Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) sent letters to Vietnamese officials demanding the reconsideration of its ties with the occupying state, which have lasted for more than thirty years, and to investigate serious allegations that the authorities have recently supplied Israel with live ammunitions.
AOHR UK pointed out that these relations came under the spotlight following the scandal of the German ship “Katherine”, which sailed from a Vietnamese port loaded with ammunition to Palestine. It unloaded its shipment in Alexandria port and reloaded it on another ship which sailed to the occupying state.
AOHR UK pointed out in its letters that Vietnam’s relationship with Israel is inconsistent with the country’s historic legacy of experiencing subjugation. The Vietnamese have suffered from a bloody war waged by the United States of America, with the support of Israel. The same weapons used in the Vietnamese war are on par with the deadly weapons America supplies to Israel’s active genocide of the Gaza Strip. This ethnocratic genocidal campaign has so far shed the blood of more than 43,000 innocent civilians: more than 17,000 children killed, 100,000 injured and thousands missing under the rubble. This cycle of oppression has effectively displaced more than two-thirds of a population of 2.5 million people, leaving 80% of the Strip in ruins. If the Vietnamese are to pose themselves as a bastion for freedom and human rights, then it would be befitting of their history to condemn Israeli apartheid.
AOHR UK pointed out to the flimsy justifications that the Vietnamese authorities are promoting for establishing relations with an occupying entity that has been committing the most heinous crimes for more than 75 years in Palestine and the countries of the region. It also mentioned the relations of other countries with Israel, which resulted in their destruction and the deterioration of their economies. An example of this is the African countries to which Israel provided agricultural and industrial technologies, while at the same time contributing to the plundering of the country’s wealth and participating in military coups and corrupting every official it deals with. The evidence for this, as stated in the letter, is one of the arms deals concluded by Vietnamese officials that was marred by corruption and bribery. The letter also mentioned Israel spying on leaders of allied countries such as former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Italy, and many others.
AOHR UK warned that the ongoing cooperation with Israel, especially at this critical time, encourages the occupation government to continue committing crimes against the Palestinian people given the unlimited American support and hindering all efforts calling for Israel to be expelled from the United Nations as a state that threatens international peace and security.
International law requires states not to collude or participate in any way in supporting crimes of genocide, according to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. According to the text of the Convention, member states must not provide any assistance or support that may contribute to facilitating, financing, or implementing acts of genocide, and the Convention stipulates the duty of state parties to prevent these crimes by any means possible.
AOHR UK urged the Vietnamese state to stop any direct or indirect support that may contribute to the crimes of genocide committed in Gaza, and called for an investigation into the case of the ship “Katherine” which was loaded with ammunition and set sail from a Vietnamese port, and to take the necessary measures against those involved, stressing that failure to take decisive measures would distort the reputation of Vietnam, which has suffered from the scourge of occupation.
