Cuba at UN denounces Israeli treatment of Gaza flotilla members in international waters

Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday denounced the Israeli treatment of Gaza flotilla members in international waters, rejecting the "impunity" with which Israel commits violations of international law.

"We denounce the arbitrary detention in international waters and the torture by the Israeli regime of Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila, members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, who were transporting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip," Ernesto Soberon Guzman told an open session of the UN Security Council on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

Noting the incident within a broader pattern of violations, he said: "We reject the impunity with which Israel commits new violations of international law and human rights."

Guzman argued that international humanitarian norms were being eroded globally, warning against "the trend of reinterpreting these norms in favor of hegemonic and dominating interests in order to justify indiscriminate attacks, collective punishment, and the use of hunger and blockades as methods of warfare."

On the situation across the occupied Palestinian territories, he said: "The systematic Israeli attacks throughout the occupied Palestinian Territory against homes, shelters for displaced persons, places of worship, streets, vehicles, humanitarian facilities and schools constitute crimes against humanity."

He further called for Israel to be held accountable "for apartheid and genocide against the Palestinian people" and accused the United States of providing political, diplomatic, military and financial support to Israel's actions.

Guzman further reiterated Cuba's "strong condemnation of the attacks carried out by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Turning to Cuba's own situation, he warned that the US "openly announces before the world its intention to use armed force against our country, despite the absence of any aggression on our part or any valid argument to justify such a grave and irrational action."

Saying that Washington's measures against Havana had reached extreme levels, he called it "an energy siege classified under international law as an act of war, and through executive orders imposing secondary sanctions on foreign companies, banks and entities, even when their business in the US is unrelated to Cuba."

He denounced what he called the criminal intent behind these policies and said they were "aimed at subduing the entire Cuban population through hunger and desperation and intended to generate a nationwide social, economic and political disaster."

Rejecting Washington's characterization of Cuba as a security threat, he said: "It is false to declare Cuba an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security of the US."