Danon demands U.N. condemn Hamas for exploiting children

“The riots of this past week have proven to be violent outbursts and not peaceful demonstrations."

By DANIEL J. ROTH
Danny Danon at the 2017 JPost Annual Conference (photo credit: SIVAN FARAG)
Danny Danon at the 2017 JPost Annual Conference
(photo credit: SIVAN FARAG)
NEW YORK - The United Nations Security Council must condemn the fundamentalist terrorist organization Hamas for instigating violent riots on the Israel-Gaza border, Ambassador Danny Danon said in a fiery statement released Friday evening.
The Israeli envoy said that “the Council must condemn Hamas for its exploitation of children as human shields, risking their lives, and must call for an end to the provocations that only increase violence and tension."
“The riots of this past week have proven to be violent outbursts and not peaceful demonstrations,” he added.
Danon's rebuke came after the Kuwaiti mission to the United Nations called for an “independent and transparent investigation” into clashes that erupted Friday morning, which requires the support of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
Known as the P5, the permanent members of the UNSC include the US, UK, France, China and Russia.  A total of 15 UN member states serve on the UNSC, the remainder of which are elected.
Israel has rejected calls for an independent probe into the casualties, insisting it can perform an impartial investigation without outside interference.
Both the U.S. and E.U. have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization for its targeting innocent Israeli civilians since its inception in the late 1980s.
According to Gaza medical officials, the IDF shot dead seven Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 1000 along the Israel-Gaza border on Friday, raising the death toll to 27 in the week-long disturbances. Those figures could not be independently verified by The Jerusalem Post.
The number of protesters on Friday was larger than in recent days, but lower than the outset of the disturbances on March 30, when 17 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli forces. The Israeli military estimated Friday's turnout at around 20,000.
"This is a travesty for the Palestinian people that the Hamas government is encouraging its people to attack Israel, it is encouraging its people to commit acts of violence," spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, David Keyes, said after the protests subsided in the evening.
Hamas's Gaza leader, Yehya Sinwar, spoke at a protest encampment to praise those who turned out to confront the "enemy who besieges us." He said the demonstrations would continue, telling the crowds: "We will uproot the borders, we will pluck out their hearts, and we will pray in Jerusalem."
The demonstrators have revived a longstanding demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created.
The Israeli government has ruled out any right of return, fearing that the country would lose its Jewish majority.
Reuters contributed to this report.