US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed the UN Security Council for focusing on Israel's response to the nearly 500 rockets and mortars which were fired at the Jewish State by terrorists in the Gaza Strip last week while ignoring the rocket attacks and several foiled Iranian plots to murder dissidents in Europe.
Speaking at a Security Council briefing on the Middle East Monday morning, Haley said: “While this Council remains focused on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, it ignores other very serious conflicts in the Middle East. One has in recent months come to the doorstep of Europe and the United States. That is the continued evidence of increased international terrorist activity by the Iranian regime. Iranian assassinations of political opponents are as old as the Islamic Republic itself. While U.S. diplomats were still being held hostage by Islamic revolutionaries in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iranian agents and proxies began a campaign of political murder in Europe, North Africa, and across the Middle East. Iranian malign behavior does not just target one country, it targets us all.”
“These attempts to murder their political opponents on foreign soil reflect the true nature of the Iranian regime. These attacks are precisely the sort of behavior that led the United States to re-impose sanctions against Iran on November 5. This was the largest sanctions action against Iran ever undertaken by the United States. Our administration long ago came to the conclusion that much more needed to be done if there was to be any chance to prod the Iranian government into the community of peaceful, law-abiding nations. We have seen the tragic legacy of appeasement before. The Council was, in many ways, created as a counter to that failed diplomatic strategy. The Tehran regime has proven itself to be the same violent and predatory group of murderers that it was in the 1980s. Our European allies are increasingly finding proof of that in their own front yards. We must unite in our efforts to stop this behavior before it reaches more innocent people across the world," she added.
“Yes, Israel launched airstrikes on military posts, weapons depots, and intelligence assets in Gaza. But it did so in response to over 400 rockets and mortars that were fired indiscriminately from Gaza into Israel. Neighborhoods were targeted. A bus was bombed by an anti-tank missile. Families were forced into bomb shelters to escape the barrage. Even if you accept Hamas’ excuse that it launched its missiles in response to an Israeli covert operation, you cannot escape the fact that the Gaza militants targeted civilians in response. Their actions were not actions of a nation exercising self-defense, but of a terrorist group seizing a pretext to kill civilians. You also cannot escape the fact that the group responsible for the rocket attacks – Palestinian Islamic Jihad – is an Iranian supported group. The PIJ is yet another terrorist proxy that Iran calls on to stoke violence and instability in the region. And these missing facts are crucial.”
