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Irish FM Says Israel Is Trying to Stop the World from Seeing What Its Troops Are Doing

A civil defense member stands amid damage in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a market, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, October 13, 2024. (Reuters)
A civil defense member stands amid damage in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a market, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, October 13, 2024. (Reuters)
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Irish FM Says Israel Is Trying to Stop the World from Seeing What Its Troops Are Doing

A civil defense member stands amid damage in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a market, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, October 13, 2024. (Reuters)
A civil defense member stands amid damage in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a market, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, October 13, 2024. (Reuters)

Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin is accusing Israel of trying to prevent the world from seeing what its troops are doing in Lebanon and Gaza, and of working to undermine the United Nations.

Asked what Israel’s aim might be in demanding that UNIFIL peacekeepers leave their bases after a series of attacks, Martin said: “Essentially to drive the eyes and ears out of south Lebanon and to give itself free rein.”

“We cannot have an undermining and a chipping away of the status or the credibility or structures of the United Nations and particularly its peacekeeping forces,” Martin said in Luxembourg, where EU foreign ministers are meeting.

“We see what’s happening in northern Gaza, for example, in terms of the necessity of eyes and ears on the ground. The world has really no full picture of what’s happening in Gaza,” he told reporters.

Martin added that “Israel is essentially now undermining (not only) the United Nations and the United Nations peacekeeping force, but the very rules based international order, and it needs to step back.”

He called on his EU counterparts “to stand up now on the side of what’s right and proper and moral in terms of humanity.”

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EU Condemns All Attacks on UN Missions, Foreign Policy Chief Borrell Says

Members of the United Nations peacekeepers (UNIFIL) look at the Lebanese-Israeli border, as they stand on the roof of a watch tower ‏in the town of Marwahin, in southern Lebanon, October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Members of the United Nations peacekeepers (UNIFIL) look at the Lebanese-Israeli border, as they stand on the roof of a watch tower ‏in the town of Marwahin, in southern Lebanon, October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
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EU Condemns All Attacks on UN Missions, Foreign Policy Chief Borrell Says

Members of the United Nations peacekeepers (UNIFIL) look at the Lebanese-Israeli border, as they stand on the roof of a watch tower ‏in the town of Marwahin, in southern Lebanon, October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Members of the United Nations peacekeepers (UNIFIL) look at the Lebanese-Israeli border, as they stand on the roof of a watch tower ‏in the town of Marwahin, in southern Lebanon, October 12, 2023. (Reuters)

The European Union condemns all attacks against United Nations missions, the union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a response to targeting of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, by the Israel Defense Forces.

"Such attacks against UN peacekeepers constitute a grave violation of international law and are totally unacceptable. These attacks must stop immediately," Borrell said in a statement on behalf of the EU published Sunday night.

"The EU condemns all attacks against UN missions," Borrell said.

"It expresses particularly grave concern regarding the attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces against UNIFIL, which left several peacekeepers wounded."

Israel has disputed some UN accounts of incidents involving UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they were providing "human shields" for Hezbollah fighters during an upsurge in hostilities.

In his statement, Borrell said "all actors" in the conflict have the obligation to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property.

"We urgently await explanations and a thorough investigation from the Israeli authorities about the attacks against UNIFIL, which plays a fundamental role in the stability of South Lebanon," he said.

The German government sharply criticized the shelling of UN peacekeepers, calling on Israel to clarify what exactly happened.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told reporters in Berlin on Monday that "all parties to the conflict, including the Israeli army, are obliged to direct their combat operations exclusively against military targets of the other party to the conflict."

Spokesman Sebastian Fischer said that a comprehensive investigation is expected and that talks on the matter were being held with the Israeli side.

The situation in southern Lebanon is causing growing concern, Fischer added, saying that "the shelling of UN peacekeepers and the intrusion into their bases is in no way acceptable," and that the protection and security of UN troops had top priority.