The rule of law at the national and international levels - Item 84 - A/81/184
🇮🇱 Israel, 🇮🇷 Islamic Republic of Iran, 🇵🇸 State of Palestine
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am compelled to exercise my right of reply at this time. I must react to the baseless accusations weaponized against my country and blatant attempts to politicize another crucial item on the agenda of the Sixth Committee. It is astonishing how a statement of behalf of a very large group of member states like the non-allied movement. Is being hijacked by the most determined proliferator of terrorism and destruction in the world today, the Iranian regime. The fact that more than 120 countries hide behind this radical fundamentalist regime and allow them to freely abuse the group speaking of time on the topic of the rule of law speaks volume. This is not only our opinion. It is the opinion of at least 136 member states that co sponsor Security Council Resolution 2017, condemning, in the strongest terms, the egregious attack by the Iranian regime against the other countries in the region. If this wasn't enough, more than 60% of the countries in NAM that were represented today by the Iranian regime were co sponsors of this Security Council resolution. This very regime tortured and slaughtered over 70,000 of its own people for the crime of speaking up against the Iranian tyranny. The desperate attempt by the courageous Iranian protester to reclaim basic human rights and to uphold the rule of law ended in bodies, bullets, and blood. Nam states, when you give Iran free reign to do whatever they want with your statement, you betray the Iranian people who are suffocating under brutal oppression. I will not even begin to react to the baseless accusations that were raised by the Arab group. Madam Chair, what a fitting time to be having this discussion. Today is October 7th. Today we commemorate the third anniversary of the terrible slaughter of over 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians men, women, children, and the elderly. Full families were tortured, murdered, and burned alive in their homes. The Hamas terrorists live streams their atrocities on the social media, taking sick pride in the horrors they committed. They sang, danced, and laughed as they perpetrated the most heinous crimes. We will never forget those we lost. And we will always remember that upholding the rule of law includes bringing justice to the victim the victims and protecting innocents from this evil in the future. It is a shame that there are still some in this room that have never unequivocally condemned the October seventh massacre and murder and mourned its innocent civilians. But we will never forget them. We will never forget the Kadem Simantov family from kibbutz near Oz. Johnny and Tamar embraced their children, Omer, Arbel, and Shachar. While being burned to ashes in their home by Hamas terrorists. We will never forget seven-month-old Kfir and four years old Ariel Bibas, who were in the arms of their heroic mother Shiri when they were all taken hostage, tortured, and later brutally murdered by Hamas. We will never forget all those who were slaughtered, sexually assaulted, and raped during the Nova Festival, as well as those who were tortured to death and had their bodies desecrated. If I could, I would tell the stories of all the innocent civilians that were taken from us on that day. If you want to blame someone for these war crimes, blame Hamas. If you want to blame someone for the destruction in Gaza, blame Hamas. If you want to blame someone for genocidal intent, blame Hamas, who swore to repeat the October 7th massacre again and again until the annihilation of the State of Israel, together with their sponsor, the Iranian Supreme Leader, who celebrated the October 7th massacre and called it a great service to humanity. These are the ones you enable. These are the ones who shamefully took the floor on your behalf on this item, an earlier item today, to attack my country on the very date of October 7th. Soon we will exhaust this discussion for today. When you go home, see your loved ones and have your children. Look in the mirror before you go to sleep. Think about who you selected to represent you today and who you choose to support. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you so much, Madam Chair. We see no merit in responding to the baseless and unfounded fabrications of the Israeli regime. I remember from 2023. In every sixth committee, this delegation of the Israeli regime tries to whitewash the horrendous crime and the bloodshed that have they pursued in the in Palestine and elsewhere. And unfortunately, due to inaction of the international community, every year we meet here, we see more crimes, more genocide, more war crimes, more crimes against humanity being committed and perpetrated, and continue to be committed and perpetrated by the Israeli regime. And since 7 October 2023 until today, 7 October 2026, if you look at the numbers of people killed in the region, at least there is 70 or 75 persons killed every day in the brutal hands of the Israeli regime. Now they're just trying to play victim. And of course we know that the world even doesn't even listen to their fabrications. They know who is the genocide and genocider and the war cri war criminals. And they are actually the officials of the Israeli regime who are under arrest warrant uh by the international institutions. And they will be held account under international in international law, that's for sure. If you want to name the people who have been killed in the brutal hands of the Israeli regime, I don't think we will ever finish the sixth committee this year. Seventy-five thousand people and more in Palestine, thousands of peop thousands of people in my country, thousands of people in other countries. This genocidal apartheid regime has no agenda other than occupation, killing, discrimination, and forcible