NYT NOTICES THAT HAMAS HATES JEWS

JUST A LITTLE "COMPLICATION." WHY SHOULDN'T ISRAEL MAKE NICE WITH PEOPLE COMMITTED TO THE DEATH OF EVERY JEW ON THE PLANET? HAMAS JUST NEEDS A HUG!

Hamas Ideology Complicates Peace Efforts - Steven Erlanger
In the Katib Wilayat mosque in Gaza one recent Friday, Imam Yousif al-Zahar of Hamas told the faithful: "Jews are a people who cannot be trusted." At Al Omari mosque, the imam cursed the Jews and the "Crusaders," or Christians, and the Danes, for reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. He referred to Jews as "the brothers of apes and pigs," while the Hamas television station, Al Aksa, praises suicide bombing and holy war. Such incitement against Israel and Jews was supposed to be banned under the 1993 Oslo accords and the 2003 Roadmap peace plan. Hamas, no party to those agreements, feels no such restraint.

Since Hamas took over Gaza last June, Hamas sermons and media reports preaching violence and hatred have become more pervasive, extreme and sophisticated, on the model of Hizbullah and its television station Al Manar, in Lebanon. No matter what Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agree upon, there is concern that the attitudes being instilled will make a sustainable peace extremely difficult. (New York Times)

HAMAS PUPPET THEATRE!

Hamas’s Puppets by ABE GREENWALD (Commentary)

On March 30, Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV aired a children’s puppet show in which a child puppet stabs a George W. Bush puppet to death. Here’s the child’s indictment of Bush:

Child: “You killed daddy in the Iraq war. It’s true, you killed him in the Iraq war. As for my mom - you and the criminal Zionists killed her in Lebanon. You and the criminal Zionists also killed my younger and older brothers in the Gaza holocaust. I’m an orphan, you criminal!”

I have to admit, I love the Bush puppet’s Larry David-esque response:

Bush: “What are you talking about? Where did you come from? Don’t I have enough troubles already? Where did you come from?”

Good question. But this much is clear: If his father is Iraqi, his mother Lebanese, and his brothers Palestinian, the Democrats would champion him as being even better than Obama at leading America into a post-racial future.

Of course, the kid is an amalgam of all the Muslim victims of American and Zionist imperialism. Which sheds a curious light on the scene’s final exchange:

Child: “You are impure, Bush, so you are not allowed inside the White House.”

Bush: “What are you saying?! Why am I not allowed into the White House?”

Child: “Because it has been turned into a great mosque for the nation of Islam. I will kill you just like Mu’az killed Abu Lahab. I will kill you, Bush, because that is your fate.”

Child stabs Bush repeatedly 

Child: “Ahhh, I killed him.”

But Abu Lahab was killed for rejecting Islam. These righteous anti-imperialists have the darndest time staying on message!

HAMAS LEADER OFFERS PARTIAL CEASE-FIRE, DENIES HOLOCAUST

Mashaal offers to stop civilian attacks (JPost)
Hamas has offered Israel a deal in which both sides would refrain from attacking civilian targets, the group's Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal said.

In an interview with Sky News broadcast Monday, Mashaal said the offer was identical to one made to Israel 10 years ago.

"We renew our offer to Israel to let the civilians on both sides not be a part of this conflict," he said. "We renew this offer today."

Mashaal asserted that if the IDF refrained from killing any Palestinian civilians, Hamas would only carry out attacks against Israeli military targets.

Mashaal went on to confirm that captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit was alive...

Mashaal continued by saying that Hamas believed the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust was "exaggerated."

"We don't deny the Holocaust, but we believe the Holocaust was exaggerated by the Zionist movement to whip up people," he said. "We don't deny the fact but we don't accept two issues. We don't accept the exaggerating of numbers and we don't accept that Israel uses this to do what it wants."

