Israel's Austria ambassador calls for the 'death sentence' for Gazan children
In a secret video filmed during a closed-door meeting with the local Jewish community in Innsbruck, Austria last week, Israel’s ambassador David Roet suggested Gazan children should be executed.
‘There should be a death sentence to be killed-off in war if you’re holding a gun. Even if you are a 16 year old under the UN, whatever it is called… charter,’ he said calmly, to a room full of people. His words provoked no reaction. Providing no evidence, he claimed that children in Gaza were using weapons and denied that Israel is ‘targeting babies intentionally’.
In a statement following the release of the footage, the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde said 'this action has caused immense damage to our community and to the people involved' adding that it is now investigating criminal consequences.
The video was filmed just two days after Israel broke the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. The renewed bombardment campaign has since killed more than 700 people, at least 200 of which are children. According to UNICEF, more than 14,500 children have been killed by Israel in Gaza since the start of the war on 7 October 2023 – a figure which doesn’t include the number of children killed since 18 March.
The ‘charter’ Roet is likely referring to is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) — a legally binding agreement signed by 196 countries which outlines the fundamental rights of all children and stipulates their protection in armed conflict. Neither the US or Israel have ratified the Convention.
Roet also discussed the future governance of Gaza, saying that ‘maybe it will be people who will not be called Palestinian. All the options are now open.’ He added that ‘If Europe is crazy enough to invest money again in Gaza … we will have to destroy it the next time.’
In January, Trump announced that the US would ‘take over the Gaza Strip’ and create a ‘Riviera of the Middle East’. He argued that Palestinians should be forcibly removed to other Arab countries to make way for developers. One attendee at the meeting in Innsbruck told Roet, ‘I’m going to play golf in Gaza, whether you like it or not.’
‘I felt sickened by the calm in Mr Roet's voice as he made these statements,’ said the activist who filmed the meeting. 'No one intervened when he suggested the death penalty for children.
‘This makes me think how corrupted the issue is when people with the power to change something suggest committing war crimes as a solution. To end the suffering, we must challenge the fascist psychopaths turning us against each other and profiting from imperialist deals.’
🗞️ Get the context on how Hitler’s homeland became Israel’s BFF in this piece by Politico
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