Chile’s president urges not to normalize Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians
New York (QNN)- Chilean President Gabriel Boric has called on states not to normalize Israel’s ongoing human rights violations against Palestinians during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
In his address to the General Assembly, Boric urged the UN to abide by its resolutions, which state that Palestine has the “inalienable right to be a free and sovereign state”.
The Chilean president’s speech came after a diplomatic spat with Israeli occupation arose last week when Boric put off a meeting to accept the recently appointed Israeli ambassador, Gil Artzyeli, as a response to the killing of a Palestinian teenager last Thursday by Israeli soldiers.
“We should not normalise the permanent human rights violations against the Palestinian people, applying the international law and resolutions that this assembly states year after year,” Boric said.
“[Palestinian people] they should yield to their inalienable right to establish their own free and sovereign state.”
El Presidente de la República,@gabrielboric, en su primer discurso ante el pleno de la Asamblea General de la ONU, llamó a no “naturalizar las permanentes violaciones a los derechos humanos contra el pueblo palestino”.
🇵🇸#ddhh #chile #palestina #comunidadpalestina #Boric pic.twitter.com/8gM6RHY1gX
— Comunidad Palestina de Chile (@ComPalestinaCL) September 20, 2022
Boric, who became president last year, is known for being sharply critical of ‘Israel’ and a supporter of boycotts of goods from illegal Israeli settlements.
Moreover, he once supported a drafted bill in Chile’s National Congress. The bill was proposing a boycott of Israeli goods from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, eastern part of occupied Jerusalem, and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
In 2019, Chile’s Jewish community sent Boric a jar of honey for Rosh Hashana. Boric responded on Twitter with: “The Jewish community gave me honey to emphasize its commitment to a more accepting, supportive and respectful society. I thank you for the step, but you can start by demanding that Israel return the Palestinian territory it occupies illegally.”
La Comunidad Judía en Chile me envía un tarrito de miel por el año nuevo judio, reafirmando su compromiso cn "una sociedad más inclusiva, solidaria y respetuosa". Agradezco el gesto pero podrían partir por pedirle a Israel que devuelva el territorio palestino ilegalmente ocupado. pic.twitter.com/rtb1dt8QRP
— Gabriel Boric Font (@gabrielboric) October 2, 2019
In addition, Boric once called ‘Israel’ a “murderous state” during a meeting with the Jewish community during his campaign.
Last March, Boric called on the international community to show solidarity with Palestine as it has shown support for Ukraine, saying “we are monitoring what is happening in Ukraine.. such as the attack on a children’s hospital in the city of Mariupol, or the attack that targeted a military base 20 kilometres from Poland.”
“We sympathise with the Ukrainian people because of war,” he said, “however, there are a lot of other regions that witness other scourges. Palestine for example, nonetheless, we just see little solidarity.”
Chile, which hosts one of the largest Palestinian populations outside of the Arab world, has a community of between 300,000 and and half a million people of Palestinian descent living in a country with a population of 18 million.
