Israeli Envoy Uses Rock to Make Point about Terrorism at Security Council

Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan protested the Security Council’s biased treatment of Israel as he addressed a session devoted to the problems of the Middle East on Thursday.

In particular, Erdan sharply criticized the Council’s utter disregard for Palestinian rock-throwing terrorism. To make it clear that rocks are life-threatening weapons, the Israeli envoy presented the Council with a heavy stone to illustrate what was happening on the roads of Yehuda and Shomron and Yerushalayim, asking the participants how they would feel if a similar rock were thrown at their vehicles.

Erdan spoke after the Palestinian Foreign Minister, who accused Israel of violence against Palestinians.

“We heard from the Palestinian Foreign Minister. We heard all the regurgitated accusations and baseless claims. But as he stands here and points the finger at Israel, what the Minister conveniently ignores is that in the last month, just one month, more than 200 terror attacks have been carried out by Palestinians against Israeli citizens. 143 rock throwing attacks in just a month. 20 grenades and Molotov cocktails in just a month. And dozens more stabbings, car rammings, shootings, and other violent physical attacks risking – and claiming – Israeli lives all in just a month. That ended a year which saw thousands of other violent attacks against Israelis; attacks that are at best, only marginally mentioned to the Council.”

“But there is another kind of terror attack. A kind of Palestinian terror which endangers the daily lives of innocent civilians throughout Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem. A terror attack which is neither mentioned in U.N. reports nor presented here before the Council.

“Terror attacks with rocks – not little stones – but rocks like this that are thrown at Israelis in their cars and on buses. They are thrown at Israeli men and women, at Israeli babies and children. Every. Single. Day…Would you consider it a terror attack if a rock like this was thrown at your car while driving with your children? This is exactly the kind of attack that claimed the life of four-year-old Adele Biton, and others.”

In 2021, Israelis suffered 1,775 rock attacks by Palestinian terrorists in addition to thousands of missiles, shootings, stabbings, and car ramming attacks, he said.

Additionally, Erdan referred to the situation taking place in Sheikh Jarrah, where a family of illegal squatters were evicted this week after years of litigation, and criticized the international community for embracing the false Palestinian narrative.

“We are talking about a family that stole public lands for their own private use, while these lands have been earmarked for the building of a school for children with special needs. This is a municipal issue that has gone through all of the respected channels of the independent Israeli legal system, yet nevertheless, the Palestinians use this issue – and the U.N.’s Pavlovian anti-Israel response – for their own political gains. I hope that the international community will take the time to verify the facts before immediately embracing the Palestinians’ falsehoods.”