Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein issued the following statement:

US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power singled out Israel for unfair criticism during Amb. Power’s opening remarks at the UN Security Council Open Debate on the Middle East.   Ambassador Power’s remarks at the UN were the height of hypocrisy – since during Ambassador Power’s recent visit to Israel, Power denounced anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, stating that “Israel is just not treated like other countries,” and that UN members single out Israel for criticism.  (ZOA had praised Ambassador Power’s remarks in Israel regarding the UN’s anti-Israel bias.)

Ambassador Power’s UN address included the following abominations:

1. After initially properly condemning the recent attacks in which Palestinian Arabs stabbed to death Shlomit Krigman, 24, and Dafna Meir, a mother of 6, and stabbed and wounded another Israeli woman, Ambassador then engaged in false “moral equivalence.” Power inappropriately stated that these and other Palestinian Arab attacks underscored the need to “bring an end to the violence on both sides” and launched into condemning alleged “settler violence” and castigated Israel for not doing enough to hold accountable the persons involved in this.   In fact, “settler violence” is virtually non-existent; Israel does more than enough to hold accountable anyone suspected of anything of the sort.  The problem is not “violence on both sides”; the real problem is the one-sided wave of Palestinian Arab (PA) terrorism against innocent Israelis, incited by PA leadership, including hundreds of stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks against innocent Jews since mid-September 2016.   During this 5-month wave of terror, Palestinian Arabs murdered 31 innocent Israelis and wounded 355 innocent Israelis.

2. Ambassador Power falsely stated that the PA was “pressing for calm,” and implied that some unnamed source was inciting violence that the PA should just “counter,” and omitted the salient fact that it is the PA that is inciting the violence against innocent Jews.  Specifically, Ambassador Power stated: “It is also incumbent on the Palestinian Authority to do all it can to counter incitement to violence and to continue to press for calm.”  In fact, the Palestinian Authority continues to incite violence against innocent Israelis in the PA’s speeches, official newspapers, Facebook pages, textbooks, schools, clubs, government-controlled mosques, government-controlled television specials, government-controlled ceremonies honoring terrorists, etc. 

3. Ambassador Power then launched into a long tirade against Israeli “settlement activity.” Power ignored the facts that Israel has the right under international law to build in eastern Jerusalem and Judea/Samaria; that the 2004 President Bush-PM Sharon letter agreement – confirmed by the U.S. Congress – affirmed Israel’s right to build in the settlements; that the “settlements” are in historic Jewish lands to which Israel has the greatest right under international law; that despite Israel’s rights, settlement building under Netanyahu’s government is minimal; and that unlawful building by Palestinian Arabs is an epidemic.  It is remarkable that Ambassador Power continued to single out Israeli’s tiny lawful settlements in an address about the Middle East – while failing to mention most of the region’s real oppressors and dangerous regimes, such as Iran.

4. Ambassador Power then continued to insist on the creation of a Palestinian State (which she misleadingly called a “two-state solution”) – despite the fact that both left and right in Israel now understand that such a state would be another Gaza-style launching pad for tens of thousands of rocket attacks on Israel.

5. Ambassador Power also complained about humanitarian conditions in Gaza – and never mentioned that the designated terrorist organization Hamas is solely responsible for these conditions.  Instead, Ambassador Power placed the onus on Israel, with comments such as demanding “opening Gaza border crossing points.”  Amb. Power omitted mentioning the hundreds of truckloads of goods that Israel transports to Gaza every single day.  In 2015, 139,364 trucks of goods entered Gaza carrying construction materials (‪over 3.7 tons), medical equipment, and other good for the benefit of Gaza’s civilian population.

6. The only other countries that Ambassador discussed in her “Middle East” speech were Syria and Lebanon.  Just like she failed to mention Hamas when discussing Gaza.

Ambassador Power failed to mention terrorist organization Hezbollah during her discussion of Lebanon.   Ambassador Power failed to mention Iran and its violations of the Iran deal and UN Security Council resolutions, ISIS’s expansion into Libya and elsewhere, and any other oppressive regimes throughout the Middle East.  

In other words, Ambassador Power is guilty of anti-Israel bias and singling out Israel for unfair criticism – the very same sins that Power condemned while speaking in Israel.