Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, U.S., on September 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The head of the Palestinian Authority denounced Israel and its offensive in the Gaza Strip in front of world leaders Thursday (September 26, 2024), appealing to other nations to stop what he called a “genocidal war” against a place and people he said had been totally destroyed.

Mahmoud Abbas used the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly as he typically does — to criticize Israel. But this was the first time he did so since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel that triggered an Israeli military operation that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

Abbas strode to the podium to loud applause and a few unintelligible shouts. His first words were a sentence repeated three times: “We will not leave. We will not leave. We will not leave.”

He accused Israel of destroying Gaza and making it unlivable. And he said that his government should govern post-war Gaza as part of an independent Palestinian state, a vision that Israel’s hardline government rejects.

Abbas has had little influence in Gaza since Hamas overthrew his forces and seized power of the territory in 2007. His internationally recognized government administers only small semi-autonomous zones in the occupied West Bank. The U.S. has said a reformed Palestinian Authority should play a future role in Gaza, but Israel does not consider him a reliable partner and has ruled that out.

“Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers and our grandfathers. It will remain ours. And if anyone were to leave, it would be the occupying usurpers,” he said.

Israel has maintained its military operations are justified and are necessary to defend itself. South Africa has filed a genocide case against Israel in the U.N.’s top court. Israel rejects the accusations.

Danny Danon, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, responded to Abbas’ speech within minutes with a critical assessment. “Abbas spoke for 26 minutes and did not say the word ‘Hamas’ once. Since the massacre of Oct. 7, Abbas has failed to condemn Hamas for their crimes against humanity,” he said.

“Only when he stands on the U.N. platform does he talk about a peaceful solution,” Danon said. “There is no greater hypocrisy and lie than this: Abbas’ legacy is one of chronic weakness in the face of terrorism and hatred.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the General Assembly on Friday and arrived in New York shortly before Abbas spoke. Netanyahu’s visit is expected to draw protests in the neighborhood where the U.N. compound sits. A nationwide series of campus protests against Israel’s operations in Gaza swept the United States in the spring and largely originated at Columbia University, about 70 blocks north of the United Nations.

“The American people are marching in the streets in these demonstrations. We are appreciative of them,” Abbas said.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released Thursday by the Health Ministry. The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but more than half the dead have been women and children, including about 1,300 children under the age of 2.

Israel began its response after Hamas attackers sneaked across the border into Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 others hostage. The response by Netanyahu’s government was swift and fierce and has continued ever since.

In recent days, Israel has turned its attention to the border with Lebanon, where it is targeting Hezbollah militants and has inflicted civilian casualties as well.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the Hamas invasion, and ongoing fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group have driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border. Israel is vowing to step up its attacks on Hezbollah until its citizens can return safely to their homes.

Late Wednesday, the United States, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations as fears grow that the violent escalation in recent days — following 11 months of cross-border exchange of fire — could grow into an all-out war.

The United Nations says over 90,000 people have been displaced by five days of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, bringing the total to 200,000 people who have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war.

Abbas spent big chunks of his speech at the United Nations talking about the state of life in Gaza, and he painted a bleak picture.

“Entire family names have been written out of the civil record,” he said. “Gaza is no longer fit for life. Most homes have been destroyed. The same applies for most buildings. … Roads. Churches. Mosques. Water plants. Electric plants. Sanitation plants. Anyone who has gone to Gaza and known it before would not recognize it anymore.”

Among his demands, none of which are new: A full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip — not “buffer zones.” Allowing Gaza’s displaced Palestinians — an estimated 90% of the population — to return to their homes. And a central role for Abbas’ government in any future Gaza.

“Stop this crime. Stop it now. Stop killing children and women. Stop the genocide. Stop sending weapons to Israel. This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people in Gaza and the West Bank.”

The air and ground operation has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry. After Palestinian terrorist group Hamas carried out the deadliest attack in Israeli history on October 7, 2023, Israel responded with a devastating military campaign in Gaza.

