The reports coming out of Israel are horrifying. The actions of Hamas in places like Kfar Aza are horrific as entire families were gunned down in their homes and babies decapitated.
The United Nations Secretary General issued a statement that “The attacks have so far claimed numerous Israeli civilian lives and injured many hundreds. The Secretary-General is appalled by reports that civilians have been attacked and abducted from their own homes.
“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned for the civilian population and urges maximum restraint. Civilians must be respected and protected in accordance with international humanitarian law at all times.”
The phrase “maximum restraint” is only used when terrorists kill Israelis and the UNSG gets worried that Israel will pursue the Palestinian Arab assailants. When terrorists kill people in other places including Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan or Nigeria, the UN Security Council declares “the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.”
In light of the gross deformity of Palestinian culture and barbaric attacks by the popular political-terrorist party Hamas, it is time for Israel to pursue ‘maximum justice,’ to finish ALL “perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism”, including the Islamic Republic of Iran if they were indeed behind the attacks.
Mohammed Deif, supreme military commander of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam BrigadesYahya al-Sinwar, current leader of Hamas in GazaIsmail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas based in Qatar
There are estimated to be 30,000 people affiliated with Hamas, not including those who aid and abet the group. Israel will require significant time to bring these murderers to maximum justice and rout them from the region. We should support Israel in destroying the terrorist entity and hopefully bringing calm to the region.
In response to the heinous massacre of Israelis and kidnapping of an estimated 150 Jews, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “complete siege [of Gaza]. We are fighting barbarians and will respond accordingly.” The siege is anticipated to include halting the supply of electricity, food, water and fuel as Israeli soldiers scour the region in search of innocent hostages.
For its part, Hamas announced that it would “respond to any targeting of our people who are safe in their homes without warning, with the execution of our civilian hostages, and we will broadcast it with audio and video.”
The United Nations Secretary General immediately took sides on the competing threats – one by Israel to halt supplies while it sought to redeem its captives, and the other by Hamas which threatened to execute the Jewish civilians and broadcast it to the world.
He sided with Palestinian terrorists. His statement read:
“I am deeply distressed by today’s announcement that Israel will initiate a complete siege of the Gaza Strip, nothing allowed in — no electricity, food or fuel. The humanitarian situation in Gaza was extremely dire before these hostilities; now it will only deteriorate exponentially.
“Medical equipment, food, fuel and other humanitarian supplies are desperately needed, along with access for humanitarian personnel. Relief and entry of essential supplies into Gaza must be facilitated and the UN will continue efforts to provide aid to respond to these needs.
“I urge all sides and the relevant parties to allow United Nations access to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians trapped and helpless in the Gaza Strip. I appeal to the international community to mobilize immediate humanitarian support for this effort.”
That is not a misprint.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutteres said that the UN would rally the world to ignore Israel’s search and rescue mission for Jewish hostages marked for public execution in Palestinian territory, and instead focus on Palestinian civilians who were “trapped and helpless” ruled by Arabs which they support and elected.
Bound Israeli female hostage pulled into Hamas jeep for Gaza
Blinded by its long-standing desire to help Palestinian Arabs, the United Nations has lost all legitimacy, and now participates in crimes against humanity and the murder of Israeli Jews.
Tor Wennesland, the Arab puppet who works under the title United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, gave his highly biased remarks to the UN Security Council on September 27. It showcased his protection of the increasingly dangerous Palestinian terrorist society.
During the reporting period June 15 to September 19, Palestinian Arabs in the “West Bank” killed ten Israelis, while Israeli “settlers” in the region killed two Palestinians. The whopping FIVE TIMES more murders by Arabs did not seem to register, as Wennesland voiced “I am disturbed by the high levels of settler-related violence,” but never specifically called out the more frequent and lethal Arab violence.
As alarming, for the seventh time this year, Palestinians in the West Bank launched rockets at Israelis, with the latest one towards the Israeli town of Ram On located near the 1949 Armistice Lines. Wennesland grossly minimized the attack saying Palestinians “attempted and failed to launch an improvised rocket”, making the grotesque attempt at mass murder sound like a harmless childish prank.
The rocket attacks were launched by yet another new Palestinian terror group called al-Ayyash, joining the Lion’s Den and Jenin Battalion which formed over the past two years. The number of guns and advanced weaponry now being deployed by the various terrorist groups is making 2023 the most deadly year for Israelis in several years.
Still, the UN did not condemn Palestinian actions nor call for a crack down on incitement and terror. Instead, it asked countries for donations to send to these same Palestinians, and urged for evictions of all Jewish civilians from their homes in the West Bank.
It’s working.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said “the sharp rise in violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians is also deeply alarming,” but didn’t similarly call out the greater number of Palestinian Arab murderers. She then added that the United States supports the antisemitic policies and desires of the Palestinian Authority to ban Jews from living in the “West Bank” and from praying at their holiest location on the Jewish Temple Mount. For good measure, she added that the U.S. is “pleased to announce nearly $73 million in additional contributions to UNRWA.”
