CNN's Becky Anderson, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and Jordan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi attend the panel discussion "What Now for the Middle East" during the Doha Forum in the Qatari capital on Dec. 10, 2023. (Credit: Salim Matramkot/AFP)
DOHA — Jordan's foreign minister,
Ayman Safadi, on Sunday said that Israel was implementing a
policy of pushing Palestinians out of Gaza through a war that he
said meets the "legal definition of genocide."
Safadi, whose country borders the West Bank and absorbed the bulk of Palestinians after the creation of Israel in 1948, also said that Israel had created hatred that would haunt the region and define generations to come.
"What we are seeing in Gaza is not just simply the killing of innocent people and the destruction of their livelihoods [by Israel] but a systematic effort to empty Gaza of its people," Safadi said at a conference in Doha.
"We have not seen the world yet come to the place we should come to ... an unequivocal demand for ending this war; a war that is within the legal definition of genocide."
The extent of destruction and indiscriminate bombing of thousands of civilians belies Israel's avowed goal of seeking to wipe out Hamas, Safadi added.
Safadi also said that major differences had surfaced in talks between a delegation of Arab ministers and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington last Friday over the US administration's military support for Israel and its refusal to call for a cease-fire.
Ayman Safadi, on Sunday said that Israel was implementing a
policy of pushing Palestinians out of Gaza through a war that he
said meets the "legal definition of genocide."
Safadi, whose country borders the West Bank and absorbed the
bulk of Palestinians after the creation of Israel in 1948, also
said that Israel had created...