Public figures in this country are demanding that Bulgaria take a position on the situation in Gaza. “While the International Court of Justice is considering a case involving genocide charges, Bulgaria does not have the moral right to keep its silence or to hide behind procedural verbiage. On the contrary, the country has an obligation to take the side of the downtrodden,” they write in a letter addressed to President Rumen Radev, PM Rosen Zhelyazkov and Minister of Foreign Affairs Georg Georgiev.

In their words, in the past year, the government has been showing signs of support for Israel’s actions but has not given clear reasons for doing so. “Bulgaria recognized Palestine as far back as 1988 but at this time the country’s actions are not in the direction of supporting the two-state solution or of making efforts to attain peace in the region or at least a cease-fire,” Diana Hussein, PR specialist in crisis communication and one of the authors of the address which has collected more than 1,000 signatures told the BNR.

“The country is pursuing a consistent policy tolerating the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, including when a compatriot of ours was killed – Captain Marin Marinov who worked for the UN. The latest demonstration of this was the refusal of Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry to sign the joint statement by 28 countries condemning Israel’s actions leading to famine and death, and calling for an immediate end to the horror in the Gaza strip,” the position reads.

• Bulgaria and six other EU countries have not signed a joint statement condemning Israel over the situation in Gaza

Edited by Miglena Ivanova
Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photo: sedemosmi.tv