Ross: Palestinian minister asks UN for peace, Israelis look back to genocide
Nov 1, 2023, 8:06 AM | Updated: 8:15 am
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 30: Israeli United Nations Ambassador Gilad Erdan speaks during a Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas war at U.N. headquarters on October 30, 2023 in New York City. The Security Council held an emergency meeting requested by the United Arab Emirates seeking a binding resolution demanding that Israel accept a humanitarian pause to the fighting as it begins its ground operation in Gaza. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths and Commissioner-General of Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees Philippe Lazzarini were called to brief members of the Council regarding the situation on the ground. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
On Monday, at the United Nations, Riyad al-Maliki, Foreign Affairs Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, pleaded with the members of the UN Security Council to demand a cease-fire in Gaza.
“Mr. President, 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza face death every day and every night,” al-Maliki pleaded. “Save them, save them. Look at them as human beings.”
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But in his remarks, he ignored the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, and Israel’s UN Ambassador, Gilad Erdan, whose grandfather perished at Auschwitz, was having none of it. For him, this was 1939 all over again.
“The villages in southern Israel that were invaded by Hamas terrorists were peaceful agricultural villages,” Erdan said. “Entire Israeli families were turned into smoke and ash, no different than the fate that my grandfather’s family met in Auschwitz.”
Does that sound like someone who’s going to accept a truce?
The Palestinian foreign affairs minister argued that the war will never work.
“We have said time and time again, there is no military solution to this conflict,” al-Maliki said.
But for the Israeli Ambassador, there absolutely is a military solution.
“We were shown the genocide of the Jew-hatred did not die with Hitler,” Erdan said. “But the difference between 1939 and today is that today, Jews have a strong state and a powerful military. We are lions of Judah, and we will defend ourselves against those that seek to annihilate us.”
And as for the idea of calling a cease-fire?
“Calling for a ceasefire is no different than calling off D-day in 1944,” Erdan said.
And then – something I did not expect, the Israeli UN Ambassador took a yellow Star of David – and pinned it to his chest.
Another way of saying, Never Again.
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