Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon spoke strongly in defense of Israel and slammed Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the UN after his hysterical accusations against Israel.
Mansour wrote to the Security Council that Israel’s recent actions to limit goods moving through the Kerem Shalom crossing amounted to a “collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population” and said it was a “morally depraved response” to the ongoing terrorism of Hamas.
Ambassador Danon responded, “It is morally reprehensible to make these accusations against Israel while the Hamas terrorists continue their arson attacks on Israel, burning thousands of acres of agricultural fields and wildlife, and threatening the schools and homes of our south.”
“The residents of Gaza must understand that the responsibility for their plight lies exclusively with those who choose to launch bombs at Israeli kindergartens,” he continued.
Mansour’s letter further accused the Israeli government of “sealing off the Kerem Shalom crossing, Gaza’s only commercial crossing for goods in and out of Gaza, cutting off vital supplies and banning all exports from Gaza, putting thousands of jobs at risk, causing prices of essential materials to surge, and compounding the devastating humanitarian situation already rampant in the Gaza Strip where 49% of Palestinians are unemployed.”
In response, Danon said, “Gaza’s residents would have full access to all humanitarian supplies that Israel provides, if Hamas did not divert these resources to building terror tunnels or launching rockets against our civilian population.”
This diplomatic battle took place after Hamas launched over 200 rockets into Israel over the weekend. Four Israeli civilians, including two children, were injured when their home was hit by one of these rockets. An Israeli soldier was injured when Palestinian “protesters” threw a grenade at him during Hamas protests along the border on Friday. This is in adition to the hundreds of fire kite attacks that have damaged over 7,000 acres of Israeli farmland and nature reserves.
Hamas continues to use every means possible to terrorize innocent Israelis. We will not tolerate these attacks and will continue to respond with force until we completely extinguish this terror threat. https://t.co/aetjM1IPIG
— Ambassador Danon (@dannydanon) July 17, 2018
To counter these ongoing terror attacks Israel took the drastic measure of temporarily restricting fuel shipments into Gaza, but will still allow food and medicine into Gaza.
“Due to continued attempts to carry out terror by the Hamas terror organisation, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has decided, on the advice of the chief of staff, to close the Kerem Shalom crossing to fuel and gas until next Sunday,” a statement read from the Defence Ministry.
“Food and medicine will continue to be transferred and will be approved on an individual basis. Moreover, it has been decided to narrow the fishing zone in the Gaza Strip from a range of six nautical miles to three nautical miles,” the statement added.
Following that decision, Hamas decided to stop fruit imports from Israel from entering Gaza, a move intended to “punish” Israel but which essentially harms Gazans. Again Hamas is willing to harm their own people simply to attack Israel.