HAMAS SMUGGLES IRANIAN ROCKET BLUEPRINTS INTO GAZA

Hamas Smuggles Iranian Blueprints into Gaza for Rocket Upgrades - Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel (Ha'aretz)
Hamas militants who recently returned to Gaza after training in Iran brought detailed blueprints for upgrading the capabilities of rockets, according to senior PA sources.   The aim is to strike at Israeli communities north of Ashkelon.  The source added that some 200 Hamas militants who received training in Iran, the Beqa'a Valley in Lebanon, and Syria have returned to Gaza.  Hamas and Hizbullah militants are being trained in Iran together, and are learning the same fighting doctrines.

HAMAS: "WE DESIRE DEATH"

“We Desire Death”

DAVID HAZONY - (CONTENTIONS)

How twisted is Hamas? Here is Fathi Hammad, a Hamas member of parliament, in a startling video that everyone should watch. In a speech, Hammad described Hamas’ attitude towards the wondrousness of human life:

[The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its methods of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: “We desire death like you desire life.”

Zowie. This is not a single suicide bomber, or a crazed lunatic, but a leading politician in the leading Palestinian political party. In recent posts I have suggested that the Palestinians have some important cultural issues which may need tackling before a genuine reconciliation with the West can happen. I do not know exactly how representative Hammad is of the average Palestinian’s worldview. But his party was voted in by a majority of Palestinians; even in the West Bank, traditionally a Fatah stronghold, Hamas has recently pulled even in polls.

ISRAEL REJECTS CARTER-ANNAN MEDIATION WITH HAMAS

Israel rejects Carter-Annan mediation (JTA)
Israel turned down an offer by Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan to mediate a cease-fire with Hamas. The former U.S. president and former U.N. secretary-general belong to The Elders, an international conflict-resolution group established last year by British tycoon Richard Branson.

Several weeks ago, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem received a proposal that Carter and Annan come to Israel along with two other Elders, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Irish President Mary Robinson, to pursue a truce with Hamas and promote peacemaking with the Palestinian Authority.

After much deliberation, the offer was politely refused, Yediot Achronot reported Wednesday.

"Israel believes that at this time, it would not be right to introduce more players into a diplomatic process that is already in a complex stage," the newspaper quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying in a letter to The Elders.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, had a blunter rebuff.

"Nothing good could come out of this initiative," he told Yediot. "Most members of the group, especially Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter, are people who nurse prejudices and have been shown to be hostile to Israel."

HAMAS' NEW SONG IN HEBREW ABOUT KILLING JEWS

Hamas new song in hebrew about killing jews (MySpaceTV)

"They just want to kill...

No matter who....

Next Year your home...

Total Jihad on Non-Muslims...

Let's start with the Jews...."

ISRAEL CAPTURES HAMAS PASSOVER TERROR MASTERMIND

Israel: Hamas mastermind captured (AP)
JERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers on Wednesday arrested the Hamas mastermind of the bloodiest suicide bombing of the Palestinian uprising, an attack that killed 30 people and wounded 143 others during a Passover dinner celebration in 2002, the army said.

Omar Jabar planned the attack and dispatched the suicide bomber to the hotel in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, the military said. He was arrested early Wednesday in the West Bank, the army said.

HAMAS/FATAH DEAL NOW OFF

'Signing of Yemeni proposal a mixup' (JPost)
Top aides to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday distanced themselves from a Yemeni plan outlining a path to reconciliation with Hamas movement, and one said an Abbas envoy only signed the document because of a mixup.

Under the Yemeni proposal, signed Sunday, Abbas’s Fatah movement and Hamas would agree in principle to unite in a single Palestinian government. However, in several days of talks in Yemen, the bitter rivals failed to resolve the crucial question of how they should share power.

Abbas has said repeatedly that he would not negotiate a new power-sharing deal with Hamas unless it first steps aside in Gaza. Despite Hamas’ refusal to do so, Abbas sent a representative, former Deputy Palestinian Prime Minister Azzam al-Ahmed, to Yemen to explore the reconciliation proposal - apparently to avoid being seen as inflexible on trying to mend the deep internal Palestinian rift.

