LeT Or Hamas, Mumbai Or Kibbutz Be'eri, All Acts Of Terrorism Are Unjustifiable: Blinken At UNSC Meet
In his statements, Blinken drew a connection between Hamas' terrorist attacks on Israel and the Mumbai-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that all acts of terrorism are "unlawful and unjustifiable," drawing a parallel between terrorist attacks by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in Mumbai and Hamas in Israel, and that the Security Council must denounce member states that arm, fund, and train terrorist groups, news agency PTI reported. Blinken made the statements while speaking at a Security Council ministerial meeting on the Middle East crisis after the October 7 attack on Israel by Gaza-based Hamas terrorists.
"We must affirm the right of any nation to defend itself and to prevent such horror from repeating itself. No member of this Council, no nation in this entire body could or would tolerate the slaughter of its people,” Blinken informed the UN Security Council.
In his statements, Blinken drew a connection between Hamas' terrorist attacks on Israel and the Mumbai-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.
"As this Council and the UN General Assembly have repeatedly affirmed, all acts of terrorism are unlawful and unjustifiable. They're unlawful and unjustifiable, whether they target people in Nairobi or Bali… Istanbul or Mumbai, in New York or Kibbutz Be’eri,” he was quoted by PTI in its report.
"They are unlawful and unjustifiable whether they're carried out by ISIS, by Boko Haram, by Al Shabaab, by Lashkar-e-Taiba or by Hamas. They are unlawful and unjustifiable whether victims are targeted for their faith, their ethnicity, their nationality or any other reason,” Blinken said.
He emphasised that the Security Council has a responsibility to condemn member states that equip, support, and train Hamas or "any other terrorist group that carries out such horrific acts." Blinken's words looked to be in reference to the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes carried out by the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, 166 people were killed, including six Americans, as ten Pakistani terrorists held siege for more than 60 hours, attacking and murdering civilians in India's financial capital.
Blinken said that the world community must remember that among the more than 1400 individuals killed by Hamas in its October 7 attack on Israel were nationals from more than 30 UN member nations, including many of the members seated around the horseshoe UN Security Council table. At least 33 Americans were among the dead.
“Every one of us has a stake, every one of us has a responsibility in defeating terrorism,” Blinken said.
In his address to the Council, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that the situation in the Middle East is deteriorating by the hour.
“The war in Gaza is raging and risks spiralling throughout the region. Divisions are splintering societies. Tensions threaten to boil over,” he said.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, approximately 5,000 Palestinians have been murdered, including over 2,000 children and 1,100 women, as well as journalists, medical personnel, and first responders, with over 15,000 injured.
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