Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan. Photo: Gali Tibbon / Pool via Reuters.

JNS.org – Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan addressed the UN Security Council on Tuesday, warning member states that it was time for “an institution charged with safeguarding peace and security to begin addressing the gravest danger in the Middle East: the regime in Tehran.”

“Tomorrow, here at the UN and around the world, we will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day and mourn the unfathomable murder of 6 million Jews. 76 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, there is another genocidal regime epitomizing the very words and actions of the Nazis,” he told the council.

“Iran does not try to hide its intention of destroying the world’s only Jewish state. Spreading antisemitism, denying the Holocaust and even proposing legislation calling for Israel’s destruction by the year 2041. How is it possible that the Iranian Parliament proposing to annihilate a member state is not at the top of this council’s agenda?” he said.

Additionally, Erdan warned against a return to the Iran nuclear deal and called on the Security Council to take action against Iran’s violations, pointing out that lessons have been learned since the deal with signed in 2015.

“What we all know today about Iran is not what the international community knew when it signed the nuclear deal with Iran. Now we know, contrary to the signatories’ premise, Iran did not use the removal of sanctions to improve the lives of its citizens but doubled down instead on its malign activities,” he said.

“Rather than using the dividends of the nuclear agreement to build schools and hospitals, it built an arsenal of missiles. Rather than using its resources to fight COVID-19, it wasted them on funding terrorist proxies and undermining peace and security. Iran deceived the world when it signed the agreement and it continues to deceive the world today,” said Erdan.

Erdan, who is also serving in a dual role as ambassador to the United States, thanked the newly inaugurated Biden administration for its stated commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities and stated that Israel will continue to work with America to achieve that goal.

On the Palestinian issue, Erdan also referred to the request of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to convene an international peace conference, stating that if he was “truly serious about peace, he would stop inciting violence. He would not be bending over backward to find new ways to continue his pay for slay policy, including by trying to establish a new bank to transfer funds to terrorists. He would come to the negotiating table without making outrageous demands and not call for another pointless international conference.”

Erdan also referred to the Palestinian lies about Israel’s distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, calling them a “blood libel,” and that those who use this rhetoric are driven by political or antisemitic considerations.

Tuesday’s session came at the directive of Tunisia, which is serving as president of the UN Security Council for January. It included ministerial-level representation, with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Secretary-General of the Arab League and the foreign ministers of Tunisia, Ireland and others delivering statements.