Ladies and gentlemen, I write this in response to the absurd, unhinged and entirely fabricated accusations made by the Israeli delegation. Their statement is nothing more than a theatrical performance by a regime that has perfected the art of playing the victim while perpetrating endless atrocities.

So let us be crystal clear: Israel, as the occupying force and main aggressor, has no right to lecture anyone about issues regarding sovereignty or security. For many, many long years, Palestine has endured Israel destroying homes of innocent vulnerable civilians, displacing children from their parents and building illegal settlements without consequence, all while falsely claiming it’s for ‘self-defense.’

How dare they speak of sovereignty when they have turned the West Bank into a patchwork of checkpoints, walls and apartheid roads. Israel constrains the West Bank territory with 567 various types of obstacles, 77 of which are main checkpoints and partial checkpoints that control movement between Palestinian governorates, to Jerusalem and beyond the Green Line. In fact, Israel coordinated its hold of the obstacle regime system with their control over the road system to uphold their grip over the West Bank territory in every possible aspect. 

Sovereignty doesn’t exist under military occupation. Israel has viciously stolen our land, our water, our dignity and now, they cry because the international community is finally beginning to realize that they should be held accountable. The hypocrisy in this situation is so thick we could pave a settlement road with it just like what was done to our land.

Israel wants to accuse the Security Council of bias? Let us tell you about some bias: the only bias here is the world’s unwillingness to call out Israel for what they truly stand for. Every illegal Israeli settlement erected is a testament to their anti-Palestinian ideology.

Israel wants to talk about “security,” let’s not forget that “On average, one Palestinian child was killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, every two days since October 2023, a nearly three-and-a-half-fold increase from the previous nine months… Additionally, more than 440 Palestinian children have been injured with live ammunition.” (UNICEF)

I would also like to leave you with an anecdote about a young child and their friend: “Mohammad was 12, a football-mad teenager who spent his days dreaming of a career on the pitch and his last minutes practicing ball skills. Ghassan was 14, a quiet, generous teenager who ran errands for elderly relatives, with an adoring six-year-old brother who stuck to him like a shadow. Both boys were shot dead this summer by Israeli soldiers, victims of an unprecedented surge in attacks on children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem” (The Guardian).

Now, let’s discuss the draft resolution that Israel is clearly scared of. The international community is finally waking up to the illegality of Israel’s settlements which is long overdue. These settlements are not only illegal, but they are war crimes. Every brick laid on stolen Palestinian land is a symbol of Israel’s contempt for peace, justice and humanity.

Israel threatens to “reassess relations with the Security Council.” We are sure that the whole world will survive without Israel’s tantrums and its endless demands for special treatment because of their discreet intimate involvement. If anything, the Security Council will get some sensible work done without the constant obstructionism of States that refuse to comply with even the most basics of international law.

To the nations of the world, please do not be intimidated by Israel’s dramatic behavior. Stand firm. Stand for justice. Stand for the rights of the Palestinian people, who have endured decades of oppression, humiliation and violence at the hands of an apartheid regime.

And to the Israeli delegation, your lies will not save you. Your propaganda will not erase the truth. Palestine is rising, and your walls, settlements and checkpoints cannot contain the spirit of a people determined to be free.