Gaza Rocket Attacks Resume after UN Fails to Condemn Hamas

Explosives can kill. Spent Palestinian rocket. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock

Gaza terrorists again launched rockets at Israel this weekend—shaking a fragile ceasefire that had been established between the sides—just one day after the United Nations Security Council failed twice on Friday to condemn Hamas actions in Gaza. An initial resolution on the recent Gaza border riots vetoed by the United States made “no mention of Hamas. None at all,” noted US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley in comments released by her office. Said Haley, “Instead, the resolution places all the blame on Israel… It is resolutions like this one that undermine the UN’s credibility in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

The resolution, according to the UN News website, was brought by Kuwait and called for the powerful Security Council to contemplate steps to “guarantee the safety and protection” of Palestinians, including a report on a potential “international protection mechanism” from the UN Secretary-General. The US, meanwhile, brought their own resolution calling upon Hamas and Islamic Jihad to “cease all violent activity and provocative actions, including along the boundary fence.”

Ahead of the votes, Haley told the Council “you either support Hamas or not. This vote will tell the story.” In the end, 10 of the 15 nations on the Council voted for the anti-Israel Kuwaiti resolution, while 11 abstained on the US measure. The next day after the UN votes effectively ignored Hamas terrorism, Gaza rocket fire against Israel resumed. Over the weekend, the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted multiple Gaza rockets while the Israeli Air Force hit over a dozen Hamas terror targets according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Twitter feed.

In a series of Twitter posts regarding Israel’s initial response to the latest attacks from Gaza, the IDF Spokesperson said they targeted 10 sites in three military compounds owned by Hamas—including “two Hamas munition manufacturing and storage sites.”

Later, the Israelis aimed for five more terror targets at a site “belonging to the Hamas terror organization’s naval force,” per the IDF Spokesperson in another series of tweets.

“This was an additional IDF strike carried out last night targeting terror sites belonging to the Hamas terror organization, which is responsible for all events that transpire & emanate from the Gaza Strip- most notably the severe attacks it conducts against Israel & its civilians,” continued the IDF Spokesperson.

“This strike was conducted in response to the projectiles which were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel last night, in addition to the acts of terror approved and led by the Hamas terror organization throughout the weekend.”

The renewed Gaza rocket violence against Israel only emphasized some of Haley’s concerns expressed ahead of the votes on Friday. “The terrorist group Hamas bears primary responsibility for the awful living conditions in Gaza,” said Haley, noting the terror group rules Gaza, shifts humanitarian aid to “military infrastructure”, fires rockets at Israel and stoked violence at the border fence.

“A necessary precondition for peace is recognition of reality. One of those realities is that Hamas is a major impediment to peace,” said Haley. “They are in charge of Gaza, and they use their resources not to help the people of Gaza but to wage war against Israel. Another reality is when the United Nations sides with terrorists over Israel, as the Kuwait resolution does, it only makes a peaceful resolution of this conflict harder to reach.”

(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, June 3, 2018)

 

 

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