more than 13,000 rockets into Israeli population centers; that’s nearly three rockets per day for 17 years. As its rockets fall on homes and schools in Israel, Hamas terrorists use Palestinian civilians – including children – as human shields when carrying out attacks against our soldiers. Instead of building a better life for the Palestinians, Hamas aims to destroy the lives of Israelis.

It is clear why the United States, Israel, the European Union, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and a handful of other countries have designated Hamas a terrorist organization. The question remains: why have more countries, and particularly the UN, not followed suit? It is unfortunate that the truth does not get the attention it deserves – or any attention, for that matter. Even though nearly 2 million Palestinians live under Hamas’s abusive governance in the Gaza Strip, an area it has controlled since 2007’s brutal civil war against the Palestinian Authority, Israel alone is blamed for their situation.

Developments leading up to the vote further demonstrated that truth is often stranger than fiction. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh wrote a protest letter – which included a clear call for violence against Israel – to the president of the General Assembly in anticipation of the US resolution. A terrorist organization pleading its case before the UN is akin to a serial killer asking the police for assistance. And in the days leading up to the vote, the PA chose to come to Hamas’s aid. Despite Hamas throwing Fatah officials off rooftops in Gaza in 2007, PA President Mahmoud Abbas still defended Haniyeh. Apparently, hatred for Israel is powerful enough to overcome even the most violent internal Palestinian rivalry.

The UN resolution to condemn Hamas was historic: 87 countries voted in favor of condemning the terrorist group, with US Ambassador Nikki Haley instrumental in helping form this unprecedented coalition that stood with Israel and against terrorism. And it was also necessary: it showed the world which countries support Hamas and which oppose terrorism, which countries make excuses for antisemitism and which are sincere in their efforts to combat it. It put the organization on notice that we will not give up the fight against it at the UN.

In the end, instead of issuing empty promises to combat antisemitism, making hollow statements of support for the Palestinian people, and incessantly blaming Israel, the UN could have taken the first step in recognizing that Hamas is the true threat to Israel and the Palestinian people, and finally condemned this terrorist organization.

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