (…). In the case of Ukraine, for example, when there was talk of sending cluster bombs, there was a debate (…). For Israel it was only “It is necessary to respond to the requests,” explains the former official interviewed by Radio-Canada.
In the past, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has already raised similar questions of conscience among Western officials. In early August 2014, Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim Secretary of State in the United Kingdom, announced her resignation, stating that she could no longer “support the Government policies” of Prime Minister David Cameron.
A month earlier, Israel had launched Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, the third major offensive against Hamas since its takeover of the Palestinian enclave in 2007. In a month and a half, this operation left more than 2,000 dead on the Palestinian side, mostly civilians, according to local health services. For its part, Israel mourned the death of 67 soldiers and six civilians.
*This article was adapted from its original in French
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