The United Nations will not condemn as "terrorism" the attacks near Eilat in which eight Israelis were murdered after Lebanon's representative rejected the measure.

Lebanon's representative to the U.N. Security Council said it would endorse a condemnation of the attacks only if the council were to condemn Israel as well, for killing the terrorists who planned the massacre.

Lebanon refused to call the attacks “terrorism,” arguing that the attacks were not legally terrorism because one of the buses the attackers fired on had been carrying soldiers. The attackers also fired on several civilian vehicles, and made sure to shoot innocent victims at close range to ensure they died.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, expressed outrage. “It is outrageous that the Security Council did not clearly condemn the deliberate and appalling murder of many innocent Israeli civilians, which occurred yesterday in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks,” he said.

“The U.N. Secretary General condemned it, the Americans condemned it, the European Union condemned it, yet the bottom line is that the Security Council again failed as a body,” Prosor accused. “Every time an issue pertains to Israel, we see deafening silence. They become blind and deaf.”

“It is no coincidence that Lebanon – the only member of the Council that obstructed this statement – is itself dominated by a terrorist organization,” he added.

United States officials expressed disappointment with the Council's decision as well. “This is standard language on terrorist acts,” U.S. Deputy Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said of the blocked condemnation.