UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeated his criticism last night of statements made by Prime Minister Netanyahu that the Palestinians’ demand to evacuate all the Jewish settlements, on lands the Palestinians demand will be part of their future state, was tantamount to ethnic cleansing of Jews. Ban said at a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East that he was disturbed by the outrageous statement that anyone who opposed the expansion of the settlements supported ethnic cleansing. He repeated that the settlements were illegal and called for the end of what he defined as “the oppressive occupation.”
“I am disturbed by a recent statement by Israel’s prime minister portraying those who oppose settlement expansion as supporters of ethnic cleansing. This is unacceptable and outrageous. Let me be absolutely clear, settlements are illegal under international law. The occupation, stifling and oppressive, must end,” stressed the UN chief.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon responded to the comments, stressing that it was a distorted view and that Secretary-General Ban chose to condemn Israel regularly instead of condemning the Islamist Hamas organizations, an internationally recognized terror group, for building tunnels and terror-related infrastructure.