If the UN’s vision of a peace process absolves Arabs of crimes against humanity while endorsing the ethnic cleansing of half a million Jews from their biblical homeland, the entire global body is clearly morally defective. It should be stripped of all funding and shuttered outright, not just its specialized projects for Palestinians.
The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutteres is concerned when armed parties might use lethal force. He has frequently urged that ‘utmost restraint’ be exercised by two warring parties like Lebanon and Israel (2021), and when a government confronts unarmed civilians, such as Iran confronting demonstrators (2022) and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan (2021).
In only one situation has the UNSG urged ‘utmost restraint’ when fighting terrorists: Israel fighting Palestinian Arab terrorism, as he did after an Arab terrorist killed seven Jews outside of a synagogue on a Sabbath in Jerusalem (2023).
Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue (photo: FirstOneThrough)
The Palestinian leadership expressed outrage and asked the UN to intervene. U.S. members of Congress Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) said that “more guns lead to more deaths,” with Bowman adding that he would urge the United States to restrict military aid to Israel if armed guards located at synagogues resulted in any Arab deaths over the Jewish holy days.
Josh Earnest, spokesperson for former President Obama noted that Jews in Jerusalem “provoke tensions“, while The New York Times referred to those Jews as “right-wing settlers.” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decried the entire situation of Israel trying to “Judaize” Jerusalem with “Talmudic rituals.”
Meanwhile, though Israel limited access for Jews to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during Islamic holidays even when it overlapped with Jewish holidays, the Jewish State has not announced any restrictions on Arab movement in Jerusalem during the Jewish holiday season which have no Islamic holidays. Amnesty International declared Israel to be an ‘apartheid‘ regime privileging Jews anyway.
The UN’s Gutteres issued a statement in time for the holidays telling Israel to “exercise restraint and use only proportional force and the duty to minimize damage and injury and respect and preserve human life,” when confronting potential jihadi terrorists at synagogues. That includes only fighting Arab assailants with knives and meat cleavers if those are the weapons the terrorists choose.
The Israeli government opted to quote former Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin over the global concern and threats over Israel defending Jews praying in synagogues during the holidays: “A Jew must learn to defend himself. He must forever be prepared for whenever threat looms…. The world may not necessarily like the fighting Jew, but the world will have to take account of him.”
The United Nations General Assembly is getting ready to welcome foreign leaders this month. In advance of the New York gathering, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President(-for Life) Mahmoud Abbas yesterday.
Blinken’s call to Netanyahu revolved around four principle elements: working together on “bilateral partnerships”; commitment to Israel’s security including dealing with Iran; integration into the region; and advancing a productive future with Palestinians. The call to Abbas focused on: “ongoing violence” in the region; quality of life for Palestinians; and a commitment for a “two-state solution.”
To Israel, Blinken mentioned a peaceful coexistence with Palestinians but he didn’t even mention the word “Israel” to the PA leader as he focused only Palestinians’ desire for a good quality of life. In addressing the Israeli leader, Blinken mentioned America’s commitment to Israel’s security but to the Palestinians, the Secretary of State simply mentioned concern about the violence without addressing who was committing and instigating the attacks and the U.S.’s determination to stand opposed to terror.
“President Mahmoud Abbas stressed, during the call, that what the Israeli occupation authorities and their forces and settlers who practice terrorism are doing contributes to undermining the two-state solution and destroys all chances of achieving peace, calling on the US administration to accept the State of Palestine’s endeavor to obtain full membership in the UN by a Security Council decision, and to end all sanctions imposed on the Palestinians due to US laws, and build normal relations between the US administration and the State of Palestine, including reopening the US consulate in Jerusalem and an office for Palestine in Washington, and restoring the direct aid program.
“On the other hand, President Abbas stressed the need to oblige the Israeli occupation authorities to stop all their aggressive practices and unilateral Israeli actions, adhere to the signed agreements, and focus on the political horizon.
“President Abbas stressed that the State of Palestine will continue its efforts at the UN level in order to obtain full membership in the UN, and implement the resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative, by ending the Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine, with its capital, East Jerusalem, on the 1967 borders.”
While Abbas ranted about Israeli “terrorism’, Blinken seemingly opted to not mention the U.S.’s commitment to Israel’s security, and didn’t even mention “Israel” on the official call notes. Abbas told Blinken that he wanted Palestine to have full UN membership and the opening of political offices for the PA in the U.S., and Blinken avoided the topic and focused on Palestinians rather than the PA.
It is safe to assume that the United Nations General Assembly will continue to be a spectacle of disappointment as a parade of dictators and anti-Semites are given a global platform. Any real peace may be achieved in bilateral meetings held in restaurants and apartments away from the microphones.
The failure to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict is because the local Arabs refuse to accept the presence of Jews and believe that the Jewish State will eventually disappear. With such orientation, there is virtually no Palestinian interest in peace talks, and popular support is around “resistance” by “any means necessary” to rid the land of Jews.
Meaning, to kill them, or enough of them to make the rest scared enough to leave.
