FM: John Whitbeck
As reported in the brief AFP news item transmitted below, the
ambassadors to Israel of Ecuador, France, Japan, Malta, "the
Slovak Republic" and South Korea have been summoned to the
Israeli foreign ministry "for a protest talk" in response to
their insubordination in voting contrary to Israel's wishes in
the UN Security Council vote on a status upgrade for the State
of Palestine.
Presumably, the ambassador of Slovakia will diplomatically
inform the Israeli foreign ministry that, in fact, Slovenia,
not Slovakia, is currently a member of the Security Council.
NOTE: The mother of the "baby born prematurely after
his mother was injured during Israeli bombardment" and shown
in one of the photos below died of her injuries.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2496486/middle-east
Israel to summon ambassadors of countries that voted for
Palestinian UN membership
1 / 2
Children injured
during Israeli bombardment receive treatment at at
the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah, on the southern Gaza
Strip on April 20, 2024, amid ongoing battles
between Israel and the Palestinian militant group
Hamas. (AFP)
2 / 2
Israel's Ambassador
to the United Nations Gilad Erdan shakse hands with
Alternate Representative of the United States for
Special Political Affairs in the United Nations
Robert Wood during a Security Council meeting to
address the situation in the Middle East, including
the Palestinian question, at UN headquarters in New
York City, New York, US, April 18, 2024. (REUTERS)
- Thursday’s vote saw 12 countries on the
UN Security Council back a resolution recommending full
Palestinian membership and two — Britain and Switzerland
— abstain
- Israel has killed more than 34,000
Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children,
according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run
territory
JERUSALEM: Israel will summon ambassadors of
countries that voted for full Palestinian UN membership “for
a protest talk” on Sunday, a foreign ministry spokesman
said.
It came after the Palestinian Authority said it would
“reconsider” its relationship with the United States after
Washington vetoed the Palestinian membership bid earlier
this week.
Thursday’s vote saw 12 countries on the UN Security Council
back a resolution recommending full Palestinian membership
and two — Britain and Switzerland — abstain.
A Palestinian doctor
tends to a baby born prematurely after his mother was
injured during Israeli bombardment, at the Kuwait Hospital
in Rafah, on the southern Gaza Strip on April 20, 2024, amid
ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
(AFP)
Only the United States, Israel’s staunchest
ally, voted against, using its veto to block the resolution.
On Saturday, Israeli foreign ministry
spokesman Oren Marmorstein said the ministry “will summon
for a protest talk the ambassadors of the countries that
voted in the Security Council in favor of upgrading the
status of the Palestinians in the UN.”
“The ambassadors of France, Japan, South
Korea, Malta, the Slovak Republic and Ecuador will be
summoned tomorrow for a demarche, and a strong protest will
be presented to them,” he said in a post on X.
Blood stains are seen
on a wall inside a house following an Israeli raid on the
Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West bank on April
20, 2024. (AFP)
“An identical protest will be presented to
additional countries,” he said.
“The unambiguous message that will be delivered to the
ambassadors: A political gesture to the Palestinians and a
call to recognize a Palestinian state — six months after the
October 7 massacre — is a prize for terrorism.”
The draft resolution called for recommending to the General
Assembly “that the State of Palestine be admitted to
membership of the United Nations” in place of its current
“non-member observer state” status, which it has held since
2012.
The majority of the UN’s 193 member states — 138, according to
a Palestinian count — have recognized a Palestinian state.