Diplomacy Amidst Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing: Slovenia Criticized

Muntasir al Maliki describes the current situation in the West Bank as the erasure of Palestinian people, trees, stones, and everything Palestinian, carried out by settlers with the support of the Israeli army. Amnesty International's recent report details this as ethnic cleansing. Ahead of a meeting between the Slovenian National Assembly speaker, the defense committee chair, and the Israeli ambassador, Amnesty International Slovenia sent an open letter urging them to ensure the meeting does not signal support for Israel's policies of genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing.

Amnesty International has presented detailed evidence that Israel is committing genocide, leading to its trial at the International Court of Justice. The organization also highlights Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. While the international community and the previous Slovenian government did not do enough to stop these severe crimes against humanity, the new Slovenian government's decisions are seen as a shameful and reprehensible shift towards supporting Israel and its illegal actions.

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What is currently happening is the erasure of people, trees, stones, and everything Palestinian. This is being done by settlers with the support of the Israeli army.

Beyond political gestures like announcing the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and removing the Palestinian flag from a government building, the government has rescinded previously adopted measures mandated by international law. These include lifting the arms embargo, canceling a yet-to-be-implemented ban on goods from West Bank settlements, and removing the status of unwanted persons for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.

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Israel is a country that Amnesty International has proven in detail to be committing genocide; because of this, it is also being tried by the International Court of Justice.

The only justification for meeting the Israeli ambassador under current circumstances, Amnesty International argues, would be for the Slovenian National Assembly speaker to call for an end to genocide and further international crimes, and for the perpetrators to be punished. Amnesty International Slovenia has also called for this in public letters to the speaker and the defense committee chair. The organization's December 2024 report concluded that Israel's actions in Gaza since October 7, 2023, show signs of genocide, treating the Palestinian population as inferior and unworthy of human rights and dignity, with the intent to physically destroy them.

Countries have a legal obligation to act by imposing arms embargoes, as there is a high probability that weapons and military equipment contribute to the execution of international crimes. They must also prohibit trade and cooperation linked to Israel's illegal occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population. Amnesty International Slovenia is urging members of parliament through a petition launched on May 15, the anniversary of the Nakba, to take these actions.

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Israel treats the Palestinian population in Gaza month after month as a lesser species, unworthy of human rights and dignity, thereby demonstrating its intention to physically destroy them.