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“It is outrageous for the Security Council to fail to condemn Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians,” Ambassador Haley told the UNSC.
By: United with Israel Staff
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday held an emergency session following the worst day of bombing by Gaza-based terror organizations that Israel has experienced since Operation Protective Edge, a meeting which resulted in no action against the Palestinian aggressors.
The US introduced a measure to condemn Hamas, the terror organization which rules the Gaza Strip, but the Arab country of Kuwait, which is a non-permanent member of the UNSC, blocked the measure and instead offered a resolution calling for the “international protection” of the Palestinians.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had harsh words for the UNSC after it failed to act against the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terror groups, which on Tuesday relentlessly fired more than 100 rockets and mortars at Israeli communities surrounding the Strip, one of which exploded in a kindergarten.
The majority of the explosive projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system or exploded in open spaces, but some fell inside Israeli communities and seven Israelis, including three soldiers, were injured in the shelling. One soldier sustained moderate wounds and required intensive surgery.
“It is outrageous for the Security Council to fail to condemn Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, while the Human Rights Council approves sending a team to investigate Israeli actions taken in self-defense,” Haley stated, while urging the UNSC to “exercise at least as much scrutiny of the actions of the Hamas terrorist group as it does to Israel’s legitimate right of self-defense.”
“Unlike some situations we deal with here in the Security Council, where guilty parties claim mistaken identity, or lack of evidence of responsibility, this is clearly not the case,” Haley said, expressing frustration at the UNSC’s lack of effectivity. “Hamas openly claims responsibility for this attack. They do so proudly. Their only regret is that the attack did not kill anyone.”
Haley said a statement proposed by the US that would have the council condemn the Hamas attacks “should have been a no-brainer”
Kuwait’s ‘Shameful’ Resolution
Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi justified Hamas’ terrorism, saying “the Israeli occupation bears full responsibility for the latest escalation on our occupied land.”
“For as long as this occupation continues the Palestinians have a legitimate right to fight it and to defend their aspirations and their dreams to independence and dignified and free life,” he said. “We support their fight and commend their steadfastness in front of the destructive Israeli machine.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon called the Kuwaiti resolution “shameful,” holding up pages from the draft and saying “it doesn’t even mention Hamas.”
He also called on the UNSC “to condemn Hamas for its war crimes against Israelis and Palestinians” and “to pass a resolution designating Hamas as a terrorist organization,” just as it did with Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaida. This would enable the council to sanction Hamas’ leaders, he said.
Another War Looming?
Representatives from the United Kingdom and France “unequivocally condemned” the rocket attacks on Israel, but also erroneously linked the violence to the Hamas-led so-called March of Return and the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem earlier this month for inflaming tensions.
“There is a real risk of a cycle of violence which the players in question could quickly lose control of,” French Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre said.
Nikolay Mladenov, the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the UNSC that the latest round of violence is a warning of “how close to the brink of war we are every day.”
He said the international community should “unequivocally condemn” Hamas’ massive attack against Israel, which it subsequently failed to do.
Referring to Wednesday’s cessation of hostilities, he said “it is imperative that this period of calm be preserved at all costs. No one in Gaza can afford another war. No one has the right to play with the lives of two million people who have lived through hell in the last decade.”
“As demonstrations and protests in Gaza continue into the month of June, I am concerned that we may experience further violence and further risks of escalation,” he said.
Countries around the world roundly condemned Hamas and Islamic Jihad for their attacks on Israel’s civilian population.
AP and JNS contributed to this report.
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