Egyptian UN Envoy Lashes Israel in Security Council

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM — Prime Minister Yair Lapid publicly thanked Egypt for brokering the ceasefire in Gaza, but that did not stop Egypt’s ambassador to the United Nations from harshly criticizing Israel’s conduct in the three days of fighting with Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Ambassador Osama Abdel Khalek told an emergency U.N. Security Council session on Monday that Israel was responsible for killing “43 martyrs” during airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, and castigated it for allowing “settlers under the protection of the Israeli police to incur the courtyards of the Haram al-Sharif [Temple Mount].”

The IDF estimated that 11 of those casualties were civilians caught in the line of fire during its airstrikes targeting PIJ terrorists. Sixteen Palestinians were killed by failed PIJ rocket launches that landed inside Gaza, according to the Israeli army.

Khalek also attacked Israel for arrests of Palestinians, expansion of the Jewish presence in Yehudah and Shomron, demolitions of terrorists’ homes, and use of live fire against Palestinian protesters.

“Egypt will never abandon its historic responsibilities vis-a-vis the Palestinian brotherly people and our efforts [to build] a better future, which we all look forward to when peace, security, and stability prevail in the Middle East,” Abdel Khalek said.

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s envoy to the U.N., who also thanked the Egyptians for their help in ending the fighting, emphasized the pains that the Israeli military has taken to avoid civilian casualties.

Referring to the IDF’s assassination of PIJ leader Khaled Mansour, Erdan said that the IDF delayed an airstrike to kill him three times at the last minute due to the presence of  children in the area.

“Israel carried out this operation with astounding accuracy and extreme precision, taking precautions hardly ever seen in areas of conflict around the world,” he said.

Erdan compared it to the U.S. killing of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri last month.

“When al-Zawahiri was eliminated, this institution, as well as most of the world, gave its full support,” Erdan said. “Yet when Israel neutralizes such terrorists in order to prevent an imminent attack against our civilians, U.N. officials suddenly issued ‘deep concern.’ It’s hard to explain such double standards.”

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas Greenfield expressed sadness over the civilian lives lost in the conflict and, like President Biden, called for each of them to be investigated. But she said that parties “should refrain from jumping to conclusions until we can determine the facts.”

Thomas-Greenfield backed Israel’s right to respond to PIJ threats and rocket fire and that “Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety and security.”

She noted that PIJ was a U.S.-designated terror group as well as an Iranian proxy that has long targeted civilians. “It is telling that Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders were in Tehran the last several days while the people they claim to be protecting were left in harm’s way,” she said.

Thomas-Greenfield also revealed that PIJ held up the ceasefire agreement “callously prolonging these hostilities” while Lapid’s “leadership … ultimately prevented further casualties and suffering.”

She concluded her remarks with a call for the release of the two Israeli civilians and two fallen IDF soldiers, Hy”d, whose remains have been held by Hamas in Gaza for roughly eight years.