TEL AVIV – The widower of an Israeli stabbing victim slammed the UN for blocking the path to peace by condemning Israel and spewing lies, the Algemeiner reported.
Natan Meir, husband of the late Dafna Meir – a 38-year-old nurse and mother-of-six (including two foster children) who in January was stabbed to death in her home by a Palestinian terrorist, made his comments after attending an open debate on the Middle East at the United Nations Security Council on Monday.
At the debate, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon engaged in a shouting match with his Palestinian counterpart, Riyad Mansour, over the issue of terrorism and incitement to violence on the part of the Palestinian Authority.
Mansour refused to comply with Danon’s demand to denounce both the terrorism and incitement. Instead, the Palestinian ambassador accused Israel of imprisoning Palestinian “children.”
“It hurt me to hear the Palestinian representative talk about the Palestinian kids in Israeli prisons, when one of those was the teenager who murdered my wife,” said Natan.
Natan is in the U.S. with his 17-year-old daughter, Renena, who witnessed her mother being stabbed to death and even tried to fend off the terrorist. The trip was sponsored by the NGO for victims of terror, “OneFamily-Overcoming Terror Together,” whose stated mission in bringing Natan to the UN to tell his story was “to help prevent more victims from joining their ranks and to help the emotional recovery of those already suffering.”
“The UN must recognize Israeli victims of terror the same way it recognizes the victims of terrorist attacks in Belgium and France. The failure to do so sets Jewish victims apart from other victims, stunts their recovery and encourages more terror,” said OneFamily Chairman Marc Belzberg, adding that in the case of Israel, the UN expresses understanding for the terrorists, not the victims.
Natan told the Algemeiner that despite living in a settlement, Israelis from all ends of the political spectrum expressed sorrow and condolences to him and his family, even members of far-left NGO Peace Now which vehemently opposes settlements. He added however, that members of the Arab parties in the Knesset did not even call.
Nevertheless, Natan’s Arab neighbors did call on the family during the shiva, the week-long Jewish mourning period immediately following Dafna’s funeral.
“I have always had good, peaceful relations [with them],” he said.
Out of fear of repercussions from Palestinian society, Natan said, some of them were forced to pay their respects in secret.
“I know it isn’t easy for them. They are very angry that the marginal elements in their society are dictating a situation they don’t want to live with. In a certain way, they are asking for our [Israel’s] help [against the fringe]. It is a wide fringe, to be sure; too wide. But it has to be remembered that it is fringe nevertheless,” he said.
Natan stressed that his trip to the UN and his capacity as an informal envoy for victims of terror did not come naturally to him.
“I have been walking around with a very broken heart,” he said. “I don’t initiate political activities or speeches or anything. But I was raised and educated that when the state of Israel summons me, I come; I don’t ask too many questions.”
Natan added, “We’re not acting out of strength, but rather out of a lack of it; that is how we are living now. But, as someone told me one day, God is also the god of broken hearts. So that is the source of the strength.”
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