On June 13, 2014 the UN General Assembly continued its major event on a "counter-terrorism strategy." Since, the UN has no definition of terrorism, all the many states discussing the subject were happy to denounce "it." Other states encouraged terrorism under another name. Some worried about the hapless terrorists. Here are some of the contributions to the discussion.
Iran said it "opposed any attempt to equate with terrorism the struggle for self-determination of peoples under colonial or alien domination and foreign occupation."
Lebanon said there was "a critical need to differentiate between terrorism and the legitimate right to resist foreign occupation" like "acts of terrorism against Palestinians by Israelis". The Lebanese delegate was also concerned with "conditions conducive to the threat of terrorism" and said "it was important to address the causes that could lead to extremism and radicalism, including marginalization and impunity and double standards".
Venezuela was worried about "unilateral lists of countries that supported terrorist activities".
Sudan made a self congratulatory statement on ratifying "all the international conventions related to countering terrorism" and being active "in efforts deployed to combat the scourge."
The United Arab Emirates boasted about promoting "tolerance including through securing religious freedom for all communities and achieving gender parity" and establishing "the international centre for combating violent extremism."
The Syrian delegate lectured on "respect" for the UN Charter and said "some States were not serious in their commitment to fighting terrorism." His speech also included condemnation of the United States for producing an Islamist radical suicide-bomber in Syria: "The causes of terrorism must also be addressed, he said, asking how a youth playing football in Florida could be lured to being a suicide bomber dead at age 20...Syria had worked to raise awareness against terrorism and to address its roots causes."
Saudi Arabia said it "was leading the charge to address terrorism from a legal point of view."