Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tore into the U.N. Security Council Wednesday for failing to condemn Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, calling it "outrageous" and "the height of hypocrisy."
The U.S. called for an emergency session of the Security Council following Tuesday's rocket attacks against Israel by Hamas, the Islamist terror group governing the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said Hamas fired 70 rockets and mortars into Israel; one mortar hit a kindergarten yard. Israel responded with airstrikes on 35 Gaza targets.
Kuwait, a non-member state, blocked the attempt by the U.S. to have the Security Council condemn Hamas.
"It is outrageous for the Security Council to fail to condemn Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, while the Human Rights Council approves sending a team to investigate Israeli actions taken in self-defense," Haley said. "I urge the members of the Security Council to exercise at least as much scrutiny of the Hamas terrorist group as it does to Israel's legitimate right of self-defense."
To ignore Hamas' actions and expect Israel to sit on its hands while being attacked, Haley said, was "the height of hypocrisy."
"As I have asked my colleagues before, I will ask you again today: Who among us would accept 70 rockets launched into your country?" Haley said. "We all know the answer to that. No one would."
As she has done previously, Haley called out the U.N. for what she often describes as a clear double standard regarding Israel.
"You might think that the rest of the Security Council would join us in condemning a terrorist organization like Hamas," Haley said. "There shouldn't be any debate about this, but of course, because this attack is about Israel, the standard is different."
"Apparently, some council members did not think Hamas launching rockets qualified as terrorism," she added. "The United States begs to differ."
Haley also forcefully defended Israel on May 15 following its response to violent riots in Gaza and attempts to breach the border, saying no country in the chamber would have acted with more restraint.
Haley called Hamas' rocket fire on Tuesday "indiscriminate," noting there were several injured in Israel but thankfully no deaths.
"The horrifying damage that could have been done is unthinkable," she said.
Haley called Hamas' attacks a clear escalation of violence with the obvious desire to cause maximum civilian casualties. The organization's stated purpose of Israel's destruction is clear, she said, with its rocket attacks, construction of terror tunnels and incitement of violence at the border, the latter to provoke a response from Israel and bring about a predictable international outrage.
"Hamas' actions prove the falsehood of the idea that the people of Gaza require international protection," Haley said. "The people of Gaza do not need protection from an external source. The people of Gaza need protection from Hamas."