This is a moment of maximum danger.
We are on the brink. The precipice. At a few minutes to midnight.
We talk of the risk of full-scale regional war but the truth is we are already witnessing conflict on multiple fronts.
In Gaza. In the West Bank. In Lebanon. And the Red Sea.
The strikes in recent days have taken 550 lives in Lebanon.
The death of civilians, women and children.
The UN workers killed.
The Hizballah rockets that have killed Israelis are just the latest in the cycle of pain, anguish and loss.
President,
As we face the abyss, this Council has a duty to speak with one voice.
And we must say that the rockets must stop now. The air strikes must stop now. Talks must start now. With an immediate ceasefire on both sides now.
It is time to pull back from the brink.
President,
A full-blown war is not in the interests of the Israeli or the Lebanese people.
And that is why within hours of last week’s strikes I called for an immediate ceasefire between Lebanese Hizballah and Israel.
Since then, we’ve worked closely with the US and France to formalise a wider demand for the ceasefire and a political plan to implement it.
And at the UN in New York, the Prime Minister and I have been urging our G7 and other partners to do the same.
Our priority must be a political solution in line with Resolution 1701. It is our duty to do all we can to exert maximum diplomatic pressure so Israeli and Lebanese civilians can return to their homes. So lives can be saved. So security can return to Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon. So that daily life can begin to return.
Now let me be clear.
The United Kingdom condemns Hizballah’s attacks on Israel over the last 11 months, which have driven more than 60,000 people from their homes.
There was no justification for these attacks.
They have brought misery to ordinary people in Lebanon and Israel.
And they have done nothing to end the conflict in Gaza or secure Palestinian statehood.
And Iran, nothing justifies supplying weapons to terror groups in defiance of this Council.
We call on Tehran to use its influence and urge Hizballah to agree a ceasefire.
President,
For the people of Israel and for the people of Lebanon, a brilliant, multicultural and tolerant nation taken captive by an armed militia that puts itself before the Lebanese people, we must come together to bring this conflict to an end.
In 2006, this Council acted in the interests of peace and security. All parties need to embody that same spirit today.
By coming together, act now to bring this conflict to an end.
To stop the cycle of destruction.
To stop the loss of yet more innocent lives.
And to stop this conflict from exploding into full-blown war and open a path to peace.
That is what we need.
