Israel has no right to defend itself: Russia at UN

Israel has no right to defend itself, Russia said at an emergency special session of the UN General Assembly. Russia’s UN representative Vasily Nebenzya said, “The only thing they can muster is continued pronouncements about Israel’s supposed right to self-defense, although as an occupying power, it does not have that power as confirmed by the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice handed down in 2004.” At the same time, Russia said that Israel does have the right to “ensure its security” and “to fight terrorism.” The Russian representative said, “As for Israel’s security - and we recognize its rights to ensure its security - this security can only be fully guaranteed if we resolve the Palestinian issue on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions.” “The Jewish people suffered persecution for many centuries and the Jewish people should know better than anyone that the suffering of ordinary people, innocent lives lost in the name of blind retribution, will neither restore justice, nor bring the dead back to life, nor console their families,” he added. Apart from this, Nebenzya accused the West of “hypocrisy” saying that “in other completely different situations are issuing appeals for the respect of humanitarian law, establishing investigation committees, imposing sanctions on those who are actually genuinely only resorting to force as a last resort to put an end to years of violence.”