US vetoes Qatar Resolution on Israel/Gaza

Statement by Ambassador John R. Bolton, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on Draft Middle East Resolution, at the Security Council, July 13, 2006

Mr. President, we are all aware of the delicate situation in the Middle East, where new and major developments are unfolding as we speak.  In light of the fluid and volatile nature of events on the ground, the United States believes this draft Resolution is not only untimely, but already outmoded.  We have just recently witnessed a major escalation by Hizballah.  On top of that, we have the announcement that the Secretary-General will be sending a team to the region to help resolve the situation.  These important new developments should be reflected in any text we consider.

Not withstanding these new developments, there were many other reasons to reject this draft.  The draft Resolution before the Council was unbalanced.  It placed demands on one side in the Middle East conflict but not the other.  This draft Resolution would have exacerbated tensions in the region and would have undermined our vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security. 

Passage would also have undermined the credibility of the Security Council, which itself must be seen by both sides as an honest broker in the Middle East conflict.  In this regard, public statements of UN officials must also accurately reflect positions agreed by member governments.

The United States worked hard with other delegations to achieve a more balanced text, one which acknowledged that Israeli military actions were in direct response to repeated rocket attacks into Southern Israel from Gaza and the June 25 abduction of Israeli Defense Force Corporal Gilad Shalit by Hamas.  Regrettably, we were not able to reach consensus.

While we remain gravely concerned about the deterioration of the situation in the West Bank and Gaza, we remain steadfast in our conviction that the best way to resolve the immediate crisis is for Hamas to secure the safe and unconditional release of Corporal Shalit.

Establishing the foundations for a lasting peace, however, will require us to focus our attention not just on Hamas, but on the state sponsors of terror who back them -- particularly Syria and Iran.  Let us be clear that without the financial and material support of Damascus and Tehran, Hamas would be severely crippled in carrying out its terrorist operations.  We call upon Syria and Iran to end their role as state sponsors of terror and unequivocally condemn the actions of Hamas, including this kidnapping.  We yet again call upon Syria to arrest the Hamas ringleader, Khaled Meshal, who currently resides in Damascus.  We stress again our condemnation of Syrian and Iranian support of Hizballah, which has claimed responsibility for the other kidnappings along the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon.

We further call on the Palestinian Authority government to stop all acts of violence and terror and comply with the principles enunciated by the Quartet:  renounce terror, recognize Israel, and accept previous obligations and agreements, including the Roadmap.  The failure of the Palestinian Authority government to take these steps hurts the Palestinian people.   

We are obviously concerned about the duration of the present difficulties and the lack of a solution, but the issue for us is whether action by this Council makes such a solution more or less likely, not simply whether or not the Council seems to be "engaged".

The United States remains firmly committed to working with others to establish the foundations for a lasting peace in the region -- a foundation that would have been undermined had this draft Resolution passed.

 

UPDATE: Atlas readers please sign this petition to the UN. (hat tip Zall)

Time and time again Israel has been attacked and demonized by the United Nations. This time it's by the new U.N. Human Rights Council that was created to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission. We need to let Secretary-General Kofi Annan know this is unacceptable. The Commission, made up of many of the world's most repressive and autocratic regimes, was infamous for its obsessive focus on Israel - all the while ignoring massive human rights violations elsewhere in the world. Kofi Annan promised the new Council would be different...better.

The Council is one of the few U.N. reforms envisioned by Mr. Annan that actually came about, but in reality there has been no reform. It is still composed of anti-Israel human rights violators. The only thing that's different is the name.

True to form, the Council ended its very first session with a one-sided resolution condemning Israel for its military operations in Gaza, ignoring Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli cities and the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by terrorists linked to the Hamas regime.

Just as outrageous was the Council's vote to make criticism of Israel's supposed human rights abuses a permanent item on the agenda for future sessions.

Santorum on Israeli Soldier Kidnapping;

“I condemn the taking of hostages and the brazen lawlessness carried out by Hezbollah.  The events of the other day demonstrate the nature of the threat the U.S. and its allies are facing as part of the Global War on Terror.  Hezbollah should immediately release these captured Israeli soldiers and cease all acts of violence carried out on people of the Middle East.  Hezbollah, with support from the governments of Syria and Iran, is a destructive force and I support efforts to dismantle this entity of death and destruction.”

