Congress MP says Israeli PM should be "shot and killed without trial"

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the ongoing Israeli ground offensive against Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip, in the wake of the October 7 terror attacks, Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan came up with a shocker on Saturday, saying that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "should be shot and killed without a trial".

Speaking at a rally to demonstrate solidarity with Palestine in Kasargod, Kerala, amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, the Congress leader openly advocated the "Nuremberg model" (invoking the trial of Nazis in Nuremberg for the holocaust) against the Israeli PM.

"You can ask what should be done to those who break all agreements under the Geneva Convention. After the Second World War, there was something called the Nuremberg trials for bringing those (Nazis) guilty of war crimes to justice. The Nuremberg model to shoot those accused of war crimes dead without trial. It is high time that the Nuremberg model was applied here (against the Israeli PM).

Today, Benjamin Netanyahu is standing before the world as a war criminal. It's high time that Netanyahu was shot and killed without a trial because of the atrocities that his forces are committing on Palestinians," the Congress MP added. The rally was organised by the Kasaragod United Muslim Jamaath on Friday. A politician-turned-actor, Unnithan represents Kasargod in the Lok Sabha. The former chief of the terror group Hamas, Khaled Mashal, virtually addressed a similar solidarity event in Kerala earlier, raising the hackles in the BJP.

Earlier, on Friday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh released an official party statement, condemning the Israeli operations in Gaza and demanding that the Centre intervene to bring a ceasefire at the earliest.

Meanwhile, in a significant move, South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros, and Djibouti jointly submitted a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC), urging an investigation into potential crimes in Palestinian territories, CNN reported citing ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.

"In accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, a State Party may refer to the Prosecutor a situation in which one or more crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court appear to have been committed requesting the Prosecutor to investigate the situation for the purpose of determining whether one or more specific persons should be charged with the commission of such crimes," Khan said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday condemned the mounting civilian deaths in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, said new challenges are emerging from the events in West Asia. Reiterating India's condemnation of the Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7, PM Modi also highlighted that New Delhi has also sent humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine.

In his opening address at the Voice of Global South Summit earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Modi said, "For global prosperity, sabka saath and sabka vikas is parmount. We all are seeing that new challenges are emerging from the events in the West Asia region." "India has condemned the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7. We have laid emphasis on exercising restraint, dialogue and diplomacy," he added. PM Modi said that India has also sent humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine.

"We also strongly condemn the deaths of civilians in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. After talking to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, we have also sent humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine," he added.

Recently, Israel President Isaac Herzog said India advocates peace and can definitely pursue the voice of reason, security for Israel and peace for the region. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Herzog described India as "a very important nation in the world" and "one of the greatest countries on earth".

"India is a very important nation in the world and it was my true honour to speak at the joint session of US Congress in Washington in July, just a few weeks after PM Modi spoke. We believe India advocates peace and is a very impressive country, one of the greatest on earth and India can definitely pursue the voice of reason, security for Israel and peace for the region," the Israel President said.

India has said it sees the attack by Hamas on Israel as "a terrorist attack" and that it has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine that lives side by side at peace with Israel. The conflict in Gaza escalated after the October 7 attack by Hamas, where about 2,500 terrorists breached the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, leading to casualties and the seizure of hostages.

Israel has characterised its Gaza offensive as targeting Hamas' infrastructure with the goal of eliminating the entire terror group while making efforts to minimize civilian casualties.