UN report found that hundreds of Palestinians were intentionally killed by Israeli forces
Link to report can be found below
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Click HERE to see the report in full
March 4, 2019 at 15:01 (Assassinations, DesertPeace Exclusive, Gaza, United Nations)
UN report found that hundreds of Palestinians were intentionally killed by Israeli forces
Link to report can be found below
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Click HERE to see the report in full
October 15, 2018 at 13:56 (Canada, DesertPeace Exclusive, Humanitarian Aid, Palestine, Refugee Crisis, United Nations)
Canada steps up aid for UN agency for Palestinian refugees following US cut.
The easiest way to shut down UNRWA is to let the refugees return home
Canada has announced that it is contributing $50 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Some $40 million would be allocated over two years to assist the health and education efforts of the refugee agency, a statement said.
Another $10 million is aimed at helping 460,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria and Lebanon.
International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said Canada’s new contribution would improve lives and “protect the human dignity” of millions of Palestinian refugees.
“This new funding to UNRWA is urgently needed, and it will bring some predictability to the agency as the needs on the ground are increasing,” Bibeau added.
UNRWA has been suffering from a budget deficit resulting from the ending of US funding.
The easiest way to shut down UNRWA is to let the refugees return home
July 25, 2018 at 15:38 (Palestine, United Nations)
“They’re still denying we are a state, we walk like a state. We quack like a state. Therefore we are a state.”
The Palestinian flag is raised outside UN Headquarters in New York during the 70th session of the UN General Assembly on September 30, 2015 (Raphael Ahren)
The “State of Palestine” will reportedly preside next year over the largest bloc of developing nations at the United Nations.
Palestine — which is not a member state of the UN but has observer state status — was chosen to head the so-called Group of 77, a consortium now consisting of 134 nations that often speaks in one voice at the UN General Assembly, starting January 1, 2019, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
“We will be negotiating on behalf of 135 countries,” Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour told the paper, including his own delegation in the count.
The group was originally founded in 1964 with 77 countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Thailand and India. Over the years it has grown to include countries such as South Africa, Qatar, Cuba, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Singapore, and Angola. It represents some 80 percent of the world’s population.
Egypt currently holds the group’s presidency until December 31.
The Foreign Ministry in Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon expressed misgivings about the move.
“The goal of the Group of 77 originally was to facilitate the economic advancement of underdeveloped nations,” he told The Times of Israel. “It is unfortunate that it will now become a platform for spreading lies and incitement. This will not promote the G-77’s goals, and encourages the Palestinians to not engage in negotiations for peace.”
The UN General Assembly in 2012 voted overwhelmingly in favor of granting Palestine “non-state observer status.” Three years later, the GA also voted to allow the Palestinian flag to be raised outside the UN’s iconic building on New York’s East River.
Israel and the US were among the few countries opposing these moves, arguing that unilateral moves ostensibly advancing Palestinian statehood were counterproductive to efforts to reach a lasting peace agreement.
Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador, hailed the fact that his delegation will soon preside over one of the largest blocs as a diplomatic success.
January 22, 2018 at 09:39 (Associate Post, Cartoons, Collective Punishment, Palestine, United Nations)
Image by Carlos Latuff
‘He wants to kill us’— Gazans fear for the worst as Trump severs aid to Palestinian refugees
Read more HERE
December 25, 2017 at 11:17 (Israel, Palestine, Status of Jerusalem, United Nations)
December 22, 2017 at 10:43 (DesertPeace Exclusive, Israel, Palestine, Status of Jerusalem, United Nations)
November 16, 2017 at 12:57 (Irony, United Nations)
The US plans to vote against a yearly resolution at the United Nations that condemns the glorification of Nazism, State Department officials said Wednesday.
