Japan Press Weekly

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2023 November 8 - 14 [WORLD]

Shii criticizes G7 foreign ministers’ joint statement for not demanding immediate ceasefire

G7 foreign ministers ended their two-day meeting on November 8 in Tokyo and released a joint statement which justifies Israel’s acts under the pretext of the nation’s self-defense right.

The statement strongly condemns terror attacks against Israel by the Islamist militant group Hamas and calls for an immediate release of hostages. It emphasizes that Israel has the “right to defend itself and its people”. This provides a justification for Israel’s use of overwhelming force to carry out retaliation against Hamas in the name of self-defense, indiscriminately killing innocent civilians in Gaza.

The statement expresses sympathy and condolences to both Israeli and Palestinian victims killed in the conflict, and supports “humanitarian pauses and corridors” needed to deal with the serious humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, the statement fails to demand a ceasefire.

The statement stresses the importance of protecting civilians in compliance with international humanitarian law and international law. It, however, makes no mention of Israel which is killing and injuring many civilians with saturation airstrikes and missile attacks, and conducting attacks on hospitals and refugee camps.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo in his post on X (former Twitter) pointed out, “G7 foreign ministers only demanded ‘pauses in the ongoing conflict’ and did not call for a ‘ceasefire’ or even a ‘truce’.” He wrote, “G7 foreign ministers in their meeting were unwilling to discuss Israel’s breaches of international law and to urge the U.S. to stop supporting Israel’s lawless acts. It’s totally shameful when people in Gaza are at risk of genocide. As the G7 chair, Japan should also be blamed for bringing about such a disappointing result.”

Past related article:
> JCP calls on governments concerned to work to stop genocide in Gaza [November 7, 2023]