No Such Thing as a Palestinian ‘Right of Return,’ Israeli Ambassador Tells UN Security Council

“The demand of returning millions of descendants of refugees is a demand to obliterate the Jewish people’s right to self- determination, and this will never happen.”

By United with Israel Staff

At a UN Security Council hearing on Thursday, Israeli UN ambassador Gilad Erdan emphasized “there is no ‘right of return'” for Palestinians.

“You all know this,” he said. “The demand of returning millions of descendants of refugees is a demand to obliterate the Jewish people’s right to self- determination, and this will never happen.”

Erdan discussed Israel’s recent military operation in Jenin, noting that “Over the past years, Jenin – and its ‘refugee camp’ in particular has become a hotbed for terrorist activity. It is a place ruled by designated terror organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It is where so many of the recent deadly terror attacks – over 50 – were planned and carried out from, and it is a city of refuge for terrorists on the run.”

“What would you do? Any military expert would tell you that this is a remarkable achievement that defies all odds. Israel does everything possible in order to avoid collateral damage and civilian casualties,” Erdan said. Israel managed to avoid even a single civilian casualty during the operation.

“So,” Erdan continued, “imagine my shock when, rather than commending Israel for uprooting terrorists with surgical precision, the Secretary-General condemned only Israel, making claims completely detached from reality. Rather than lambasting the terror organizations for exploiting innocent Palestinians and murdering Israelis, he panned Israel for defending itself.”

Erdan blasted the decades-long retention of “refugee camps” within the Palestinian Authority.

“How can it be that after so many decades there are still refugee camps inside Palestinian cities? he asked. “Why have they not been integrated into Palestinian society?”

“If the PA’s main goal is truly to establish an independent state, then these second and third generation refugees would be living in regular Palestinian cities and not camps. But this is not the Palestinians’ goal. Their goal is the annihilation of the Jewish State.

“And one of their weapons to achieve that goal is brainwashing generation after generation of Palestinians that Palestinian cities are not, and will not be, their homes. After all, they are still ‘refugees'” who perceive their homes to be “in Israeli cities such as Haifa, Tiberias, Safed, and many others,” Erdan said.