The United Nations Security Council (unsc) failed to agree over the weekend on an official statement condemning last Thursday’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem due to Libya’s opposition.

According to Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, “Most members [of the Council] wanted to condemn [the attack] but Libya blocked it.”

Libya’s UN envoy insisted the statement be “balanced” by including a condemnation of Israel over its military operations in Gaza, causing the efforts to issue a statement to fail. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad criticized Libya for equating a terror attack specifically targeting civilians to military operations intended to stop rocket fire.

Ambassador Gillerman dished out even greater criticism, saying the Security Council was infiltrated by terrorists. He was referring to Libya being elected to a two-year term on the Council despite its history with terrorism.

Although Libya was known as a terrorist state for many years, international opinion toward the country changed in 2003 when its leader, Muammar Qadhafi, announced the dismantling of its nuclear program. Less than four years later, Libya went from being punished by UN-imposed sanctions to being elected to serve on its Security Council.

In the two months Libya has been on the Council, the Arab country has been quite active in the UN’s Middle East affairs. After the Israel Defense Forces began their operations in Gaza, it requested the unsc to hold an emergency meeting on behalf of the Arab League. Out of this meeting came the unsc-issued statement condemning the escalation of fighting in southern Israel and Gaza.

Libya, along with Russia, continues to push the Security Council to pass a resolution “demanding that Israel stop its aggression and practices against international and humanitarian law in Gaza” (Palestine News Network, March 6).

A UN resolution is a step above an official statement and needs 9 of the 15 Security Council member nations to approve it for it to pass, unless a permanent member (U.S., Britain, France, Russia or China) vetoes it, while an official statement needs all 15 member nations to approve it in order to pass.

These recent actions prove what the Trumpet has recently written on about the dangers of the West quickly accepting Libya’s “conversion” from terrorism and rewarding the country with prizes like a seat in the unsc. By electing Libya into the unsc, the international community essentially gave the allies of terrorism a vote in the most prominent international body that deals with world security matters.

What makes this even more evident is Libya’s recent involvement with Iran. For more information on Libya’s warming relations with the biggest sponsor of terror, read “Libya: Friend or Foe?”