UN

ABC: EU Sticks To Yassin Condemnation After US Veto

(Reuters) -- European Union leaders have repeated their condemnation of Israel for killing Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, hours after the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution denouncing the assassination.

In a statement issued at the end of a summit in Brussels, the leaders of the EU's 25 current and future states said the bloc had "consistently opposed extra-judicial killings".

Washington, alone among major powers in not condemning this week's assassination as an extrajudicial killing, rejected the resolution by Arab nations because it did not also denounce Sheikh Yassin's group Hamas for suicide bombings in Israel.

The US's "no" vote killed the resolution because it is one of the five permanent members of the council with veto power.

Britain, Germany and Romania abstained after Algeria, negotiating for Arab nations, rejected an amendment they wanted that would have condemned "atrocities" against Israelis.

The EU leaders said they had "repeatedly condemned terrorist atrocities against Israelis and recognised Israel's right to protect its citizens against terrorist attacks", but Sheikh Yassin's killing had deepened the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.