Japan Press Weekly

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2024 May 15 - 21 [WORLD]

Yamazoe urges gov’t to recognize Israeli ground invasion of Rafah as abuse of international humanitarian law

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Yamazoe Taku, at a meeting of the Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on May 14, urged the government to inform the Israeli military that “Japan opposes a ground invasion of Rafah from the perspective that the invasion is a violation of international humanitarian law.”

As Israel has launched a military operation on Rafah, a possible large-scale ground invasion of the southernmost city of Gaza is becoming imminent.

Yamazoe pointed out that the evacuation order by Israel to more than one million displaced civilians in Rafah is in direct violation of the Geneva Convention which prohibits forced displacement.

The U.S. Biden Administration on May 10 submitted to Congress its report stating that it is “reasonable to assess” that Israel used the weapons the United States provided in ways “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law. Yamazoe referred to U.S. media reports that the Biden Administration on May 8 halted shipments of U.S. weapons, including about 3,500 unguided bombs, to Israel. He said, “We should see this as a result of the U.S. judging Israel’s attack as a violation of international law, and Japan should also change its perception of Israel.”

Furthermore, he pointed out that five of the seven small models of attack drones that the Japanese government plans to procure are Israeli-made.

A senior official of the Defense Ministry said, “We will consider what to do with those drones after completing their demonstration tests.”

Yamazoe said in response, “The fact that their demonstration tests are still ongoing is problematic. Benefiting Israel, which is accused of committing genocide, is absolutely unacceptable,” and demanded that Japan withdraw the plan to introduce Israeli-made drones.

Past related article:
> JCP Yamazoe: Stop introducing Israeli-made drones, benefiting Israeli war industry [March 13, 2024]