UN Amb: UN's silence forces us to take action
Mar 7, 2024 17:24:40 GMT -5
Post by shalom on Mar 7, 2024 17:24:40 GMT -5
UN Amb. to Arutz Sheva: UN's silence forces us to take action
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan tells Arutz Sheva the UN's continued ignoring of Hamas' atrocities and the plight of the hostages requires Israel to take action that will make the UN come to them to ask what it can do.
Yoni Kempinski
Mar 7, 2024, 8:43 PM (GMT+2)
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, who returned to Israel for consultations following what Israeli officials called the UN's attempt to suppress its report this week documenting the mass rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, said in an interview with Israel National News - Arutz Sheva that Israel must have a firm response to the UN's behavior since the massacre.
"We see the crime added to crime by the UN, its officials, and its bodies," Erdan said. "It took five months for the United Nations to recognize the shocking acts of rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas against Israeli women during the October 7 massacre. We cried out and I demanded and insisted that UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence Pramila Patten visit here. She came for an in-depth two-week visit with a delegation that met with and took testimony from witnesses, victims, and even hostages who were returned from Gaza. She wrote a detailed report that indicates that there were sexual crimes. Moreover, Israeli women who are even now being held captive in Gaza may be raped or suffer sexual violence."
"I knew that as part of the UN's attempt at 'balance', she also visited the Palestinian Authority and there they made false claims against soldiers and the IDF and settlers for harassment. She visited there but did not do any inspections and only listened to the lies that the Palestinians told. This report is very important. It proves what we said, that we are dealing with monsters and not with human beings, and therefore the war must not be stopped until Hamas is destroyed so that there will be no ability to again commit such shocking acts," the ambassador emphasized.
According to him, "I came here, after the foreign minister got the impression that after the report came out, nothing was done. We did not hear that the Secretary-General convened the Security Council under Article 99, which he had already used out of concern for the humanitarian situation in Gaza. He is less concerned about the humanitarian situation of our hostages. The Security Council also did not set a date to discuss the report even while these horrific acts continue. How can it be that the UN and its institutions continue to be silent?"
"I represent the government at the UN and fight every day against bias, discrimination and lies. It is clear that there is an automatic majority against us, and it is still important for us to come and present our position in the world and reduce the damage. . The political structure of the UN is distorted because a third of the 193 member states are Muslim, half are non-democratic countries such as Cuba and Venezuela that go more with Russia and China than with the US. All this causes the majority to be skewed against us. However, there are Western democracies that we expect to help us, and I wonder - where are they?" he asked.
In his opinion, Israel needs to intensify its measures against the UN, and he also has practical suggestions. "When I see that the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council are not doing anything, I understand that they need to be shaken out of their complacency. I recommended that the Israeli government use different tools - if this silence continues. There is the UN headquarters which is located in Jerusalem in the Commissioner's Palace and there are agencies whose activities have no justification. We can close it and make them come to us and ask what we want them to do."
"Regarding UNRWA, it has been proven that 12% of its employees are members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, they should be declared a terrorist organization and their headquarters in eastern Jerusalem and Ammunition Hill should be closed. At this point, the Secretary-General and others will ask what happened and what needs to be done," he added.
Erdan said that it is possible to take things a step further. "There is no justification for Israel to continue paying membership fees to the United Nations. We will not immediately lose the right to vote because it is a two-year process. We don't lose there because of a single vote. It sounds like a difficult step - but when the situation is so dire and the UN, which was created after the Holocaust to prevent these atrocities, does nothing - they must be shocked. That's why I wore a yellow patch at the time because otherwise people there don't wake up."
One of the things that most upset the ambassador throughout the war and motivated him to take action was the conduct of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who at the beginning of the war even claimed that "it is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum."
"There's no point in talking to him," Erdan says of Guterres. "I don't know if his conduct stems from the moral decay he suffers from, from political pressure, or from thinking about the day after his position. He was supposed to represent a body that fights terrorism and protects human rights. He expressed justification and said that these things 'did not happen in a vacuum'. Since that day we have criticized him him and weakened the power of his statements while clarifying that they have no moral validity. Every day I point out his moral distortions, call for his dismissal and resignation and explain why he has no legitimacy to continue leading the UN."