Comments

[elvis]

Back to the death-by-a-thousand-cuts Roadmap?
Ew! The Muslims are not rational enough for as anti-Israeli measure as that. It's time to eliminate the threat entirely.

[Harcourt Fenton]

Pamela - What is with your friends at FoxNewsOnline? The BBC, for G-D's sake, has the headline "Rockets Hit Israeli City of Haifa". What does FoxNews report in its headline? It says "Israel Claims Rocket Attack on Haifa". What the hell does that mean? Whenever a news organization uses the word "claims" it means that the reader is supposed to mistrust such a "claim". Is the BBC suddenly more rational and unbiased than Fox? Doesn't Fox know whether or not a rocket has fallen on Haifa, whether or not it was sent by the denying Hezbollah (and if not by Hezbollah, who else?)?

Even the New York Times says in the lede of its headline screaming about Israel Attacking the Beirut Airport: "Hezbollah fired rockets deep into northern Israel today, with two rockets hitting the port of Haifa."

So, please, put some shame into the folks at FoxNews for siding with Hezbollah on the "claim" issue.

[Pamela Geller]

Harcourt, Thay aint my friends. Rememeber the Saudis bought 6% of Fox....... but Brit Hume's Special Report saves them. If that ever goes. Finalament!
Pamela

[msdl5]

72 hours... all heck will break loose within 72 hours. Look for invasions and massive bombings by Israel.

We can not win in Iraq and this problem can not be solved unless the regimes in Syria and Iran are put to sleep. We have been fighting Iran and Syria in Iraq for 2 years.

It is time to cut this big dog loose. Syria, Iran and their 2 (or 3) terrorists arms decided to pick this fight. Level the Bakka Valley and Damascus now.

Sorry civilians, your 'leaders' just offered you up. You've supported them in their jihads... you are soldiers through your support or silence.

No more candy ass'n like in Iraq. Cut the dogs loose.

[Harcourt Fenton]

Pamela - OK, point taken. By the way, after reading a post today at DailyKos entitled "Imagine A World Without Israel" (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/12/214150/522) and seeing all the Jew-hatred of the supposed vanguard of the Democratic Party, I did what for most of my life would have been the unthinkable for me - I went online to the New York State Board of Elections - filled out the change of party affiliation - and now will be a registered Republican after a lifetime as a registered Democrat (albeit one who pulled the other lever more than every once in a while). I am now a Bloomberg/Giuliani Republican - which is as centrist and rational an affiliation in this country as you are likely to find. I would rather be in a party which has its extremists spout anti-Darwinism than in a party where a plurality spouts anti-Semitism and defeatism. I don't agree with either extreme and I still won't vote for a candidate on the RTL line, but I'll go with the crazies who say "Our ancestors weren't monkeys" over the ones that side with "insurgents" whose textbooks and newspapers say that Jews are monkeys and deserve to die. To the folks at DailyKos (and HuffPost for that matter), FDR, Truman and JFK were goose-stepping warmongers (like Joe Lieberman) and the only suitable President was Jimmy Carter.

[Pamela Geller]

Harcourt rocks!

[TommyG]

If Carter had taken steps to prevent the Ayatollah Khomaniac from establishing the "theocracy" in Iran, we wouldn't be having this conversation, but that is not my post topic...

I don't think this country has been as ill prepared to fight a war since the days of WWI and our army was smaller than Romania's army. Any attempt to support Israel and dispose of the dictatorships in Syria and Iran will be met with massive resistance from the Left and the MSM - and let's not forget the possibility of renewed terrorist attacks here on US soil. Intelligence estimates of the number of Hezboallah party members here in the US at around 25,000. The fight will indeed be brought here and then the question will be "Are we ready to make the sacrifices necessary to win?" At this point in time (when university professors are suggesting 9/11 was an inside job by GWB), I would say we are not.

[Pete]

Might as well go straight to the source. Strike Iran and get it over with.

