The embassy of the State of Palestine in Hungary deeply regrets the recent remarks by H.E. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó regarding the escalating aggression by Israel, the occupying Power, in Occupied Palestine.
On May 1st, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacked peaceful Christian worshipers and denied them their basic right to celebrate the Holy Fire ceremony, at the Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem. One week ago, until now, IOF assaulted residents and solidarity protesters who rejected occupation’s plans to evict Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. Few days ago, IOF raided Al-Aqsa Mosque, surrounded and indiscriminately fired at defenceless worshippers and bystanders, injuring hundreds.
As if Israel hadn’t enough. The occupying power pounded the besieged Gaza Strip claiming, to the moment, the lives of at least 119 Palestinians, including 31 children and 11 women, and more than 830 wounded since Monday. Such unprecedented attacks, with 160 Israeli aircrafts launching 600 missiles within 40 minutes, in addition to artillery shelling, caused massive destruction in the infrastructure, destroyed a lot of residential buildings and damaged scores of homes and schools. Hundreds of Palestinian families were displaced causing further hardship on people living already under severe economic conditions.
Words of condemnation in the strongest terms should have found their way towards these acts and the excessive use of force. Recalling incitement and provocation, oppression and discrimination, confiscating lands and demolishing homes, building and expanding settlements, torturing, extrajudicial killing and assassination, the list for what truly deserves condemnation in the strongest terms will be much longer.
This unparalleled aggression cannot be classified as “the right to self-defense.” The killing of innocent civilians is a war crime, and this is what Israel has committed, and still. If one Israeli life matters, then one Palestinian life must matter. Ignoring this principled fact would eventually mean that the existence and the value of the lives of Palestinians as humans are not considered.
Favouring one side and showing solidarity with it is a sovereign decision. Nonetheless, ignoring the tragic events occurred in Jerusalem, disregarding the enormous pain and tremendous destruction that ravaged Gaza in the past days, and moreover condemning the Palestinian response, does in deed convey to Palestine a worrying message.
As a matter of fact, this position lacks the minimum balance and recognition of decisive irrefutable facts, not to mention downplaying the value and significance of the historical friendship between our nations.
As such, we call upon the government of Hungary to reconsider her position and to condemn the true aggressor, the occupying power, who triggered the current cycle of violence, aggravated tensions, and destabilized the volatile situation causing immense human suffering.
True Friendship dictates principled and balanced positions, and it sustains criticism at times.
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Embassy of the State of Palestine in Hungary
Budapest on May 14, 2021