President accepts Ban’s invitation to speak at the UN

President Reuven Rivlin accepted an invitation by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday to address the General Assembly on International Holocaust Memorial Day in January.

Ban extended the invite during a joint meeting, after the UN chief met separately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Ramallah.

While the meeting with Netanyahu seemed to have been tense, with Ban slamming “provocations” on the Temple Mount, and Israel’s settlement policy, the session with Rivlin had a softer tone. The UN leader congratulated Rivlin on assuming office in July and said he looked forward to his “leadership to advance peace, development and human rights for all.”

While extolling their “shared belief in the need to improve the lives of Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Ban said the world did not have the “luxury of time or getting distracted from tackling the fundamental cause of strife, namely the absence of a comprehensive peace settlement.”

Ban also praised Israeli steps to lift restrictions on the Gaza Strip in the framework of a temporary truce agreement penned in late August which brought Operation Protective Edge in the Strip to a close.

Rivlin responded that the “lifting of the restrictions can only take place after the Palestinian leadership, and the international community, find a way to dismantle the terrorist capabilities of Hamas, and ensure that Israeli citizens will be able to live in safety.”

The president added that a long-term solution should address the core issues, warning against maintaining the conditions that gave rise to the bloody 50-day conflict.

“Israel cannot tolerate a situation, in which Hamas is targeting Israeli civilians, and expanding its terrorist capabilities and infrastructure,” he said.