Syria today equated the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center with Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip, a comparison the United States denounced as "outrageous."
In his debut speech as a new UN Security Council member, Syrian representative Fayssal Mekdad said the 15-member body practiced a double standard in denouncing terrorism around the world but avoiding condemnation of Israel.
"We must note the scene of tens of Palestinian houses which were demolished by Israeli tanks in the Rafah camps a few days ago is not much different from the scene of the World Trade Center which was destroyed by the terrorists, whom we have all agreed here to combat and eliminate," Mr Mekdad said.
The Israeli military last week destroyed dozens of houses in the southern Gaza Strip, saying the buildings had been abandoned and were being used as cover for gunmen. The International Committee of the Red Cross said about 600 people were left homeless in the Rafah refugee camp.
A US official told reporters "the idea of equating the destruction of the World Trade Center and the demolition of homes that has been going on in the territories is outrageous."
"It's really unfortunate the Syrians took this opportunity of an open meeting on counter-terrorism to make what we saw as an outrageous speech. This is not the kind of speech we would expect to come from a responsible member of the Security Council," the official said.
The Syrian delegate, the second-ranking UN diplomat in his mission, was addressing a Security Council debate on terrorism reports his country and others had submitted on how they were combating threats in their respective countries.
Syria was elected late last year as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for a two-year term that began this month.