18 January 2024
Even as Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 24,448 people and wounded more than 61,504, Israel has continued to blast Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, forcing people to flee from place to place repeatedly. This is taking place as the US has designated the Houthis of Yemen a terror group, and US-UK has jointly launched air strikes on the country. In response to this, Yemeni university students held a protest in the capital, Sanaa.
A plenary session of the European Parliament (EP) was held, which saw members advocating for the European Union to rally behind South Africa’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against Israel, accusing the nation of committing genocide in Gaza.
In the context of the aggression against Yemen and his continuing support for Israel, Irish member of the European Parliament Clare Daly criticised Joe Biden, dubbing him “Butcher Biden reporting for duty.” She claimed that even though Israel suffered losses on the ground, it refused to admit defeat and resorted to desperate acts to provoke conflicts. She also accused Biden of enabling Israeli aggression and warned him to keep Ireland out of his rhetoric.
Daly also criticised Germany for supporting Israel in the International Court of Justice hearing, which recently concluded. Daly’s scathing remarks also targeted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the US, drawing parallels to the situation in Yemen: “As we saw in Yemen, butcher Biden is preparing for office with Madame Genocide (von der Leyen) by his side. They are the ones who ensure the continuation of Israeli terrorism. If it weren’t for them, it would have ended long ago,” she said.
Other EP members also called for a permanent ceasefire. They highlighted the humanitarian crisis, such as Ciaran Cuffe, an EP member with the Greens group, who emphasised the need for Benjamin Netanyahu to face consequences for violating international law. The Swedish EP member Abir al-Sahlani and the Portuguese Socialist EP member Pedro Marques focused on the death toll, especially the fact that so many children had been deliberately targeted.
