The Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs (ECFA) condemns in the strongest terms the aggressive practices of the Israeli forces against the defenseless Palestinian civilians, their storming of the sanctuary of Al-Aqsa Mosque, assaulting Palestinian worshipers and taking them out of the sanctuary of Al-Aqsa Mosque. ECFA strongly condemns the Israeli attempts to evict Palestinian families from their homes and lands in East Jerusalem, especially in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and the continuation of the Israeli government’s settlement policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, which represent a flagrant violation of the provisions of international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter, especially the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force; Such practices constitute a flagrant violation of the principles and provisions of international humanitarian law, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention, and represent a contravention to international legitimacy resolutions, especially UN Security Council Resolution No. 2334/2016, which condemned settlement and demanded the occupying power to cease its settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and underlined that it will not recognize any changes that Israel makes to the 1967 lines other than through negotiations.

In this regard, the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs expresses its regret and strong condemnation of the deplorable position of the government of the United States which provides absolute support, financially and politically, to the Israeli government and its racist practices in the occupied Palestinian territories, and therefore it bears prime responsibility for the utter failure of all endeavors and initiatives aimed at protecting the Palestinian people’s rights, human security, and its right to freedom from violence, pillage, discrimination and occupation, whether in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Gaza, as well as its legitimate right to establish its independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The US government’s continued provision of protection to Israel in the United Nations and prevention of the condemnation of its aggressive and racist practices against the Palestinians entrenches the fait accompli, deepens the existing and permanent occupation, and perpetuates a criminal path for the government of Israel, and makes the US administration’s talk about “values” and “human rights” meaningless and corrosive of the credibility of a country which claims to still lead the international liberal order.