Following the erection of Hezbollah tents in Israeli territory: Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, today sent an urgent letter to the UN Security Council, demanding that the council strongly condemn Hezbollah, which blatantly violates the council's resolutions and established positions in sovereign territory of the State of Israel.
Ambassador Erdan also demanded that the UN appeal to the Lebanese government to immediately dismantle the tents and evacuate them from Israeli territory.
Previous storm: Lit a candle and leaves UN Security Council debate on Palestinian issue in protest | Spokesperson for the Israeli Mission to the UN
"Israel holds Lebanon responsible for what is happening on its territory," he said. "We will not accept violations of our sovereignty and Israel reserves its right to act to protect it."
Demand for immediate condemnation
The letter follows the ambassador's appeal to the UN peacekeeping division on the matter earlier this month. In the talks and in his letter, the ambassador demanded the immediate condemnation of Hezbollah's blatant violation of Resolution 1701 in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah invaded Israeli sovereign territory and established illegal positions, as part of its growing strength in southern Lebanon, including Unifil's area of operations, in addition to severely restricting UNIFIL's freedom of movement and violent attacks against UN personnel.
Ambassador Erdan to the UN (archive), photo: Shahar Azran
"This is a blatant violation of Security Council resolutions, and further proof that Hezbollah continues to grow stronger in Lebanon with Iranian guidance and funding. The time has come for the Security Council to open its eyes, condemn the aggression and murderousness of the terrorist organization, demand the immediate dismantling of illegal positions in Israeli territory, and act to enable the enforcement of the sovereignty and control of the Lebanese government and UNIFIL's activity in the region in accordance with the mandate."
The ambassador called on the Security Council to "demand that Lebanon meet its obligations to fully implement the council's resolutions, immediately evacuate positions from Israeli territory, and immediately condemn Hezbollah for destabilizing the region. Ambassador Erdan clarified that "Israel will take all necessary measures to protect its security, sovereignty and the security of its citizens."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us