When the whole world is looking for a way to resolve the fresh escalation of the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State, Israel has refused to stop supplying arms to Myanmar army saying “the matter is clearly diplomatic”.
Hundreds of Rohingya people have been reportedly killed during the clashes between insurgents and security forces and tens of thousands more Rohingyas have been displaced following to the conflict.
Recently human rights activists filed a petition against the continued arms sales to Myanmar. Israel’s High Court of Justice is scheduled to hear it in late September.
However, Israel Defence Ministry argued that the court has no standing in the matter, which it called “clearly diplomatic”, reports Haaretz.
While replying to a parliamentary question on weapons sales to Myanmar, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel “subordinates [itself] to the entire enlightened world, that is the Western states, and first of all the United States, the largest arms exporter. We subordinate ourselves to them and maintain the same policy.”
He said the Knesset plenum may not be the appropriate forum for a detailed discussion of the matter and reiterated that Israel complies with “all the accepted guidelines in the enlightened world.”
An expert said Lieberman’s statement was incorrect as the United States and the European Union imposed arms embargo on Myanmar, and Israel supported war crimes in Argentina and armed the Serbian forces committing massacres in Bosnia despite a United Nations embargo.
United Nations data shows that about 60,000 members of the minority group have recently fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state, driven out by the increasing violence and the burning of their villages, information that has been confirmed by satellite images.
But none of this has led to a change in the policy of the Israeli Defence Ministry, which is refusing to halt weapons sales to the regime in Myanmar.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
