Fifty-two nations call for global arms embargo on Israel

Turkiye is leading the call for the embargo despite its ongoing trade with, and oil deliveries to Israel.

News Desk

NOV 4, 2024

https://thecradle.co/articles/fifty-two-nations-call-for-global-arms-embargo-on-israel

The Foreign Ministry of Turkiye sent the UN a letter signed by 52 nations and two organizations calling for a halt in military transfers to Israel, stating the Israeli army is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called for the arms embargo on Israel while speaking at a news conference in Djibouti on 1 November.

While attending the Turkiye–Africa collaboration meeting, Fidan announced that the group letter was sent to the UN and that it must be "repeated at every opportunity that selling arms to Israel means participating in its genocide."

Ahmet Yildiz, Turkiye's permanent ambassador to the UN, stated that Israel's actions have pushed the region to the brink of war.

Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the UN to impose an arms embargo on Israel, saying it would be an "effective solution" to end the war on Gaza.

Erdogan asserted that Israel is trying to spread the "flames of conflict" across the region and would inevitably "pay the price for this ongoing genocide in Gaza, sooner or later.”

While Ankara calls for an arms embargo on Israel, it continues to allow transit of oil from Azerbaijan to Israel. The oil, which passes through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline and is then loaded onto tankers for delivery to Israel, is crucial for the Israeli economy and for its air force and army to continue attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. 

"Erdogan, turn off the oil valves," said a banner carried by the activist group called "One Thousand Youth for Palestine" at a protest outside the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters in Istanbul in early September. "End your participation in Israel's genocide."

Erdogan and Fidan previously collaborated with Israel and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Masoud Barzani, in northern Iraq in a scheme to deliver Kurdish crude to Israel. In June 2014, the three powers supported ISIS’ invasion of Mosul, which allowed the Kurdish Peshmerga to conquer oil-rich Kirkuk and begin oil exports to Israel via Turkiye.

The support ISIS enjoyed from Ankara, Washington, Erbil, and Paris was crucial in helping the terror group commit genocide against the Yezidi religious minority in Iraq two months later.

Turkish businesses have also kept up exports to Israel amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza, despite a formal trade ban, Middle East Eye (MEE) reported in September. 

Instead of sending products directly to Israel, Turkish exporters are now sending products indirectly via Palestinian Authority (PA) customs, according to statistical data from the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM).

The data, released on 2 September, reveals a 423 percent surge in Turkish exports to Palestine in the first eight months of this year. 

This marks a jump from $77 million in the same period last year to $403 million in 2024. 

Turkish exports to Palestine in the month of August rose by 1,156 percent, jumping from $10 million in 2023 to $127 million this year. 

“It suggests that the trend of using Palestine to maintain trade with Israel has been accelerating,” MEE wrote.