Israel’s Danon predicts win for UN resolution condemning Hamas

Danny Danon says a U.S.-sponsored resolution in the U.N. condemning Hamas will pass.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s U.N. ambassador is predicting that a U.S.-sponsored resolution condemning the terrorist Islamic group Hamas for launching rockets into Israel, among other terror acts, will be approved by the General Assembly.

If passed, it will be the first time the General Assembly has condemned the terrorist group, which has ruled the Gaza Strip for 11 years. While the resolution is non-binding, it carries political weight and gives an indication of where the political winds blow.

Danny Danon told reporters Tuesday that he believes “we will get a majority no matter what.”

“I told the ambassadors, ‘Your vote will determine if you’re for or against terror’ – the terror of a murderous organization that holds Israeli citizens captive and the bodies of IDF’s fallen soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin,” Danon wrote in Israel Hayom‘s Thursday edition.

“Even before the vote we saw signs of achievement — we enlisted the European Union to the process and created a dialogue in the corridors of the U.N. on Hamas and the Iranian regime that operates and funds world terror,” Danon wrote.

“In the past, the Arabs won an automatic embrace from the U.N. But in the last years, the relation toward Israel changed and the support we enlisted for this resolution proves it.”

The 193-member General Assembly is scheduled to vote on the U.S. draft resolution this afternoon.

Although U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley warned the U.N. not to make amendments to the resolution, it was amended to gain support of the 28-member European Union, adding a reference to “relevant U.N. resolutions,” though not specific ones.

Kuwait’s U.N. Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi said Arab nations will seek to have the resolution approved by a two-thirds majority rather than a simple majority.

The draft resolution “demands that Hamas and other militant actors including Palestinian Islamic Jihad cease activity, including by using airborne incendiary devices.”

Hamas has made efforts to thwart the resolution, reaching out to Arab members of the U.N., including Qatar and Egypt. Hamas says it received a promise from Iran that it would do everything in its power to torpedo the resolution.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

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