HAMILTON, Canada
A majority of UN Security Council members strongly criticized Israel's airstrikes on Doha, Qatar, denouncing the assault as a reckless violation of sovereignty that threatens to sabotage fragile peace efforts in the Middle East.
Algeria's envoy to the UN, Amar Bendjama, said at the Council session Thursday, which Algeria, Pakistan and Somalia requested, that Israel is behaving "as if law does not exist, as if borders are illusions, as if sovereignty itself is a dispensable notion."
He said the Israeli strikes, which came after a series of Israeli attacks in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, were "not strength; it is recklessness. It is a sign of madness. It is the conduct of an extremist government, emboldened by immunity, by impunity."
"Israel persists in relying solely on the arrogance of brutality, mistaking oppression for power and coercion for security. Yet history taught us that the path of domination yields neither peace nor stability," he said, calling on the Council to "use all its tools, including sanctions, before it is too late."
Pakistan's UN envoy, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, described the attack as "yet another manifestation of (Israel's) systematic disregard for international law and its brazen policy of destabilizing the region."
He warned that striking the territory of Qatar, a key mediator in ceasefire and hostage negotiations, was a "deliberate attempt to sabotage diplomacy, derail peace efforts and prolong the suffering of civilians."
Ahmad announced that an extraordinary Arab Islamic summit will take place in Doha on Sept. 15 "to ensure a united response to Israel's aggression and to reaffirm the primacy of international law and the UN Charter," which Pakistan is to attend.
He said targeting Qatar was "not only an attack on a sovereign state, but also an attack on diplomacy and mediation itself."
Somalia's UN envoy Abukar Dahir Osman recalled the Council's "responsibility to uphold international peace and security."
"To remain silent or inactive in the face of this brazen violation of sovereignty will be to reduce international law to a mere suggestion subject to the will of the aggressors. We cannot allow these actions to continue or become an accepted practice," he said.
Russia's UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, warned that the strike would have "grave consequences, both for the already atrocious situation in Gaza and for the security of the vast region of the Middle East."
"This is the logical consequence of the complete utter impunity of West Jerusalem, which, time and time again, has been testing the limits of what is possible," Nebenzia said.
Noting that the attack reflected Israel's "complete utter impunity" supported by Washington, he added: "If the Israelis are willing to eliminate their political opponents in a state that is so close to their main ally, what is then stopping them from carrying out similar acts in any other capital in the world?"
"I believe that it is clear now to all that Washington's stated focus on so-called quiet diplomacy not only is failing to yield results but is fraught with generating new risks and further escalating tensions in the already fraught atmosphere," he said.
UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward declared her country's "full and unwavering solidarity with Qatar and condemns Israel's strikes on Doha."
She called the attack "a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar," warning it would set back ceasefire talks.
"We condemn the strikes on Qatar, which will do nothing to deliver peace in the Middle East or to help safeguard Israel's long-term security," she added.
Slovenian envoy to the UN Samuel Zbogar stated that Israel has so far rejected the Council resolutions, ignored the General Assembly processes, disregarded International Court of Justice (ICJ) decisions, ignored advisory opinions, starved and killed civilians, flouted international mechanisms, attacked journalists, and attacked negotiators on foreign soil.
"I wonder, is this how peace is pursued?" Zbogar said, adding: "Is this really a way to bring hostages home?"
China's envoy Fu Cong said Beijing "resolutely opposes this and strongly condemns such an act," stressing that "military means and the indiscriminate use of force are not the way out of this problem."
Without singling out Washington, he noted that "this incident is closely related to the longstanding differing positions of some non-regional countries regarding the Middle East issue."
"We would like to advise these major countries, in the interest of regional peace and stability, to take a fair and responsible stance to play a constructive role," he said.
He further called for "an immediate ceasefire" and urged Israel to "fulfill its obligations under international humanitarian law as an occupying power."
