イスラエル大使「国連に裏切られた」

【ジュネーブＡＦＰ＝時事】イスラエルのダニエル・メロンジュネーブ国際機関政府代表部大使は２４日、昨年１０月７日のイスラム組織ハマスによる奇襲攻撃以来、イスラエルは国連から不当かつ過剰な批判を受けていると主張し、国連に裏切られたと感じていると批判した。（写真は、スイス・ジュネーブで、ＡＦＰのインタビューに応じるイスラエルのダニエル・メロンジュネーブ国際機関政府代表部大使）
　メロン氏は、パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区のハマスやレバノンのイスラム教シーア派組織ヒズボラとの戦いが中東全域を巻き込む形にエスカレートするのではないかとの懸念が高まる中、ＡＦＰのインタビューに応じた。
　イスラエルは数十年にわたり、さまざまな国連機関がイスラエルに対して偏見を持っていると非難してきた。国連側はこれを否定している。
　メロン氏は「われわれは国連がイスラエルを裏切ったと感じている」と述べた。
　イスラエルは長年、「国連を継続的に批判する一方で、「協力の道」を模索しようと努力してきたと主張。この努力を続けたかったが、もはや「われわれは国連を信頼していない」と語った。
　メロン氏は、１０月７日の前例のないハマスによる奇襲攻撃とこれを受けて始まったガザ侵攻、そしてレバノンでの全面戦争につながる可能性があるヒズボラとの衝突激化を受け、全てが変わったと述べた。
　国連とつながりのある裁判所、評議会、機関、職員などは、イスラエルがガザでの報復攻撃において過剰な武力を行使したとして、「戦争犯罪」「ジェノサイド（集団殺害）」だと非難している。
　だが、７月に就任したばかりのメロン氏は、ハマスの「蛮行」に対する非難ははるかに少ないとして、イスラエルと「テロ組織」を「道徳的に同等」と見なしていると指摘。
　さらに、「イスラエル国にとって１９４８年の建国以来、最悪の時期、最悪の出来事でイスラエルを裏切った」として国連を批判した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/09/26-17:09）

Israel's new UN ambassador accused the global body of pummelling his nation with unfair and disproportionate criticism since the October 7 onslaught, leaving the country feeling betrayed.
Israel has for decades accused various UN bodies of bias against it -- something they deny.
We feel that the UN has betrayed Israel, ambassador Daniel Meron told AFP in an interview on Tuesday as the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah has increased fears of a wider Mideast conflict.
Meron said his country had long been striving to find a way to work with the UN, despite our ongoing criticism.
We would have wanted to continue that, he said, but now we don't have any trust anymore in the UN.
Everything changed, Meron said, after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the deadly campaign in Gaza, alongside escalating strikes with Hezbollah that threaten to unleash all-out war in Lebanon.
UN-linked courts, councils, agencies and staff have accused Israel of using disproportionate force in its retaliatory operation in Gaza, including charges of war crimes and genocide.
But Meron, who took over in July as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, maintained there had been far less condemnation of Hamas's barbaric actions.
He slammed the moral equivalence drawn between Israel and a terror organisation.
The UN, he said, has betrayed Israel and at the worst time, the worst event that has happened to the State of Israel since its inception in 1948.
- 'Restrained' -
He also pushed back against the condemnation from within the UN system over Israel's escalating airstrikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, which in a matter of days have killed hundreds, mainly civilians, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Where was the world for 12 months? Meron asked, saying the Iran-back militant group and Israel have been locked in near-daily exchanges of fire since October 7, preventing 70,000 displaced people from returning to their homes in northern Israel.
We have been restrained now for 12 months, but... life in the north of Israel has to go back to what it was, he said.
He reiterated Israel's claim that it is doing everything it can to avoid hitting civilian targets, charging though that Hezbollah is using civilians in Lebanon as human shields.
They would like us to shoot back and hit civilians so that we can be blamed for killing civilians, he said.
Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,495 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.