Bowing to pressure from non-aligned nations, the U.N. Security Council has issued a statement that condemns recent terrorist bombings but refuses to acknowledge that they were targeted at Jewish and Israeli institutions.
The statement, read by Security Council President Jamsheed Marker of Pakistan last Friday, followed a meeting where Argentine Foreign Minister Guido Di Tella reported on the July 18 bombing of the building housing Argentina’s Jewish communal institutions.
More than 100 people were killed in the blast.
The informal consultation was called by Argentina and by Great Britain. Two car bombs in London last week damaged the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish fund-raising organization, injuring nearly two dozens individuals.
A draft statement circulated early last week specifically mentioned the Israelite Association for Mutual Assistance in Buenos Aires and the Israeli Embassy in London as the targets, and expressed solidarity with the victims of the attacks.
But as approved by consensus last Friday, the statement expressed “sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families,” as well as to the people and governments of Argentina and of the United Kingdom. Jews and Israel are not mentioned.
This bowdlerization of the statement came at the behest of the non-aligned states, represented in the Security Council by Pakistan, according to U.N. sources.
ISRAELI ENVOY EXPRESSES DISAPPOINTMENT
In its statement on the recent bombings, the Security Council demanded “an immediate end to all such terrorist attacks,” and stressed “the need to strengthen international cooperation in order to take full and effective measures to prevent, combat and eliminate all forms of terrorism, which affect the international community as whole.”
Israeli, American and Argentine officials have accused Iran of sponsoring these terror attacks. Teheran has denied involvement.
In a meeting last week with his Israeli counterpart, Emilio Cardenas, Argentina’s ambassador to the United Nations, said that as the investigation of the July 18 attack continued, his country would seek a formal Security Council resolution condemning the blast and those responsible.
The Israeli ambassador, Gad Ya’acobi, meanwhile, expressed disappointment at “the deletion of the explicit reminder that the terror activities in Buenos Aires and in London were aimed against Jewish targets, Jewish communities, and the Embassy of Israel in London.
“This language is an escape by those who are not ready to fight aggressively against this international threat to stability and peace,” he said. “The deletion of the references to the targets is unfair, and it causes damage to the moral position and standing of the Security Council on other matters.”
Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, issued a statement condemning the Security Council for refusing to identify Jews as the principal targets of the recent attacks.
“The council’s statement shows that despite the ‘new world order,’ the old standard vis-a-vis Israel and the Jewish people is alive and well at the United Nations,” he said.
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