Text: Ambassador Dan Gillerman Warns Security Council: God is watching
Ambassador Dan Gillerman Permanent Representative of Israel to the United
Nations
http://www.israel-un.org/sec_council/gillerman_051003.htm
Emergency Session of the Security Council
(5 October 2003)
The United Nations
New York
Mr. President,
I wish to congratulate you on the assumption of the Presidency of the
Security Council. Let me also express to you my regret that your first
meeting is of this nature and taking place on this day. I wish also to
express to Sir Emyr Jones-Parry my great appreciation for his able and fair
stewardship of the Security Council last month.
This meeting of the Security Council is being convened within hours of Yom
Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest Day of the Jewish
calendar. I deeply regret that the Council could not meet after this most
important religious day, so as to allow Israel to participate fully in the
debate. I will, unfortunately, have to leave this meeting after I make my
statement to observe this Holy Day.
Yesterday, a Palestinian suicide bomber entered a crowded beachfront
restaurant in the port city of Haifa, murdering 19 innocent civilians and
wounding at least 60 others. The restaurant, a symbol of Arab-Israeli
co-existence was frequented by both Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel, and
among the victims were four Israeli Arabs, and 3 children and a baby girl.
Five victims were members of the same family, and three were members of
another family. Whole families were wiped out by this horrendous act.
Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization that operates freely from
Palestinian Authority territory and has headquarters in Damascus, Syria
proudly claimed responsibility for this massacre. Islamic Jihad is an
organizations committed to the destruction of Israel through holy war and
engages in the deliberate and widespread murder of innocents to that end. It
opposes moderate Arab governments and actively supports terrorist attacks
against Western targets. There could not be a more obvious example of a
terrorist organization.
The massacre in Haifa, is the latest in over forty terrorist atrocities
committed by Islamic Jihad in the past few years. Among the attacks
perpetrated by this organization is the massacre of 21 teenagers at a
discotheque in Tel-Aviv on 2 June 2001; the bombing of 5 June 2002 at the
Meggido Junction which killed 18 Israelis; the bombing of a commuter bus on
21 October 2002 which killed 14 citizens; the attack on a shopping mall in
the Israeli town of Afula on 19 May 2003, in which 3 civilians were killed
and over 70 wounded; and the attack on March 30, 2003 where a suicide bomber
detonated his explosives at a cafe in Netanya wounding 58 civilians.
Mr. President,
The encouragement, safe harbor, training facilities, funding and logistical
support offered by Syria to a variety of notorious terrorist organizations
is a matter of public knowledge. Among the many terrorists group that
operate and benefit from the auspices of the Syrian dictatorship are Islamic
Jihad, Hamas, Hizbollah, and The Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine. It is well known that the Secretary General of Islamic Jihad,
Ramadan Abdallah Shallah is one of several terrorist leaders that operates
freely in Damascus and receives immunity and support from the Assad regime.
Allow me to briefly detail, for the benefit of the Council, the extent of
support that Syria, as well as the regime in Iran, affords to terrorist
organizations such as Islamic Jihad who are engaged in the deliberate
massacre of innocent civilians:
1) Safe harbor and training facilities are provided throughout Syria for
terrorist organizations such as Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hizbollah, both in
separate facilities and in Syrian army bases. The Ein Saheb base, which was
targeted in Israel's measured defensive operation today, is just one of
these facilities sponsored by Syria and Iran. Recruits at camps such as Ein
Saheb come from Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other terrorist groups. They are
taught how to assemble bombs, conduct kidnappings, prepare suicide belts,
gather intelligence and establish terrorist cells. Some have also received
aviation instruction. Recruits training at these camps are slated to return
to Palestinian Authority territory and other areas to set up cells and
conduct terrorist operations.
2) Syria has itself facilitated and directed acts of terrorism by
coordination and briefings via phone and internet and by calling activists
to Damascus for consultations and briefings. Three such operatives, for
example, Tarek Az Aldin, Ali Saffuri and Taabat Mardawi have been identified
under investigation as specifically designated liaisons for relaying
instructions between officials in Damascus and terrorist cells in the West
Bank and Gaza. Mr. Mardawi has admitted involvement in many attacks
including a bus bombing in Haifa in May 2001, a suicide attack at a
restaurant in Kiryat Motzkin in August of that year and a bus attack near
Nazareth in March 2002. Another example comes from an intelligence report
provided by the Head of the Palestinian Preventative Security Apparatus on
31 October 2001, which asserts that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizballah were
meeting in Damascus "in order to increase their joint acitivity.with the aid
of Iranian money". Instructions are also given to halt terrorist activity
when it suits Syrian or Iranian interests to avoid the spotlight, such as
following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 in the United States.
3) Iran, through the use of the Syrian and Palestinian banking systems
sustains a systematic money transfer system, and large sums of money have
been transferred to Islamic Jihad as well as other terrorists organizations
through Damascus for the planning and perpetration of attacks. Mr. Shallah
himself, the secretary-general of Islamic Jihad, is known to have
transferred funds in the hundreds of thousands of dollars from Damascus to
the individual accounts of Islamic Jihad operatives, such as Bassam
al-Saadi, who is responsible for Islamic Jihad financing in Jenin.
4) Syria uses its state run media and official institutions to glorify and
encourage suicide bombings against civilians in restaurants, schools,
commuter buses and shopping malls. To mention but a few examples, Radio
Damascus, in a broadcast of 9 May 2002, lauded "The wonderful and special
suicide attacks which were executed by some of the sons of the Palestinian
nation". In another State-run announcement of 1 January 2002, Damascus radio
declared that "The entire world knows that Syria, its political leadership,
and its Arab people.have turned Syrian Arab soil into a training camp, a
safe haven, and an arms depot for the Palestinian revolutionaries". And on
13 May 2002, President Bashar Assad himself announced in reference to
so-called acts of resistance "If I had not been President of Syria I wouldn'
t hesitate to participate in them". This was not said by Osama Bin Laden or
even Saddam Hussein, these words were uttered by a President of a member of
this council! Syria has also played host to a number of conferences in which
senior terrorist operatives from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other
organizations meet.
5) Syria has facilitated the transfer of arms to Palestinian terrorist
organizations such as Islamic Jihad, by allowing the transfer of
sophisticated weapons from Iran to Hizbullah through Syrian territory.
Hizbullah, itself a viscous terrorist organization, has then sought to
smuggle these arms to Palestinian terrorist groups, as was evidenced in the
Karine A arms shipment and similar incidents.
Mr. President,
These are just a few examples of the extent and nature of the involvement of
the Syrian regime in the deliberate murder of innocent civilians. Each and
every one of these acts constitutes a grave violation of international law
and Security Council resolutions, as well as a threat to international peace
and security. There are few better exhibits of State-sponsorship for
terrorism than the one provided by the Syrian regime.
Security Council resolution 1373 adopted under Chapter 7 of the Charter,
which in an act of the highest hypocrisy Syria itself voted for, makes
absolutely clear that States must prevent acts of terrorism, and refrain
from any form of financing, support, safe harbor or toleration of terrorist
groups. Syrian complicity and responsibility for suicide bombings is as
blatant as it is repugnant. The membership of this arch-sponsor of terrorism
on this Council is an unbearable contradiction and an embarrassment to the
United Nations. For Syria to ask for a debate of the Council, is comparable
to the Taliban calling for such a debate. It would be laughable, if it weren
't so sad.
And yet, Members of the Council and the United Nations can hardly be
surprised at this shameless act of hypocrisy by the Syrian regime. This is
the same regime that speaks so often of "occupation" while it brutally
occupies the neighboring territory of Lebanon It is the same regime that
speaks of international law and human rights while it subjugates its people
under a repressive and primitive dictatorship, violating countless
international obligations. It is the same regime that supported the Saddam
Hussein regime in Iraq in violation of Security Council resolutions, and to
this day facilitates the infiltration of terrorists to attack civilian and
military targets in Iraqi territory. And it is this same despotic regime
that speaks so freely of double standards at the United Nations. Syria would
do well to take a hard look at the mirror, and count itself fortunate that
it has not yet, for unfortunate reasons, been the subject of concerted
international action as part of the global campaign against terrorism. Not
yet!
The Syrian delegate speaks a great deal about so-called resistance. Perhaps
he can tell us precisely, without his familiar diplomatic word games and
misrepresentations, how exactly the murder of children and babies in a
restaurant is an act of legitimate resistance. Or perhaps he could tell us
how the Syrians themselves have dealt with resistance, such as in the case
of Hamas in which some 10,000 civilians were murdered by Syrian Armed
Forces.
Mr. President,
Israel's measured defensive response to the horrific suicide bombings,
against a terrorist training facility in Syria, are a clear act of
self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter. These actions
come after Israel has exercised tremendous restraint despite countless acts
of terrorism that have claimed hundreds of innocent lives for which Syria
bears direct and criminal responsibility. It comes after Israel, and the
international community as a whole, has called repeatedly on Syria to end
its support of terrorism and finally comply with international law. And it
is designed to prevent further armed attacks against Israeli civilians in
which Syria is complicit, with a view to encouraging Syria to resolve its
dispute through bilateral negotiations in accordance with Security Council
resolutions 242 and 338, as it is legally required to do.
May I ask what any other country sitting around this table would do in the
face of the callous murder of hundreds of its civilians? This is not a
hypothetical question. Many states in this organization, and in this
Council, have been faced with terrorism of far less intensity and have
responded with far less restraint and far less concern for human life. And
yet, the Security Council has not seen fit to scrutinize their conduct.
Indeed, on certain occasions the Council has specifically endorsed such
defensive measures.
If there is a double standard in this Organization it is that while some
states are afforded the right to protect their citizens, Israel too often is
sent the message that its citizens are not worthy of protection. If there is
a double standard, it is that some states are able to support terrorism with
impunity, while those defending against it are called to account. If there
is a double standard it is Syria sitting at this table, and raising one hand
to vote against terror and the other to perpetrate and initiate terror! For
the sake of peace and the reputation of this Council, let there be no such
double standard today.
In the face of the rejectionism, aggression and terrorist sponsorship of the
Syrian regime, together with Iran and the Palestinian Authority, what would
the international community have us do? Like any state faced with such a
critical and prolonged threat, Israel must exercise its inherent right and
obligation to defend its citizens. What can we tell the Arab and Israeli
mothers of children murdered in this weekend's attack in Haifa? We could
have prevented the death of your son or daughter? We could have stopped a
terrorist from walking into your town, your school, your home, your bedroom,
but our hands were tied? Israel remains committed to a peaceful solution to
the Middle East conflict, and is ready to make painful compromises to that
end. But no peace can come while terrorism prospers. No negotiations can
bring progress, while our citizens die on the streets.
Today, on the very eve of the Day of Atonement and the thirteenth
anniversary of the Egyptian-Syrian aggression that initiated the Yom Kippur
War, we call on members of the Council to come to the aid of the victims of
terrorism, not their sponsors. Syria deserves no support for its complicity
in murder and the Council would commit an unforgivable act of moral
blindness were it to act otherwise. The time has come for the Council which
adopted resolution 1373, and which has been at the forefront of the global
counter-terrorism campaign, to hold to account a brutal dictatorship that is
world-renowned for adopting terrorism as its primary tool. The world is
watching. And today, more than on any other day, God is watching too!
Thank you, Mr. President.
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