Allow me to begin by extending Israel’s deepest condolences to our colleagues from the Observer Mission of the Holy See and the Permanent Missions of Poland and Italy, as well as to the millions throughout the Christian world, and beyond it, who mourn the passing of Pope John Paul II. Israel conside…
Israel shares the international community’s deep sorrow over the thousands of lives lost to the ravages of nature and its profound sense of concern for those victims still suffering.
The United Nations was itself born out of calamity. Its birth heralded the fact that cooperation and international b…
Martin Luther King once said that there comes a time when people get tired. For the peoples of the Middle East — all the people of the Middle East — that time has come. The people of the Middle East are tired — tired of bloodshed and tired of violence. They are tired of terrorism, tired of despotism…
The question of Palestine is not rhetorical. It should not be an endless philosophical inquiry, or an eternal thorn in the sides of all those who reside in the Middle East. On the contrary, it is a question that has an answer — a problem that can be solved. In fact, we stand today at a critical junc…
At the outset, let me thank you once again, Sir, for your able stewardship and assure you of Israel’s utmost cooperation. In addition, let me take this opportunity to thank the Secretary-General and his staff for the work they have done in producing the useful and informative report before us.
Spor…
At the outset, I would like to thank the countries that courageously opted to oppose, or not to vote for, this draft resolution. We are pleased that it was not adopted, as it should never even have been considered. It escapes me how certain countries around this table that have described the draft r…
At the outset, I would like to convey my congratulations to you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for this month. You have already done so very ably in the past and I am sure you will do so this month as well, although I wish I were congratulating you under different circumst…
At the outset, let me congratulate you, Mr. President, on your able conduct of the work of the Council during the month of May. Let me also commend the stewardship of Ambassador Pleuger during the month of April.
The Council has convened here as usual, at the urgent behest of the Palestinian Observ…
Let me take us all back just four days to show the real face of the people who are staging this charade here today. Only last Sunday, a pregnant Israeli mother and her four children, aged 2 to 11, were gunned down at point-blank range. After shooting the mother — eight months pregnant with a baby bo…
Israel objected to this futile resolution not because we oppose a negotiated two-State solution to the conflict, as envisaged in the road map, but because we support it. We objected to this resolution because of what it ignores, because of what it misrepresents and because the motive of its primary …
At the outset, I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your assumption of the Presidency and express to you our appreciation for your fair and very wise stewardship of the Council.
Today, the Jewish people and the people of Israel commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. I know that al…
I am sorry that I have to take the floor again, but I must say that I am somewhat dismayed, bewildered and shocked by the audacity of an entity that has given the world aeroplane hijackings and hostage kidnappings — and that, in fact, invented suicide bombings — trying to give us a lesson in democra…
At the outset, I would like to thank those countries that bravely and with great integrity did not vote for this draft resolution. We are gratified that this draft resolution was not adopted. This draft resolution should never even have been considered. A draft resolution mentioning Sheikh Yassin wi…
At the outset, let me congratulate you, Sir, on your able conduct of the Security Council’s work.
In three and a half years of Palestinian terrorist attacks that have murdered hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians and wounded thousands more, this Council has not met even once to express condemnati…
For much of the past decade, the peoples of the Middle East looked to the future with great optimism. For the first time since the Second World War, nations and individuals allowed themselves to dream that the conflicts that had raged for so long, and claimed so many innocent lives, would henceforth…
The Arabic philosopher of the ninth century, Al-Kindy, imparted universal and timeless wisdom in these words:
“We should not shy away from welcoming and acquiring the truth regardless of where it came from, even if it came from distant races and nations that are different from us. Nothing is more i…
We are all tired, both figuratively and literally, so I will limit myself to a few brief comments. It has been a long debate, and like previous debates of its kind, those seeking to censure Israel have been long on propaganda and short both on fact and on self-reflection. I will not bother to respon…
The Security Council has yet again proved today that it is not a rubber stamp for incessant and hypocritical Palestinian and Syrian whims.
The Palestinian Observer has spent a lot of time blaming others today. He has blamed Israel; he has blamed the Council, and he has blamed a permanent member of …
Here we go again. In a pattern that is as familiar as it is distasteful, we have gathered for yet another meeting of the Council called to censure Israel for its measures to prevent terrorism, rather than to address the terrorism itself. Members might pause to consider what message is sent to the ci…
First, let me congratulate you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council. Let me also express to you my regret that your first meeting should be of this nature and take place on this day.
I wish also to express to Sir Emyr Jones Parry my great appreciation for his able and …
