“I want to say this out loud and clear to the Israeli government – stop the bloodshed, stop the suffering, bring the hostages home and end the occupation – Mr Netanyahu, stop this war now!” Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said angrily during his speech at the UN General Assembly, pounding on the lectern. Janez Janša apologised to all allies for Golob embarrassing the international community.
On Friday, Prime Minister Robert Golob directly called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war during his address at the General Debate of world leaders at the opening of the 79th United Nations General Assembly. He pounded the lectern just like the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev did at the height of the Cold War, except that the latter used his own boot to do so.
However, on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered attacks on the headquarters of the terrorist movement Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which speaks volumes about the success of this kind of posturing by the Slovenian Prime Minister. The attack proved successful, as according to Israeli media reports, the cleric and Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is believed to be in the bunker, and the chances of his survival are low. The Slovenian government’s anti-Israeli policy and its advocacy of Islamist terrorist organisations will have far-reaching political and economic consequences.
The fact that Prime Minister Golob is exclusively calling on the Israeli side to end the fighting is frivolous, as the conflict was clearly started by the Palestinian side in a terrorist attack on innocent Israeli civilians on the 7th of October last year. In the same sentence, the Slovenian Prime Minister also demanded an end to the bloodshed, the suffering, and the rescue of hostages, which is a contradiction in itself. Namely, the hostages are being held by the Palestinian side, and it is impossible to rescue them without military intervention.
The leader of the Slovenian opposition, Janez Janša, also responded to Golob’s address to the United Nations: “Slovenia, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, should be an honest, impartial negotiator for the return of hostages, the eradication of terrorism, and the achievement of lasting peace. But sadly, the Slovenian government is taking the side of Hamas, and its Prime Minister, Robert Golob, is shouting at the United Nations and pounding the table in Khruschev-style from Soviet times. He is embarrassing Slovenia in the international community. We sincerely apologise to our allies in the European Union and NATO and to the people of Israel, especially to the families of the hostages. Two-thirds of Slovenian voters do not support the current Slovenian government.”
Golob’s controversial speech did not go unnoticed. A US Republican politician, Bryan E. Leib, commented that Prime Minister Golob spent at least half of his speech criticising Israel. “That’s quite different from my friend Janez Janša.” He also reiterated his call to stop funding the United Nations.
What else did Golob say?
In his speech, Golob mostly repeated what he had already said at Wednesday’s UN Security Council Special Session under the Slovenian Presidency, entitled Leadership for Peace, and on Sunday at the Summit for the Future, when world leaders endorsed the Pact for the Future. He described the Pact as a glimmer of unity in a time of wars, climate catastrophes and growing inequality and polarisation.
As a second glimmer of hope, he pointed to the Presidential Statement of the Security Council under the Slovenian Presidency, where all 15 members committed themselves to preserving peace, respecting international law and the UN Charter.
“Slovenia has been a member of the Security Council since January and has witnessed a gradual erosion of the rules. The Security Council is less and less able to respond effectively to major conflicts such as Gaza, Ukraine or Sudan, and we are not doing any better in other forms of crisis management,” he said.
“What we are witnessing in Ukraine is aggression by a bigger and stronger neighbour against a smaller and weaker one. If we allow this aggression to continue, we will open the door to many similar wars around the world,” he said.
Regarding Gaza, he said that four months after the adoption of the Security Council resolution on the cessation of hostilities and the return of hostages, there is still no agreement. Violence against the Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is increasing, taking the world further away from a two-state solution. He stressed that the whole region is now on the brink of a precipice.
“In Sudan, we are witnessing a man-made humanitarian catastrophe, with millions of displaced people in desperate need of humanitarian aid. At the same time, we are witnessing atrocities in Darfur once again,” said Mr Golob, blaming the five permanent members for the Security Council’s failure to act by putting national interests first.
He called for a reform of the Security Council with a fairer distribution of seats. “The Security Council must better represent the voices of regions that have been under-represented, such as Africa. The composition of the Security Council needs to be reformed, accompanied by a reform of the veto. The fact is that we will not be able to abolish the veto, but we could regulate it more precisely,” said Golob, adding that the UN Security Council should be more ambitious in preventing conflict.
Golob also praised the dedication of the UN aid workers and criticised the erosion of respect for international humanitarian law, which makes their work more difficult. He said that in Gaza, aid workers are no longer just incidental collateral victims, but deliberate targets of attacks.
When speaking about climate change, he mentioned the catastrophic floods in Slovenia, which triggered the development of advanced digital solutions with Earth observation, supercomputers and artificial intelligence. The system helps to predict floods and droughts, he said, and expressed his willingness to share these solutions with the world.
“I call on everyone to form a global partnership for early warning for everything that will help overcome these challenges. This partnership would boost our collective preparedness and ensure that everyone on Earth is protected from dangerous climate events,” he said.
He also drew attention to the dignity of older people and said that Slovenia is leading a coalition for binding legal instruments on human rights for all people.
He also called on the UN General Assembly, which has had only four female presidents since its creation and no female UN Secretary-General, to lead by example. “Slovenia has joined the supporters of the initiative for a gender rotation in the presidency of the General Assembly,” he said.
He stressed that children are the most vulnerable in conflicts and highlighted Gaza. He said that Slovenia was providing concrete assistance in the rehabilitation of children from Gaza and described the case of two girls from Palestine whose story he had heard at a recent Save the Children event in New York.
“At this event, I listened to two brave Palestinian girls, Sara and Rand. They spoke about their challenges, their feelings and their future. Despite the destruction, dehumanisation and fear, they were neither angry nor hostile. They just had an overwhelming desire to live a normal life. One would like to be a doctor, the other a humanitarian worker.”
“Today, I am keeping my promise and presenting their story to the General Assembly. Only through our united call against war and for peace will we ensure that they are not among the thousands of Palestinian children without a future,” said Golob.
C. Š.
