In a forceful appeal for a stop to what he called crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, President John Dramani Mahama urged world leaders not to be afraid to name the atrocities what they are.
During his speech at the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Mahama criticized the international organization for its reluctance to confront the situation directly.
We have been playing hide-and-seek with language in this General Assembly for almost two years in an attempt to find the proper words to assist us in avoiding or explaining what we all know is happening there out of fear of retaliation.
The problem is that, regardless of what you call it, if it has a duck-like appearance, swims like one, and quacks like one, then it has got to be a duck. He said, “The crimes in Gaza must end.”
The Ghanaian leader emphasized that “hundreds of thousands of innocent people” were suffering from “collective punishment and forced starvation for no reason other than the fact that they are Palestinian,” saying that the plight of Palestinians must no longer be disregarded.
President Mahama denied accusations that a two-state solution would equate to Hamas’s prize and reaffirmed Ghana’s recognition of Palestine since 1988.
Rather, he contended, it provided the finest opportunity to provide civilians enmeshed in the conflict with justice and relief.
Mahama also denounced the recent decision to refuse visas to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, and his delegation, calling it a “bad precedent” and a direct threat to the integrity of the UN system.
While he acknowledged broader global challenges—including rising nationalism, economic instability, and the erosion of multilateralism—President Mahama warned that Gaza remained a moral test for the world’s leaders.