Click on link to read full report
October 26, 2017 at 09:31 (Apartheid, Boycott Israel, Occupied West Bank, United Nations)
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights al-Hussein warns Israeli firms of their inclusion in ‘blacklist’ of companies operating in West Bank, east J’lem, Jordan Valley; list includes prominent companies such as Bezeq, Hot, Ahava, Cellcom, Bank Hapoalim and others; Bezeq CEO scorns ‘entirely anti-Israeli propaganda.’
In the past few weeks, 130 Israeli companies and 60 international corporations operating in Israel received warning letters from United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein cautioning them of their impending inclusion in a “blacklist” of companies active beyond the Green Line in “violation of international law and UN resolutions.”
Ynet has gained access to part of the list, which is set to be published in late December and cites 25 well-known Israeli companies. The companies operate in different sectors—some in food manufacturing, others in services, pharmaceuticals and even high-tech—but have one thing in common: they all operate in settlements, east Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
Among the companies in the commissioner’s sights are Ahava, Dor Alon, Amisragas, Angel Bakeries, Arison Investments, Ashdar, Clal Industries, Café Café, Cellcom, Danya Cebus, Electra, HP, Hot, the Israel Aerospace Industries, Matrix Systems, Motorola, Nesher, Partner, Paz, Rami Levy, Remax, Housing & Construction (Shikun Binui), Shufersal, Sonol and Trima.
The above companies are joined by the 12 companies already published on Channel 2 News including Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Bezeq and Bezeq International, Coca Cola, Africa Israel, Teva, IDB, Egged, Mekorot, Netafim and Elbit Systems.
The “Washington Post” published American companies will also be appearing on the list, including Caterpillar, Tripadvisor and Airbnb.
Some of the companies to be included on the list are still considering their response, but others are already fighting back with the claim their inclusion on the list may cause them financial harm and tarnish their brand, and are therefore looking into filing suits against the Commissioner and the UN’s Human Rights Council that called for the list’s preparation in the first place.
The companies claim the list’s creation was politically motivated and point to the fact that the commissioner constructed no such lists pertaining to other regions of conflict—such as the Crimean Peninsula and Western Sahara—as proof.
Both Israel and the US have been working behind the scenes in the past few weeks to prevent the list’s publication, but it appears it may be presented with a fait accompli. Despite the fact the list carries no operational or legal ramifications, the symbolic move nevertheless caused concern among the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials due to the fact it may provide a serious boost to BDS efforts, deter foreign investors and convince foreign companies operating in Israel to reduce their operations.
“It may cause large investment firms or pension funds carrying stocks of various Israeli companies to divest in them because they, in turn, operate in the settlements. It may lead to a snowball effect that will greatly harm the Israeli economy eventually,” said a senior Israeli official.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates the Human Rights Commissioner received most of his information about the Israeli firms from Israeli non-profits operating in the settlements and investigating business activities beyond the Green Line.
In an effort to scuttle the move, the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby has been working in the US on promoting rapid legislation in Congress determining any company divesting its business dealings from Israel will be considered to have “capitulated” to the Arab boycott, and would thus be in violation of American law.
The Human Rights Council’s efforts to isolate Israel—executed through the office of the commissioner—have largely been facilitated by what Israel frequently slams as the UN body’s years-long anti-Israeli majority which has a long record of a bias slant.
Bezeq CEO Stella Handler published a Facebook post 12 days ago in which she made public the overture she received from the UN’s Human Rights Commissioner. After the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted her, Handler took the post down.
“Here’s something the UN’s Human Rights Council doesn’t want you know: we’ve received a message from Special Assistant to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mohammad Ali Alnsour. Alnsour communicated to us that Bezeq was to be included on a list of Israeli companies operating in the West Bank. He asked us to keep that information confidential and to not publically comment on it,” Handler’s Facebook post said.
“Before we get started, here’s some background about the UN’s Human Rights Council. Since it was founded in 2006, it published 68 decisions denouncing Israel, making up 50 percent of the total resolutions pertaining to specific countries the council has made. Not North Korea, not Syria, not Sudan and not Yemen were afforded such attention,” the post continued.
