Israel: Palestinians Using UN Chief’s Words as Support for Terrorism

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. (Shutterstock)

So far, Ban has refused to retract his statement in which he appeared to legitimize Palestinian terror, and which is now being used by terrorists to justify their heinous actions.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN) on Monday said the Palestinian leadership has started using recent statements by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “to justify deplorable acts of terror,” and he called on the UN chief to withdraw them.

In a letter to Ban, Danny Danon cited recent Palestinian killings of Israelis. He said Ban’s statements have been interpreted as creating “two categories of terror: terror directed at Israelis and terror directed at the rest of the world.”

Addressing the UN Security Council last month, the secretary-general urged Israel to freeze settlement-building, calling it “an affront to the Palestinian people.” He also expressed understanding of Palestinian frustrations, saying that “as oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday that Ban “stands by every word he has used.”

Dujarric said the secretary-general has repeatedly condemned “terror and has said that absolutely nothing, nothing, justifies terrorism.”

Danon quoted Raafat Alian, the Jerusalem spokesman for the Palestinian Fatah party, as telling the Donia Al-Watan news site that Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people “cannot go unanswered without natural responses.”

“Rather than criticizing Israel, a country that has lost so many of its citizens to terror, the UN should hold the perpetrators responsible,” Danon wrote.

The secretary-general responded to earlier Israeli criticism of his remarks in a New York Times opinion piece last week entitled “Don’t Shoot the Messenger, Israel.”

Ban wrote that he would always stand up for Israel’s right to exist, but added that “the time has come for Israelis, Palestinians and the international community to read the writing on the wall: The status quo is untenable. Keeping another people under indefinite occupation undermines the security and the future of both Israelis and Palestinians.”

Responding to the op-ed, Danon said the Ban was again expressing support and justifying Palestinian terrorism.

“There is no excuse for the murder of women at their homes in front of their children,” Danon stated, relating to the Palestinian murder of Dafna Meir in front of her children at the entrance to her home.

“The Palestinian incitement machine continues to generate terrorism, while the UN secretary general’s words generate legitimacy for terrorism, Danon charged.

Danon again underlined Ban’s choice to ignore the reality in Israel, and instead of lending it support in its war on terrorism, he chooses to support the knife-wielding Palestinians.

“The UN’s function is to fight terrorism, not encourage it,” said Danon.

Danon also recently said, “The secretary general has created a new category of terror – attacks against Israel. While around the world terror is unequivocally condemned, when it comes to Israelis it’s justified and excused. The secretary general’s statement categorizes terror against Israel as simply less important.”

In a related incident, Ban was heckled on Saturday at the Park East Synagogue in New York, where he delivered his address in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Congregants at the Manhattan synagogue accused Ban of justifying terror with some saying his comments attributing a wave of near-daily Palestinian attacks to “frustration” was like rationalizing the 9/11 attacks, Israel’s Walla news site reported.

Ban refrained from mentioning Israel in his speech on Saturday.

By: AP and United with Israel Staff

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