Thailand’s Foreign Ministry has voiced disapproval over Israel’s publication of video showing the brutal killing of a victim, asserted to be a Thai national, at a UN General Assembly meeting.
The ministry’s statement described the victims being shown as being “inhumanly killed, injured and abducted” as a result of the conflict in Israel and Gaza.
“Such horrific brutality has stirred a sense of outrage, not only among Thais but, undoubtedly, among people worldwide,” according to the statement.
The ministry disapproved of the display of such footage, which does not afford the proper respect and due consideration to the deceased and his family.
The Thai ministry was referring to a clip shown by Israel’s permanent ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, as he was addressing the special session of the UNGA on the Hamas-Israeli violence on Oct 26.
Erdan showed 193 UN members a clip of a Hamas fighter trying to decapitate a man with a garden tool during the Palestinian militants’ October 7th attack on Israel.
The victim, seen in the few seconds of footage he played for them on a tablet, was not Israeli or Jewish, but reportedly an agricultural labourer from Thailand.
“One can see a terribly injured civilian, bloodied, yet alive, laying on the ground as a Hamas savage, screaming Allahu Akbar, repeatedly pummels the man’s neck with a garden hoe in order to decapitate him,” Reuters quoted Erdan as telling the assembly.
The Thai Foreign Ministry’s statement, issued over the weekend, also condemned the killing of innocent civilians, regardless of nationality, by any group and for whatever reason.
Moreover, the ministry expressed its profound sorrow that the conflict has resulted in 32 Thai nationals having lost their lives, 19 being injured and 19 abducted (as of October 28th, 2023) and reiterated its call for the immediate release of all hostages of all nationalities detained.”
