Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza must end before it sets a global precedent: Journalist
By Sally Ahmed
There is an urgent need to put an end to the Israeli genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza before it spreads to other parts of the world, says a Venezuelan journalist and political analyst.
Diego Sequera, who was in the Iranian capital Tehran to attend the third edition of the Sobh International Media Festival, warned against the normalization of genocide.
Speaking to the Press TV website on the sidelines of the festival, Sequera emphasized the importance of alternative media narratives that challenge mainstream reporting on events unfolding in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
He said that while some media outlets have managed to counter the narratives pushed by corporate mainstream media, the situation in Venezuela is more complex due to geographical distance.
The Venezuelan journalist said that one “horrible feature of genocide is that it can be normalized easily,” if steps are not taken to stop what’s currently happening in Gaza.
Sequera reiterated Venezuela’s firm support for Palestine, pointing out that Caracas severed diplomatic ties with the Israeli regime in 2009 in protest against its atrocities in the Gaza Strip.
“We haven’t had an Israeli diplomatic delegation ever since. We won’t have, while this is going on, we don’t want to have these relationships,” he said, referring to the genocidal war in Gaza that has killed nearly 53,000 people, mostly children and women, since October 2023.
“Venezuela supports the genocide case that South Africa brought in against the Zionist entity in The Hague, in the International Court of Justice,” he stated, adding that he wishes Venezuela could do more to support the Palestinians and help end the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
“Israel collapsed. It’s the nation of Palestine one more time,” he said, describing the headline he hopes to write someday when the Palestinian freedom struggle reaches its logical end.
Referring to the close relationship between Iran and Venezuela, Sequera said the two countries “have a strategic agreement that’s widespread” and covers various sectors.
“This was already a natural process before sanctions,” he said, adding that US sanctions have further deepened mutual cooperation and strengthened bilateral ties between Tehran and Caracas.
“Iran also has many things to show Venezuela. You [Iran] have been under sanctions for far longer, and you also have a very well-developed industrial base that’s actually quite decisive for Venezuela’s economic diversification,” Sequera said.
He expressed gratitude for Iran’s support during one of Venezuela’s “worst” crises, when the country was running out of fuel needed to operate essential public services.
He recalled that Iran’s dispatch of five tankers to Venezuela in 2020 was “a game-changer situation, not only on the geopolitical landscape, but on a very human level for us.”
Despite US threats, Iran sent five ships – Fortune, Forest, Petunia, Faxon, and Clavel – carrying Iranian fuel to Venezuela in May and June 2020 to help restart oil refineries in the South American nation, which was suffering from a severe fuel shortage caused by US sanctions.
“That’s something that I always will use as a symbol of how far this can be, because both Iran and Venezuela are fearless in that sense and you need to be fearless,” Sequera said.
The Venezuelan journalist, one of the awardees at the third edition of the Sobh Media Festival, described the annual media event as “a wonderful initiative and a very necessary one.”
Reflecting on the festival’s significant growth over its three editions, Sequera said he expects the next edition to be “even bigger” and to draw more participants to “solidify these links” among those unwilling to remain silent.
“Regardless of how bleak and how tough the situation is, regardless of the moral demand that this has, you should also have space to celebrate what we’re doing to make it, to have even more sense, because commitment is already there,” he noted.
“But this part, which is kind of soothing, it’s also absolutely necessary. So it’s a wonderful initiative in that sense.”
