Watch: ‘Food Shouldn’t Be Used As A Weapon’ – PN MP Urges Malta’s Parliament To Condemn Israel
PN MP Albert Buttigieg delivered a powerful speech yesterday urging Malta’s parliament to take a “crystal clear” stance against the tragedies unfolding in Gaza.
Buttigieg pointed out that today, the world celebrates the “win against Nazism and fascism” yet at the same time, many turn a blind eye to what has become “another form of Nazism”.
He called out hypocrisy in the West’s swift, strong and continuous condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing that this is justified but should be applied to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Buttigieg specifically highlighted the fact that aid convoy’s have not been allowed to enter Gaza for the last two months, with the Israeli government stating it is ready to let aid in only if it can control the distribution.
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“It’s absolutely unacceptable that Israel is using food as a weapon of war. It is a criminal act,” he announced.
Buttigieg was sure to condemn Hamas’ 7th October attacks that killed 1,200 people on Israeli soil. He censured the capturing, killing or keeping of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
“However, with the same scale, intensity and logic, it’s not acceptable to break a whole country and reduce it to rubble. It’s not acceptable that more than 50,000 people have been killed, over 10,000 of whom are innocent children. No, it’s not acceptable and this room needs to be clear about that.”
He argued that Malta’s neutrality is not an excuse for silence and quoted the late Pope Francis’ phrase: the globalisation of indifference, saying that the world has become too used to not caring about others as long as they themselves are satisfied.
“The globalisation of indifference is the glorification of egoism, the self and populist politics.”
Israel’s mask has finally fallen, Buttigieg said, its announced intention to occupy Gaza and forcibly displace millions of people as it did in the 1948 Nakba. Israel’s aims are both clear and sinister and should be duly condemned by the rest of the world, Buttigieg argued.
And to those who state that this tragedy is not Malta’s business; “you only seeing until the tip of your nose” because the world has proved time and time again that international affairs affect local ones too, especially when mass displacement is involved.
Drawing it back to the 80-year-anniversary of the end of World War II, Buttigieg noted that nazism and fascism spread through Europe and the world because people remained silent when they had the chance to speak; “They chose to save their skin and not that of others.”
This isn’t the first time Buttigieg called out hypocrisy in the West’s response to Israel’s merciless military campaign in Gaza. Back in January, he chose to sit out of a holocaust remembrance event in parliament in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Here, he shared a similar message; that we cannot be selective of our memories.
Do you think Malta is being hypocritical in its response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza?
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