Danon to UNSC: Ramallah following Tehran in seeking Israel’s destruction

The Palestinian Authority is following Tehran in seeking to destroy the Jewish state, Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. He referred to a statement made by the PLO ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Khraishi, to the UN in Geneva last week, when he revived the charge that “Zionism is racism.” “This despicable language exposes the Palestinian Authority's antisemitism, as it continues to incite hatred among its people against Jews and the Jewish State,” Danon said. “Both Tehran and Ramallah's extremism are increasingly at odds with the growing sentiment among Arabs that Israel is, and will continue to be, a part of this region.” He warned that the PA was trying to prevent normalized ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors. “Israel is not your enemy,” Danon said, in a message that he repeated in Arabic, saying that he hoped it was heard by Palestinians and “all the Arab people in the region.” Israel has come together with its Arab neighbors to combat terror and regional treats, including those posed by Iran, which contributes over $7b. annually to terrorism groups, Danon explained. “Just two weeks ago, the Islamic Republic announced that it is increasing its financial backing of Hamas from $6m. to $30m. a month,” Danon said, and that Tehran is “exporting” the Iranian revolution to Lebanon and Syria by destabilizing both countries. But, he said, “Tehran is succeeding in one key respect: bringing Israel closer to its Arab neighbors.” Danon noted that behind closed doors, Arab leaders admit that Iran is the main threat to the region. “Our Arab neighbors understand that Israel is the leading force in the fight against radicalism and terrorism, and more and more Arab countries are forging new ties with Israel,” Danon said. “An unprecedented wave of normalization is sweeping the region, as Israel continues to develop and improve relations with our Arab neighbors.” The foundation of that new relationship is the understanding that Israel has a right to sovereignty, he continued, except for the Palestinian leadership, which is one of the few regional governments that does not want to forge ties with Israel. “As I sit here, the Palestinian leadership has yet to recognize this historic right,” said Danon. “On the contrary: they keep denying the Jewish historical connection to the Land of Israel and our right to sovereignty. They denounce this ambition as racism.” The Israeli ambassador called on regional leaders to help sway the Palestinians to make peace with Israel. “I call on the regional actors, who no longer see Israel as the enemy, to be involved in finding a solution,” Danon said, making clear that Israel is willing to negotiate a peace deal with the Palestinians. “However, I must ask: will the Palestinians even come to the table?” he concluded. The PLO ambassador to the UN in New York, Riyad Mansour, verbally attacked Danon, calling him a liar. At no point did he use his name, but rather referred to Danon either as the ambassador or a speaker. Danon is living in a “fantasy land” if he thinks that he is “opening the door for normalization with Arab countries,” Mansour said, noting that all the Arab countries that spoke at the meeting, as well as many other nations and most Security Council member states, reiterated their commitment to a two-state solution. “So he can listen to whatever noise there is in his head; he is refusing to listen to the Security Council members,” he said. It is impossible to address instability in the region without resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mansour said, and warned that failure to resolve the conflict along with “reckless” Israelis actions in Jerusalem on al-Haram al-Sharif, known to Israel as the Temple Mount, were “provoking a religious conflict in Palestine.” The solution is very clear: a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines, with a just solution to the refugee issue and east Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state, Mansour said. He speculated that perhaps Danon was “deaf” and should “go to a doctor to fix his ears,” or that he is simply “unable to accept what all of you are articulating.” Mansour warned that US President Donald Trump's pending peace plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, known as the “Deal of the Century,” was “not peace-making” and was bound to fail. Mansour further charged that the US had paralyzed the work of the UN Security Council with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by perpetually using its veto power to block action. “A permanent member's use of veto has further undermined the council and exacerbated the situation,” making it impossible to hold Israel accountable for its “crimes,” Mansour said. He challenged Danon to say whether he accepted the authority of the council, saying that what is needed is the enforcement of prior Security Council resolutions regarding the conflict. Mansour called for an international peace conference and a multilateral political process with a set timetable to resolve the conflict, based on past international understandings and relevant UN resolutions. Danon was also “lying” when he said that the Palestinians were not interested in peace or in the two-state solution, Mansour said. He recalled that they had already given up the bulk of what they considered to be historic Palestine by accepting a state in the West Bank and Gaza on only 22% of that territory. Who is it that is “destroying the global consensus on two states? Is it the Palestinian leadership... or is it the extreme Israeli government of occupation that is destroying any hope of peace?” Mansour asked, adding that the “extreme” government Danon represents is “creating a reality of one-state apartheid in historic Palestine.”

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