United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses his final press conference, at UN headquarters Dec. 16, 2016. Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

JNS.org – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is stepping down at the end of the year, acknowledged in a departing speech that there is “disproportionate” volume of resolutions, reports and conferences criticizing Israel,” and that “in many cases, rather than helping the Palestinian cause, this reality has hampered the ability of the UN to fulfill its role effectively.”

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon commended Ban’s statement. “The secretary-general admitted the clear truth — the UN’s hypocrisy towards Israel has broken records over the past decade. During this time the UN passed 223 resolutions condemning Israel while only eight resolutions condemning the Syrian regime as it has massacred its citizens over the past six years.  This is absurd,” he said.

At the same time, Ban urged Israeli lawmakers to reconsider the controversial outpost bill, which would legalize Israeli settlements on private Palestinian land, on the grounds that it “will have negative legal consequences for Israel and substantially diminish the chances for Arab-Israeli peace.”