KUALA LUMPUR: The decision by some countries to suspend funding to a United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, due to allegations that some of its employees were involved in the Oct 7 attacks on Israel, is preposterous, says a former member of parliament.
Former Klang MP Charles Santiago said the actions of the United States, Italy, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Finland were tantamount to being complicit in Israel's genocide against Palestinians.
"It is beyond preposterous to punish millions of Palestinians who are already living in a catastrophic condition even before investigations began.
"These states must be warned that withdrawing funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is tantamount to being complicit in genocide and their acts were punishable under Article 3 (e) of the Genocide Convention.
"They are also 'deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part', based on Article 2 (c)," he said.
He added that withdrawing funds also went against the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling, which ordered for effective humanitarian aid to Gaza.
"The action of these states will result in starvation and even more deaths, again pointing to complicity in genocide.
"This reaction, which follows the ICJ ruling that found Israel plausibly committing genocide, is a public demonstration of support of (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Ironically, even states that called for a humanitarian ceasefire, such as Finland, have jumped on the bandwagon."
Santiago said there was no consensus among governments to throw their support behind the non-binding ruling.
He called for governments and nation states to come together not just to condemn the decision to cut off funds to UNRWA but also to ensure Israel complied with the ruling.
The ruling ordered six provisional measures, including for Israel to prevent the commission of genocide in Gaza, in accordance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention.
At least 26,083 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct 7, mostly women and children, and 64,487 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities
