According to UN resolution
Trittin urges Israel to change course in the Gaza war
December 14, 2023, 1:30 a.m
Trittin warns Israel about losing international support in the fight against Hamas. In order to prevent this, he calls for compliance with international law. In order to ensure this, the Israeli government must rethink the Gaza war.
The foreign policy spokesman for the Green Party in the Bundestag, Jürgen Trittin, has called on Israel to change course in the Gaza war. “We are clearly on Israel’s side,” Trittin told the newspapers of the Germany editorial network. “But Israel must understand that it is currently losing more and more support.”
“We have to prevent that,” said Trittin after the UN General Assembly called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in a resolution on Tuesday. “Because these supporters are needed to achieve a sustainable solution to the conflict.” It is therefore important that Israel comply with international law when exercising its right to self-defense, warned Trittin. “The escalating settler violence in the West Bank does not fit in with this, and above all, it does not fit in with the fact that the people in Gaza can no longer be cared for. This requires more open border crossings and also humanitarian breaks in fighting.”
US President Joe Biden had already warned on Tuesday that Israel was losing international support in view of “indiscriminate” bombings of the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack on October 7th. Also on Tuesday, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, 153 of the 193 UN member states voted for a non-binding resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. Ten states – including Israel and the USA – voted against, 23 states abstained, including Germany.
Trittin defended the federal government’s decision to abstain from the vote. “The decision for Germany to abstain was difficult, but it is logical,” said the Green MP, who will be leaving the Bundestag in January after 25 years. “If you can negotiate something into a resolution, like the release of the hostages, you can’t vote no,” said Trittin in justification. “Otherwise you can never negotiate anything again. But we also cannot agree if the Hamas attack is not condemned as terrorism.”