Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor to the United Nations UN
General Assembly: "No decent human being can stay silent in the face of what is
happening in Syria. The people of Syria are the deliberate targets of a brutal
regime that will commit any crime to cling to power.
Thank you, Mr. President for convening this important discussion.
Eli Wiesel once said, "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the
oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the
tormented." His words call to us at moments like this.
It doesn't matter where you come from, or what politics you preach, or what
faith you belong to - no decent human being can stay silent in the face of what
is happening in Syria.
The people of Syria are not the indiscriminate victims of a natural disaster.
They are not the tragic fatalities of a famine. They are not the accidental
casualties of war. They are the deliberate targets of a brutal regime that will
commit any crime and cross any line to cling to power.
We hear the words spoken in today's debate, but the appalling images and
stories coming out of Syria are what stick in our minds. This morning I hear the
cries of the infants massacred in Houla. I see the pleading eyes of the children
of Homs, desperate and terrified beyond belief. I try to put myself into the
shoes of the families whose loved ones have disappeared into Assad's torture
chambers - and will never be heard from again.
Today I urge this Assembly to think of each man, woman, and child slaughtered
by the Syrian Government in the past 15 months. It grows larger month by month,
day by day, hour by hour. More than 4,000 have been killed since the General
Assembly last discussed this issue. How many more innocents must die before the
world acts?
The pictures coming out of Syria serve as a moral call to every person and
every nation in the world. Nowhere is that call more clear than here at the
United Nations, which was founded primarily to safeguard the principles of human
rights, dignity and life.
Today, on behalf of the Israeli people and the Jewish people, I say directly
to the Syrian people: we hear your cries. We are horrified by the crimes of the
Assad regime. We extend our hand to you.