News Brief04:50 AM

(IsraelNN.com) A senior United Nations official's criticism of Israel's counter terrorist actions in Gaza "creates an analogy between the terrorists and those who are defending themselves against terror," Foreign Ministry Director-General Aaron Abramovich charged. He emphasized that the remark by United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes does not serve the interests of peace and may unwittingly encourage terrorists to believe that the international community will exert pressure on Israel, instead of dealing with the roots of the violence.

Holmes, during a visit to Sderot, which has been under siege by rocket-firing terrorists for more than seven years, condemned the rocket strikes but added, "There is no time to lose in putting an end to this vicious circle of violence." He later rejected the Foreign Ministry's criticism, stating that"it would be very hard to construe from what I said anything that would be encouraging terrorism."