Dear Sir,
LALIT calls on you, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, to act at once to isolate Israel. We call, once again, for such action, this time on the basis of the new proof issued four days ago, on 31 August – as if proof were, at this stage, needed – that what Israel is conducting against the Palestinians in Gaza is, in fact, indeed full-blown “Genocide” as defined by law.
This new proof comes from the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), universally considered the world’s leading association of genocide scholars. On 31 August it passed a formal Resolution (see text in toto below): “Declar[ing] that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).”
Please could you consider proposing, at Friday’s Cabinet, that Mauritius, in public, call what Israel is doing “genocide”? This statement can be made based on this recent Resolution, and with reference also to the ICJ Preliminary Findings last year that, back then already, called it a “plausible” genocide. Today we witness outright annihilation.
As you are aware, the full name of the Convention cited above includes the phrase “for the PREVENTION … of the Crime of Genocide” (our caps) meaning that Mauritius signed up to “preventing” genocide without sitting around waiting for “proof” of what everyone in the world can already see to be true. Now, genocide already being committed, you must act to end it.
Countries that deny the fact that Israel is committing genocide in full view behave like the cowering subjects who say the Emperor’s new clothes are beautiful as he stands there before everyone stark naked. The difference in the case of Israel’s daily slaughter is that the consequences of continued denial are so truly abominable to behold. We have contributed so far, as a nation, to over 60,000 deaths, to these thousands of amputations, this wanton massacre of a classroom worth of Gaza children each day, these already hundreds of deaths by intentionally-inflicted starvation, this endless torture of civilians and this perpetual displacement of two million Palestinians – not dissimilar to the size of our population – herded around like so many animals, and then shot at when they fetch wretched food parcels from mercenaries employed for this task of setting up traps for the famished, and then shooting at them. The unintended direct consequence of Government’s reckless denial of the Genocide is that the new Government is gutting Mauritius’ moral standing in the world. And by roping our State to the sinking ship of the USA Empire under Trump, Israel’s only ally, we are acting against our own best interests, as well acting illegally and immorally.
It is already late. Very late. Mauritius must act to stop the Israeli killing of civilians. Mauritius must make amends fast.
What we call for
Once Mauritius recognizes, based on the facts determined by the experts in academia and in UN judicial and political systems, that Israel is committing genocide, it follows that Mauritius must at once cut all ties with Israel: diplomatic, commercial, social, touristic, academic, artistic and in sports. We call on you to reverse the alarming direction your Ministry took by withdrawing from already-agreed-upon “oral submissions” at the specific ICJ case designed to STOP Israel starving to death the Palestinians in Gaza. This is why we say you need to “make amends”.
The stain this withdrawal has left upon Mauritius’ moral standing must be effaced by your actions at the Cabinet on Friday.
Yours sincerely,
Ragini Kistnasamy (5 767 2441) and Lindsey Collen (5 781 6256) for LALIT (c/o 1A La Croix Street, Forest-Side)
