McCain to U.N.: Condemn Palestinian attacks

By · January 24, 2008

U.S. Sen. John McCain called on the United Nations to condemn Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel.

McCain (R-Ariz.), a front-runner in a tight race for the Republican presidential nomination, wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Wednesday urging her to block a proposed Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip without mentioning Palestinian rocket fire against Israeli towns.

“The United States should oppose any U.N. statement or resolution that fails to condemn vociferously the terrorist tactics employed by Hamas, including its rocket attacks against Israeli civilians,” McCain wrote. “For the Security Council to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza without reference to the Israeli security situation would constitute a failure of responsibility.”

McCain’s letter comes one day after the Simon Wiesenthal Center urged all presidential candidates “to condemn the continued vilification and dual standard directed against Israel by the United Nations.”

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), a leading Democratic presidential hopeful, on Tuesday wrote a similar letter to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad.