Seimas adopts the Resolution on Terrorist Attacks and Aggression against the State of Israel

Press release, 10 October 2023

The Seimas has strongly condemned the recent bloody, unprovoked attacks carried out against the State of Israel by Hamas, an international terrorist group which is backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and which took over the Gaza Strip in 2005, and has extended its sincere condolences to the people of the State of Israel for the numerous victims.

At the beginning of the sitting, the Seimas observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims. ‘On 7 October 2023, thousands of Israelis were killed, injured and kidnapped when Hamas terrorists launched hostilities against Israel. We express our sincere condolences to and solidarity with the State of Israel, which has always been on the front lines of the fight against terrorism,’ said Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas, as she invited the participants of the sitting to pay tribute to the memory of the victims.

In the Resolution adopted today, the Lithuanian Parliament stresses that the rise of terrorist organisations such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad and their further activities are driven by the cooperation with and support from the authoritarian regimes, including the regimes in Iran and Russia. ‘Authoritarian regimes must not be allowed to destabilise the geopolitical situation in Europe, the Middle East and other regions; the solidarity of democracies and their support for the peoples fighting against authoritarian and terrorist regimes, in particular in Ukraine and Israel, are the cornerstones of restoration of peace and stability,’ the Resolution reads. It goes on to stress that ‘Hamas has no interest in the security and well-being of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and of all other Palestinians.’

The Seimas calls on the leaders of the European Union and the international community to show solidarity with Israel and to provide political, intelligence and diplomatic support to Israel. The Seimas calls on foreign governments with official representative offices of the Hamas terrorist organisation to expel the personnel of the said representative offices; and urges Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to support the call expressed in the resolution of the European Parliament to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as an international terrorist organisation. The Seimas also calls on the international community to do its utmost to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

The Seimas emphasises that the Israeli people, both civilians and the military, who have been taken hostage, must be released immediately. The Seimas welcomes the concerted action of Israeli society in the face of the unprovoked war, supports the self-defence of the State of Israel against the ongoing military provocations of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, and upholds the fight of the State of Israel against the spread of political and military influence by the Islamic Republic of Iran in Iraq and Syria.

As a small country, we are trying to convey to another small country that it has the right to self-defence. The key message we are sending is this: the people of Israel have the right to defend themselves,’ said the co-initiator of the Resolution, Emanuel Zingeris, MP, at the Seimas sitting. In his words, the attack on Israel represents an assault on democracy and on the right of individuals to live and build their own states.

A total of 108 MPs voted unanimously in favour of the Resolution initiated by Emanuelis Zingeris, MP, and Žygimantas Pavilionis, MP.