The United States on Friday criticized Syria for equating the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center in New York with Israel's recent destruction of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, according to Reuters.
A U.S. official told reporters that "the idea of equating the destruction of the World Trade Center and the demolition of homes that has been going on in the territories is outrageous."
"It's really unfortunate the Syrians took this opportunity of an open meeting on counter-terrorism to make what we saw as an outrageous speech. This is not the kind of speech we would expect to come from a responsible member of the Security Council," the official said.
In his presentation speech as a new U.N. Security Council member, Syrian representative Fayssal Mekdad said the 15-member body practiced a double standard in denouncing terrorism around the world but avoiding criticism of Israel.
"We must note the scene of tens of Palestinian houses which were demolished by Israeli tanks in the Rafah camps a few days ago is not much different from the scene of the World Trade Center which was destroyed by the terrorists, whom we have all agreed here to combat and eliminate," Mekdad declared.
Mekdad, a senior counselor in his U.N. mission, was addressing a Security Council debate on terrorism reports that Syria and others had submitted on how they were combating threats in their countries.
Syria was elected late last year as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council for a two-year term that began in January.
In his speech to the council, Mekdad condemned the September 11 attacks on the United States but said "foreign occupation is the most brutal form of terrorism." "Therefore, resisting such foreign occupation, particularly the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, is a legitimate form of struggle," he said.
Israel's "daily acts" against Palestinians are a "war crime that requires us to bring its perpetrators to justice," Mekdad stressed. (Albawaba.com)
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