Israel slams UNSC for not condemning ‘jihadist Nazi’ Hamas, calls out ‘barbarity, savagery’

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has slammed the UN Security Council for failing to condemn the terror attack against the country on October 7, unleashed by Hamas.

Drawing a parallel between the attack and anti-semitic Kristallnacht Holocaust of 1938, he said if the council could see the “barbarity and savagery with your own eyes” it would understand the “evil” Israel is defending itself against.

“The holy Jewish Sabbath is a day of peace and rest. It is the day on which God rested following the creation of the world yet no Jew will ever forget the Sabbath of October 7th. It has been seared into the collective trauma of the Jewish people forever.

Exactly 85 years ago, today, another traumatic atrocity was burned into the Jewish people’s history. Between November 9th and 10th 1938, the Jewish communities of Germany and Austria suffered Kristallnacht, the Nazis November pogrom which was the first hyper violent exposure of the Nazis murderous Jew hatred,” Erdan said at the UNSC meeting.

He said had the Council existed in 1938, its response to the pogrom wouldn’t have been different.

“Nearly 100 Jews were murdered, thousands of Jewish homes, hospitals, schools, houses of worship and businesses were ransacked and burned to the ground. Israelis endured another such pogram five weeks ago, yet here, we are 34 days later and this Council still has not condemned Hamas’s heinous planned Massacre of Israeli civilians. Had this Council in its current form existed in 1938, I doubt that the response would be much different,” he added.

He asked the council to invite him to share a screening of the footage from Hamas’s attack on October 7. He claimed the footage was captured by Hamas terrorists themselves.

“Once you see the barbarity and savagery with your own eyes you will understand the evil that Israel is defending itself against,” he added.

He also claimed that over the past 16 years, Hamas has turned Gaza into a terror trap.

“Over the past 16 years, Hamas has turned every inch of Gaza into a terror trap. Nothing is sacred to these jihadist Nazis. Every medical worker, doctor and patient in Gaza is a human shield for the Hamas terrorist. It is a war crime of epic proportions. Will this be the focus of today’s meeting? How can we possibly hold a briefing on the medical situation in Gaza without making this the primary issue of this meeting,” Erdan said.

He also claimed that Hamas was trying to stop civilians from leaving the war zone.

“Israel is at war with Hamas and we have gone above and beyond to mitigate civilian casualties. For Israel, life is sacred but yet for Hamas, death is sacred particularly civilian deaths,” he added.

He said Israel was fighting a war it did not “start or want.”

He accused the UN of relying on Hamas inputs for gauging the ground situation.

“For years, the UN has refused to establish verification mechanisms that can provide us a truthful picture of reality. WHO supplies the UN with these so-called facts. Sorry, who is it that supplies the UN with these so-called facts? Is this information coming from unbiased and impartial third parties? The answer is no. Every piece of information regarding the situation on the ground that this Council receives comes from Hamas, not international UN employees in Gaza,” the envoy added.

Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday defended its military’s decision to encircle Gaza’s largest hospital, saying Hamas uses civilians as human shields. It also said Hamas has established a bunker under the hospital.

The director of the Shifa hospital, Mohammed Abu Selmia, said because medical devices couldn’t work due to absence of electricity, “patients, especially those in intensive care, started to die”.

Palestine’s health authorities said five patients died after the generator shut down.

Netanyahu said the responsibility for harm to civilians lies with Hamas. He also said the group was doing everything it can to prevent civilians from leaving for safer places.