Israel’s proposals to annex Judea and Samaria or construct settlements in Gaza post-war “would be inconsistent with international law, sow the seeds of further instability and create new obstacles to Israel’s full integration into the region,” said Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Wood spoke Monday before the U.N. Security Council, covering a range of topics regarding Israel and the Middle East.
He also said the “United States is deeply concerned by increasing extremist settler violence” against Palestinians, adding that the Government of Israel must intervene in, prevent and stop violent attacks in Judea and Samaria and “protect all communities from harm.”
Wood reminded the global body of sanctions imposed by U.S. President Joe Biden and the Biden administration’s call to extend the Palestinian banking agreement for an additional year.
Failure to address these issues “threatens Israel’s security, makes the realization of a two-state solution more difficult and undermines the prospects for regional peace and stability,” he said.
The ambassador then shifted his focus to Hamas and “the misery, death, and destruction they sparked 13 months ago.”
After reiterating the U.S. commitment to the release of the hostages, Wood urged the council “not to let Hamas off the hook.”
“Hamas has cynically demonstrated that it prefers the war continue, including by rejecting multiple ceasefire offers and other formulas that would bring much-needed relief to Palestinian civilians desperate for an end to the fighting,” he said.
Despite repeated instances of anti-Israel bias from the United Nations, he stated that the “U.N. is not the problem” but “part of the solution.”
Wood said the “United States fundamentally rejects the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants” for Israeli leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former defense minister.
“We have been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter,” he said. “And we are deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants, as well as troubling process errors that led to this decision.”
“Moreover, this decision does not make the pursuit of peace any easier,” he added.
