Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales has urged the incumbent administration in the central South American country to declare Israel as a terrorist entity, and lodge a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the regime’s bloody onslaught against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“As Bolivia’s president, I cut diplomatic ties with Israel [in 2009] in protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza. The relations were regrettably restored following the 2019 coup [which brought Jeanine Áñez to power and ousted him.]
“Fortunately, Bolivia’s president [Luis Arce] took the decision after three years of protest to break diplomatic ties with Israel. I call on the ruling administration to declare Israel as a terrorist entity, and file a complaint at the ICC over its genocide in Gaza,” Morales said in an exclusive interview with Iran’s Spanish-language Hispan TV news channel broadcast on Wednesday.
He described the ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza as a horrendous crime, to which one cannot turn a blind eye.
Morales noted that Israel must be internationally recognized as a terrorist regime due to its interventionist, hostile, expansionist and genocidal policies.
“What is going on in Gaza can be best explained as genocide. Strikes on hospitals, and deaths of thousands of individuals over a span of a few days as a result of heavy bombardment and acts of terror amount to wholesale slaughter,” he said.
The former Bolivian leader went on to say that he does not see any rationale for Israel’s genocidal war and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, stating that the regime’s dogged insistence on such an approach raises questions.
“I think that is why the international community must protest at Israel’s practices and isolate the entity as a terrorist one,” Morales commented.
He stressed that Israeli authorities must respect the UN resolutions on Palestine as well as Palestinians’ right to life, and yield to their legitimate demands.
Morales also described Palestinians as an oppressed nation, whose homeland has been occupied by Israel for 75 years and have been suffering various forms of violence and impoverishment.
“I do not really understand why international organizations tend to react promptly when it comes to violations of human rights in other parts, but keep mum on the Palestinian issue. I do not know how certain European countries would justify such duplicity,” he said.
Morales stated that the United States is no longer an economic powerhouse, but remains a superpower with the help of the NATO military alliance.
Israeli officials have come to be a pawn in the hands of the White House, he said, adding that European nations must scrap the illusion of living under the yoke of US colonialism.
“Some parties are looking after interim solutions by means of military intervention. Nations can fight for peace through social justice, but neither by way of military invasion nor mass killing,” the former Bolivian president said.
Morales finally praised nations supporting Palestinians, calling on Bolivia’s current government to assert its solidarity with the nation and help them.
