Palestine thanks King Abdullah II for "courageous" UN speech

• Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said Palestinians are proud of King Abdullah II’s UN address.
• Mansour said the King’s speech reflected the Palestinian position and spoke on their behalf.
• He praised the King’s calls for international action and accountability over Gaza and the West Bank.

Palestine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, expressed the Palestinian people’s deep pride in King Abdullah II’s address to the 81st UN General Assembly in New York.

Mansour said the King’s “principled and courageous” speech reflected the Palestinian position, calling for the international community to take immediate action and ensure accountability for what he described as crimes, including genocide in Gaza.

Mansour also said he personally conveyed the Palestinian leadership and people’s appreciation to King Abdullah II and Queen Rania during meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. 

He said the speech made Palestinians “feel very proud” because the King “spoke like us, and spoke on our behalf,” describing his message as a voice for Arab and humanitarian principles at the UN.

The King’s speech

In his address, King Abdullah II warned that the international community’s failure to act against 'Israel' had created what he called a “state without restraint,” arguing that political inaction was itself a deliberate choice. 

He said sanctions, diplomatic isolation and asset freezes had been used in other cases, while measures against 'Israel' had repeatedly remained limited to resolutions.

“With Israel, resolutions end where they began: on paper,” he said.

“This is a wilful‘choice and the result is a state without restraint. This sense of impunity has reached terrifying levels,” he added.

The King also warned that 'Israel’s' ambitions should not be viewed as limited to Palestine, pointing to Syria as a warning that he said the international community was failing to heed.

“No one in this assembly should assume its ambitions stop at Palestine,” he said. “Today Syria is the warning the international community is choosing not to see.”

Read more: King Abdullah II: Global inaction on Israel is a ‘choice’