‘How would Ireland react to Jihadi rockets raining on Dublin’: Israeli envoy slams UN’s hypocricy
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Gilad Erdan assailed the hypocrisy of countries who sought to criticise Israel over Operation Breaking Dawn and called the international community to condemn the Islamic Jihad terror organisation instead.
Ambassador Gilad Erdan. (Israel’s Mission to the UN)
The IDF’s 55-hour long counterterrorism operation in the Gaza Strip, which ended on Sunday night with a ceasefire, focused on the Islamic Jihad’s terror infrastructure and its leadership after it threatened to attack Israel.
Ahead of the UN Security Council’s special meeting on Operation Breaking Dawn on Monday, Erdan addressed the media and presented video evidence proving that the indiscriminate shooting by the Islamic Jihad caused most of the deaths of uninvolved Palestinians in Gaza. The IDF estimates that at least 15 civilians in the Gaza Strip were killed by misfired rockets launched by the terror organisation at Israel.
Erdan also presented a video showing the IDF and Israel Security Agency’s unique actions to reduce collateral damage and prevent harm to civilians and children during the operation.
“Prime Minister Golda Meir once said that peace will come when the Palestinians love their children more than they hate us Israelis. Unfortunately, this past operation proved just how true this statement still is. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad deliberately fired 1,100 rockets at Israeli civilians, with roughly two-hundred – two hundred – landing inside the Gaza Strip, killing innocent Palestinians and among them young children,” he told the media.
“While the Islamic Jihad was indiscriminately firing rockets at Israeli civilians over the past couple of days, its leader Ziyad al-Nakhala, was meeting with his Ayatollah puppet-masters in Tehran and getting orders from them,” he noted.
He underscored Israel’s “precise and surgical strikes against the commanders, launch pads, operatives and terror infrastructure of this fanatic organisation” that “prevented them from targeting Israelis.”
“Israel did so with astounding accuracy and extreme precision, taking precautions hardly ever seen in areas of conflict around the world. Listen to this. Due to the extensive precautions, there is no other military that has such a low collateral damage rate,” he stated.
Erdan criticised the members of the Security Council who initiated the meeting.
“How would Norway react to Islamists plotting to fire missiles at civilians in Oslo? How would Ireland react if Jihadi rockets were raining down on Dublin in an effort to wipe out the ‘infidel’? I think we all know the answer,” he said sarcastically.
“In today’s Security Council debate, if the Council truly wishes to improve the situation in Gaza, there must be one outcome and one outcome only – to condemn the Islamic Jihad for its double war crimes while placing the full accountability for the murder of innocent Palestinians on the shoulders of this radical terror group. If anything else comes out of this meeting, it will be a profound mistake. Holding a Security Council debate on the Islamic Jihad and not using the opportunity to fully condemn them and hold them absolutely accountable for their crimes will only motivate them to continue in their destructive ways,” he warned.
During the session, Russia’s Ambassador Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya absurdly condemned Israel and stated that Russia, which is currently conducting an invasion campaign in Ukraine, is “concerned about the deterioration that spilled over into a military conflict with victims. Provocations by the Israeli air force led to indiscriminate fire at Palestinians. As a result of Israeli attacks, there are Palestinian deaths, including children.”
The US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated that the US “fully supports Israel’s right to defend its people against terrorist threats, including from rocket fire aimed at civilians or without regard to them. We also believe that Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety and security – and we are working assiduously toward that end.”
She pointed out that the Islamic Jihad is a designated terrorist organisation in the US and in many other countries and is also “an Iranian proxy group, which has conducted attacks against innocent civilians for years. It is telling that Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders were in Tehran the last several days while the people they claim to be protecting were left in harm’s way.”
“This Council should be able to come together and unconditionally repudiate the terrorism of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose reckless actions have put the lives of civilians, on both sides, at risk. Their actions must be condemned by all countries in no uncertain terms. And no country should be expected to tolerate or passively accept such brazen attacks on its civilians,” she demanded.
The UN’s perpetual motto when it comes to Israel: “Don’t confuse us with the facts!”