US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield giving a briefing. Photo: Reuters/Lev Radin/Sipa USA

The US Ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday criticized that body’s excessive focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, noting that there were other conflicts in the Middle East “that merit Security Council attention and should not be neglected.”

In remarks to the UN Security Council’s monthly debate on the situation in the Middle East, American envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield made a point of commenting on the format and content of the meetings before she addressed the issues raised at Tuesday’s discussion.

“The monthly agenda calls for a briefing on ‘the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.’ This Council spends a great deal of time on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is both understandable and consistent with the agenda,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “But far too often, the substance of these discussions is centered almost entirely around criticism of Israel and counterattacks.”

She continued: “I sincerely hope that going forward, Council members will do their best to take a more balanced approach. Also, there are other countries and situations in the region that merit Security Council attention and should not be neglected.”

Later in her speech, Thomas-Greenfield reiterated the US commitment to direct dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian leaders as a means of resuming peace talks. She also highlighted the “acute need for humanitarian relief and recovery” in Gaza, urging member states to continue their financial support of UNRWA — the UN agency dedicated entirely to the descendants of Palestinian refugees from Israel’s 1947-48 War of Independence. Under the previous US Administration of Donald Trump, the US government had ended funding for UNRWA, charging that the agency was “irredeemably flawed.”

Tuesday’s session also heard from Israeli envoy Gilad Erdan, who lashed the Security Council for treating one speaker at the session — former PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi — as a “representative of [Palestinian] civil society” rather than a political leader.

Said Erdan: “Ashrawi is not just a lifelong spokesperson for the Palestinian political leadership. She is an opponent of peace. Following the Abraham Accords, she condemned these historic peace agreements, and claimed that the leaders of the UAE and Bahrain had been ‘coerced and cajoled’ into making peace with Israel. Does the Security Council really want to give a platform to an enemy of peace?”

Addressing the issue of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Erdan said that Israel favored a “diplomatic solution that would truly prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear threshold state,” emphasizing that the Jewish state “can never and will never, allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold state.”

“We will do whatever is necessary to stop Iran’s nuclear drive, and counter the threat from its armies of proxies, along our borders and beyond our borders,” Erdan said.