Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, lambasted the United Nations Security Council for failing to condemn the October 7 Hamas terror attacks and the slaughter of unarmed civilians.
Addressing a meeting of the UN Security Council on the prevailing state of affairs in West Asia in the wake of the October 7 terror attacks and the ongoing ground offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli envoy invoked Kristallnacht Holocaust of 1938, which saw anti-semitic violence being perpetrated on the Jewish communities of Germany and Austria.
“The holy Jewish Sabbath is a day of peace and rest. It is the day on which God rested following the creation of the world yet no Jew will ever forget the Sabbath of October 7. It has been seared into the collective trauma of the Jewish people forever. Exactly 85 years ago, today, another traumatic atrocity was burned into the Jewish people’s history. Between November 9 and 10, 1938, the Jewish communities of Germany and Austria suffered Kristallnacht, the Nazi’s November pogrom, which was the first hyper-violent exposure of the Nazi’s murderous Jew-hatred,” Erdan said at the UNSC meeting.
“Nearly 100 Jews were murdered, thousands of Jewish homes, hospitals, schools, houses of worship and businesses were ransacked and burned to the ground. Israelis endured another such pogram five weeks ago, yet here, we are 34 days later and this Council still has not condemned Hamas’s heinous planned Massacre of Israeli civilians. Had this Council in its current form existed in 1938, I doubt that the response would be much different,” he added.
The Israeli envoy urged the UNSC to invite him to share a screening of the footage from Hamas’s slaughtering of civilians on October 7. He said the footage was captured by the terrorists themselves, adding, “Once you see the barbarity and savagery with your own eyes you will understand the evil that Israel is defending itself against.” He said Hamas, over the past 16 years, has turned “every inch of Gaza into a terror trap”.
Erdan had invited Hamas co-founder’s son, Mosab Hassan Yousef, to the UNSC meeting, Fox News reported, adding that Yousef sat behind the Israeli envoy during the meeting on Friday afternoon.
“Over the past 16 years, Hamas has turned every inch of Gaza into a terror trap. Nothing is sacred to these jihadist Nazis every medical worker doctor and patient in Gaza is a human shield for the Hamas terrorist. This is…., it is a war crime of epic proportions will this be the focus of today’s meeting how can we possibly hold a briefing on the medical situation in Gaza without making this the primary issue of this meeting,” Erdan said.
He noted that Israel has asked all civilians to temporarily evacuate northern Gaza and move to the south. He said Hamas was trying to stop civilians from leaving the active war zone, adding that Israel was making an effort to keep civilian casualties in the ongoing ground operations down to a minimum.
“Israel is providing safe passage for Gazan civilians to leave an active war zone while Hamas is actively working to prevent civilians from leaving. In footage that surfaced today, Gazan civilians were waving White flags as they tried to leave Al Nasr Hospital yet they were forced to stay after Hamas opened fire on them,” he said.
“Israel is at war with Hamas and we have gone above and beyond to mitigate civilian casualties. For Israel, life is sacred, but yet for Hamas, death is sacred, particularly civilian deaths,” he added. He said Israel was fighting a war it did not “start or want.”
“On October 6, there was a ceasefire in place, yet Hamas violated that ceasefire with the brutal slaughter, rape and burning of 1400 Israelis. Despite their unbelievable claims otherwise Hamas is fully responsible for the situation in Gaza they are fully responsible for Gaza’s civilian population. They are fully responsible for Gaza’s resources, and they are fully responsible for exploiting hospitals and ambulances as weapons of terror while Hamas must be held fully accountable. There is another body sadly that has been complicit with the UN colleagues for years,” the envoy said.
Erdan added that he had, for years, warned the Council that the statistics they receive from Gaza do not reflect the situation on the ground. He said the information they receive with regard to the situation on the ground comes from Hamas and not international UN employees in Gaza.
“For years, the UN has refused to establish verification mechanisms that can provide us a truthful picture of reality. WHO is it that supplies the UN with these so-called facts sorry, who is it that supplies the UN with these so-called facts is this information coming from unbiased and impartial third parties the answer is no. Every piece of information regarding the situation on the ground that this Council receives comes from Hamas not international UN employees in Gaza,” the envoy added. Meanwhile, the Alternate Representative of US for Special Political Affairs in the United Nations, Robert Wood, said the US was closely monitoring the situation at the hospitals in Gaza.
Addressing the UNSC meeting, he said, “We are closely monitoring the situation at the hospitals in Gaza. We are deeply concerned for the well-being of civilians who are at these facilities, and rely on them for life-saving care and shelter from the violence.”
“All civilian and humanitarian facilities, especially hospitals and medical facilities, as well as the people who work for them and are engaged exclusively in medical duties, must be respected and protected consistent with international law,” he added.
Wood said the international community must call out Hamas as it “cynically and atrociously uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, putting its command posts, weapons, and ammunition within or beneath the very hospitals”.
(with inputs from ANI)
