At an emergency meeting of the Security Council this morning, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley cast blame for the deaths of Palestinian protesters in Gaza yesterday on Hamas and Iran.
Haley stated Iran had ramped up military activity in the region over the last week creating a “reckless provocation and escalation.” Iranian rockets fired from Syria into the Golan Heights and proxy militants striking Saudi Arabia, she said, “is an example of regional violence that should occupy our attention here in the Security Council,” adding, “In recent days, Hamas terrorists, backed by Iran, have incited attacks against Israeli security forces and infrastructure. That is violence that should occupy our attention, too.”
“The common thread in all of this is the destabilizing conduct of the Iranian regime – a regime that insists on promoting violence throughout the Middle East, while depriving its own people of basic human rights,” she continued.
On Hamas, Haley said the group “has attacked the Kerem Shalom crossing, the biggest entry point in Gaza for fuel, food, and medical supplies. This is how determined they are to make the lives of the Palestinian people miserable. They light Molotov cocktails attached to kites on fire and attempt to fly them into Israel to cause as much destruction as possible.”
Haley said the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem was not a factor in yesterday’s violence where 61 demonstrators were killed by Israeli forces including 8 minors, of whom youngest casualty was 8-month old Laila al-Ghandour, according to Gaza’s ministry of health.
“The United States’ action yesterday promoted the reality and the desire for peace,” she said.
Haley went on to describe, “Those who suggest that the Gaza violence has anything to do with the location of the American embassy are sorely mistaken. Rather, the violence comes from those who reject the existence of the state of Israel in any location. Such a motivation – the destruction of a United Nations Member State – is so illegitimate as to not be worth our time in the Security Council, other than the time it takes to denounce it,” Haley said.
These were not demonstrations. They were violent riots. They planted explosive devices & rolled burning tires. They have sent flaming materials over the fence, igniting fires on our agricultural lands. They have attempted to breach the fence & infiltrate Israeli territory 1/6
— Ambassador Danon (@dannydanon) May 15, 2018
In the same session Israel’s representative Danny Danon said the demonstrators were not civilians, “These were not demonstrations. They were violent riots. They planted explosive devices and rolled burning tires. They have sent flaming materials over the fence, igniting fires on our agricultural lands,” adding, “Everyone who claims the decision to move the US embassy is the reason,or the justification, for Palestinian violence should take another look at history. This is an excuse, not a reason for violence against Israel.”
Yet officials with the United Nations disagreed.
The UN Special Coordinator on Middle East Peace Nickolay Mladenov called for an investigation into Israel’s actions.
“Who can possibly find words to console the mother of a child that has been killed? Who?” adding, “I call on all to join me in condemning in the strongest possible terms the actions that have led to the loss of many lives in Gaza.”
The Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Rupert Colville later released a statement calling Israel’s actions in Gaza “appalling.”
“The rules on the use of force under international law have been repeated many times but appear to have been ignored again and again,” Colville said, “It seems anyone is liable to be shot dead or injured: women, children, press personnel, first responders, bystanders, and at almost any point up to 700m from the fence.”
Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, today condemned Israeli soldiers on their use of force against the demonstrators.
“This blatant excessive use of force by Israel – an eye for an eyelash – must end,” Lynk said, further accusing Israel of committing a “war crime,”
“The killing of demonstrators in violation of these rules, and within the context of occupation, may amount to willful killing, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as a war crime,” he said.
Yesterday Kuwait circulated a draft statement to members of the Security Council, which called for countries to keep their embassies in Tel Aviv and to launch an investigation into potential crimes by Israel over the killings in Gaza. The State Department told the AP, the U.S. blocked the initiative because it was “too one-sided.”
The bottom line is that Iran is the only cohesive state left in the Middle East, with an ancient heritage and borders and an identity that were not designed by the French, British, Italians or Americans. Israel, America and its Saudi and Emarati puppets, and Europe – to an extent -resent this and want to destroy Iran out of spite, for no even vaguely logical or moral reason. If anyone has provoked conflict it is the US which has fought two huge and bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – the two countries surround Iran – for two decades, and whose politicians routinely and openly call for “regime change” in Iran.
Blaming Israel and America’s genocidal treatment of the Palestinians on Iran is absurd and shameful. Nikki Hayley will say anything for power and has never wandered anywhere near empathy or morality. I can tell that she wishes to be white desperately; she is truly a blight on all of us South Asian Americans!
Meanwhile people in the region have cast their lot with the Iranians and against the American, Saudi and Israeli murderers – the recent elections in Lebanon and Iraq are proof of this, as is public opinion in Syria and Yemen. Netanyahu and many American hawks (on both sides!) have lobbied for war and regime change in Iran for decades. I fear that the government there was naive and unrealistically optimistic for not vigorously pursuing nuclear weapons before the Iran deal, and for hoping that the West would play by its own rules once they agreed to the deal. This choice might prove to be disastrous for Iran and the whole world. If the Americans do launch a war against Iran, I swear I will block traffic and make a huge scene in front of the UN Headquarters until I’m arrested.
Israel plasters Gaza with leaflets telling Gazans to stay home.
Hamas blares through loudspeakers telling Gazans to break down the fence and invade Israel.
It’s Israel’s fault that people are killed?
Haley is a fucking disgrace. The GOP is dying and she is a symptom. You can imagine her directing a lynching in South Carolina back in the day.
Watch the same disgusting lying hypocritical creature wax lyrical about Gandhi, his principles and her Indian heritage. A loyal supporter of colonialism in Zioland invoking the legacy of Gandhi and now subsequently vomiting all over the ” satyagraha” being practiced by the colonised Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. . Down the sewer of history in due course with the rest of the bought and bent US Zios.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVmummOIMus
Gandhi must be turning in his grave.
Well it might be that in the end, Trump just gave the Palestinians a present:
Since yesterday Nakba (for the first time I recall) has been mentioned and explained in all of our main news and news channels, also in all of our main newspapers. It just was a bit too much to see that “plasticky” couple of Jared and Ivanka with their “plasticky” smiles celebrating with Netanyahu while people were shot dead elsewhere.
Also from now on, U.S.A:s role in the conflict is clear to everyone.
https://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000005681585.html
Next year there might be a big Eurovision songcontest in Jerusalem – atleast that is what Netta Barzilai said when she won this year – and the place will be full of journalists from all over the Europe, also lots of turists.. That will be an excellent possibility for all kinds of non-violent action to show to the Europe the circumstances the Palestinians are living in. (There is no way Israel could hide all of it..)