Israeli official: White House blocked UN Security Council statement on escalation

The Biden administration blocked the UN Security Council from issuing a statement on the latest uptick in violence between Israelis and Palestinians, a senior Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

The Security Council held an emergency session today to discuss the recent violence in Jerusalem, and several members pushed for the top UN panel to issue a statement condemning Israel over the police beating of Muslim worshippers at Al-Aqsa on Monday night, according to a UN diplomat for a county on the panel.

Some members were also pushing for the statement to include a condemnation of rocket fire at Israel from Gaza and Lebanon, the UN diplomat says.

However, Israel pushed countries against issuing any statement, fearing that it would be used to draw an equivalency between its actions and those of terror groups, the senior Israeli official says.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan along with the Foreign Ministry coordinated with the Biden administration so that the Security Council would not formally weigh in on the latest developments, the senior Israeli official says.