President John Dramani Mahama has issued a forceful appeal for an end to what he called ongoing crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, challenging world leaders to speak plainly about the atrocities taking place.
Addressing the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mahama criticised the global body’s reluctance to confront the situation directly.
“For nearly two years, and for the fear of reprisal, we here in this General Assembly have been playing hide-and-seek with language to find the right words to help us avoid or excuse what we all know is taking place there.
“But here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter what you call it: if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, well then… It must be a duck. The crimes in Gaza must stop,” he declared.
The former Ghanaian leader stressed that the world could no longer turn a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians, pointing out that “hundreds of thousands of innocent people” were enduring “collective punishment and forced starvation for no reason other than the fact that they are Palestinian.”
Reaffirming Ghana’s longstanding recognition of Palestine, which dates back to 1988, Mahama restated his backing for a two-state solution. He dismissed claims that such an approach rewarded Hamas, insisting instead that it represented the clearest path to justice and relief for ordinary civilians.
He further criticised the recent refusal to grant visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation, describing the move as a “bad precedent” that undermined the credibility of the UN itself.
Beyond the Middle East conflict, Mahama acknowledged other global challenges, from the surge of nationalism to worsening economic instability and the weakening of multilateral systems. Yet he maintained that the situation in Gaza remained a defining moral test for the international community.
