Venezuela Condemns Selective Use of International Law at Emergency Ministerial Meeting for Palestine

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil condemned what he described as the selective use of international law as a weapon against the Global South, during his remarks at the Emergency Ministerial Meeting in Defense of Palestine, held in Bogotá, Colombia.

The meeting, convened by Colombian President Gustavo Petro and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, was organized within the framework of the Hague Group to coordinate urgent action in response to ongoing atrocities committed against the Palestinian people.

Gil called for an immediate end to the Zionist occupation, the abolition of apartheid, and historical reparations for Palestine. He stated via Telegram that he conveyed the message of President Nicolás Maduro, denouncing what he termed an Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people, which he said began in 1948 with the Zionist occupation and continues today with the support of Western powers.

Each attack on the Gaza Strip, Gil emphasized, not only destroys lives but also undermines the principles of international law, while international courts respond with delay or deference to Western interests.

He reiterated President Maduro’s proposal to convene a World Summit for Peace and Against War, aimed at halting the actions of the Israeli regime and demanding real justice.

Gil reaffirmed Venezuela’s stance on Palestine’s right to exist, resist, and live in freedom, with a fully sovereign state and East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions.

He emphasized that Venezuela believes no just solution is possible without an immediate end to occupation and apartheid. He also expressed support for UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who he said is under attack for defending the truth about Palestine in the name of humanity.

While in Bogotá, Gil held meetings with Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour and Palestinian Ambassador to Colombia Raouf Almalki, to whom he conveyed the unwavering solidarity of the Bolivarian Government and President Maduro.

In a letter addressed to Presidents Petro and Ramaphosa, Maduro called the gathering “a necessary moral and political response at a time when humanity is confronted by horror and impunity.”

The Venezuelan leader described the Israeli campaign against the Palestinian people as “the greatest crime of modern history” and said the summit “should produce a fair, effective, and lasting peace proposal, born from the people rather than from elites who profit from war.”

He concluded by stating that the Palestinian cause is not a regional or religious issue, but rather “the dividing line between justice and barbarism, the moral battle of our time.”