Israel’s UN envoy calls on world body to designate Hamas a terror group

In light of the massive barrage of rockets on Israel’s south, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, urges the UN Security Council to formally recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization.

“After a day of rocket barrages, Hamas again demonstrates that it is a terrorist organization. To the world it presents its civilians as victims, but then uses them as human shields,” Danon writes in a letter to the current president of the Security Council, Ma Zhaoxu of China.

“I call on the Security Council to condemn Hamas in the strongest terms for its indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilian populations. It is time this body acknowledges and finally designates Hamas as a terrorist organization,” Danon writes.

Hamas alone is responsible for the current violence, Danon says. “Israel has cooperated with all international bodies, including the UN, but the aggressive escalation from Gaza indicates that there are elements pushing for further rounds of violence that will cause destruction and losses within the Gaza Strip.”

— Raphael Ahren