On Sunday, al-Ahmed and a senior Hamas representative, Moussa Abu Marzouk, signed a declaration that both accept a Yemeni initiative calling for the creation of a national unity government and the rebuilding of security forces loyal to that government instead of factions.

A senior Abbas confidant, chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei, said Monday that al-Ahmed signed because of a mixup. Al-Ahmed called Abbas’ office repeatedly to get guidance, but Abbas was meeting at the time with US Vice President Dick Cheney, and al-Ahmed went ahead and signed, Qureia said.

“There was a misunderstanding,” Qurei told reporters Monday. “President Abbas was busy hosting Cheney, and Azzam tried many times to contact him (Abbas), but couldn’t reach him. The talks were at the end, and time was pressing.”

FATAH/HAMAS FINALIZING UNITY AGREEMENT?

'Fatah, Hamas polishing unity agreement' (JPost)
Fatah officials have agreed to Yemen's reconciliation initiative and are prepared to sign it, while Hamas officials requested additional time to discuss the initiative with the group's leaders, Yemen's Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi announced on Saturday.

According to a Yemenite news agency, talks between the rival Fatah and Hamas are continuing to take place in Yemen, after a crisis in talks occurred on Thursday in which Fatah representatives threatened to return to Ramallah.

"Hamas is not declining the Yemenite initiative which aims to resolve the rivalry between Hamas and Fatah," Ahmed Youssef, adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Youssef also said that Hamas is maintaining contacts with European representatives. "Most of the Europeans we maintain contact with are British, Swedish, Swiss and French. In most cases they were unofficial European representatives who are helping change the European attitude towards Hamas."

On Thursday, An attempt by the Yemeni government to mend fences between Fatah and Hamas failed after the Fatah delegation walked out of the talks.

Earlier this week, representatives of Fatah and Hamas were invited to Yemen's capital Sanaa for talks on an initiative by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end the ongoing power struggle between the two parties.

The initiative urges Hamas to end its control of the Gaza Strip and hand the area back to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah.

Earlier Saturday, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that senior representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are set to meet Egyptian officials on Saturday in order to discuss a truce, or period of calm, with Israel.

OBAMA'S REVEREND AND HAMAS

Rev. Wright and Hamas

(LGF)

Tom Blumer at BizzyBlog has a very eye-opening look at the many public statements and writings of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright—including reprinting on his “Pastor’s Page” an infamous op-ed by Hamas kingpin Mousa Abu Marzook: TUCC’s Church Bulletins from July 2007 Probably Make Whether Obama Was Present on July 22 Irrelevant.

Previously at LGF: 
What the Hell is Wrong with the Los Angeles Times?

HAMAS ANIMALS, NOT JUST A METAPHOR

HAMAS MEDIA LOVEFEST GOES AWRY AS GREEN-HEADBAND WEARING FARM ANIMALS BEGIN DEFECATING, HAVING SEX (Mere rhetoric)

What does a genocidal Palestinian terrorist organization have to do to get some media love? International media outlets are normally only too eager to help Hamas publicize their intentionally engineered humanitarian crisis. But there are some spectacles so surreal that not even the glory of dropping rockets on Israeli kids can make them seem not retarded. And so it goes:

On Tuesday, a protest was held by Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip where sheep, camels and donkeys where paraded before journalists (with some farm animals wearing Hamas headbands!) alongside signs reading "Save the Children of Gaza" in a protest against Israel's decision to blockade the Gaza Strip... But there was only one problem — The Hamas-garbed farmed animals wouldn't stop defecating into the street and having sex with each other during the protest. From the always-excellent Popbitch:... After a few minutes the beasts started a dirty protest. Some defecated in the streets, while the donkeys started shagging each other. Journalists found it almost impossible to do a straight piece to camera without some animal porn behind them.

