United State Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called it “outrageous” that the U.N. Security Council refused to condemn Hamas for firing missiles and mortars into Israel.
Haley had attempted to pass the condemnation at the Security Council’s May 30 emergency meeting on Hamas’s actions but Kuwait prevented the condemnation from happening.
“You might think that the rest of the security council would join us in condemning a terrorist organization like Hamas,” Haley said. “There shouldn’t be any debate about this. But of course, since this attack involves Israel, the standard is different.”
Haley said it was a “no-brainer” to call out Hamas for “aiming to cause as much civilian death and destruction as possible” and pointed out that the Security Council likes to criticize Israel even before knowing all the facts.
“Hamas’ stated purpose is the destruction of Israel,” Haley said. “That is its purpose when it fires rockets into Israel. That is its purpose when it builds terror tunnels underneath Israeli territory. And that is its purpose when it orchestrates violent protests and riots at the boundary fence calling for a march for return.”
Haley added that Hamas is what endangers Palestinians, not Israel, pointing to Hamas rockets destroying power lines that resulted in several Gazans losing power.
“To allow Hamas to continue to get away with its terrorist acts and to somehow expect Israel to sit on its hands when it is attacked is the height of hypocrisy,” Haley said. “To continue to condemn Israel with actually acknowledging what is coming from the leaders of Gaza makes me question who actually cares about the welfare of the Palestinian people.”
The full speech can be seen below: