“Israeli weapons are used in the ethnic and religious cleansing carried out by the Myanmar army against the Rohingya minority, resulting in the persecution of 700,000 Muslims who were slaughtered and expelled from their country,” said Israeli writer and journalist Tsur Shezaf in an article published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Shezaf asserted that “Israel contributed to the grievances of Rohingya Muslims through its refusal to abide by the UN international boycott resolutions to prevent supplying Myanmar with arms.”

He also noted that Israel continues, through its army, security services and military industries, sending various weapons to the Armed Forces of Myanmar, including military technology.

Shezaf added that “Israel and Myanmar have longstanding historical ties, and it is not reasonable that we repeat today the same mistakes that we made in South Africa, during the apartheid regime, with Myanmar which is committing ethnic cleansing crimes. Currently, Israel is contributing to a new tragedy.”

He confirmed that “Israel’s continued support for Myanmar’s actions, through sending arms and military supplies despite the mass killings, property destruction and rapes committed by the Army. This is an unjustifiable imbecility. This will result in the creation of new refugee camps around Myanmar, specifically in Bangladesh, and from there more armed groups will surface.

Shezaf also noted that “the Rohingyas are subjected to systematic deportation and ethnic cleansing by the Myanmarese and Buddhists in the western side of Myanmar. They are forced to stay in refugee camps set up by Bangladesh on small areas, sheltering one million women, toddlers, men, elders and infants.”

He pointed out that some Rohingya women are still having babies as a result of rapes committed by the Myanmar army, police and Buddhist monks.

Shezaf concluded: “Millions live amidst poor environmental circumstances, where they cannot have a minimum of decent living conditions.  Today, after Rohingyas’ lives became almost impossible, the UN woke up and officially declared that Myanmar, including the army, the police as well as the Buddhist establishment and even the Prime Minister and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, are all responsible for killing an entire population.”

Top Photo | Rohingya Muslim girl Afeefa Bebi, who recently crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, holds her few-hours-old brother as doctors check her mother Yasmeen Ara at a community hospital in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. The family crossed into Bangladesh on Sept. 3. Recent violence in Myanmar has driven hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to seek refuge across the border in Bangladesh. But Rohingya have been fleeing persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades, and many who have made it to safety in other countries still face a precarious existence. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

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