Erdan to UN: The Middle East is fighting a cancer

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan addressed the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, calling for the council to address the "cancer" in Gaza, and the immediate threats caused by the Hamas terror organization.

In his remarks, Erdan pointed out hypocritical moves from the United Nations and complete and total silence from the organization on their complicity and knowledge of Hamas' activities within the Gaza Strip. "We live in a backwards world. Eighteen years ago, Israel fully withdrew from Gaza in hopes to build trust with the Palestinians and chart a path towards a joint future," he said.

"Instead, the Palestinians voted in the Hamas terror organization, and since then, under the UN’s nose and its agencies, Hamas has exploited international aid and turned Gaza into the war machine that it is."

Was the UN aware of Hamas's terror tunnel construction?

He noted the hundreds of miles of terror tunnels that Hamas built with critical infrastructure and aid donations. He also reminded the council of Hamas's clearly communicated genocidal goals against Israel and the Jewish people. "The world knew this. The UN knew this," he stated. 

Erdan also reminded the 15-member Security Council that the IDF withdrew from Gaza in 2005. He noted that their comments did not address the threat Hamas poses to Israel from Gaza, given that it has promised to repeat the October 7 attack in which terrorists killed 1,200 people in the southern part of the country and seized another 240 as hostages. Close to four months later, some 132 hostages are still being held in Gaza.

Erdan asked the Council what would happen if there was a ceasefire before the IDF destroyed Hamas. He answered his own question by explaining that it would regroup, rearm, and attack again.

“How can you call for a ceasefire and mention a solution to the conflict at the same time? This is a complete oxymoron. You cannot have both; it’s impossible. Hamas seeks to annihilate Israel. If you support a position that leaves Hamas in power, you cannot pretend to wish for a solution to the conflict,” Erdan said.

Erdan also reminded the council that Israel did not start the war they are fighting - but that the state of Israel would defend its safety and future, "just as each of you would defend the future of your countr[ies]."

Erdan also publicly noted Iran's presence and role at the security council, calling the move absurd.

"Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are vile terrorists, but these forces of terror are a mere symptom of the true security threat in the region and beyond. There is a regime responsible for sponsoring 90% of Hamas’ terror budget, as well as arming them and training them. This is the same regime that supplies Hezbollah with precision missiles and provides the Houthis with ballistic missiles."

"All this is carried out in order to wreak havoc and instability in the Middle East, and soon these acts of terror will be carried out under a nuclear umbrella. Yet the Council basically ignores this enormous threat. The threat that is the Ayatollah Regime of Iran. How absurd is it that the Foreign Minister of the number 1 state sponsor of terrorism that aspires to destabilize the Middle East is here today to address the Council?"

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations compared Iran's presence at the meeting to Hitler's Foreign Minister being part of a "serious discussion on how to defend Jews during the Holocaust."

Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.