Israel accuses Russia of trying to divert attention from war in Ukraine
Israel's UN envoy is surprised to hear Russia's moralizing about Israel's human rights record
Russia is using Hamas' attack on Israel in an "extremely perverse way" to divert the world's attention from the war in Ukraine, Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said.
Source. Ynet reports.
"It is ridiculous to hear from a representative of Russia moralizing against Israel on human rights and international law. The representative of a country that was expelled from the UN Human Rights Council is talking about morality. Russia is the last one to teach us," Erdan said.
He added that "everyone understands" how Russia would react if thousands of its citizens were killed or kidnapped by terrorists.
This is how the Israeli diplomat responded to the words of Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzi, who had earlier denied Israel's right to self-defense.
"Israel, as an occupying power, has no right to self-defense, as confirmed by the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in 2004," Nebenzia said the day before during a speech at an emergency special session of the UN General Assembly on Palestine.
However, the document itself, dated June 9, 2004, does not state that Israel has no right to self-defense, but only that this right does not allow the construction of a separation barrier on the territory that the UN recognizes as occupied.
After the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin sided with Palestine and accused the United States of a failed policy in the Middle East.
"We have always advocated the implementation of the UN Security Council's decisions, meaning first and foremost the creation of an independent sovereign Palestinian state," Putin said.
At the end of October, a Hamas delegation headed by Politburo member Abu Marzouk arrived in Russia. The Israeli authorities interpreted the arrival of Hamas representatives in Moscow as support for terrorism and called for no contact with them, as it gives "a tailwind to terror and legitimization to atrocities."
Background. As reported, Russia's permanent representative to the UN called Israel an occupier, denying it the right to self-defense.
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