Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has lashed out at the United Arab Emirates for hosting the Israeli president for the UN climate summit, saying this emboldens the regime to commit even more acts of massacre against the Palestinian people.
In a post on X, Muhammad Abdulsalam, a spokesman for the movement, said conferences should be held to address Israeli atrocities, which he said have polluted “the humanitarian climate.”
“The humanitarian climate is polluted by Israel’s crimes and those who encourage, support, and assist it, and this is what requires conferences to confront, combat, and address it by all possible means.”
استقبال الإمارات رئيس كيان العدو الصهيوني إدانةٌ سياسية وأخلاقية لها وتشجيعٌ للعدو لمواصلة جرائمه الوحشية بحق أهل غزة. إن المناخ الإنساني ملوثٌ بجرائم إسرائيل ومن يشجعها ويساندها ويدعمها، وهذا ما يتطلب مؤتمرات لمواجهته ومكافحته والتصدي له بكل الوسائل الممكنة.
— محمد عبدالسلام (@abdusalamsalah) December 1, 2023
The Palestinian movement Hamas also denounced the invitation of Herzog to the conference at a time when the occupation forces were committing massacres in their genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
“We earnestly urge the friendly state, the United Arab Emirates, as the host nation, to cancel this invitation, irrespective of the conference’s nature,” the movement said in a statement on Friday.
Instead of providing the “criminal” Herzog with a platform, the conference should have boycotted the regime and held Herzog and other Israeli leaders over the heinous crimes perpetrated against defenseless civilians in Gaza, Hamas said.
Iran has also condemned the UAE’s decision to host Herzog for the conference amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has left over 15,000 dead so far.
On Thursday, Iran’s government said President Ebrahim Raeisi had skipped the conference due to the invitation of the Israeli president to the summit.
On Friday, Iran’s delegation to the meeting, led by Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian, left the conference and headed back in protest to the participation of Herzog.
“Iran regards the political and biased presence of the fake Zionist regime in the climate change summit, which aims to evaluate the performance of the international community in facing climate change, as contrary to the objectives of this conference, and vacates the conference venue in protest,” Mehrabian said before leaving Dubai.
An Israeli delegation of 28 officials attended this year’s annual United Nations climate summit COP28, which kicked off Thursday.
Israeli media have reported that the purpose of Herzog’s visit to the UAE was to use the “diplomatic space” available in the international climate summit to consolidate Tel Aviv’s position in the war on Gaza and the release of Israeli captives.
Herzog has held meetings with several world leaders on the sidelines of the summit, including with Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
