Mr. President,
Let me begin by
thanking the Secretary-General for his briefing. I also want to thank the Jordanian Foreign
Minister for being here today to preside over this session.
Mr. President,
Earlier this month, Jews throughout the
world celebrated Passover which commemorates the liberation of the ancient Jews
from enslavement and the birth of the Jewish nation. The seder begins with the youngest child in
the family asking four questions known as the “Ma Nish’tana.” The child is asking what has changed and why
this night is different from all other nights.
We answer the questions by recounting the
story of how freedom triumphed over oppression. The lessons are as relevant
today as they were 3,000 years ago. For
centuries, the Jewish people longed for, prayed for, and fought for the right
to be free. Israel is the realization of
those dreams – and Passover reminds us that we can never take these freedoms
for granted.
Since our last debate, the chaos in our
region has only grown worse. Another
nation state has been overrun by radical extremists. First Syria, then Iraq, then Libya, and now
Yemen. The extreme elements in our
region have displayed a level of barbarism that is shocking even by Middle
Eastern standards.
The situation has become so dire that -
in a rare display of unity - the Arab leaders have joined forces. It should
come as no surprise that they have lashed out with little regard for the
consequences. The Saudi-led airstrikes
in Yemen have hit humanitarian aid convoys, hospitals, schools, and civilian
neighborhoods, and left entire families dead.
And yet there have been zero Human Rights
Council condemnations and zero calls for a Commission of Inquiry. If Jane Austen were writing about the United
Nations today, her book could be called Pride and Prejudice, but a more fitting
title would be Hypocrisy and Double Standard.
You would think that some of the Arab
nations would demand justice. After all,
the Saudi ambassador was quick to stand at the side of the Palestinian
representative during last summer’s Gaza conflict and preach about civilian
life.
The truth of the matter is that when
Israel is at the heart of a crisis, the Arabs don’t miss a beat. But when fingers can’t be pointed at Israel, some
Arab nations are downright heartless.
On Passover we ask what has changed. Today, I am here to tell you that unless this
Council stops singling out Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, and
starts focusing on the real threats in our region - nothing will ever
change.
Mr. President,
Just as we ask four questions on Passover
to tell the story of freedom, today I offer four questions to explain why
freedom and peace remain a distant dream in the Middle East.
The First Question: What
has changed when it comes to Iran?
The answer is that Iran is more dangerous
today than ever before. Make no mistake:
Iran is not only a threat to Israel and it is not only a threat to the Middle
East; it is a threat to the entire world.
Iran is the engine of aggression behind
the chaos in our region. It has armed
Hezbollah, which today has over 100,000 missiles hidden in civilian
neighborhoods. Hezbollah is playing a dangerous game of Russian roulette. Instead of betting on red or black, they’re
now gambling everything on the Blue Line.
Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups
surround Israel. There is Hezbollah in the Syrian Golan and Southern Lebanon, and
Hamas in Gaza. The Iranian doctrine is
apparent from Baghdad to Beirut and from Damascus to Sanaa; terrorists
committing a double war crime - hiding behind civilians, while targeting
civilians.
As Iranian influence spreads, so does
tyranny, subjugation, and terrorism. In
the last four years alone, it has committed or ordered attacks in 25 countries
on five continents. I’m sure the
representative from Bahrain hasn’t forgotten the last time Iran meddled in his
country’s internal affairs. Much as I
suspect the Saudi ambassador in Washington still remembers the bitter cup of
coffee he had at Cafe Milano.
Imagine how much more dangerous the
situation will become – in our region and around the world - if Iran is allowed
to snap open a nuclear umbrella.
Iran is
cunning and it is fanatical. And yet the
international community is willing to allow the regime to keep its thousands of
centrifuges, continue developing its long-range ballistic missiles, and conceal
the military dimensions of its nuclear program.
What
message are you sending when you reward an outlaw regime for violating Security
Council resolutions and international law? Ayatollah Khamenei lies, deceives, and
betrays even more than Frank Underwood.