As a result, the number of Palestinians fleeing to other nations seeking refuge-including Australia-has increased. But there’s a sharp difference in Australia when it comes to visa approval statistics; most Palestinian applications are turned down, but a disproportionately high number of Israeli visas are approved.

According to News Corp Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed that out of the 10,033 applications launched in the past 10 months, 7111 were rejected, while 2922 Palestinians were granted entry into Australia. Out of the 2922 figure, about 1300 refugees have resettled into Australia, who are understood to largely be on short-term visas.

Meanwhile, 8746 Israeli citizens have been granted visas since the October 7 attacks, with 235 applications rejected.

The report was released concurrently with calls by main opposition leader Peter Dutton to stop the entry of Palestinians from Gaza on the grounds that they were a threat to national security.

“I don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment,” Dutton said on Wednesday. “It’s not prudent to do so, and I think it puts our national security at risk.”

His remarks were a reaction to what happened on Tuesday, when Coalition Members of Parliament wrote to Tony Burke, urging him to tighten the process of evaluating visa applications from Gaza to make sure they had no support for Hamas. As it stands, applicants are only rejected if they are found to have given financial or material support to Hamas.

Adidas said Friday it had dropped vocal pro-Palestinian model Bella Hadid from an advertising campaign for retro sneakers referencing the 1972 Munich Olympics, which were overshadowed by a massacre of Israeli athletes.

The German sportswear giant recently relaunched the SL72, a shoe first showcased by athletes at the 1972 Olympics, as part of a series reviving old classic sneakers.

Eleven Israeli athletes and a German police officer were killed at the 1972 Munich Games after gunmen from the Palestinian Black September group broke into the Olympic village and took them hostage.

Bella Hadid, who was born in the US but has Palestinian roots through her father, has been vocal about her support for Palestinian rights since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 triggered the war in Gaza.

Adidas said it would be “revising the remainder of the campaign” with immediate effect.

“We are conscious that connections have been made to tragic historical events — though these are completely unintentional — and we apologise for any upset or distress caused,” the company said in a statement sent to AFP on Friday.

‘Collective memory’

A spokeswoman confirmed that Bella Hadid had been removed from the campaign, which notes that the shoes were first introduced in 1972 but never mentions the terror attack on the Israeli athletes.

Pictures of the American model wearing the retro Adidas shoes had caused an outcry among pro-Israeli groups.

“Guess who the face of the campaign is? Bella Hadid, a model with Palestinian roots who has spread anti-Semitism in the past and incited violence against Israelis and Jews,” the Israeli embassy in Germany wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.

“How can Adidas now claim that the reference (to the events in Munich) was ‘completely unintentional’?” Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, said in response to the company’s climbdown.

“The terror of 1972 is etched into the collective memory of Germans and Israelis,” he told Die Welt TV on Friday.

A flood of social media posts meanwhile expressed support for Bella Hadid, criticised Adidas for axing the model, and called for a boycott of the company.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations

The Gaza war was triggered by the October 7 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel’s military retaliation to wipe out Hamas has killed at least 38,848 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Bella Hadid has taken part in several pro-Palestinian demonstrations during the conflict and has described Israel’s offensive as a “genocide”.

In 2021, Bella Hadid, her sister Gigi Hadid and singer Dua Lipa were described as anti-Semitic in an advertisement published in The New York Times by a Jewish group called the World Values Network.

Adidas said it would be continuing the SL72 campaign with other famous faces including footballer Jules Kounde, singer Melissa Bon and model Sabrina Lan.

In late 2022, Adidas ended its contract with the US rapper now known formally as Ye after he triggered an outcry with a series of anti-Semitic social media posts.

Germany’s response to the Hamas attack and ensuing war has been driven by guilt over its own dark past, and the slaughter of six million Jews by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The country has steadfastly backed Israel in the conflict, but its unwavering stance has led to claims that Palestinian voices are being marginalised.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)