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Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan tells Arutz Sheva the UN's continued ignoring of Hamas' atrocities and the plight of the hostages requires Israel to take action that will make the UN come to them to ask what it can do.
Yoni Kempinski
Mar 7, 2024, 8:43 PM (GMT+2)
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, who returned to Israel for consultations following what Israeli officials called the UN's attempt to suppress its report this week documenting the mass rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, said in an interview with Israel National News - Arutz Sheva that Israel must have a firm response to the UN's behavior since the massacre.
"We see the crime added to crime by the UN, its officials, and its bodies," Erdan said. "It took five months for the United Nations to recognize the shocking acts of rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas against Israeli women during the October 7 massacre. We cried out and I demanded and insisted that UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence Pramila Patten visit here. She came for an in-depth two-week visit with a delegation that met with and took testimony from witnesses, victims, and even hostages who were returned from Gaza. She wrote a detailed report that indicates that there were sexual crimes. Moreover, Israeli women who are even now being held captive in Gaza may be raped or suffer sexual violence."
"I knew that as part of the UN's attempt at 'balance', she also visited the Palestinian Authority and there they made false claims against soldiers and the IDF and settlers for harassment. She visited there but did not do any inspections and only listened to the lies that the Palestinians told. This report is very important. It proves what we said, that we are dealing with monsters and not with human beings, and therefore the war must not be stopped until Hamas is destroyed so that there will be no ability to again commit such shocking acts," the ambassador emphasized.
According to him, "I came here, after the foreign minister got the impression that after the report came out, nothing was done. We did not hear that the Secretary-General convened the Security Council under Article 99, which he had already used out of concern for the humanitarian situation in Gaza. He is less concerned about the humanitarian situation of our hostages. The Security Council also did not set a date to discuss the report even while these horrific acts continue. How can it be that the UN and its institutions continue to be silent?"
"I represent the government at the UN and fight every day against bias, discrimination and lies. It is clear that there is an automatic majority against us, and it is still important for us to come and present our position in the world and reduce the damage. . The political structure of the UN is distorted because a third of the 193 member states are Muslim, half are non-democratic countries such as Cuba and Venezuela that go more with Russia and China than with the US. All this causes the majority to be skewed against us. However, there are Western democracies that we expect to help us, and I wonder - where are they?" he asked.
In his opinion, Israel needs to intensify its measures against the UN, and he also has practical suggestions. "When I see that the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council are not doing anything, I understand that they need to be shaken out of their complacency. I recommended that the Israeli government use different tools - if this silence continues. There is the UN headquarters which is located in Jerusalem in the Commissioner's Palace and there are agencies whose activities have no justification. We can close it and make them come to us and ask what we want them to do."
"Regarding UNRWA, it has been proven that 12% of its employees are members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, they should be declared a terrorist organization and their headquarters in eastern Jerusalem and Ammunition Hill should be closed. At this point, the Secretary-General and others will ask what happened and what needs to be done," he added.
Erdan said that it is possible to take things a step further. "There is no justification for Israel to continue paying membership fees to the United Nations. We will not immediately lose the right to vote because it is a two-year process. We don't lose there because of a single vote. It sounds like a difficult step - but when the situation is so dire and the UN, which was created after the Holocaust to prevent these atrocities, does nothing - they must be shocked. That's why I wore a yellow patch at the time because otherwise people there don't wake up."
One of the things that most upset the ambassador throughout the war and motivated him to take action was the conduct of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who at the beginning of the war even claimed that "it is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum."
"There's no point in talking to him," Erdan says of Guterres. "I don't know if his conduct stems from the moral decay he suffers from, from political pressure, or from thinking about the day after his position. He was supposed to represent a body that fights terrorism and protects human rights. He expressed justification and said that these things 'did not happen in a vacuum'. Since that day we have criticized him him and weakened the power of his statements while clarifying that they have no moral validity. Every day I point out his moral distortions, call for his dismissal and resignation and explain why he has no legitimacy to continue leading the UN."
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