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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Lebanon thwarts UNSC condemnation of Eilat attacks

From Ya Libnan (Saturday):
Lebanon blocked the U.N. Security Council on Friday from condemning a series of terrorist attacks in Israel.

The United States had circulated a draft press statement to the Security Council that would have condemned the attacks by gunmen who crossed into southern Israel from Egypt on Thursday and killed eight Israelis. Israel blamed an armed Palestinian group from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and launched retaliatory airstrikes.

During a closed council meeting, diplomats said Lebanon refused to sign on to the statement, which requires the support of all 15 council nations.

The U.S. deputy ambassador, Rosemary DiCarlo, told reporters afterward that the statement used “standard language on terrorist acts,” which the council has adopted many times.

“We think the council needs to speak out on this issue,” she said. “We find it regrettable that because of one delegation we couldn’t issue that in a timely way.”

Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor called the Security Council’s actions “outrageous,” calling it a “sad reminder that the United Nations is too often deaf and blind when it comes to acts of terror committed against the people of Israel.”
And what was the official reason that Lebanon refused to denounce a terror attack?

Kuwait News Agency tells us:
Lebanon and other Non-Aligned members on the Council, diplomats said, did not accept the use of "terrorist attacks" because the gunmen were after a military target - soldiers.
Hey, why should the truth enter into any UN decisions? It just gets in the way of its main job of condemning Israel.

And isn't it comforting to know that Hezbollah has full veto power at the UN Security Council?

(h/t Israel HaYom)