At
End
of UN Debate,
Syria's Called
Terrorism's
Central Bank,
Cites
Jimmy Carter
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 14 --
On a day when
Security
Council
Permanent
members
were asked
about
sanctions on
Syria,
virtually all
Permanent
Representatives
had left when
Syria took the
floor in the
Council
past 7 pm on
Monday.
Syrian
Ambassador
Bashar
Ja'afari
denouncesd
what he called
the "state
terrorism"
of Israel, in
the Golan
& against
the "peace
flotilla."
He spoke of
"foreign
financial
support" &
cross-border
arms
trafficking
causing
terrorism in
his country,
and
said he'd sent
a letter to
the Security
Council on
Saturday on
this.
(Afterward he
said the
letters would
be e-mailed to
Inner City
Press - and it
was, 30
minutes later,
and is now put online here,
mostly in
Arabic.)
He
read portions
of an article
from what he
called "the
Israeli
press,"
quoting a
professor that
Israel "can
hit European
capitals"
and wants to
deport
Palestinians.
"It's a long
article," he
said in
conclusion.
Israel's
representative,
not Ron Prosor
who'd spoken
before Cuba
and called
Syria's
"terrorism's
Central Bank"
but another
ambassador,
took the floor
in reply,
saying that
"Syria guns
down its own
people," and
"finances
terrorist
organizations."
This
being the
UN, Syria took
the floor
again to
sur-reply to
"the
representative
of the Israeli
occupation,"
saying "what
they did in
Dubai, we all
know." He
cited, and
Inner City
Press
Tweeted
tongue in
cheek,
that this is
the view of
Desmond Tutu
and
Jimmy Carter,
on "Israeli
apartheid."
On
his way out,
when Inner
City Press
mentioned
Jimmy Carter,
Ja'afari said
there's
more, --
"Richard Falk,
John Dugard
and Jean
Ziegler."
That, of
course, is
another story.
(c) UN Photo
Ja'afari in
UNSC
previously,
Jimmy Carter
& dream
team not shown
The
Security
Council only started
its terrorism
debate at 4
pm;
non-Council
members didn't
start until
6:30. The
European Union
didn't have
its
main Observer
still there;
all of the P-5
Perm Reps were
long gone
with Syria and
Israel went at
it.
Ron Prosor
complained
that Israel's
letter about
rockets from
Gaza had been
met with
Council
silence. In
a sense,
Israel was
left to this
time, where
Cuba's
Permanent
Representative
spoke of
double
standards and
Luis Posada
Carriles.
And so it goes
at the UN.
, 
