Pakistan's UN envoy: This originated with Israel's occupation of Palestine

“The Israeli occupation is the original sin, not what happened on 7 October,” Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Munir Akram said in a speech yesterday at the United Nations General Assembly which adopted a resolution calling for an "immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce" between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza. A Canadian amendment to the original resolution draft, which proposed recognising the 7 October attack by Hamas, failed to get the required two-thirds majority. In a speech rebutting Canada's proposal, Akram said that if Canada was being fair in its amendment it would agree to name Israel as well as Hamas. “Israel needs to be named too, if you are to be fair and equitable and just”, he said.