Arutz Sheva spoke with Israel’s UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, at the Israeli-American Council (IAC) conference in Miami.
The conversation came ahead of the vote in the UN on the US resolution condemning Hamas for its rocket attacks on Israel. Danon, who spoke at the IAC conference on Saturday night, said that the vote is “a historic opportunity” for the world to come together and condemn Hamas’ terrorism.
“In the last few years, Ambassador [Nikki] Haley and myself believe that we should be on the offense. We shouldn’t be defending ourselves all the time,” Danon told Arutz Sheva. “The fact that we put a resolution into the General Assembly condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization is something remarkable, it’s something new, and I hope we get the votes.”
“The Palestinians, the very same people who fight with Hamas, now come to the UN to defend Hamas. This is absurd. The Palestinian Authority’s representative in the UN is the biggest defender of Hamas, a terrorist organization who threw Fatah activists from the rooftops in Gaza a few years ago. It’s insane, but I believe we will get the majority. We will have more and more countries condemning Hamas. It will be history if we make it happen.”
Asked how anyone can justify voting against a proposal to condemn a terrorist organization such as Hamas, Danon replied, “In the UN anything can happen. For many years, they got used to passing resolutions only against Israel. I hope that this time they will be joining a moral decision. It’s a terrorist organization. Hamas is holding the bodies of [IDF soldiers] Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin. We expect those countries to do the right thing.”
He praised Ambassador Haley, who will be stepping down from her position soon. “She is a terrific ally, she is a friend of Israel, I’m sure we’ll be seeing her coming back and supporting Israel also in the future, and I know that we will continue to work with the new ambassador. The relationship between the US and Israel is very strong, so I’m confident about the support that we will continue to get in the halls of the UN.”
The IAC conference “is a very important initiative. In Israel we need friends, so to see so many people coming together to speak about Israel, to stand with Israel – we are grateful for that. I want to take this opportunity to wish all Israelis, all the Jews around the world Chag Hanukkah Sameach,” he concluded.