Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren criticized United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday for “legitimizing murder” with his comments on Palestinian terrorism.
Oren, currently a member of Knesset, took issue with Ban’s statement on Tuesday referring to terrorism as a reaction to occupation that is embedded in “human nature.”
“When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says that Palestinian terror is a natural response to occupation, he is legitimizing murder,” Oren wrote in a Facebook post. “I suggest that the next time Ban speaks he should look at the photos of Shlomit Kreigman, Dafna Meir, and dozens of Israelis recently massacred by Palestinians. He should look at the faces of the victims’ families. He should look and feel deeply ashamed.”
Shlomit Krigman, a 23-year-old industrial design student, died after sustaining serious injuries during an attack by two Palestinian terrorists in a grocery store earlier this week. Mother-of-six and nurse Dafna Meir was stabbed to death at the entrance to her home last week. Meir’s killer was a Palestinian teenager who, according to Israel’s internal security service, was motivated to murder by programming he saw on Palestinian television.
In a statement released Tuesday, Ban said:
Palestinian frustration is growing under the weight of a half century of occupation and the paralysis of the peace process. …
Yet, as oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also responded to Ban’s remarks, accusing the secretary general of giving a “tailwind to terrorism.”
“The UN Secretary General’s remarks give a tailwind to terrorism. There is no justification for terrorism. The Palestinian murderers do not want to build a state – they want to destroy a state and they say this openly. They want to murder Jews simply because they are Jews and they say this openly. They do not murder for peace and they do not murder for human rights.
The UN lost its neutrality and moral force a long time ago and the Secretary General’s remarks do not improve the situation.”
[Photo: Miriam Alster / Flash90 ]