Rebukes for UN Security Council

The United States’ Ambassador to the United Nations told members of the Security Council yesterday that attacks on Israel occupy too much of the council’s agenda at the expense of other issues in the Middle East.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that it is understandable the council spends a great deal of time on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but there are other countries and situations in the region that merit attention, which should not be neglected.

Regarding the excessive focus on Israel, she said:

“Far too often, the substance of these discussions is centred almost entirely around criticism of Israel and counterattacks.
I sincerely hope that going forward, Council members will do
their best to take a more balanced approach.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN criticised the Palestinian Authority for continuing to pay prisoners convicted of attacks on Israelis. Turning to Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour, Gilad Erdan said:

“Mr Ambassador, are you not ashamed to come before the Security Council when
your government is paying hundreds of millions of dollars to terrorists?”

Erdan also rebuked the council for creating:

“A false reality in which every Palestinian claim against Israel is the most urgent
issue on the agenda, while the terror and destruction of Iran and its proxies
throughout the region are almost an afterthought.”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield demanded that Hamas bring its “cruel detention of two Israeli civilians” to an end and return the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2014 conflict.

But, showing a balanced approach herself, she expressed deep concern over recent attacks on Palestinians by Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. She urged Israel’s government to investigate these attacks, along with reports of security forces standing by, doing nothing to stop them.