[Pamela Geller]

If Carter had taken steps to prevent the

Taken steps? He can't talk let alone walk. Snakes writhe.

[Harcourt Fenton]

Steps? Carter was too busy rowing away from his giant amphibious attack rabbit in 1979 to deal with Iran (From the WPost, datelined April 20, 1979: "The rabbit, which may have been fleeing a predator, swam toward his boat, "hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared." President Carter was forced to swat at the vicious beast with a canoe paddle, which apparently scared it off.")

In fact, the Carter centeR for utopiAn Peace ("CRAP") today released its "Second Statement on the Attacks on Innocent Civilian Terrorists - er, that is, Terror-Stricken - in Peaceful Mohameddan Lands by the Illegal Zionist Occupation Governing Entity" in which the unbiased Nobel Peace Prize winner announced that he would be issuing canoe paddles to Hezbollah and Hamas freedom fighters (humanely manufactured out of hemp by UN peacekeepers who needed something to do while ingoring the genocide in Darfur) so that they can scare off the Jooish invaders from their attempts to rape and pillage the Beirut Refugee Camp and steal Lebanese children so that they can use their blood for matzah and other holiday treats.

Said the Nobel Laureate, "This incursion on Lebanese and Palestinian land for the purpose of procuring matzah ingredients has been carried out without resorting to peace talks with the Lebanese or the Palestinians, and is in direct contravention of the "road map for peace," which President Bush helped to initiate and has strongly supported. Israel's government had adopted carefully negotiated agreements at Camp David in 1978 and in Oslo in 1993 and is not following these agreements now. This is an ill-advised move toward the unilateral confiscation and colonization of a major portion of the Middle East, which the ZOG entity intends to turn into much needed parking lots for its matzah trucks, and good-faith negotiations should be initiated immediately under the auspices of the international Quartet with President Abbas and Optometrist-in-Chief Assad and President Achmanineedajihadsobadly. Accordingly, we are issuing today these much needed canoe paddles to even out the playing field for the defensely victims of Israeli aggression."

The Carter Center also announced today, through its spokeswoman Cindy Sheehan, that it would be renamed The Corrie Center to honor the memory of the great American heroin-addicted heroine who was killed in an unfortunate traffic accident in Sovereign State of Palestine.

[Underzog]

As regards the Daily KOS and its revolting echoing of the Iranina President's Israel remarks, I compiled this list a while ago:

Leftwing anti-Semitism. Where does it come from?

"The Israelite religion [is] nauseating."

Karl Marx's letter to Arnold Ruge

"What is the secular basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest."
"What is the wordly cult of the Jew? Haggling. What is his wordly god? Money!..."
"Money is the jealous god of Israel before whom no other god may exist. Money degrades all the gods of mankind and converts them into commodities...."
"What is contained abstractly in the Jewish religion -- contempt for theory, for art, for history, for man as an end in himself..."
"The social emancipation of the Jew is the emancipation of society from Jewishness."

From Karl Marx's essay on The Jewish question

"...since the Mensheviks were the faction of the Jews and the Bolsheviks that of native Russians, it would be a good thing to have a pogrom in the Party."

Josef Stalin's remarks reproduced from his 1907 underground newspaper

"In the Doctors' plot [Stalin's final purge to kill the three million Jews of Russia] of 1952-1953, a majority of those accused were Jews, but some were not. The Jewish element was publicly emphasized but it was under the guise of a link with "Zionism...."1 (emphasis added)

1. The Great Terror
pp 66

"The Jews are descendents of of apes and pigs."

Arab textbooks directed to little children who later mouth these obscenities

Oscene leftwing, anti-Semitic protests. It's no wonder that even far back as the 1960s that a person who witnessed the Nazi era thought the New Left were the Nazis redux

http://www.zombietime.com/hall_of_shame/

"Anti-Semitism is the Socialism of fools."

August Bebel (not Jewish btw....)

"Anti-Semitism is the intellectualism of stupid people."

Mary McCarthy

"There's no need to fear; Underzog is here!"

[Shy Guy]

and would have undermined our vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security.

I wish deep down in my heart that Bolton doesn't believe in the nonsense dictated to him from Bush and State.