US needs to stop giving Israel arms or it will lead to a 'forever war', says Mary Robinson
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Israel is acting with impunity because it is not being restrained, former president Mary Robinson has claimed.
The world has watched as Israel has crossed all the red lines and as international humanitarian law has been "horribly transgressed", Ireland's president from 1990 to 1997 said.
"The value of lives in Gaza and in Lebanon is far less now internationally than the value of lives in Israel," the chair of former world leader advisory group The Elders said.
"We see co-ordinated action to protect Israeli civilians from attack by Iran and that stands in stark contrast to the lack of any protection for Palestinian civilians in Gaza and Lebanese civilians."
She warned that Israel is becoming a pariah state and said the Israeli government is leading its people into a "forever war".
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Ms Robinson said that the leverage to make Israel comply is on the side of the US and reiterated calls for it to stop providing arms to Israel.
"If the US does it, Europe will follow and that is what is needed at the moment because somehow Israel has gotten away, if you like, with what it has done in Gaza. It has not felt that it has paid a price," she said.
The arms being supplied to Israel are not required for legitimate self-defence, Ms Robinson said. She noted that in August, US president Joe Biden announced a further $20bn worth of arms sales, "and now we see what is happening in Lebanon".
Gaza has been decimated and over 42,000 civilians have been killed while countless people have suffered life-affecting injuries, Ms Robinson said. Now we are seeing similar attacks on Lebanon and the potential for retaliatory attacks on Iran, she added.
"Obviously, we don't support Iran sending missiles into Israel but what we need is to tone down and see that retaliatory attacks may lead to a total war."
If a ceasefire could be reached in relation to Gaza then it would stop Hezbollah firing missiles into Israel in support of Hamas, Ms Robinson said. The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said she would be very sorry if her remarks were seen as being in any way anti-Israel.
"I wish for the Israeli people that they have a better future than this government is leading them to," Ms Robinson said. "We know how dreadfully Israel has suffered but the response of this government is leading Israel into a horrible position in the world."