Jerusalem, 20 January, 2022 (TPS) — The United Nations Security Council held an open debate on the Middle East on Wednesday, which focused on the Palestinian issue. Foreign Ministers from countries on the Council were invited to participate in the open debate at the initiative of Norway, which currently serves as President of the Security Council.
The debate was chaired by Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide and was attended by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.
During the debate, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan sharply criticized the Security Council’s “bias,” and in particular, the Council’s “utter disregard for Palestinian rock-throwing terrorism.”
To “make it clear that rocks are life-threatening weapons,” Erdan presented the Council with a heavy stone to illustrate what was happening on the roads of Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem, asking the participants how they would react if a similar rock were thrown at their vehicles.
In 2021, Israelis suffered 1,775 rock attacks by terrorists in addition to thousands of missiles, shootings, stabbings, and car-ramming attacks.
Erdan also reacted strongly to al-Maliki who accused Israel of violence. He presented data of Palestinian terror in 2021, slammed the al-Maliki for never condemning terrorism and noted to the Council that the Palestinian Authority does not condemn terrorist incidents and killings, and instead continues to praise terrorists and pay them salaries.
Additionally, Erdan referred to the situation taking place in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, and criticized the international community for embracing the false Palestinian narrative.
Arab squatters live on land owned by Jews, and after repeatedly failing to prove ownership, are refusing to vacate it, with the backing on international organizations.
With regard to Iran, the Ambassador expressed his condolences to the United Arab Emirates and India on the loss of life caused by the Iranian-backed Houthi attack on the country this week, which killed three and injured six. He underscored the fact that “Iran is an exporter of terrorism, endangering the security of the Middle East and the world.”
In his speech, Erdan stated that “we heard from the Palestinian Foreign Minister. We heard all the regurgitated accusations and baseless claims. But as he stands here and points the finger at Israel, what the Minister conveniently ignores is that in the last month, just one month, more than 200 terror attacks have been carried out by Palestinians against Israeli citizens. 143 rock-throwing attacks in just a month. 20 Molotov cocktails in just a month. And dozens more stabbings, car-rammings, shootings, and other violent physical attacks risking – and claiming – Israeli lives all in just a month. That ended a year which saw thousands of other violent attacks against Israelis; attacks that are at best, only marginally mentioned to the Council.”
“But there is another kind of terror attack. A kind of Palestinian terror which endangers the lives of innocent civilians throughout Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem. A terror attack which is neither mentioned in UN reports nor presented here before the Council. Terror attacks with rocks – not little stones – but rocks that are thrown at Israelis in their cars and on buses. They are thrown at Israeli men and women, at Israeli babies and children. Every single day. In 2021 alone, Israelis suffered 1,775 rock attacks by Palestinian terrorists. But the world says nothing…Would you consider it a terror attack if a rock like this was thrown at your car while driving with your children? This is exactly the kind of attack that claimed the life of four-year-old Adele Biton, and others,” he stated.
Adele Biton died in February 2015 as a consequence of a March 2013 Palestinian stone-throwing attack which caused the vehicle in which the infant Adele was riding to crash. After battling her injuries for months, she succumbed and died at the age of four.
“When the Palestinians see the support and honor that their leaders give to terrorists, they clearly see that terror pays…. The Palestinian Authority continues to pay the salaries of terrorists in a ‘Pay to Slay’ policy that means, the more Jewish blood you spill, the more money you and your family get,” he noted.
On Sheikh Jarrah, he explained that “we are talking about a family that stole public lands for their own private use, while these lands have been earmarked for the building of a school for children with special needs. This is a municipal issue that has gone through all of the respected channels of the independent Israeli legal system, yet nevertheless, the Palestinians use this issue – and the UN’s Pavlovian anti-Israel response – for their own political gains. I hope that the international community will take the time to verify the facts before immediately embracing the Palestinians’ falsehoods.”
On Iran, he pointed out that the Houthi drone terror attack on the UAE was “sponsored by Iran, as are most acts of terror carried out in the region.”
“What the Houthis have in common with Hezbollah and Hamas is that they are all terror proxies of the same malicious sponsor. The whole region continues to live under the shadow of the Iranian threat,” he said.