Hamid Mir
Never thought that Israel would ever complain to an international organisation that Iranian missiles are increasing the risks to its civilian population and children. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has written a letter to UNICEF Director-General Catherine Russell. The letter, written on March 23, is signed by Nina Ben Ami who is Israel’s Deputy Director-General for UN and International Organisations at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The letter draws UNICEF’s attention to the ballistic missiles used by Iran, which are causing great damage to the civilian population. The letter states that on March 21, a cluster bomb from an Iranian missile hit a kinder garden in Rishno Lizion, which was fortunately closed. On the same day, a missile hit a residential area in Arad, injuring 115 civilians, including 18 children. The letter also mentions the injuries of 60 civilians, including two children, in 12 missile attacks on the Israeli city of Dimona. The letter written by Israel to UNICEF also mentions other civilian casualties in the attacks by Iran from March 1 to March 23 and demands that UNICEF condemn Iran’s missile attacks. The truth is that I was very saddened by the mention of injuries to Israeli children in the letter. I remember that when Israel martyred thousands of children in Gaza with indiscriminate bombing, UNICEF spokesman James Elder said in a statement that Gaza had turned into a graveyard for thousands of children. UNICEF Director-General Catherine Russell also repeatedly appealed to Israel to stop the massacre of Gaza’s children, but Israel did not listen to anyone.
The day after this letter from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, UNICEF said in a briefing at the UN headquarters that 2,100 children have been injured or killed since the start of the recent war in the Middle East and 87 children are being targeted every day. The briefing said that 206 children were martyred in Iran and 118 in Lebanon. Four children were killed in Israel and one child lost his life in Kuwait. This UNICEF briefing was given in New York which is in America and more than a hundred girls were martyred in a girls’ school in the Iranian city of Manab due to the bombing by the same America. Since Israel and the America started this war together, not only Iran but all schools from Israel to Lebanon and from Kuwait to Bahrain have been closed. Millions of children are deprived of education. Are Israel and the America alone responsible for this war? No! All those countries and international organisations that have remained silent on Israel’s brutality since 1948 are responsible for this war. Israel, violating international law, occupied many Palestinian areas, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in 1967. These were areas that were included in the Palestinian state according to UN resolutions. After occupying these areas, Israel started settling Zionists there. When the Palestinians resisted, the United States declared them terrorists. Then many Muslim countries recognised Israel. When the OIC, which was established in response to the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969, failed to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel planned to further expand its borders. Muslim countries only made condemnatory statements against this plan. No one tried to stop Israel. Finally, Hamas tried to liberate the Palestinian areas that Israel had occupied to stop Israel. Call it a wrong strategy or a fanaticism, but what would you call what Israel has been doing? The real responsibility for the ongoing war in the Middle East lies with the so-called civilised world, which, using the United Nations in 1948, divided Palestine and established Israel. In December 1947, the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, wrote a letter to US President Harry Truman saying that the establishment of Israel would never bring peace to the Middle East, but Truman stood behind Israel. After many decades, Israel and the US have realised that if their bombs can target Palestinian children, then Iranian missiles can also make Israeli children unsafe. Now some other countries, including Pakistan, are trying to stop this war with the US, so this is a welcome development, but the question is, who will guarantee US President Trump?
A few months ago, when the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Baqir Qalibaf, visited Pakistan, I had the opportunity to meet and talk to him. He was sure in November 2025 that Israel would attack Iran again. He had said in very clear words that Israel and the US use negotiations for deception and start wars during negotiations. Now the US wants to negotiate with Baqir Qalibaf. But Baqir Qalibaf and the current leadership of Iran do not trust Trump at all. Can Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Turkish President Erdogan or Egyptian President El-Sisi guarantee that President Trump will fulfil the promises he makes to Iran in any case? Who can guarantee a Trump whose Secretary of War Peter Hegseth has been talking about demolishing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and whose Trump’s intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard has been spreading disinformation about Pakistan’s missile program? Negotiations between the US and Iran have been held before, but these negotiations have always been sabotaged by the US, not Iran. Before resuming these negotiations, there is a need to create a framework that neither side violates. Trump has launched this war without the approval of the US Congress.
Is there a guarantee that Trump will not commit such aggression against Iran again? This aspect cannot be ignored that at this time, Trump is more needed than Iran for an immediate ceasefire. Iran is ready for a long war because the threat of regime change in Iran has been averted for the time being. Trump must get rid of the misconception that the ceasefire will now be on America’s terms. Trump’s status is that of an aggressor and a deceiver. Iran’s status is that of an oppressed person who exercised his right to defend himself. Justice should be given to the oppressed under international law. Trump himself has rendered international law ineffective. He should remember that he is not winning this war and he is no longer a superpower. His royal arrogance and delusion of grandeur are in decline. The confrontation between delusion of grandeur and the desire for martyrdom that forced the superpower to kneel is inevitable. Negotiations must take place, but first Trump should find a guarantor for himself.
