Felipe VI “demands” that Israel “stop this massacre now,” which “repugnates the human conscience and shames the international community”

Eduardo González King Felipe VI addressed the UN General Assembly this Wednesday, where he “demanded” that the Government of Israel “stop this massacre now” in the Gaza Strip so that there are “no more deaths in the name of such a wise and ancient people, who have suffered so much throughout history.” “This is a hectic, unbridled world, which too often places us on the verge of a precipice, in which there is no shortage of voices advocating the end of multilateralism and the obsolescence and ineffectiveness of the United Nations,” the Monarch stated during his address to His Majesty the King at the opening of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. “We are seeing it on the European continent, in Ukraine, with the war unleashed by Russia's unprovoked and unjustifiable aggression, in violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the King stated. “Peace in Europe will not be possible without justice and responsibility,” and therefore, “Spain will continue to support all efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace, based on the principles of international legality, respect for human rights, and accountability,” he asserted. “We are also seeing it, in all its harshness, in the Middle East, in Palestine, in the Gaza Strip,” Felipe VI continued. “We cannot remain silent, nor look the other way, in the face of devastation, the bombings, even of hospitals, schools, or places of refuge; in the face of so many deaths among the civilian population; or in the face of famine and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people,” he warned. “These are abhorrent acts that are the antithesis of everything this forum represents. They are repugnant to the human conscience and shame the entire international community,” he added. “Spain is a people deeply proud of its Sephardic roots,” the King asserted. “When we speak to the people of Israel, we are speaking to a people of brothers and sisters, a people who, when they return to Spain—to Córdoba, Toledo, Seville, Barcelona, and so many other places—return to their home; that was the inspiring principle behind the law by which, in 2015 and with broad consensus, Spanish nationality was granted to the descendants of Sephardic Jews originally from Spain,” he recalled. “That is why it pains us so much, why it is so difficult for us to understand what the Israeli government is doing in the Gaza Strip,” he continued. “That is why we cry out, we implore, we demand: stop this massacre now. No more deaths in the name of a people so wise and so ancient, who have suffered so much throughout history,” he stated. “Let us be clear, we strongly condemn Hamas's execrable terrorism and especially the brutal massacre of October 7, 2023, against the Israeli population, and we recognize Israel's right to defend itself.” However, “with the same firmness, we demand that the Government of Israel apply international humanitarian law without reservation throughout Gaza and the West Bank. We demand the arrival of humanitarian aid without delay, a guaranteed ceasefire, and the immediate release of all the hostages still held so cruelly by Hamas,” he declared. “The international community must assume its responsibility to make a viable two-state solution a reality as soon as possible,” Felipe VI warned. "The recognition of the State of Palestine by a growing number of members of our Organization, which Spain joined last May, should help achieve a just and lasting regional peace, based on the implementation of United Nations resolutions and also on universal recognition of the State of Israel," he added. Meeting with Zelenskyy Prior to his speech, the King met with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and before leaving the United Nations headquarters, he greeted the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke before the Chamber immediately after him. This is the third time that King Felipe has addressed the United Nations Plenary as King. The first was in 2014, at the 69th session, and the second in 2016, at the 71st session. As Prince of Asturias, he spoke for the first time before the UN Plenary in 2000 at the opening of the International Year of Volunteers—which was celebrated in 2001—and he attended the Plenary of this international organization in 1995, at the 50th session of the General Assembly. His father, Juan Carlos I, spoke three times at the General Assembly: in 2005, on the occasion of the 60th General Assembly of that body, in 1991, and in 1986.

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