VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Screenshot of Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi delivering Indonesia's statement at the UN Security Council open debate in New York, United States, on Tuesday (23/1/2024) local time (Wednesday 23/1/2024 WIB). (ANTARA/Yashinta Difa) - 

Voinews, Jakarta - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi reminded that the UN Security Council has a mandate to maintain international peace and security, not to tolerate war, let alone genocide like what happened in Palestine.

“My question to the UNSC is: how many resolutions regarding Palestine have been adopted? And how many have been implemented?” said Retno, Wednesday morning (Tuesday, 23/1, New York time).

He made the statement after speaking at the United Nations Security Council's open debate on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, which was monitored online, at the UN headquarters in New York, United States.

He deliberately conveyed this statement to the UN Security Council because Indonesia saw that many resolutions had been violated regarding Palestine, but there had never been any sanctions for the violators.

Furthermore, Retno questioned where Palestine should complain if the UN Security Council for decades failed to implement the resolutions it made itself, while Israel killed Palestinians with impunity.

“Israel must be held accountable for its actions, including atrocities in Gaza. "No country is above the law," said Retno, emphasizing.

"Once again, I urge DK members to immediately stop the fear that Palestinians face every day in Gaza and also in the West Bank," he said.

The UN Security Council consists of 10 countries, five of which are permanent members and have veto power so they can overturn any Security Council attempt to pass any resolution.

The five countries with veto rights are the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.

Retno also highlighted that more than 25,000 thousand Palestinian lives had been lost and more and more of the population was starving and cold, because the UN Security Council was slow to act.

"I emphasize that all of us have a responsibility to respect International Humanitarian Law without exception, including (in responding to) the situation in Gaza," he said.

The UNSC open debate was the third held in the last three months to respond to Israel's war in Gaza, which has been ongoing since October 7 2023.

The government declared Foreign Minister Retno's participation in the meeting as Indonesia's commitment to continue supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip, since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian Hamas militant group, which Israeli authorities say killed 1,200 people.

At least 25,295 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed in Israeli attacks while 63,000 others were injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel's onslaught has also displaced 85 percent of Gaza's population amid shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 percent of the infrastructure in the enclave has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN//ANT-VOI