Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced on Sunday, November 3, that Türkiye had sent a letter signed by 51 other countries and two organizations to the United Nations Security Council, calling for a halt of arms shipments to Israel. Fidan announced the joint call for arms embargo during a press conference held following the third ministerial review conference of the Turkish-African partnership in Djibouti.
Along with Türkiye, the signatories included Iran, Palestine, Bahrain, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Djibouti, China, Indonesia, Morocco, Gambia, South Africa, Iraq, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Colombia, Comoros, Kuwait, Cuba, Libya, Lebanon, Maldives, Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Tunisia, Oman, Jordan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Two organizations also joined the call including the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The letter addressed the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the United Kingdom which currently acts as the rotating president of the UN Security Council, and the president of the UN General Assembly Philemon Yang.
“We have written a joint letter calling on all countries to stop the sale of arms and ammunition to Israel. We delivered this letter, which has 54 signatories, to the UN on November 1,” the Turkish top diplomat said. “We must reiterate at every opportunity that selling weapons to Israel amounts to complicity in genocide,” Fidan added, denouncing the countries that have been selling weapons and ammunition to Israel. The Turkish Foreign Minister also labeled the government of the Israeli Prime Minister Netanayahu as a “global threat.”
The initiative was preceded by the call of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the UN last month to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel. Erdogan considered such an action an “effective solution” to increase the pressure on the Zionist entity to end the aggression on Gaza and Lebanon.
Who are Israel’s primary arms providers?
According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Israel ranked 15th among world’s largest arms importers between 2019 and 2023, which marks a dramatic increase when compared to the period extending from 2009 to 2013, during which it ranked 47th.
SIPRI indicated that 69% of Israel’s arms imports between 2019 and 2023 were from the United States. These imports included aircrafts, missiles, armored vehicles, missiles and vessels. Meanwhile, the year 2024 marked the US supply of additional F-35 and F-15 fighter jets to Israel.
Germany contributed to 30% of the imports of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) between 2019 and 2023, while Italy accounted for 0.9% of Israel’s imports of major arms during the same period.
Will the UN impose the embargo?
In a world where the United States has the upper hand, the United Nations has proved unable to stop Israel’s war crimes. The US has always resorted to using the veto to maintain its imperialist ambitions in the West Asia region by supporting Israel. For the US, Israel’s existence would prevent the expansion of Iran’s control and its strategic allies, above all Russia.
Israel has shown its indifference to the United Nations, and even has attacked its agencies and its Secretary-General on many occasions. Last month, Israel labeled UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres a persona non grata.
On November 4, Israel officially notified the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), that it is withdrawing from the 1967 agreement recognizing the agency, after the Israeli Knesset passed legislation to severely limit UNRWA’s operations in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The withdrawal from the agreement demonstrates Israel’s total disdain of international law.
Israel’s persistent killing of innocent people has further proved that international law has never deterred it from committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. On November 2, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) stated that at least 50 Palestinian children were killed in Jabalia, in northern Gaza on Friday and Saturday.
