Greeks rally outside Israeli embassy to protest against Gaza genocide

Thousands of Greeks have marched to the Israeli embassy in Athens to protest Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire, amid growing calls for “isolating” Israel in Europe.

A large cross-section of Greek society, including workers, professionals, artisans, and ordinary citizens, as well as lawmakers of Greek Communist Party (KKE) participated in the march.

Waving Palestinian flags, the demonstrators chanted slogans in support of Palestine, condemning Israeli strikes and continued blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The rally was organized by the All Workers Militant Front (PAME), one of Greece's largest trade union confederations affiliated with the KKE, in response to the intensified Israeli strikes on the besieged strip.

On Thursday, Britain’s most prominent mosques and Muslim organizations sent a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, slamming the UK government’s inaction on Israel’s atrocities in Gaza and calling for a halt to all arms sales to the occupying regime.

In the powerful open letter, the institutions decried the UK’s refusal to adopt “a consistent, firm and principled stance in response to policies that have constituted collective punishment and potentially, war crimes with the ethnic cleansing of the civilian population in Gaza.”

The letter condemned the UK government’s “morally inexcusable failure” to prevent famine and mass civilian suffering in Gaza.

“For over eighteen months, we have witnessed harrowing scenes of intolerable human suffering and destruction in Gaza,” the letter reads. “It is abundantly clear, that contrary to international humanitarian law, Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war against a defenseless civilian population.”

The letter was signed by 44 leading institutions, including East London Mosque, Birmingham Central Mosque, Finsbury Park Mosque and the Islamic Cultural Center at Regents Park.

The signatories warned that “The absence of meaningful diplomatic or humanitarian intervention and continued material support to Israel undermines the UK’s stated commitment to international law, justice and the protection of human rights.”

In addition to demanding an end to arms sales, the letter called for an immediate ceasefire, the lifting of the Gaza blockade, and formal recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Israel orders 14 Gaza neighborhoods to evacuate amid intensified genocide

The forced expulsion orders come as 107 bodies were brought to hospitals in Gaza over last 24 hours,

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday urged western countries to “isolate Israel economically and strategically” to confront its arrogance and prevent “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.

“We are facing an Israeli plan … After the reoccupation of Gaza, the second step will be deportation. The political objective of [Israeli prime minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and his government is the deportation of the population of Gaza, which is the hallmark of ethnic cleansing, of territorial cleansing,” Dominique de Villepin told France Info radio on Tuesday.

“The Europeans know this perfectly well, and they are there with wooden swords, even though there are three things that must be done immediately,” he said.

First, “immediately suspend the European agreement with Israel. Most of Israel’s trade is with Europe. Second, impose an arms embargo on all European countries. Third, refer the entire Israeli government and key Israeli military authorities to the International Criminal Court … by writing collectively to the court,” he proposed.

“If you want to stop what is happening today, you must make it clear to Israel that there will be a before and an after,” de Villepin added.

He stressed that European and Western leaders must “move from words to action”.

Israel launched its genocidal war against Gaza on October 7, 2023 and has since killed at least 53,762 Palestinians.

In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of Israeli captives.

The 42-day truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1. Since then, Israel has refrained from engaging into talks for the second phase of the agreement.

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