APA urges ICC action against Israel

Parliament speakers of more than 40 Asian states meeting in Tehran have called for the prosecution of Israeli officials who ordered an attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy.

A draft communiqué, issued at the end of a Tuesday meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) in Tehran, condemned the attack as “a grave act of war crime,” and “an act of state terrorism,” calling on the UN Security Council to take measures to bring those responsible for attack to justice.

At least 20 people were killed and more than 50 injured on Monday in the Israeli navy’s raid on the international aid convoy Freedom Flotilla which was carrying humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.

The attack has provoked outrage across the world with many countries condemning the bloodshed in international waters and summoning the Israeli envoys over the act of violence.

Established in 2006, APA currently has 41 member states while 17 countries have observer status.

The APA communiqué condemned “in the strongest terms, the unprovoked attack, murder and injury of tens of innocent people… on a humanitarian and aid mission by the naval forces of the Zionist regime upon the order of the Israeli government, which constitute an act of state terrorism.”

It urged the UN Security Council “to hold those Israeli officials who ordered the attack, including the Minister of Defense and those security forces who carried out the attack, criminally responsible… and to refer the case to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.”

The Freedom Flotilla convoy was carrying 10,000 tons of supplies and hundreds of politicians, activists and journalists to break the three-year Israeli imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip.

The APA called on the international community to “double efforts” for bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza and force Israel to lift the three-year blockade on the coastal strip.