Click through to Fishbowl NY and see which of the world's distinguished media outlets had lined up to transmit this particularly retarded Hamas propaganda as newsworthy copy. Honestly - we're losing to clowns. Clowns that may have a future producing bestiality scat porn. But still clowns.

References:
* Palestinians Going Global With Program To Demonize Israel For Deliberate, Hamas-Engineered Gaza Humanitarian Crisis (Updated: WaPo Hops On Board) [MR]
* Hamas Confiscates Aid Trucks, Promises To Deliver Them Some Time Later [MR]
* Farm Animals Ruin Gaza Photo Op With Sex, Defecation [Fishbowl NY]

Previously:
* Reuters Mistranslation Responsible For Idiotic "Holocaust" Slander
* The Media Lies - Civilians In Gaza Mysteriously Appear In Desolate Warzones, Reappear In Media Coverage
* European Media Bias - Really?

HAMAS MP: WE USED WOMEN AND CHILDREN AS HUMAN SHIELDS

Hamas MP Fathi Hammad: We Used Women and Children as Human Shields (MEMRI)
Following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Hamas MP Fathi Hammad, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on February 29, 2008.

Fathi Hammad: [The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its [methods] of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death like you desire life."

DEATH .... CULT.  LET'S GIVE THEM A STATE!

CEASE FIRE?

Hamas Loses

ERIC TRAGER - (Contentions)

Despite initial denials from officials of both sides, sources are now indicating that an Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza is imminent. According to Ha’aretz, the deal will put Palestinian Authority Presidential Guard members along the Karni, Sufa, Kerem Shalom, Erez, and Rafah border crossings, thereby fulfilling agreements that the U.S., Palestinian Authority, and Israel had reached prior to the 2005 Gaza disengagement. Hamas will play a secondary role nearby some of these crossings, monitoring the movement of civilians–though not goods–in and out of the strip.

This should be interpreted as the first major setback for Hamas since the party won the parliamentary elections over two years ago. At the very least, permitting Mahmoud Abbas’s Presidential Guard to assume control of border crossings represents a major political concession. If the Guard succeeds in stemming weapons smuggling, it will severely hamper Hamas’s military capabilities. Moreover, the ceasefire requires as a first step that Hamas stop firing rockets, which suggests that Israel’s recent operation in Gaza was highly effective in targeting key Hamas personnel and infrastructure.

Of course, the ceasefire also implies an Israeli concession, insofar as it shatters the hope that Hamas will be dislodged from Gaza by force. After all, the truce requires that Israel curtail its military operations entirely, including its targeting of Hamas officials. Still, Israel has located an opening for slowly chipping away at Hamas’s domestic power, with Abbas able to declare victory for having brokered an agreement that finally opens the border crossings-an accomplishment that Hamas’s rockets have decisively failed to achieve.

For the truce to succeed in the long run, bolstering the commitment and capabilities of the Presidential Guard must be a top priority. History should be a guide in this: last June, Hamas seized Gaza largely thanks to an ill-equipped and unmotivated Fatah force. Although the Bush administration has steered clear of the ceasefire negotiations, it should view the conditions of the Presidential Guard as critical to the peace process, which Vice-President Dick Cheney will address when he visits the region next week. Indeed, any breakdown in the Presidential Guard’s ability to control the borders would represent the final nail in the coffin for the still-nascent Annapolis “process.”

HAMAS SUMMER CAMP!

Hamas Summer Camps Back In the Spotlight (BackSpin)

Pictures of the Year International announced their winners list. Among the honorees is Scott Nelson for his photo series of a Hamas summer camp for kids.

The reward's well-deserved not just because his photos put the military-style camps back in the spotlight. Nelson's excellent captions show how photographers at their best are capable of providing a context beyond the visual. One example:

Young Palestinian boys aim wooden practice pistols during a Sunday, August 5, 2007 Hamas sponsored summer camp in the Nuseirat camp in the Gaza strip. Up to 100,000 kids from age 7-16 are given military style training 6 days a week at Hamas camps across the Gaza strip for 3 hours per day.

