Jerusalem: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has hit out at India and Pakistan while defending his country’s commando raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip on Monday.
Lieberman has said that while the international community remained silent during the past month when "500 people were killed in various incidents in Thailand, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and India," Israel "was condemned for taking a clear defensive action".
He said the Israeli troops who battled the activists on board the ship had the "basic right" to defend themselves against a group wielding iron bars, clubs and knives.
A statement issued by Lieberman 's office on Tuesday said the UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel was "unacceptable and did not advance peace and stability in the Middle East".
The statement also said Lieberman had told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in a telephone conversation, that the "hypocrisy and double standards of the international community concerning Israel" should be "regretted".
Sensing a possible contoversy, the Israeli embassy in Delhi on Wednesday said Lieberman’s statement was made inadvertently and has been deleted from the website of the country’s Foreign Ministry since.
Mark Sofer, Israeli Ambassador to India, on Tuesday told CNN-IBN his country’s raid on the flotilla was in self-defence.
“I think every country in the world has the right to defend its citizens against terrorism emanating from aboard. Certainly India has that right, and I think every country has to work to defend its own citizens,” Sofer had said.
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