Nigeria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has claimed that the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, is trying to utilise the war between Israel and Haman to start World War III by pitting the United States against Iran.
Professor Akinyemi made this statement while he discussed the causes and the repercussions of the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday.
The professor said, “Netanyahu is trying to actually start a third world war by pushing America into a confrontation with Iran in this war if he could only succeed. And that is his plan to get America and Iran into a direct military confrontation, then, God help all of us. The Americans have said they have no evidence at all that Iran is behind what Hamas did, and yet, there are pro-Israeli journalists and scholars who are giving in into American press, scoring about Iranian involvement, all to put pressure on Biden to go into a confrontation with Iran. That will be a tragic decision, tragic for all of us.”
Akinyemi commented he wanted to send a warning to the United States and the European Nation against their constant support of Israel, but he said that his warning will not be heeded as the Europeans and the US kept supporting Israel due to a level of guilt they felt as it relates to the second world war. He said, “They must realise that the government in Israel that they are supporting is the most atrocious government that Israel has had.” He said that although what Israeli’s has gone through during the second world war was horrible, it was not the Palestinians or Arabs that inflicted the Holocaust on them but rather, the Europeans, going on to say, “Out of a sense of guilt, they’ve always bent over backwards, and they’re still doing so in the support of Israel.”
The former minister then advised people around the world to be careful to get balanced news about this situation, as he said, “We need to be careful, secondly, because what we say is dependent on our source of news. I will be blunt, the CNN and the BBC are pro-Israel. Al Jazeera is pro the Palestinians. So, our choice of language depends on the channel that we listen to.”
Akinyemi revealed that the problem between Israel and Hamas did not begin from Hamas’ attack 3 days ago, as he said that the Palestinians had been constantly mistreated by Israelis, saying, “The way the Palestinians have been treated over the years with the international community just condemning Israel for the way it has treated them, just condemnation, and has done nothing to protect and advance the interest of the Palestinians is unconscionable. And so, to condemn Hamas for what it did 3 days ago to me is an aberration of justice.”
He said that while he does not excuse all the things that Palestine had done since the creation of Israel, he said that the Palestinians had been sinned against more than they sinned against others.
Akinyemi said, “We are now faced with an issue where the language that is being used is the language of ethnic cleansing. International law being violated by both sides, and we need to be careful.
“With both parties, Haman and Israel vowing to break international laws right, left and centre, they both will suffer for it. And it is important for us, all of us… to remind the entire world that both sides are war criminals, because if you listen to some people, you will think that Hamas are the only people who are breaking international law. No, both parties are breaking international law, both parties should be made to pay for it.
“Unfortunately, law is helpless when there are no enforcement agencies,” he said as he remarked that the UN Security Council is helpless as they are divided between supporting either one of the states, and that the International Crimes Court, while they may give sanctions to Hamas, will not give sanctions to Netanyahu.
Akinyemi said that the problem between the nations of Israel and Palestine had begun long ago, saying, “Where do you want me to start? With exodus which they said promised Israel the land in the middle east? The crusades where the Arabs took over the Middle East under the Ottoman empire? The first World War which then gave the middle east to British mandate territory? Or the second world war when Europe, out of a sense of guilt because of what happened during the Holocaust, now gave the middle east to the Jews, and the United Nations created two states, and that was the beginning of this unending violence, the beginning of the injustice and the beginning of the war.”
He then called on the UN to take responsibility, giving his take on solutions to the issue, saying, “The United Nations that created Israel has to now take responsibility for giving a way forward program. And what will be the way forward? Number one, we have to go back to the Oslo Accord. The two-state solution is still the best solution. Israel cannot continue to implement a plan that says it is the homeland for all Jews all over the world, and so the settlers continue to come in and take over Palestinian land and they’re protected by the Israeli government and the Israeli army. The UN has to put a stop to this.
“The Palestinians must restate their acceptance of the state of Israel. Yasser Arafat, who I met many times, did this at the United Nations. Let to the present leadership of the Palestinians restate their acceptance of the state of Israel as a homeland for the Jews, and the Israelis must remove the settlers from Palestinian lands so we can have a state of the Palestinians.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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