While
UNSC Still in
Haiti, Israel
Complains of
Quiet on
Diplomat
Attacks, Ban
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 16, updated
-- On Monday
in front of
the General
Assembly's
meeting on
Syria,
Israel's
Ambassador Ron
Prosor told
Inner City
Press that the
attacks
against
Israeli
diplomats in
New Delhi and
Tbilisi would
be the subject
the following
morning of
Deputy Foreign
Minister
Silvan
Shalom's
meeting with
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
and then 12:30
press
stakeout.
At
Tuesday's noon
briefing,
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
was asked if
Israel had
provided any
information
about the
attacks and
who was behind
them. I am not
aware of any
communications
in that
regard,
Nesirky said
--
at the same
moment Ban was
meeting with
Shalom.
When
Shalom spoke
to the Press,
he said he had
spoken with
Ban about the
attacks and
about Iran; he
quoted Ban as
saying that he
doesn't
understand
Iran,
but would
speak in
Vienna with
Russian
foreign
minister
Lavrov about
this as well
as about
Syria.
Inner
City Press
asked Shalom
about a
reported
attack on or
plot against
Israeli
diplomats in
Bulgaria, as
if his
invitation to
some to return
to
Israel from
Tunisia might
be repeated
elsewhere in
the Middle
East.
Shalom did not
answer about
Burgaria, but
said that the
Arab Spring
could become
an "Islamic
Winter."
To
some, what
Shalom was
referring to
seems possible
in Syria, even
as Prosor on
Monday
denounced
Assad whom he
described as
"trained as an
eye doctor"
but now
seeking to
"blind the
international
community."
Now
on Thursday,
the Israeli
Mission to the
UN has
distributed a
letter Prosor
has
sent to Ban
and to the
Security
Council,
stating that
"The
Security
Council should
have condemned
these attacks
immediately.
Israel expects
it to issue a
clear
condemnation
today, without
any
further delay
or
equivocation.
The Council
must also
address this
threat by
considering
active steps
against Iran,
Hezbollah and
their
terrorist
infrastructure
worldwide.
March 2012
marks the 20th
commemoration
of the bombing
of the Israeli
Embassy in
Buenos Aires,
where Iran and
Hezbollah
killed 29
innocent
people and
injured 242
others. Two
decades later,
they continue
to present a
clear and
imminent
danger to
innocent
people in all
corners of the
globe – as
we witnessed
this week in
New Dehli,
Bangkok and
Tbilisi."
Security
Council
members have
been touring
Haiti this
week, but
political
coordinators
and experts in
their missions
have been
negotiating
statements and
resolutions on
Time Leste,
Somalia,
Women, Peace
and Security
and a
statement that
got issued on
Sudan. So why
no statement
about these
attacks? We'll
see - watch
this site.
Footnote:
A pro-Israel
journalist
raised an
otherwise
unstated
question on
Tuesday: why
didn't Ban
Ki-moon attend
or speak out
Monday's
General
Assembly
session about
Syria, while
clearly
pre-Vienna in
the UN that
day? While the
"Secretary
General"
keeps Tweeting
away, there's
still been no
answer.
, 
