Israeli envoy demands UN chief retract ‘shameful’ condemnation of IDF counterterrorism raid

“Blaming Israel for these ruthless Palestinian acts only incentivizes the terrorists to continue using populated areas for their arms and weapons,” Erdan said. 

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan slammed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his remarks against this week’s IDF counterterrorism raid in Jenin. Guterres’s remarks were “shameful, farfetched, and completely detached from reality,” he said.

During a press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York City on Thursday, the UN chief said that the “Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in a crowded refugee camp were the worst violence in the West Bank in many years, with a significant impact on civilians.”

Notably, Jenin is not a refugee camp; rather, it is a bustling city of 15,000 residents and a hotbed of terror.

“The use of airstrikes is inconsistent with the conduct of law enforcement operations,” Guterres declared. “As the occupying power,” Israel “has a responsibility to ensure that the civilian population is protected against all acts of violence.”

He also claimed that Israel denied the wounded access to medical care and humanitarian aid.

“I strongly condemn all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror,” Guterres stated.

Asked whether this condemnation applied to Israel, he replied: “It applies to all use of excessive force, and obviously in this situation, there was an excessive force used by Israeli forces.”

Erdan responded in a tweet that the IDF attack “focused solely on combating the murderous Palestinian terror targeting innocent Israeli civilians. Sadly, Palestinians had to leave their homes temporarily as Palestinian terrorists turned them, along with hospitals and schools, into arms caches and command centers for their terror activity.

“Blaming Israel for these ruthless Palestinian acts only incentivizes the terrorists to continue using populated areas for their arms and weapons,” he stated.

“Time after time, the UN Secretary-General disregards brutal Palestinian terror and neglects to condemn the cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians. Yet when discussing defensive Israeli actions aimed at dismantling terror infrastructure, the SG is quick to issue extensive condemnations of Israel detached from the truth.

“I call on the SG to retract his words and clearly condemn the Palestinian terror against civilians and for using other Palestinians as ‘human shields,’ rather than denouncing the democratic State of Israel for defending itself in the face of terror.”

Over 50 terror attacks have been launched at Israel from Jenin in recent months. There were minors among the terrorists eliminated by the IDF in the raid who were trained by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, financed by Iran, to engage in acts of terror.