“We will not be cooperating with a move that’s entirely anti-Israeli propaganda. Despite the council’s attempts to harm Israel by harming Bezeq, we give you our solemn commitment to keep focused on what we do best: providing all of Israel’s citizens with quality service, to provide our employees with a fair workplace and to manufacture profits for our shareholders. That is our role as Israel’s communications infrastructures company,” Handler concluded.
October 17, 2017 at 13:30 (Israel, Palestine, United Nations, Videos)
The U.S. and Israel are pulling out of UNESCO over what they call an ‘anti-Israel bias,’ but the move may actually underscore their bias towards basic Palestinian rights. Meanwhile, Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have reached a new unity deal.
Related post (Click on link)
July 13, 2017 at 13:46 (Deception, False Flags, Israel, Palestine, United Nations)
There is no contradiction between a site being Palestinian and Jewish at the same time. But for Netanyahu there is.
The many outraged Israeli politicians are creating fake news, manipulating history in fake ways, and blaming it on UNESCO.
Image by Carlos Latuff
“This irrelevant organization promotes FAKE HISTORY”, wrote Israel’s Foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon two days ago concerning UNESCO, after the latter voted on a resolution to include Al-Khalil (Hebron) and the Al-Ibrahimi mosque (Tomb of Patriarchs) as Palestinian World Heritage sites.
The blast from Israeli officials didn’t stop there. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the organization “anti-Semitic”, the supposed liberal President Reuven Rivlin said that “UNESCO seems intent on sprouting anti-Jewish lies”, and even Labor’s Merav Michaeli called the resolution “insane”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, faithful to his ways of persuasion, took to twitter and made a video, where he says:
“Yet another delusional decision by UNESCO. This time they’ve decided that the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron is a Palestinian site, meaning not a Jewish one and listed it an endangered site. Not a Jewish site? Who is buried there? Avraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rivka, Leah, our patriarchs and matriarchs.”
Today, Netanyahu resorted to the bible, reading from Genesis 23, which describes Abraham’s purchasing of the Cave of the Patriarchs. Netanyahu did so ostensibly in order to rebuff claims that the site is ‘not Jewish’.
But pause there.
There’s nothing in the UNESCO resolution that suggests that the site does not have Jewish connection. In fact, UNESCO explicitly affirms the historic importance of the place as “a site of pilgrimage for the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam”. As Orly Noy notes in her article of today titled ‘There’s nothing anti-Semitic about UNESCO’s Hebron vote’:
“I wonder how many of these politicians bothered reading the resolution before they ran to Twitter to trash it.”
Indeed, UNESCO was not disputing religious connections to the place. What seems to have infuriated the Israelis is that it is considered a PALESTINIAN heritage site.
But UNESCO recognized Palestine back in 2011, as have about three-fourths of the United Nations member states. Al-Khalil (Hebron) and the Al-Ibrahimi mosque (Tomb of Patriarchs) are in Palestine. What’s the big deal?
As we see from Netanyahu’s words, the idea of the place being a ‘Palestinian site’ is anathema to it being a ‘Jewish site’. But this is just disingenuous. Orly Noy provides a sobering comparison:
“Esther and Mordechai’s Tomb in Hamadan, Iran is recognized by the Iranian authorities as a Jewish site, yet no one would dream of calling it an Israeli site. Just as the Church of the Multiplication in northern Israel is a Christian site, yet is located in Israel and therefore an Israeli site.”
In other words, there is no contradiction between a site being Palestinian and Jewish at the same time. But for Netanyahu there is.
So what does Netanyahu do after he distorts the wording of the resolution? He takes to reading from the bible. This is the same trick that David Ben-Gurion usedwhen the British Peel commission asked him in 1936 about whether he had a deed or contract of sale that gave him the right to take the place of the native Arabs who have lived here for generations: Ben-Gurion picked up a Bible and declared, “This is our deed!”
