A closer look at the question of Israel’s existence | Letter

Craig Mokhiber is an international human rights lawyer and former senior United Nations human rights official, who resigned from his position in 2023, “criticizing the U.N.’s human rights failures in the Middle East, warning of unfolding genocide in Gaza and calling for a new approach to Palestine and Israel based on international law, human rights and equality.”

Recently, Mokhiber wrote an op-ed for Mondoweiss addressing key issues of Israel’s existence, right of self-defense and commission of genocide. The op-ed makes a number of critical points.

According to international law, the state of Israel does not have a “right to exist” because there is no such “right.” The U.N. General Assembly lacked authority to create a settler-colonial state, and the Zionists had no right “to deny the self-determination of the Palestinian people or acquire territory by force.” Israel has no right to claim self-defense in its attacks on Palestinians since Israel is the illegal occupier of Palestinian land.

Perhaps most significantly at this time, the Israeli regime has been deemed guilty of “apartheid and racial segregation, unlawful occupation, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide” by the United Nations and every major international human rights organization.

Mokhiber’s op-ed deserves to be widely read. It brings sanity to a discussion of Israel’s actions that frequently results in unwarranted charges of antisemitism. My hope is that this brief summary may encourage others to read the op-ed and consider the issues raised, perhaps from a new perspective.

Connie Jenkins
Belfast

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Tagged: letter to the editor