The two of them would get on like a House of Cards on fire.
And what about President Rouhani? One of his first acts as president was to
appoint Mostafa Pourmohammadi known in Iran as the “Minister of Murder” - as his
minister of justice. He has lived up to
his name. Last year, Iran executed 753
people - that’s the highest total recorded in the past 12 years.
Iran is one of the world’s worst human
rights offenders, the primary sponsor of global terrorism, and it is behind much
of the chaos ravaging the Middle East. If
the international community gives Iran its support by signing a nuclear
agreement, the regime will be more dangerous than ever before.
Mr. President,
The Second Question:
What has changed when it comes to Hamas?
The answer is nothing. Hamas continues to abuse its people and wage
war against Israel.
Last summer, Hamas proved its utter
disregard for the wellbeing of the Palestinian people. It hid its rockets in schools, fired missiles
from hospitals, and used civilians as human shields. Today, Hamas is once again
disregarding the needs of its people as it rearms and rebuilds its terror
infrastructure.
Earlier this month, Israeli authorities revealed
that Hamas is using the Kerem Shalom crossing – the only humanitarian crossing
into Gaza - to hide tons of dual-use items inside shipments of humanitarian
goods. The smuggled materials are used
to rebuild tunnels, reconstruct training camps, and manufacture rockets.
Since Operation Protective Edge, Hamas
has test fired over 150 rockets. With
every test rocket launched into the sea, Hamas propels itself towards another
conflict. Just last week, a senior Hamas
leader issued a new call for Palestinians to kidnap Israelis. It may just be my
hearing, but I’ve yet to hear a single UN official report any of these
inflammatory developments.
Some members of this institution refuse
to name Hamas even as the terrorist group ignites tensions in our region and
ignites UN offices. In January, Hamas
members looted and set fire to the UNSCO offices in Gaza.
This Council does no favors to the
Palestinian people by failing to hold Hamas to account. I don’t hear any criticisms of Hamas for denying
their people freedoms or for failing to hold free elections. The closest Hamas has gotten to a campaign is
the social media campaign it ran earlier this year.
In an effort to improve its image, Hamas
encouraged people to ask questions on Twitter using the hashtag ‘AskHamas.’ A
number of important questions were posed to the terrorist group.
Questions like: How does Hamas prevent
repetitive strain injury from firing dozens of rockets into Israel in a single
day? Does Hamas think it’s better to hide its weapons in a hospital’s pediatric
or geriatric unit? And is Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal right or left-handed?
From the safety of his luxury hotel room in Doha, he seems equally adept at
ordering room service with one hand, while ordering terrorist attacks with the
other.
It’s time for a change. This Council must see Hamas for what it is
and call it what it is - an internationally recognized terrorist organization. Stop
giving Hamas a free pass and start giving Israelis and Palestinians a chance
for a better future.
The Third Question: What
has changed when it comes to the Palestinian leadership?
If nothing has changed with Hamas, why
would you expect anything to have changed with President Abbas?
President Abbas claims to support the
two-state solution, but apparently that message gets lost in translation
because you will never hear him make this claim in Arabic. He insists that Palestinian refugees be
allowed to flood the Jewish state. So in truth he is committed to the creation
of two Palestinian states.
President Abbas also claims to oppose
terrorism, but his government forged a pact with a terrorist organization, pays
salaries to convicted terrorists, and incites violent attacks against Israelis.
Last month, the Palestinian Authority
dedicated a monument in Ramallah to the terrorist responsible for the murder of
37 Israeli civilians. If that weren’t
bad enough, the monument is in the shape of what the Palestinian Authority
describes as “Palestine” and it includes all of the State of Israel, from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea.
The Palestinians want a state without
making compromises, making concessions, or making peace. I want to be clear. Israel is in favor of a
Palestinian state that would end the conflict. On three separate occasions,
Israel offered the Palestinians a state and on all three occasions, the
Palestinians refused the deal or walked away from the table.