And there’s more. Because what is Netanyahu reading? The story about Abraham, who bought the cave for the burial of his wife, Sarah. But Abraham wasn’t ‘Jewish’, really – that term evolved much later. If Abraham is a ‘forefather’ in a spiritual sense, he is the forefather of the three Abrahamic religions, all of which the UNESCO resolution affirms. So, ironically, Netanyahu’s religious preaching, seeking to prove the ‘Jewish connection’ (which UNESCO doesn’t dispute), ends up defeating his attempted point and strengthening UNESCO’s: Yes, the place is important for Jews, but not only for Jews.
The myopic, Jewish-centric ideas that Netanyahu presents betray the exclusivist intents of the Israeli government. It cannot seem to differentiate between state and religion with respect to Israel, and when it comes to Palestine will not accept Palestinian statehood or sovereignty. So it is the Israeli official narrative that is the exclusivist one, not the UNESCO narrative.
The many outraged Israeli politicians are creating fake news, manipulating history in fake ways, and blaming it on UNESCO.
March 20, 2017 at 08:16 (Apartheid, Israel, Palestine, United Nations)
Apartheid has been considered in the annals of the United Nations and world public opinion to be second only to genocide in the hierarchy of criminality”,
And
Genocide and apartheid are the only two international crimes, the commission of which States have a duty to prevent.
Image by Carlos Latuff
March 20, 2017 at 07:56 (Civil Liberties, Corrupt Politics, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, United Nations)
The latest Zionist nail to be hammered into the coffin for freedom of expression occurred last week when the disingenuous U.S. ambassador to the UN — the Indian American Sikh Nikki Haley — hypocritically expressed superpower outrage and condemnation while calling for the withdrawal of a UN report that quite justifiably accused Israel of establishing an “apartheid regime.”
March 16, 2017 at 15:20 (Apartheid, Israel, United Nations)
The report, titled “Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid,” says that “available evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that Israel is guilty of policies and practices that constitute the crime of apartheid as legally defined in instruments of international law.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations slammed the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on Wednesday after the commission released a report accusing Israel of establishing “an apartheid regime that oppresses and dominates the Palestinian people as a whole.”
The report, titled “Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid,” says that “available evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that Israel is guilty of policies and practices that constitute the crime of apartheid as legally defined in instruments of international law.”
The Beirut-based commission slammed Israel’s Law of Return, “conferring on Jews worldwide the right to enter Israel and obtain Israeli citizenship regardless of their countries of origin and whether or not they can show links to Israel-Palestine, while withholding any comparable right from Palestinians, including those with documented ancestral homes in the country,” as a policy of “demographic engineering” meant to uphold Israel’s status as the Jewish state.
The report further accuses Israel of “practices” that have fragmented Palestinians, arguing that it is the “principal method by which Israel imposes an apartheid regime.”
“This fragmentation operates to stabilize the Israeli regime of racial domination over the Palestinians and to weaken the will and capacity of the Palestinian people to mount a unified and effective resistance,” the report reads.
Danny Danon, Israel’s UN envoy, hit back at the report, saying the “attempt to smear and falsely label the only true democracy in the Middle East by creating a false analogy is despicable and constitutes a blatant lie.”
“It comes as no surprise that an organization headed by an individual who has called for boycotts against Israel, and compared our democracy to the most terrible regimes of the twentieth century, would publish such a report. We call on the Secretary General to disassociate the UN from this biased and deceitful report,” he said in reference to ESCWA Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf, a Jordanian national.
The report was compiled by Richard Falk, a Princeton professor emeritus with a long track record of vehemently anti-Israel rhetoric who previously was the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Palestine, and by Virginia Tilley, an American political scientist who authored the book “The One-State Solution” in 2005.
