Liberman: UN Security Council lacks ‘moral codes’

FM asserts Israel has ‘100% proof’ Hamas behind kidnapping of three youths, calls for ‘outlawing’ Islamic leader

Marissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman in May. (photo credit: Flash90)
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman in May. (photo credit: Flash90)

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman lambasted the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council Tuesday, asserting that the appearance of Rachelle Fraenkel — the mother of kidnapped teenager Naftali Fraenkel — in Geneva at a summit on behalf of the abductees was likely to go unheeded.

“The Security Council, like the Human Rights Council, doesn’t operate according to moral codes, and not according to justice, but according to political interests,” the foreign minister told Israel Radio.

“Therefore, while Israel must fight in the international arena, to have its voice heard, it has to understand that this is the reality,” he added.

Liberman emphasized that notwithstanding Hamas’s refusal to claim the abduction, Israel has “100 percent proof that Hamas carried out the kidnapping” of Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Fraenkel, 16, and Gil-ad Shaar, 16 on June 12.

“I cannot elaborate on the intelligence,” he said, but Israel is “certain” the Gaza-based group stands behind the West Bank attack.

The foreign minister also called to “outlaw” Raed Salah, head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, who he said was aligned politically with Hamas.

“The time has come to outlaw Raed Salah,” Liberman said, stressing that the leader’s messages to his followers regarding the kidnapping point to “total identification” with Hamas.

Sheikh Raed Salah, right, head of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, arrives at Jerusalem's Magistrates court after been arrested by Israeli police, on September 3, 2013. (photo credit: Flash90)
Sheikh Raed Salah, right, head of the Islamic Movement’s northern branch, arrives at Jerusalem’s Magistrates court after been arrested by Israeli police, on September 3, 2013. (photo credit: Flash90)

“There is no difference between Hamas and the northern branch of Raed Salah, in terms of the content, the messages they transmit,” Liberman said. The Israeli Arab cleric’s radical political views were evident in this latest campaign, in his support for the victims of the Mavi Marmara flotilla raid, as well “throughout all the years.”

“There is no explanation why we shouldn’t outlaw him,” he said.

In March, Salah was sentenced to eight months prison for inciting violence over Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque. In 2010, he spent five months behind bars for spitting at an Israeli policeman.

The Islamic Movement is tolerated in Israel but is under constant surveillance because of its perceived links with Hamas and other radical Islamist groups worldwide.

AFP contributed to this report.

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