Gharib Abadi: The Security Council must not remain silent in the face of genocide and aggression in Gaza

Speaking at the Security Council meeting on “The Situation in the Middle East, Including the Palestinian Question,” Gharib Abadi emphasized that the Council must take a stand against genocide and aggression. “Protecting civilians and maintaining peace are legal and moral obligations—not political options. Inaction would not only betray the Palestinian people but would inflict irreversible harm on the credibility of this Council and the integrity of the international legal system,” he said.

The full text of Gharib Abadi’s speech is as follows:

Thank you, Mr. President, for convening this timely open debate.

Mr. President,

We address this Council amid the ongoing collapse of the international legal order and the erosion of the UN Charter.

Over the past two years, the world has witnessed, with growing outrage, the brutality of the Israeli regime against the People of Palestine: tens of thousands killed or maimed, hospitals and schools bombed, UN staff and humanitarian workers murdered, millions displaced, and starvation weaponized against an entire population. These atrocities continue unabated and are intensifying daily.

Today, the situation has grown even more catastrophic. The Israeli regime has devised a systematic method of killing, deliberately targeting starving civilians as they wait for lifesaving aid. This is not just cruelty; it is premeditated mass murder.

What is unfolding in Gaza is not a conflict between equals, it is the organized and systematic annihilation of a besieged civilian population by an occupying regime, supported and shielded by the United States.

This is not merely a crisis. It is the defining humanitarian catastrophe of our time. The scale of suffering, the aggressor’s impunity, and the paralysis of the international community expose a complete breakdown of accountability.

Since October 2023, over 57,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed. Nearly two million have been forcibly displaced. Entire Gaza lies in ruins. Hospitals, UN shelters, schools, and essential infrastructure have been deliberately attacked. Starvation is being used as a weapon of war.

Mr. President,

Gaza remains a powerful symbol of unwavering resistance and a stark testament to enduring injustice. This truth is embodied in the extraordinary resilience of its people amid 22 months of relentless atrocities committed by the Israeli terrorist regime.

Throughout this period, Israel and its criminal apparatus have employed every conceivable tool of repression, including the grotesque weaponization of thirst and hunger, against a defenseless civilian population. Yet, as always, they have failed to break the iron will of the Palestinian people.

The intentional targeting of starving civilians, those lining up for bread, water, or humanitarian relief, is a flagrant war crime and a crime against humanity.

The international community and Western States, especially the self-proclaimed champions of human rights in the West, cannot wash their hands of complicity. They must be held accountable for their silence, for their support, and for the blood of over 1,000 civilians massacred at so-called “aid distribution centers,” which have been turned into death traps by the U.S. and Israel.

Western States have also failed their obligations under Common Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions and the Genocide Convention. Their continued support has enabled the atrocities and blocked this Council from fulfilling its mandate.

Meanwhile, the situation in the occupied West Bank continues to deteriorate. Israel’s expansion of illegal settlements, settler violence, and institutionalized apartheid policies violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Security Council Resolution 2334, and are part of a broader strategy of permanent occupation and ethnic cleansing.

Mr. President,

The threat posed by the Israeli regime goes far beyond Gaza and Palestine. As I detailed in my statement yesterday before this Chamber, Israel, in full cooperation and complicity with the United States, has carried out a series of unprovoked and unlawful military attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran, targeting both nuclear and civilian and vital infrastructure. These attacks resulted in civilian casualties and struck facilities under IAEA safeguards. They constitute a clear and grave violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and customary international law. Wider Member States have widely condemned these acts of aggression as a grave threat to regional and international peace and security.

At the same time, Israel continues to flagrantly violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic by occupying Syrian territory and pursuing illegal annexation and settlement expansion, openly defying the UN Charter and relevant Security Council resolutions.

This regime also persists in violating the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, with near-daily breaches of Lebanese airspace, indiscriminate attacks, and the ongoing occupation of five border positions, all in direct violation of Resolution 1701.

Moreover, the Israeli regime has carried out acts of aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen, targeting civilian infrastructure and further deepening the country’s already dire humanitarian crisis.

Mr. President,

In light of these grave violations by the Israeli regime, which pose a clear and growing threat to regional and international peace and security, we call on this Council to take urgent and decisive action:

•        Demand an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and all occupied Palestinian territories;

•        Ensure unimpeded humanitarian access, the safe return of displaced persons, and the release of all arbitrarily detained Palestinians;

•        Reject all schemes of forced displacement, buffer zones, or third-country resettlement;

•        Support full UN membership for the State of Palestine and reaffirm the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital;

•        Enforce Israel’s withdrawal from all occupied territories;

•        Condemn and hold Israel fully accountable for its acts of aggression and atrocities against the nations of the region, committed in flagrant violation of the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law.

We also call on all countries, individually and collectively, to take whatever action they can to pressure the Israeli regime to stop its crimes. In this regard, I propose that each country set, declare, and follow through on a commitment to this end.

Mr. President,

The Security Council must not remain silent in the face of genocide and aggression. The protection of civilians and the maintenance of peace are legal and moral imperatives—not political options. Failure to act will not only betray the Palestinian people—it will permanently damage this Council’s credibility and the future of the international legal order.

Mr. President,

Today, the representative of the United States made a desperate attempt in this Council to distort reality and justify her country’s act of aggression against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities—portraying it as legitimate and misrepresenting Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to international peace and security. But the facts are clear, and they speak for themselves.

Yesterday, in this Council, I elaborated on the root causes of the current situation. The United States’ attack on Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities was a blatant violation of the UN Charter, international law, Resolution 2231, and IAEA resolutions. It also dealt a serious blow to the global non-proliferation regime.

Furthermore, the United States—alongside the Israeli regime—is currently the main source of instability and insecurity in the region and a major threat to international peace and security. The U.S. representative is therefore in no moral, political, or legal position to lecture or blame Iran.

I thank you, Mr. President.