Mr. President,

At the outset, I would like to thank those countries that bravely and with great integrity did not vote for this draft resolution. We are gratified that this draft resolution was not adopted. This draft resolution should never even have been considered. A draft resolution mentioning Sheikh Yassin without mentioning Hamas is shameless and hypocritical. Describing Sheikh Yassin as an innocent bystander leaving prayers, without identifying him as the arch-terrorist that he was, makes a mockery of this Council.

I was especially dismayed by those Council members who described Sheikh Yassin as the spiritual leader of the Islamic movement Hamas. This is sad and alarming, especially coming from countries which have themselves suffered from terrorism and continue to do so. Ignoring the leaders of terror will not make terror go away and sends a dangerous message worldwide.

I would also like to ask those Council members which were recently victims of horrendous terror the following question: If you knew, before the bloody massacre of your citizens, who was going to carry out that horrendous act, would you have sat still and let it happen?

Mr. President,

Sheikh Yassin stood at the head of an organization that was committed to destroying Israel and to destroying the road map and every other peace initiative through the cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians. He was the head of an organization that has been recognized and declared as a terrorist organization by most of the world's freedom-loving countries, including the whole of the European Union. In fact, it has been recognized as such in most parts of the world, with the exception of this Chamber.

The Security Council, which has endorsed the road map and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and with pursuing the global war on terrorism, would have committed an unforgivable act of hypocrisy had it come to the defence of a man whose life's work and legacy was the eradication of peace, a man who was nothing less than a mass murderer and the godfather of terrorism. We are indeed grateful to those members of the Council that recognized this fact and voted accordingly.

Two weeks ago, Ahmed Yassin proudly - gloatingly - took responsibility for a double suicide bombing at the Ashdod port, which killed 10 innocent people. The bombers were in fact planning a megaattack targeting chemical storage tanks at the port. Had they been successful, there would likely have been fatalities in the multiple hundreds. I wonder whether the reaction to Israel's defensive operation would have been the same had, by a cruel twist of fate, the Ashdod attack achieved its objective.

After the Ashdod attack, the Council was silent, in the same way that it has been silent after the hundreds of other terrorist attacks that Yassin orchestrated and proudly claimed as his own. Yet the sponsors of this draft resolution would have had the Council break that silence to defend the very man responsible for those attacks. There is simply no way to justify this double standard.

We hope that those Council members that were prepared to support this distorted text that was presented to them will have the decency in the future to support draft resolutions that focus on the kind of horrific acts of Palestinian terrorism for which Yassin and his co-conspirators have been responsible.

Mr. President,

The fight against terrorism and for peace continues. Only yesterday, we all witnessed, with horror and disbelief, the abyss into which the Palestinian strategy of terrorism and murder has descended. Not for the first time, a young Palestinian boy no older than 14 years old was used as a suicide bomber. This proves once again, sadly, that there will probably not be peace until the Palestinians learn to love their children more than they hate us.
If the international community is serious about advancing the peace process for both Israelis and Palestinians, we must stop tolerating initiatives that pretend that the defensive response to terrorism is worse than terrorism itself. We cannot send the message that terrorists will be immune and satisfy ourselves with routine condemnations.

The Security Council has a responsibility to the victims of terrorism and to the cause of peace. It cannot meet that responsibility by devoting meeting after meeting to pandering to Arab Group initiatives that seek to demonize Israel and ignore Palestinian obligations.
The Council can only meet its responsibility by addressing the reality that those Palestinian terrorist organizations and the regimes and leaders sponsoring them are the true enemies of peace. Unless and until they are confronted and defeated, progress towards a two-State solution under the road map will be held hostage.

Thank you, Mr. President.