At a press conference accompanying the release of the report, Falk said the document and its findings “come after 50 years of frustrated diplomacy that failed to find a way to liberate the Palestinian people from oppression and denial of rights.”
Tilley said “it has become entirely clear that we’re longer talking about risk of apartheid but practice of apartheid.”
“There is an urgency for a response as Palestinians are currently suffering from this regime,” she said.
Related Post (Click on link)
January 5, 2017 at 10:20 (Associate Post, Corrupt Politics, Germany, Israel, Palestine, United Nations)
Has it not been a long time since Palestine disappeared from the agenda of the international community of states which always gives so much importance to compliance with the international law? What did Kerry achieve in the end with his embittered speech? Like all its predecessors, the Obama Administration is facing the ruins of mistaken politics towards its precious favourite ally Israel.
Image by Carlos Latuff
January 4, 2017 at 11:11 (DesertPeace Exclusive, Google Attacks, Israel, Land Theft, Palestine, United Nations)
It’s OK for Israel to completely erase Palestine from the map BUT it’s a No-No if Palestinians do the same to Israel …
It takes two to tango!
Image by Carlos Latuff
Read the related report from Mondoweiss HERE
January 1, 2017 at 08:28 (Corrupt Politics, Guest Post, Israel, Palestine, United Nations)
While the “Jewish State” violates international law and continues grabbing Palestinian land; destroying houses; making whole families homeless; and imposing travel bans and sanctions, the hypocritical community of states is unable to stand up and unanimously support a free Palestine.
Image by Carlos Latuff
December 26, 2016 at 08:57 (DesertPeace Editorial, Illegal Settlements, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, United Nations)
Now that the last check of the year sent by President Obama to Israel has been cashed, it’s easy for Netanyahu to mouth off against all who have supported him and his policies over the years.
Shameful indeed!
NOT the UN Resolution but the continued expansion of illegal settlements!!
Despite the outrage of the American zionist community, this resolution just might be what the civilized world has been waiting for.
Joy To The World!
Image by Carlos Latuff
So nice to watch Bibi squirm like a worm
October 21, 2016 at 08:14 (Cartoons, Corrupt Politics, Israel, Palestine, Status of Jerusalem, United Nations)
Israel is clashing with a United Nations body tasked with honoring heritage sites after it passed a draft resolution harshly critical of Israel as the “occupying power” over Jerusalem, and both US presidential campaigns joined in rejection.
Image by Carlos Latuff
Israel is clashing with UNESCO for passing resolution critical of Israel as “occupying power” over Jerusalem
Israel is clashing with a United Nations body tasked with honoring heritage sites after it passed a draft resolution harshly critical of Israel as the “occupying power” over Jerusalem, and both US presidential campaigns joined in rejection.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed especially harsh words yesterday, dubbing the document submitted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as “delusional.” The group failed to mention by name the Temple Mount, a sacred site in Judaism believed to be located inside of the walls of the Noble Sanctuary, a religious plaza in the Old City that shelters the al-Aqsa mosque.
“To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids,” Netanyahu said.
Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs released the type of barb it has frequently employed in recent months when faced with a political scuffle: a tongue and cheek video, in this case blasting the United Nations. In the clip a man with an English accent reads aloud from the Christian bible, replacing the words “Temple court” with “Haram al-Sharif/al-Aqsa mosque,” and wincing with each mention.
To an outsider, the messaging may seem confused. The video’s intended audience, American Christians, would recognize it as a jab at the United Nations for using the preferred Arabic or Muslim jargon to describe the religious complex in the Old City in their resolution, and not the terms favored by the Israeli government or many streams of Christianity, the “Temple Mount.”
While none of the phrases used by UNESCO innately negates the heritage of other religions to the sanctuary in Jerusalem, Israel views it as a word torpedo aimed at Judaism’s connection to Jerusalem. So do the Trump and Clinton camps, and the U.S. government, which voted against it.
