Albanese’s comments came less than a day before two attempted terrorist attacks wounded three Israelis in Gush Etzion in the West Bank.
Albanese’s comments came less than a day before two attempted terrorist attacks wounded three Israelis in Gush Etzion in the West Bank.
“Israel claims that what it is doing in the West Bank is justified under the law of self-defense. This claim has no validity,” Albanese wrote. “…As an ongoing unlawful use of force, Israel’s occupation of the [Palestinian territories] cannot be justified by any claim of self-defense.
“Israel’s perversion of the law on self-defense must be recognized for what it is: a brazen attempt to provide an imprimatur of ‘legality’ to the maintenance of its unlawful aggression against the territorial integrity and political independence of the State of Palestine.
“If Israel truly wants to achieve its claimed security, the best and most obvious way to do that would be to cease its colonization of another people’s land, withdraw from all of it, and make appropriate reparation for damage caused (as requested by the ICJ), while being sure to apologize to its victims on the way out.”
Albanese’s post on X, formerly Twitter, also shared comments made by Albanese a day earlier. On Thursday, Albanese had charged, “The world’s failure to protect Palestinians echoes its failures with Bosnians and Tutsis, despite promises made after the Holocaust to prevent such atrocities.”
Israel’s operations in the West Bank
The military confirmed on Wednesday that the IDF is conducting extensive counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank, the largest in months.
The increased action is a response to the attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv on August 18 and in response to an overall increase in Palestinian terror.
There are suspicions that the attempted suicide bombing was staged from the Tulkarm area – where the IDF later several terrorism operations rooms and terrorists.
Albanese’s Thursday comment that “Israeli MFA’s recent call to treat the West Bank as Gaza is deeply alarming” is likely a response to a statement made by Foreign Minister Israel Katz – who suggested civilians should temporarily be evacuated from the West Bank so that the terror threat could be dealt with without endangering non-combatant populations.
“We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required. This is a war for everything and we must win it,” Katz posted on X on Wednesday.