You can see more of the series by clicking here and a doing a search on the words Hamas summer camp.

TALKING TO HAMAS

Hamas Question Puts State Dept. Blog on Defensive (BackSpin)

DipNote, the official blog of the US State Dept. is on the defensive after recently posing this Question of the Week:

Should the U.S. engage Hamas in the peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians?

Correspondents covering the State Dept. grilled spokesman Sean McCormack about it. Full transcript here.

QUESTION: What if you get this overwhelming response that the American public thinks that Hamas should be engaged in the peace process? Are you taking the temperature, or what?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, no. You know, Elise, I think you understand the purpose of the blog. There are some instances where you want to understand what's going on out in the public. It doesn't mean you're doing a poll or taking a survey and you're changing the policy. Certainly, in this case, there's -- you know, our policy is policy. It's not going to change. There are legal as well as policy and moral requirements for doing what we do.

QUESTION: I mean, why -- why even raise the question? Why generate a question about a matter on which there are legal, moral and policy reasons that you are not going to change the policy?

MR. MCCORMACK: Why do you ask me questions about Hamas and the U.S. involvement in Hamas? It's a topical question that people are discussing. You know, I -- there's certainly -- certainly, there is nothing about -- nothing wrong with and -- you know, asking a question and having people give their views.

QUESTION: I ask you questions to find out if the policy is changing, but you've just told me that the policy is not changing but you still ask the question on your website, which doesn't -- which still doesn't quite make sense to me.

MR. MCCORMACK: I -- maybe you don't understand the nature of blogs, but it's not a matter of a statement of policy.

Six Ways Not to Deal with Hamas - Chuck Freilich

Negotiations with an organization that explicitly avows Israel's destruction at every opportunity are anathema to many Israelis. What could Israel and Hamas actually talk about? Is there anything short of voluntary national suicide that would satisfy Hamas? Negotiating with Hamas would prove that terrorism, not diplomacy, is the way to gain Israeli concessions. It would also gravely undermine whatever residual legitimacy Mahmoud Abbas still enjoys. Hamas' proposal to negotiate a long-term ceasefire is entirely unacceptable. If Hamas had its way, Israel would have to cease all counterterrorist operations not only in Gaza, but the West Bank, as well - the only thing that has kept Abbas in power and the rockets out of Tel Aviv. 

HAMAS COMMANDER: WE'RE IRAN'S PROXY

Hamas Commander: We're Iran's Proxy (BackSpin)

Hamas commander confirmed to Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin that the group is an Iranian proxy:

A senior commander interviewed by The Sunday Times said 300 of the group’s “best brains” had been secretly sent to Tehran.

Half are still being trained by Revolutionary Guards. They are learning how to make explosives from everyday items and produce deadlier rockets.

The rest have already returned from a Revolutionary Guard base in Tehran. Some have been trained as snipers. Others have learnt to use tunnels in attacks on Israeli forces.

“Iran is our mother,” the commander said. “She gives us information, military supplies and financial support.”

Seven separate groups of Hamas militants have spent up to six months in Tehran since the training began in 2005.

The scale of Iran’s operation exceeds Israeli intelligence suspicions that Hamas had dispatched “tens” of fighters to Tehran.

Colvin also filed a separate dispatch with more details.

FATAH: BOYCOTT AL JAZEERA - HAMAS MOUTHPIECE

Al-Jazeera is Mouthpiece of Hamas (BackSpin)

Fatah officials complain that Al-Jazeera is a mouthpiece of Hamas. And momentum for a West Bank boycott against the Qatar-based network is gathering steam. The Jerusalem Post explains:

Dozens of Fatah operatives have also signed a petition urging the PA to ban Al-Jazeera from operating in the West Bank.

Fatah claimed that Al-Jazeera has been openly inciting against its representatives for the past few years. It said the incitement reached its peak last June when the station appeared to support Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Over the weekend there were renewed calls in Fatah to boycott Al-Jazeera in protest against its coverage of the last IDF operation in the Gaza Strip.

