ROME: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday called on the international community to stop selling weapons to Israel, after a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

“I do believe that it is urgent that, in light of everything that is happening in the Middle East, the international community stops exporting weapons to the government of Israel,” he told reporters.

“This is an appeal that I will make…to the entire international community,” he said, adding that it was important “not to contribute in one way or another to the escalation of violence and to the war and its expansion in Gaza, the West Bank or, in this case, to Lebanon.”

His comments reflect those of the French president, who said countries should stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza — prompting outrage from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sanchez is one of the most outspoken critics among European Union leaders of Israel’s attacks in Gaza. He described Israel’s military offensives in Lebanon on Wednesday as an “invasion”, saying that the international community had to act.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s foreign minister Micheal Martin on Friday condemned an attack by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon that left two United Nations peacekeepers wounded.

On Thursday, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said Israeli fire on their headquarters in the country’s south injured two Blue Helmets.

Prime minister Simon Harris said he was “deeply concerned” at the reports but Martin, who is also deputy prime minister, went further, calling it “an extraordinary development, quite shocking”.

“This marks a very serious intensification of IDF hostility towards UN forces and UN posts. Absolutely unacceptable. What happened over the last 48 hours prior to this was reckless and intimidatory,” he said.

Ireland accounts for 347 of the 10,000 soldiers serving in the UNIFIL forces, which are charged with maintaining peace in the south of Lebanon.

Speaking to reporters in southwest Ireland Martin called on the international community to “really put down a marker to Israel that this is unacceptable behaviour”.

“The international community now need to collectively engage with Israel and put pressure on Israel to desist from this activity, to stop it, and to ensure that UN peacekeepers are not put in harm’s way,” he said.

Last weekend, Unifil said it was concerned that Israeli troops were near an outpost manned by Irish troops.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2024