Muslim leaders slam double standards over Gaza war
Turkey and Qatar accused the international community of “double standards” on Wednesday in its reaction to the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Qatar’s top diplomat Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Qatar and Turkey – both Western allies – “reaffirm our complete rejection of responding to the crisis with double standards when it comes to human life.”
“It is not permissible to condemn the killing of civilians in one context and justify it in another,” said Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar’s prime minister.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday that at least 6,500 people have been killed in the war so far, many of them children.
Western governments, including Britain, France and the United States, have offered their full support to Israel, asserting its right to defend itself following Hamas’s deadly rampage.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, “The failure of some American and north European countries to condemn and prevent the destruction and disaster in Gaza constitutes a very serious double standard and plays a destabilizing role.”
Both Turkey and Qatar have been strong supporters of the Palestinian cause and have open channels of communication with Hamas, the rulers of Gaza.
Hamas, a liberation group
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his strongest comments yet on the Gaza conflict, said on Wednesday Hamas was not a terrorist organization but a liberation group fighting to protect Palestinian lands and people.
Erdogan also slammed Western powers for supporting Israel’s bombing of Gaza and called for an immediate cease-fire.
“The perpetrators of the massacre and the destruction taking place in Gaza are those providing unlimited support for Israel,” Erdogan said. “Israel’s attacks on Gaza, for both itself and those supporting them, amount to murder and mental illness.”
‘Glaring double standard’
Jordan’s Queen Rania also accused Western leaders of a “glaring double standard” for not condemning Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians.
“When October 7 happened, the world immediately and unequivocally stood by Israel and its right to defend itself and condemned the attack,” she said.
“But what we’re seeing in the last couple of weeks, we’re seeing silence in the world.”
“Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s OK to shell them to death?” she asked.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday, “France does not practice double standards”.
“International law applies to everyone and France carries the universal values of humanism,” Macron said during a joint press conference with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, responding to accusations by Arab leaders who have accused Western nations of overlooking harm to Palestinians.
US role in war
Iran’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations also said the US is aiding and abetting the Israeli regime’s ongoing war on Gaza.
Addressing the UN Security Council on Tuesday, the Iranian envoy Amir Saeid Iravani said, “The US has further exacerbated the conflict by overtly aligning itself with the aggressor at the expense of the innocent Palestinian population.”
Israel has responded to Hamas’s October 7 attack with relentless air strikes on the tiny Palestinian enclave.
It has also imposed a total siege on Gaza’s 2.4 million residents who are facing a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis, the UN says.
Crippling blockade
The main UN aid agency in Gaza warned on Tuesday it will have to stop operations by the end of Wednesday because it is running out of fuel.
Alarm has grown about the spiraling humanitarian crisis in the heavily bombarded Gaza Strip, where one doctor said he was forced to perform emergency surgery on the wounded without anesthetic.
Nearly 600,000 internally displaced people are also sheltering in 150 facilities of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza, while at least 40 UNRWA installations have been impacted, the UN agency posted on Wednesday on the social media platform X.
“Our shelters are four times over their capacities - many people are sleeping in the streets as current facilities are overwhelmed,” the agency added.
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday spoke of “epic suffering” in Gaza and said there had been “clear violations of international law” there, a statement that drew a fierce response from Israel’s top diplomat.