The Trump campaign said, “The United Nations’ attempt to disconnect the State of Israel from Jerusalem is a one-sided attempt to ignore Israel’s 3,000-year bond to its capital city, and is further evidence of the enormous anti-Israel bias of the U.N.”
“It’s outrageous that UNESCO would deny the deep, historic connection between Judaism and the Temple Mount,” Clinton advisor Laura Rosenberger told the JTA.
The two-page document submitted yesterday by UNESCO’s board outlined a series of allegations against Israel, charging it for destruction to the ancient plaza. The brief narrowed in on Israeli programs that harm Muslim holy sites, including construction and excavations in areas of Muslim shrines, army damage to mosques in the religious complex, tourism ventures in East Jerusalem, “segregated roads” in the West Bank and the denial of a visa for a UN monitor.
The text was not without mentions of Judaism and Christianity, the areas of contention for Israel, Trump, and Clinton.
UNESCO included a paragraph stating the “importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions.” In a later section it stated the Christian and Jewish connection to heritage sites in the Bethlehem area. There is no specific mention of the Temple Mount or any explicit note of unique Jewish ties to the Old City.
However, UNESCO was quick to reply that the resolution is a rough draft and will likely be significantly altered come Tuesday, according to an official with the body in Paris. The official then directed Mondoweiss to a video statement by Michael Worbs, the chairperson of UNESCO, who said he does understand the Israeli frustration. “I understand this perception,” he said, but Jewish and Christian considerations were made.
“[B]ut [we] have also to admit for the first time, the Arab group added a paragraph saying at the beginning of the decision, saying, Jerusalem is a place of the three monotheistic religions so there is a recognition [of Judaism], although I do admit it was not balanced all over the text,” Worbs said, referencing the drafters, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan.
The resolution passed the first vote yesterday by 24-6, with 26 abstentions. It will be finalized in another vote on Tuesday.
Not included in the flurry of condemnations today was the Palestinian government, which was busy holding a conference inside of the United Nations Security Council on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. If the Palestinians move forward, this will be their second attempt to seek Security Council intervention to end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
The roster of speakers at headquarters in New York included the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and the organization American for Peace Now.
“After almost half a century of Israeli military control over millions of people, the occupation is only deepening, while the settlements – one of the main reasons for daily violations of Palestinians’ human rights – continue to expand,” B’Tselem said in advance of its presentation. “Under these circumstances, it would be unreasonable to consider the occupation temporary or to believe that Israel intends to change this reality in the foreseeable future.”
January 29, 2016 at 10:45 (Associate Post, Cartoons, Illegal Settlements, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, United Nations)
Image by Carlos Latuff
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Related FROM
Update: UN’s Ban Rejects Netanyahu’s Criticism: Count on Me to Speak Up
The United Nations says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stands by every word of his criticism of Israeli settlement-building this week and rejects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comment that the remarks justify terrorism….
Ban spoke out again Wednesday, telling a General Assembly committee that the Palestinians “watch as Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, expand and expand.”
The UN chief, who is in the final year of his term, also said that “you can count on me to speak up” to help achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Original:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t like U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s speech to the Security Council criticizing the Israeli occupation on Tuesday.
From the Times of Israel article “Furious Netanyahu slams Ban Ki-moon for ‘stoking’ Palestinian terrorism“:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday accused the United Nations chief of “stoking terror” after Ban Ki-moon said, in connection with the wave of Palestinian deadly terror attacks, that it was “human nature to react to occupation.”
“There is no justification for terrorism,” Netanyahu said. “The Palestinian terrorists don’t want to build a state; they want to destroy a state, and they say that proudly. They want to murder Jews everywhere and they state that proudly. They don’t murder for peace and they don’t murder for human rights.”
The UN has “lost its neutrality and its moral force, and these statements by the Secretary-General do nothing to improve its situation,” Netanyahu said in a furious video statement. Ban’s remarks, said Netanyahu, “stoke terror.”