PM Netanyahu meets with UN head Ban in Israel. (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the escalation of hostilities in the region, particularly on Israel’s northern border.
In a telephone discussion Sunday evening with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regarding the recent attack on Israel’s border by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror organization, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the world was not doing enough to fight Iran’s international terror network.
Netanyahu thanked Ban for expressing condolences on the deaths of IDF soldiers Yohai Kalangel and Dor Chaim Nini. The Israeli leader also expressed his regret over the death of Spanish UNIFIL (United National Interim Force in Lebanon) soldier Francisco Javier Toledo, who was reportedly killed by the IDF during the exchange of fire with Hezbollah. Netanyahu noted that he and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had agreed to carry out a joint investigation into the matter.
Turning to the burning issue of Iranian-backed international terror, Netanyahu told the UN chief that the international community has “yet to point an accusatory finger at Iran,” which was behind the attack on Israel’s northern border. Netanyahu said that Iran has been working to establish a terrorist front against Israel on the Golan Heights and is exporting terrorism around the world.
The prime minister pointed out that UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1701, which called for a ceasefire after the Second Lebanon War, has not been properly implemented and was breached by Hezbollah, adding that UNIFIL soldiers were not reporting on the smuggling of weapons into southern Lebanon by Hezbollah, as stipulated by the resolution.
Regarding the Palestinian appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to prosecute Israel for alleged war crimes, Netanyahu told Ban that it was “a dangerous step that could undermine regional stability.”
Israel remains on high alert on its northern border in anticipation of a reprisal attack by Hezbollah or Iran, although Hezbollah had declared that the attack executed last Wednesday was in revenge for the airstrike in January reportedly carried out by Israel’s Air Force (IAF), in which several Hezbollah terrorists and Iranian soldiers were killed.
By: Atara Beck, World Israel News
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