2023-10-07 14:19:01
The EU and USA have strongly condemned the attacks on Israel by Palestinian militants. The United States is on the side of Israel and the Israeli people, the TV channel CNN quoted the National Security Council in Washington as saying. Security advisor Jake Sullivan has already spoken to his Israeli counterpart and will remain in close contact with him.
EU Council President Charles Michel denounced the “indiscriminate attacks” against Israel and its people; Terror and violence were inflicted on innocent citizens, he wrote on the platform X (formerly Twitter). “My thoughts are with all the victims.” The EU stands in solidarity with the Israeli people at this terrible moment. NATO also condemned the violence by Hamas and other radical Palestinian organizations.
Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (both ÖVP) as well as Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) made similar statements. Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) wrote on is brutal terror and never a means of solving political problems. Israel’s security is non-negotiable for Austria. Our thoughts go out to the victims and their families.”
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen appeared “horrified” on X: “This has to stop now!” he demanded.
SPÖ leader Andreas Babler tweeted: “The brutal attack by Hamas on Israel must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. This violence cannot be justified by anything. My solidarity goes out to all the victims and their families.”
The “stunned” FPÖ federal party chairman Herbert Kickl warned in a broadcast of the “danger of a conflagration in the entire region and beyond”. He also condemned the Hamas attacks and expressed sympathy for the victims and their families. The international community must “immediately use its options across the entire spectrum to stop terror and silence the weapons as quickly as possible (…)”.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also condemned the attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip. “Violence and rockets against innocent people must stop immediately. Israel has our full solidarity & the right under international law to defend itself against terror,” she wrote on Platform X. “The rocket fire from Gaza and the escalating violence shock us deeply.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke of “terrorism in its most despicable form”.
Britain and France also sided with Israel and condemned Hamas’s attack on civilians as terrorist attacks. Italy also emphasized Israel’s right to self-defense. The government in Rome also strongly condemns the “terror and ongoing violence against innocent civilians,” said a statement from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s official residence on Saturday. “Terror will never prevail.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on X: “Ukraine strongly condemns the ongoing terrorist attacks against Israel, including rocket attacks on civilians in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.” Israel is supported in its right to defend itself and its people.
Russia says it is in contact with both sides and also with Arab countries because of the escalation in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. “It goes without saying that we always call for restraint,” the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying.
Moscow is calling on the conflicting parties to an “immediate ceasefire” and “necessary restraint,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova of Russia, which has been waging a war of aggression in Ukraine since February 2022. A “negotiation process” must then be initiated with the support of the international community in order to achieve a “comprehensive, lasting and long-awaited peace”.
Egypt warned of the consequences of an escalation of the situation. What is required is “maximum restraint,” the Foreign Ministry said, according to the country’s state news agency.
The pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah militia described the Hamas attack on Israel as a sign against normalizing relations with Israel. The Hamas attack was a “firm response to Israel’s ongoing occupation and a message to those who seek normalization with Israel,” the Islamist militia said in a statement. She is closely following the situation in the Gaza Strip and is in “direct contact with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance.” Several Arab states have recently initiated normalization of relations with Israel. Hezbollah has itself fought several wars with Israel.
Israel’s arch-enemy Iran welcomed the Palestinian militants’ attack on Israel. “We congratulate the Palestinian fighters,” Rahim Safawi, an adviser to Iran’s spiritual and state leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told the semi-state news agency INSA. Iran will stand by them until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem.
From the perspective of the Gulf emirate of Qatar, Israel alone is responsible for the escalation of violence in the dispute with the Palestinians. Qatar calls on both sides to exercise moderation, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia called for an “immediate end to violence between Israelis and Palestinians” in a statement from its foreign ministry. One follows the unprecedented developments between several Palestinian groups and the Israeli occupying forces, which have led to a lot of violence. The hostile states of Israel and Saudi Arabia recently came closer together under US mediation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also called on all sides to show restraint. In the capital Ankara, Erdogan said: “We call on the parties to act with restraint in light of the events in Israel this morning and to refrain from impulsive steps that increase tensions.”
According to a spokeswoman, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Austrian Volker Türk, is “shocked and horrified” by the escalation of violence from the Gaza Strip. “Civilians must never be the target of attacks,” said Türk in Geneva on Saturday. He called on Israeli forces, which responded with airstrikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip, to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties. “I call for an immediate end to the violence and appeal to all sides and key countries in the region to de-escalate to avoid further bloodshed.”
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