…seeks weapon support for Hamas to defend Palestinians against Israel’s brutality
As Israel continues its shelling and genocide in Gaza unabated, the Muslim Awareness International (MAI) has called on the United Nations and leaders of Muslim countries to stand against the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza and prevail on the Netanyahu-led government to accept an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal.
The group’s Director, Abdul-Waheed Atoyebi in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos on Monday, May 13 said if the world continues to fold its arms and look away while Israel continues its massacre, there would be no one left in Gaza Strip. Israel must be stopped from achieving its diabolic agenda, he added.
The Muslim Awareness International raised concern over the level of killing being perpetrated by Israel.
It therefore called on all nations of the world to lend their voices and take further action beyond just rhetoric and condemnation by sanctioning and prevailing over the state of Israel to end the genocide with immediate effect.
He said; “We at the Muslim Awareness International (MAI) have been monitoring the events in Gaza in the last seven months, and we saying categorically that, this is not a war between Israel and Hamas, but a coordinated attempt by the Israeli forces to massacre innocent civilians in Gaza and tactically wipe them out from the world map.
“We join the rest of the world, including the United Nations, the global Muslim community and other international organisations, to condemn the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians in Gaza.
“In the ongoing massacre by Israeli forces, different places in Palestine have been bombed, starting from Gaza North, to Rafah City, Khan Yunis, Al Shifa Hospital where mass graves of over 400 Bodies of innocent Palestinians were uncovered, and now to Rafah.
“Rafah Crossing remains the last resort of about 1.5 million civilian population in Gaza. All indications point to the fact that Israel will not stop the senseless massacre anytime soon. Sadly, there have been series of warnings from the UN, European Union and even the US against attacks on the civilian population in Rafah Crossing which Israel arrogantly defied.
“We therefore call on the world leaders and Muslim countries to go beyond condemnations. They should rather impose stiffer sanctions on Israel because of all the atrocities committed in Gaza and West Bank. It is only when this is done that we can take them serious as an entity that aren’t a party to the genocide”, said the Head of the popular Muslim organisation.
* Lashes out at US’ unapologetic support for Israel
The Nigeria-based Muslim group lashed out at the US over its unapologetic support for Israel in the killing of Palestinians.
“To be clear, US is a major backer of Israel, providing them with ammunitions and financial support to prosecute the genocide. If Israel can shun the persistent warnings by the US, it shows a determination on their part to destroy Gaza and wipe out its population.
“We recall the recent rejection of a ceasefire proposal put forward by the duo of Egypt and Qatar, which has already been embraced by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas. It is obvious that Israel is the aggressor with an ulterior motive of genocide and ethnic cleansing, just to take more Palestinian lands and its rich oil and gas resources.
“We believe that Israel has an ulterior motive to annex Gaza, and they are doing everything possible to achieve it, including killing innocent and defenseless people.
“This is the time for the world to unite against the aggression of Israel. The international community needs to go beyond condemnation and take decisive action to check the excesses of the Israeli regime. The aggression of Israel in the last seven months alone has led to the death of no fewer than 35,000 Palestinians.”
* Arm Hamas to defend itself, Gaza citizens
Atoyebi said if the world cannot stand firmly against the massacres being committed by Israel, then Hamas should be armed to defend itself and the over 1.2 million Palestinian population in Gaza.
“Recall that as a peace-loving organisation, in our previous press releases, we have called for immediate ceasefire and advocated for the implementation of a two-state solution to end the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza. But Israel has continued its aggression, ignoring all international laws. It is high time Hamas was armed to protect the people against Israeli air and ground invasion.
“No country has the monopoly of violence. Hamas should be provided with sophisticated air defense to shoot down Israeli drones and armed with weapons to face Israeli ground army. The world, especially Muslim leaders and neighboring Gulf countries should come together to fortify Hamas with the state-of-the-art weapons.”
* Expresses disappointment over conspiracy of silence from Arab leaders
MAI expresses its disappointment at what appears like a conspiratorial criminal silence of the Arab world, especially the Gulf countries who are the immediate neighbours of Palestine.
According to the group, “Rafah is the part of Gaza that shares border with Egypt. Why is Egypt allowing such operations to go on against its brothers without any resistance? We have not seen any political will or diplomatic resistance or military action by Egypt against the massacre at Rafah. It’s obvious the Arab countries have been compromised in the ongoing war; they should therefore stand up for their brothers.”
* Calls for global boycott of Israeli products
MAI also encourages all justice loving people across the world including Nigerians, both Muslims and non-Muslims to join the global boycott of Israel, saying it’s one of the weapons to curb Israel’s excesses.
Speaking, Atoyebi said, “Another weapons to curb Israel excesses is boycott. It is one of the potent tools that we can use against Israeli aggression. Boycott has proven to be effective over time. We particularly narrow our call to Nigerians, irrespective of their religious affiliations, to join the global boycott campaign which was launched on May 10 in Turkey.
“We must unite efforts to put Israel in check for their crime against humanity. Let us look out for brands and products supporting Israel and place them in our ban list. There are several other alternatives we can embrace for the sake of humanity. We should always remember that this is not a time for blame game, but a time to take decisive actions within our reach.”
* Calls on ICC to quicken the arrest warrant
MAI calls on the honorable justices of the International Criminal Court to without delay, issue the much touted arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu and all those who have been indicted in the genocide and crimes against humanity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
* UN and members should override Security Council
We are impressed by the fact that despite the wicked veto of the US which denied Palestine of full membership of the global body, UN General Assembly has gone ahead to vote for the recognition of Palestine. We further call on the United Nations to invoke all the relevant sections of its rules to override the US veto and grant Palestine full UN membership and a sovereign status befitting of an independent state.
