India stood by Israel and voted against the granting of the status of an observer organisation to the Palestinian-Lebanese terror organization ‘Shahed’. On 6th June, in a resolution initiated by Israel, the Hamas allied group “The Palestinian Association for Human Rights – Witness” was prevented from receiving a special status at the UN.
Thank you #India for standing with @IsraelinUN and rejecting the request of terrorist organization “Shahed” to obtain the status of an observer in #UN. Together we will continue to act against terrorist organizations that intend to harm. pic.twitter.com/erHTfuY1A1
— Maya Kadosh (@MayaKadosh) June 11, 2019
As per the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release, “Shahed is a Palestinian organisation based in Lebanon that claims to deal with human rights and humanitarian issues, but in practice is an organisation that Israel has declared a terrorist organisation and in fact, operates as an arm of the Hamas terror organisation in Lebanon”.
The Shahed has been registered in Lebanon under the name “Witness” which claims to support the rights of the 450,000 Palestinians living in the 12 UNRWA-run refugee camps across Lebanon.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an order declaring “Witness” a terrorist organisation aligned with Hamas in March 2019. “In recent months, Israel’s security establishment has revealed that Witness belongs to the Hamas movement and acts on its behalf against Israel as part of a network of institutions and organisations the terrorist organization operates outside the Gaza Strip,” Israel’s Mission to the UN said in a statement Thursday.
In a February a Committee considered the application of several NGOs to grant them a special status at the UN. 236 NGOs were granted the special status on June 6th, however, the application of “Witness” was turned down after it “failed to present important information when its credentials were being considered during the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations”.
Among the countries that were in favour were the resolution were countries like Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States. Notably, the countries that voted against include Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and China.
The Israeli PM has on several occasions called for united action against ‘Radical Islam’ terming it as a ‘challenging our way of life’. Facebook had however temporarily blocked the PMs son for demanding revenge of an Islamic terrorist attack that left two Israeli soldiers dead.
In March, an Indian company, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) signed a technology collaboration agreement (TCA) with an Israeli firm Elbit Systems Ltd for licensed manufacture of Helmet Mounted Display System to be used by Armed Forces pilots. In the Balakot airstrikes, Israeli made Spice 2000 precision bombs were used, with 80% bombs hitting the target. The IAF is also likely to buy an advanced ‘bunker-buster’ version of the same aircraft.
