Gillerman: good questions
The US has blocked a UN resolution condemning Israel for killing Sheikh Yassin. Most stories don’t tell you what Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman said, and it is worth knowing. From AFP, with thanks to Nicolei:
The United States on Thursday vetoed a resolution condemning Israel’s killing of Palestinian militant leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin at an unusually bitter meeting of the UN Security Council.
ONE HEATED EXCHANGE
ISRAELI ambassador Dan Gillerman took aim at his counterpart Inocencio Arias of Spain, staring him down and asking whether the Spanish government would have tried to kill the attackers who left 200 dead in March 11 bomb attacks in Madrid.
‘If you knew before the bloody massacre of your citizens took place who was going to carry that horrendous act out, would you have sat still and let it happen?’ Mr Gillerman said.
Referring to the use of Palestinian children as suicide attackers, he said there could be no peace in the Middle East ‘until the Palestinians learn to love their children more than they hate us’.
In response, the PA’s Nasser al-Kidwa resorted to name-calling and ad hominem attacks — the usual response from radical Muslims and their allies.
Palestinian representative Nasser al-Kidwa retorted that Mr Gillerman’s comments were ‘full of racism’ and added: ‘Israel is a terror group.’
On Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva voted 31-2 to condemn Israel for Yassin’s death, but the body has no power to punish countries. A resolution by the Security Council would have carried more international weight.
The vetoed resolution condemned Yassin’s death and called for a ‘complete cessation of extrajudicial executions’.
It also condemned ‘all terrorist attacks against any civilians, as well as all acts of violence and destruction’.
However, it did not mention any militant groups by name — a traditional US demand.
Why does the US demand such a thing?