Israeli ambassador to UN calls Palestinian envoy ‘a terrorist in a suit’
Danny Danon blasts Riyad Mansour for failing to denounce Hamas-led Oct. 7 slaughter; US representative urges terror group to accept ‘bridging proposal’ for hostage-ceasefire deal
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon called the Palestinian Authority envoy “a terrorist in a suit” at a Security Council debate in New York on Thursday.
“You have spent two decades in this place proposing resolutions which stir chaos, sow division and avoid any hope,” Danon said to Riyad Mansour during a debate on the Middle East. “You have accomplished nothing but incite hatred and violence while claiming to be an advocate for peace.”
Danon asked Mansour why he has yet to condemn Hamas in his speeches since the terror group’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
“Mr. Mansour, if you cannot condemn them, you are one of them,” he said. “You do not represent the Palestinian people. Mr. Mansour, you are a terrorist in a suit.”
Mansour accused Israel of “still continuing and waging a genocide against our people.”
Danon, who started his second tenure as Israel’s representative at Turtle Bay this month, also blasted the Security Council for failing to condemn Hamas for its attacks on October 7.
I told the Palestinian representative at the Security Council that he is a terrorist in a suit! Since October 7th, he has delivered hundreds of speeches, yet not once has he condemned the atrocities.
If he cannot condemn this murderous terrorist organization, he is a part of it!… pic.twitter.com/nVzS9jnpoM— Danny Danon ???????? דני דנון (@dannydanon) August 22, 2024
“Here we are 320 days since the slaughter and what have we heard? Silence. No condemnation of Hamas. No recognition of the atrocities committed,” he said, a day after the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute for Victims of Terror.
“I hold no illusions. I expect nothing from this Council today. It has already made it clear that this International Day of Remembrance and tribute does not apply to Israeli victims of terror.”
Danon’s comments came as Israeli, American, Qatari and Egyptian negotiators worked to come up with a hostage release-for-ceasefire deal that both Israel and Hamas could accept.
Danon also said that Israel will act to end the near-daily Hezbollah attacks on the northern border with Lebanon, ongoing since October 8, if it must: “We have our limits. We are not interested in escalation, but Israel will do whatever is necessary to restore security to the northern border, return northern residents to their homes, and remove the threat posed by Hezbollah.”
Over 60,000 Israelis remain unable to return to their homes as the fighting persists in the north. On Wednesday, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at Katzrin on the Golan Heights.
During Thursday’s same debate, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged Security Council members to press Hamas to follow Israel’s lead in accepting the bridging proposal that Washington presented last week to try and secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
“Israel has accepted the bridging proposal. Now, Hamas must do the same,” Thomas-Greenfield said during a Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, echoing comments made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Israel earlier this week.
“As members of this Council, we must speak with one voice, and we must use our leverage to press Hamas to accept the bridging proposal which includes massive and immediate benefits for the Palestinians in Gaza and incorporates a number of Hamas’ earlier demands,” she continued.
She said a ceasefire and hostage-release deal “now is in sight.”
The US envoy also highlighted Gaza’s first reported case of polio in 25 years and urged Israel “to continue working with humanitarian agencies to provide polio vaccinations for Palestinian civilians, particularly children, in Gaza.”
“This effort is urgent, and having a ceasefire deal will greatly facilitate the implementation of this crucial vaccination campaign,” she added.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry in the West Bank said last week that tests in Jordan had confirmed polio in an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby from central Gaza.
According to the UN, Gaza had not registered a case for 25 years, although type 2 poliovirus was detected in samples collected from the territory’s wastewater in June.
More than 10 months into the war in Gaza, Israel’s ongoing military operation, the dearth of aid entering the Strip, and the hot, humid summer all threaten the viability of a life-saving inoculation drive to stop the spread of the disease.
Still, equipment to support the extensive campaign — which United Nations agencies say could start on August 31 — has already arrived in the region.
Under a UN plan, 2,700 health workers in 708 teams would take part, with the WHO overseeing the effort, said Richard Peeperkorn, the agency’s representative in the Palestinian territories.
