Israel slams UN official who was ‘horrified’ by killing of terrorist in ‘scuffle’ with IDF

“This is NOT a “scuffle” – this is a terror attack!” 

By World Israel News Staff

Israel summoned a senior UN official on Saturday for a dressing down after he referred to a terror attack as a “scuffle,” and went on to say he was “horrified” by the killing of the Palestinian stabber and sent “heartfelt condolences” to the attacker’s family.

A senior Foreign Ministry official “expressed his displeasure” with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland for a tweet he wrote after Ammar Mifleh tried to break into an Israeli couple’s car with a rock in the town of Huwara, near Nablus (Shechem.)

The man in the car, an off-duty IDF officer, shot and wounded Mifleh. Undeterred, Mifleh then approached a nearby Border Police officer and stabbed him in the face. Another Border Police officer tried to arrest Mifleh after the stabbing, as two other Palestinians attempted to pull him free. Mifleh tried to seize the second officer’s automatic weapon and at that point, the officer shot and killed him. Footage of the scene made the rounds on social media.

Wennesland subsequently tweeted that he was “horrified by today’s killing of a Palestinian man, Ammar Mufleh, during a scuffle with an Israeli soldier.”

“My heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family. Such incidents must be fully [and] promptly investigated, [and] those responsible held accountable,” Wennesland wrote.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon lashed back that Wennesland’s statement was a “total distortion of reality.”

“This incident is a terror attack, in which an Israeli policeman was stabbed in his face and the life of another police officer was threatened and consequently he shot his assailant.

“This is NOT a “scuffle” – this is a terror attack!” Nahshon added.

Border Police Assistant Chief Amir Cohen spoke praised the second officer for responding quickly and with vigilance, “preventing significant harm to innocent people.”

Clashes broke out with Israeli security forces in Mifleh’s hometown of Osarin on Saturday after Israel did not release his body to his family for burial.

A statement from the Palestinian Authority slammed what it called the “cold-blooded killing” of Mifleh.

The killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces “has become an official policy for the successive Israeli government.” It called on the international community to provide “urgent intervention” to protect “the defenseless Palestinian people.”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also lamented the “tragic killing” of Mifleh.

“Such unacceptable facts must be investigated and there must be full accountability. Under international law, lethal force is only justified in situations in which there exists a serious and imminent threat to life.”

Last week, UN’s Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, said at a Hamas-organized event, “You have a right to resist Israel.”