Related reading: Israel Blacklists Al-Jazeera

HAMAS CLAIMS "CREDIT" FOR JERUSALEM MASSACRE

Hamas claims deadliest attack in Israel in 2 years (Reuters)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hamas claimed responsibility on Friday for shooting eight students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, the most lethal Palestinian attack on Israelis in two years and a blow to international efforts to revive peace talks.

MASSACRE IN JERUSALEM

Mercaz Harav hit by capital's worst terror attack since April '06 (JPost)
A Palestinian terrorist opened fire at a central Jerusalem yeshiva late Thursday night, killing eight students and wounding 11 others, police and rescue officials said.

The 8:45 p.m. shooting at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood broke a two-year lull in terror in the capital and sent students scurrying for cover from a hail of gunfire - a reported 500-600 bullets - that lasted for several minutes.

"There were horrendous screams of 'Help us! Help us!'" recounted Avrahami Sheinberger of the ZAKA emergency rescue service, one of the first to respond to the scene. "There were bodies strewn all over the floor, at the entrance to the yeshiva, in various rooms and in the library."

As security forces raced to the scene, the gunman fired round after round of ammunition into the library at the seminary, religious Zionism's flagship institution. About 80 students had gathered in the library to celebrate the Hebrew month of Adar II, which begins on Friday evening.

It was not immediately clear, late Thursday night, whether there was a security guard at the entrance to the yeshiva.

Channel 2 reported that the terrorist carried a blue Israeli identity card and came from east Jerusalem.

Initial reports of a second terrorist on the loose proved unfounded, police said.

"We heard shooting and knew that something had happened," recounted Yitzhak Dadon, 40, who studies at the yeshiva. Dadon said he cocked his handgun and went up to the roof of the yeshiva, where he saw the terrorist spraying gunfire indiscriminately at the crowd inside. Dadon said he fired two bullets at the terrorist, who began to stumble.

At the same time, police arrived at the scene and an intense gunfight erupted with the terrorist lasting several minutes, witnesses said. The scent of gunpowder wafted in the air as undercover police stormed the building.

Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Aharon Franco said the terrorist was killed by an IDF officer who lives near the yeshiva and raced to the scene.

Rescue workers recounted a grisly picture of students hiding under desks and locking themselves in classrooms to avoid being caught in the hail of bullets.

Yerach Toker, a paramedic for United Hatzola of Israel, said he saw several dead yeshiva students on the library's floor. "Some of them were still holding sacred Jewish books smeared with blood from which they were learning before they were murdered," he said.

Hamas hails 'heroic' Jerusalem attack (AFP)
The Palestinian Hamas movement hailed a deadly attack on a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem on Thursday night as "heroic," without claiming responsibility for the strike that killed eight.

"This heroic attack in Jerusalem is a normal response to the crimes of the occupier and its murder of civilians," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

Another spokesman, Taher al-Nunu, blamed the attack on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and the Israeli government.

"We have warned before about the responsibility of the escalation in Gaza and warned of Palestinian anger," Nunu said.

Hundreds of Palestinians poured into the streets of Gaza City as news of the attack at a west Jerusalem yeshiva spread, firing automatic rifles into the air in celebration.

Several more hundred people likewise celebrated in the northern town of Jabaliya, which has borne the brunt of deadly Israeli military strikes over the past eight days that have killed more than 130 Palestinians in Gaza amid a sharp escalation of violence in and around the impoverished territory.

SEE ALSO: Palestinians Celebrating Mass Murder (LGF)

UNSC fails to condemn J'lem shooting (JPost)
The UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement overnight Thursday on issuing an official condemnation over the deadly shooting attack in Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva because of Libyan opposition.

"Most members (of the council) wanted to condemn (the attack) but Libya blocked it," Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, told reporters.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said US efforts to issue a statement condemning the attack "in the strongest terms" failed because Libya sought to link it to its own resolution urging condemnation of Israel over the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip last week.