by WorldTribune Staff, June 13, 2018
A draft resolution by the UN which condemns Israel for Palestinian deaths in Gaza is “fundamentally imbalanced” and “ignores basic truths about the situation in Gaza,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said.
The Arab-backed draft resolution condemns Israel’s use of “excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force” against Palestinian civilians. The resolution also condemns the firing of rockets by Gazan terrorists into Israel, but does not specifically mention Hamas.
“This omission should be unacceptable to all member-states, given that Hamas fired over 100 rockets at Israel last month, provoked violent uprisings and obstructed the flow of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people,” Haley said in a letter sent to fellow ambassadors on June 12.
Haley said the United States presented an amendment to the draft resolution that condemns Hamas for firing rockets at Israel and “inciting violence” along the border with Gaza.
The 193-nation assembly will vote on the U.S.-drafted amendment before the vote on the resolution, which was scheduled for June 13.
“Any resolution focused on the protection of civilians in Gaza must recognize the destabilizing and reckless actions of Hamas, which endanger the lives and livelihoods of innocent civilians,” Haley wrote in the letter seen by AFP.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon welcomed the U.S. amendment: “It is despicable for any country to even consider to vote for a resolution condemning Israel while refusing to support the condemnation of Hamas. Such behavior is hypocritical at best, and at worst amounts to openly emboldening an internationally recognized terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of countless of innocent people.”
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