displacement of people. It's quite clear for everyone. The misery of the Israeli criminals in perpetrating terrorism is evident, Madam Chair. It is known to all that the racist Israeli regime perpetrated racist terrorism and aggression on the basis of hatred and supremacism, in tandem with the mindset to actively commit genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The relevant UN Special Committee documented unprecedented destruction of civilian infrastructure and extraordinary high death tolls in Gaza perpetrated by the Israeli regime. By use of AI assisted targeting, they are using technology to make sure that whoever, whether children, whether women, whether elderly, whether sick, whether wounded, whether orphaned people, children, they are killed. This is this is the very policy and practice of terrorism of the Israeli regime. And before using these words against others, the Israeli regime shall be held to account for all its crimes in the region. As this pattern has not been confined to Palestine, Iranian civilians have also been killed in Israeli regime attacks, including children and members of the same families. In one brutal attack, they killed 16 members of a family. The reason being that one member of that family were just a university professor. The Israeli regime is a serious threat to the international peace and security, and I'm sure that the world is coming to understand this fact that they are a serious threat to the international peace and security everywhere. They are, you see, killings, bloodshed, and torture. As for the I I see no reason to continue this exchange. We do not even believe that they deserve any exchange. We do not recognize the Israeli regime, but what we understand is that this regime is a child killing machine. Look at the numbers of people killed in our country. A considerable portion of which are children, and also in Palestine and elsewhere. And as we mentioned before, child killing is the true designation for the Israeli regime. As for statements of delegations in relation to my country, I have to mention that there is a fundamental fact and a fundamental law to apply thereon, which cannot be obscured by political rhetoric. On 28 February 2026, Madam Chair, we were subjected to an act of aggression by the United States and its genocidal culprit, the Israeli terrorist regime. And the horrific extent of the brutality they demonstrated are well documented, including in a report contained in document ADS 720. Unfortunately, such aggression was enabled and facilitated through the territory of certain countries in the region, all in violation of the provisions of international law that prohibits states from allowing their territory to be used for aggression against third states. And this same conduct also entails international responsibility under law of state responsibility, as this also constitutes an aid and assistance to the aggressors. And the ILC commentary points to the fact that the obligation not to use force is also breached by permitting one's territory to be used by another state to conduct an act of aggression or arm attacks against the third state. Reflecting the fundamental principle that a state cannot do by another what it cannot do by itself. As such, we reject all baseless accusations against my country. We underline that measures taken by Iran in response to the aggression against my country have been an exercise of our inherent right of self defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law. As for the Strait of Hormos, I have to mention that over decades the Islamic Republic of Iran, as a responsible member, has continuously upheld the freedom of navigation as well as the safety and security of maritime navigation. We remain committed to that, a commitment we have already demonstrated. But the situation in the Strait of Hormos is a direct result of the acts of aggression against my country, and no assessment could be provided apart from the fact that we have been subjected to negative aggression. As to the uh legal regime of passage through to the Strait of Hormos, from a legal standpoint, we must once again emphasize our established legal position. Given that Iran has not ratified the convention, Iran considers itself bound only by those provisions that it considers part of customary international law. Our position has not changed. It has been reflected in different fora, and for the sake of brevity, I'll stop here. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Feeling uh isolated in the international arena and condemned by the majority of the world, the Israeli delegate addressed his statement to members of NAM. And as a member of NAM, I feel obliged to exercise our right of reply. It is expected that the Israeli delegate, when confronted with the barbarity and the criminality of his government and of his state and the genocide that they are committing, that they will resort to aspersions and they will resort to attacks on the majority, the overwhelming majority of this room and the overwhelming majority of delegations. And of course, not a long time ago, his prime minister stood in the General Assembly and referred to delegations as moral cowards. His Prime Minister referred to the majority of the delegations as moral cowards. So it's only expected that he will come here, he will yell, and he will shout, and he will intimidate delegations, hoping to silence delegations. But this is not going to yield to any results because everyone and the majority of the international community is aware of the crimes that they are committing. He has no respect for the sanctity of this room and he has no respect for delegations, and we hope as a chair that you will take some actions. Thank you.
Verbatim from the transcript. A reply is identified from its own words, the Chair's grant, or its place in the right-of-reply sequence; delegations and addressees follow the transcript's attribution.