Israel's Ambassador Rebukes France

From Israel's Ambassador Rebukes France:

In an interview on Saturday, Israeli envoy to the UN Dan Gillerman was highly critical of France, which was particularly active in supporting a UN resolution condemning the errant shelling in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. The UN General Assembly on Friday passed a resolution condemning Israel with 156 countries in favor, seven opposed, and six abstentions. "The French demonstrated excessive eagerness to understand terror while exhibiting utter insensitivity to the pain of (Israeli) terror victims," Gillerman said. Voting "no" were the U.S., Israel, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. Abstaining were Canada, Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

"The French were more active in promoting the resolution than the Qataris who submitted it. As a result of France's persuasion efforts, delegates submitted amendments to the original draft resolution, written by the Arabs, which made significant changes that allowed them to support the resolution," he said. Gillerman walked out of the voting session in protest Friday, saying his words were falling on deaf ears and that he was better off holding a nearby press conference.