UNITED NATIONS: The Security Council … adjourned its debate on Lebanon’s complaint of Israeli aggression without setting a date for a further meeting. … Diplomatic observers assumed the United States was unwilling to allow the … Council to adopt a resolution condemning Israeli raids on six Lebanese villages ... unless there was also reference to the Arab guerrilla raid on the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Shimoneh. ...[A] number of delegates asserted that the guerrilla attacks did not justify Israel’s retaliation. …

Earlier … Soviet Ambassador Jacob A. Malik rejected Israel’s claim that last week’s Palestinian commando raid … justified its aggression in Lebanon. He emphasised the time had come for the Security Council not only to condemn Israel’s piratical actions, but also to take effective measures to halt this brigandage. Mr Malik said it was time also for Israel’s protectors in the five-nation body to stop obstructing the Council from invoking those measures provided in the UN Charter for dealing with offenders. … While the USSR was opposed to “international terrorism”, the Soviet Delegate said that practice of terrorism was part of Israel’s policy. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2024