Switzerland condemns Israeli minister’s starvation remarks

Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli finance minister, pictured in July 2023. Associated Press

Switzerland followed the EU, France and the UK in condemning recent remarks by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said starving the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip “might be justified and moral”.

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“Starving civilians deliberately is a war crime. The latest remarks of Minister Smotrich are unacceptable. We expect the Israeli government to comply with IHL [international humanitarian law]”, the Swiss foreign ministry wrote on social media platform X on Thursday.

Addressing a conference on the future of the Gaza Strip, the far-right Israeli minister said on Monday that “no one in the world will allow us to starve two million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the [Israeli] hostages” who have been held there since the Hamas attacks last October 7.

We are “bringing in humanitarian aid because we have no choice. We are in a situation that requires international legitimacy to conduct this war”, Smotrich added.

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The remarks sparked outrage in the international community. The European Union strongly condemned them on Wednesday, calling on the Israeli government to “unequivocally distance itself” from the statements.

For its part, France expressed its “deep dismay at the scandalous remarks”, according to a foreign ministry spokesman. France also called on the Israeli government to firmly condemn the comments.

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy wrote on X that “there can be no justification for Minister Smotrich’s remarks”, and called on “the wider Israeli government retract and condemn them”.

“The deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime,” Lammy wrote.

Translated from French by DeepL/dos

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