Skip to main content

Germany's Consul General faces scrutiny over UN Charter silence on Israel-Gaza

By A Representative
 
The Consulate General of Germany in Bangalore recently hosted a celebration for the 35th Day of German Unity, where Consul General Achim Burkart's repeated references to the UN Charter in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war were noted by attendees as a positive affirmation of Germany's commitment to democratic multilateralism. However, the omission of the Charter when discussing the Israel-Gaza conflict has drawn pointed criticism regarding the perceived imbalance and partiality of his address.
In a detailed letter to the Consul General, UN Environmental Negotiator and Ecologist Dr. S. Faizi expressed his appreciation for the German Unity Day celebrations and the musical performance by Buck Rogers and Sidetrackers, while simultaneously raising serious concerns about the omission regarding Israel. Dr. Faizi, citing a strong connection to the German people and a history of working with the German Environment Ministry, argued that Israel represents the gravest threat to the UN Charter ever, moving beyond alleged atrocities to direct attacks on the UN system itself.
Dr. Faizi outlined five specific instances to support his claim: the Israeli UN Ambassador’s act of shredding the UN Charter on the podium of the General Assembly in May 2024; the Ambassador's subsequent call in August 2024 for the destruction of the UN headquarters in New York, stating it should be "wiped off from the face of the earth"; the Israeli Foreign Minister’s declaration of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as 'persona non grata' in October 2024, banning him from entering the country as a "categorical declaration of hostility" towards the UN; the Israeli Knesset’s action in July 2024 to designate UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) as a terrorist organization and subsequent legislation banning its operations in Israel and Gaza; and finally, the unprecedented killing of over 360 UNRWA staff in Gaza by the Israeli military since October 2023 (as of July 2025), including the summary execution of a staffer and his family.
The letter asserts that these "constant denouncement and breaches" have led to Israel’s ostracization, suggesting the country should be proscribed from the UN, possibly through General Assembly Rules of Procedure, as was done with apartheid South Africa, given that any direct attempt to suspend or remove Israel via UN Charter Articles 5 or 6 would likely face a veto by the USA. Dr. Faizi concluded by urging the Consul General to avoid presenting "ideas of bias and partial truths" to a captive audience, suggesting press conferences or seminars with diverse opinions as more appropriate forums for expressing government views on controversial issues, a practice he recalled was maintained by the previous German Consul General, Margit Hellwig-Bötte. Dr. Faizi affirmed his personal commitment to justice and harmony, traits he noted are ingrained in the social mind of his native Kerala.

Comments

TRENDING

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram*   When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

  By Rajiv Shah   This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan*  “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah  Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández  The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

​ By Ram Puniyani  ​The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue. 

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos  The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey*  ​In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.