Israel Cites Bin Laden Raid to Defend Strike on Hamas Leaders in Qatar at UN Security Council

United Nations: Israel invoked the U.S. operation that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan to justify its strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar, accusing Islamabad of “double standards” during a sharp exchange at the UN Security Council on Thursday.

“When bin Laden was eliminated in Pakistan, the question was not ‘why target a terrorist on foreign soil?’ The question was, ‘why was a terrorist given shelter at all?’” Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon said, addressing Pakistan’s representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad. “There was no immunity for bin Laden, and there can be no immunity for Hamas.”

The confrontation came during a Council session convened to discuss Israel’s attack in Doha, which Pakistan condemned as “illegal and unprovoked aggression.” Ahmad accused Israel of repeatedly defying international law through “brutal actions” in Gaza and cross-border strikes in Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Yemen.

Marking the 24th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Danon drew a direct parallel between the 2001 terror assault in the U.S. and Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. “That tragic day, like October 7 for Israel, was a day of fire and blood,” he said. He reminded the Council that in the wake of 9/11, it had unanimously resolved that no nation could harbour or fund terrorists. “That principle was clear then; it must be upheld today.”

Ahmad, in his rebuttal, called it “ludicrous” for Israel — which he described as “an aggressor and occupier” — to invoke international law while “masking its own violations.”

Danon countered sharply: “Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, and no one condemned the U.S. When other countries in this Council attack terrorists, no one condemns them. But when Israel acts, you apply different standards.”

Bin Laden was killed in May 2011 during a U.S. special forces raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after years in hiding in the country’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.