The very last thing Israel can afford is
another terror state in its backyard. Just imagine what this state would look
like. We got a preview when Israel
disengaged from Gaza in 2005. Hamas took
over the Gaza Strip and created a terror stronghold.
Given the chance, Hamas would gladly
create a second terror state in Judea and Samaria. This terror state may as well be called ISIL
– which stands for Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. It would be sponsored by Iran and as volatile
as Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.
Hamas is terrorizing the people of Gaza
and the Palestinian Authority isn’t doing anything about it. It has ignored its oversight obligations to
ensure that construction materials are not channeled into terror
activities. And it has not imposed
sanctions on merchants selling cement on the black market. In contrast, Israel
has fully cooperated with the trilateral Gaza reconstruction mechanism and overseen
the transfer of tens of thousands of tons of construction supplies.
If President Abbas is serious about
making peace, he must break his alliance with Hamas, put an end to the
incitement, and return to direct negotiations with Israel.
Mr. President,
The Fourth Question:
What has changed when it comes to the international community?
Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets
halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
Month after month, individuals in this Chamber
argue that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a territorial dispute that can
be resolved by addressing the quote-unquote ‘root causes.’ This lie has circled the world countless
times. The fact of the matter is that
our conflict is not about the right place for Israel’s borders. It’s about
Israel’s right to exist in the first place.
Israel stands for democracy, for human
rights, and for freedom. Last month, the
Jewish state held its 20th national election - that’s 20 more free
and fair elections than Qatar and Iran have ever held. And yet, members of this institution question
Israel’s democratic nature and focus disproportionately on our conflict.
This debate is called the Situation in
the Middle East, but listening to today’s briefing, one would think that the
only thing going on in the Middle East is the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. The world’s unrelenting focus
on our conflict is an injustice to tens of millions of victims of tyranny and
terrorism in the Middle East. One has to
wonder why the Palestinians deserve more time and attention than the Yemenis,
the Syrians and the Libyans put together.
It’s time to focus global attention where
it belongs – on terrorists and their sponsors.
The enemies of freedom are trying to drive us back to the Dark Ages. They deny women their freedom, they censor
the media, they dictate how religion must be practiced, and they impose their
radical way of life through barbaric acts of violence.
Israel is on the frontline of this fight,
but it is not just Israel’s fight. It is
the fight of anyone who believes in progress and pluralism, tolerance and
freedom. The Jewish people have fought
for these rights for generations.
Israel was one of the first countries in
the world to screen people in airports.
For its efforts to protect passengers, Israel was criticized for putting
travelers through what was called an invasive ordeal. Three decades later,
Israel’s once quote-unquote “insensitive” policies have become the standard
procedure in every airport across the globe.
In its short history, Israel has
repeatedly confronted the moral dilemmas that go hand-in-hand with combating
terrorism long before other democracies have woken up to the threat. Make no mistake;
Israel’s battle today will determine how we all live tomorrow.
Mr. President,
Tomorrow, Israel will commemorate Yom Hazikaron and honor the 23,320 individuals
who lost their lives to war and terror. We will remember the brave soldiers who died so that we can have
our freedom and mourn the thousands of men, women, and children who were robbed
of their lives simply because they were Israeli.
War has never been the choice of the
State of Israel. Our choice is and always has been the path of peace. But when
war and terror are forced upon us, we will not surrender and we will not back
down. For nearly 2,000 years, the Jewish people were stateless and powerless in
the face of hatred and indifference. Those days are no more.
On Thursday, Israel will celebrate Yom
Haatzmaut, our 67th anniversary as a free and independent Jewish
state. With great joy and with heads held high, we will celebrate the realization
of the words in our national anthem, Hatikvah:
עוד לא אבדה תקוותינו
התקווה בת שנות
אלפיים
להיות עם חופשי
בארצנו
ארץ ציון וירושלים
Our hope will not be lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free people in our own land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.
Thank you, Mr. President.