Saudi Arabia rejects UN Council seat offer

The United Nations Security Council is riddled with double standards and has failed the Middle East, Saudi Arabia said Friday as it rejected an offer to join the body.
In a statement published by the Saudi foreign ministry, the kingdom claimed that the council is incapable of keeping the peace internationally.
“To have the Palestinian cause remaining without a fair and permanent solution for 65 years, which resulted in several wars that threatened international peace and security, is evidence and proof of (the) Security Council’s inability to perform his duties and responsibilities,” CNN quoted the ministry as saying in the statement.
It also blamed the Security Council for not preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction in the region – especially nuclear weapons, a likely allusion to Saudi Arabia’s adversarial neighbor Iran.
Lastly, the kingdom brought up the civil war in Syria, blaming the UN for not punishing the government after a poison gas attack there killed hundreds of civilians.
Saudi Arabia backed the Syrian rebels and called for the overthrow of autocratic Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.