For those interested in resolving the conflict, Palestinian society must be instilled with basic truths:
Jews are indigenous to the holy land
Two Jewish Temples stood in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount
The land of Israel is, and always has been, central to Judaism
Jews are not going to leave; this is their homeland
These truths do not negate (or should not) negate a Palestinian narrative that they are also native to the land and have lived there for generations. However, it replaces the extremist vitriol prevalent among Palestinian leadership, radical imams, college professors (like Columbia University’s Joseph Massad) and the B.D.S. movement which are built on the foundation of antisemitism in advancing anti-Zionism.
In addition to reiterating these facts, governments and the United Nations need to take clear steps to advance peace:
Unequivocally support the Jewish State in fighting terror
Unequivocally condemn the recruiting, training, arming and using children as terrorists
Clearly label Hamas as not only an Islamic militant group but a designated terrorist group, no different than the Taliban, ISIL and Boko Haram
Palestine will be unwelcome to speak at the United Nations unless it ceases funding and inciting terrorist activities
Support Jews peacefully accessing and praying at their holiest site on the Temple Mount, a fundamental human right (reject the “status quo”)
Repeal UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which made it illegal for Jews – and only Jews – to live throughout their homeland
As long as the UN continues to waffle – and contradict – these moral points, Palestinians will continue to reject coexistence and pursue terrorism against Jews. The local Arabs believe that Hamas’s terrorism got Israel to leave Gaza in 2005, and the next generation of terrorists will ultimately chase Jews from their promised land.
The world is exacerbating Palestinian terrorism and destroying any path towards peace because it fails to address the root cause of the conflict which is Palestinians’ refusal to coexist with Jews. The flawed traditional bias of pressuring the more powerful party (Israel) and absolving the weaker (Palestinian Arabs) is exactly the opposite of what is required to form an enduring peace in the Middle East.
US Ambassador to the United Nations lambasts “settlement activity.”
What happened: Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the United Nations replied to remarks made by Tor Wennesland, UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, at the UN Security Council on August 21, 2023. After condemning all acts of violence, whether committed by “Palestinian militants, or extremist Israeli settlers”, she added:
“we urge all parties to take proactive measures to counter all forms of violence and incitement to violence, and refrain from actions that inflame tensions including settlement activity, evictions, the demolition of Palestinian homes, terrorism, incitement of violence, and payments to the families of terrorists.”
The Message: The United States has taken the position that Jews living east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49) (commonly called “settlers”) is so upsetting to Arabs that it is on the same level as Palestinians killing Jewish civilians.
It suggests that the US position is that Israeli “actions that inflame tensions,” which could be normal non-violent activity such as Jews visiting the Jewish Temple Mount during normal visiting hours, is equivalent to Palestinians inciting violence and the Arab government paying for the murder.
Scene after Palestinian Arab killed Israeli father and son at a car wash in the West Bank, August 2023
The Danger: There is no moral equivalence between terrorism and… anything. By equating the payment, incitement and actual murder of people with anything, is a tacit blessing to engage in every kind of preventative activity – including violence – to stop such actions from taking place. In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it greenlights Palestinian jihadists to attack Jews sleeping in their beds, visiting a car wash or praying in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Email UN Mission to UN: “There is no equivalence between Arab terror and Jews upsetting Palestinians with their presence.”
The scourge of terrorism is still very much present around the world, especially in areas of concentration of Islamist militants.
In Pakistan, rivals have been blowing up crowds at rallies and in mosques. On July 30, at least 63 people were killed and over 130 injured when a suicide bomber set off explosives at a political rally in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province at a gathering of the conservative Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, known for its links to hardline political Islam, in the former tribal area of Bajaur, which borders Afghanistan. ISIS claimed responsibility. Reuters added that “Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) [also known as the Pakistani Taliban] and Islamabad broke down. A mosque bombing in Peshawar killed over 100 people earlier this year.”
Relatives and mourners gather around the caskets of victims who were killed in Sunday’s suicide bomber attack in the Bajur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Monday, July 31, 2023. (photo: Mohammad Sajjad/AP)
The United Nations Security Council quickly condemned the “heinous and cowardly suicide terrorist attack” and “expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Pakistan, and they wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.” It continued:
“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.
“The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. They urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Government of Pakistan, as well as all other relevant authorities in this regard.
“The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed. They reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.”
These three paragraphs sound weighty but are pre-packaged, off-the-shelf statements used repeatedly. The UNSC used it in January 2023 in Pakistan and aired the same in December 2022, September 2022 and March 2018 in Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria, respectively.
But not for Israel. When Israel is confronted with Islamist militants slaughtering innocent civilians, the UNSC cannot recall how to “copy-paste.”
In January 2023, the UNSC condemned the slaughter of seven Jews at a synagogue during a session discussing the region but issued no canned statement. The UN Secretary General issued a terse statement which did not suggest that Israel “hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors… to justice.” Instead, he expressed the opposite desire because he “is deeply worried about the current escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. This is the moment to exercise utmost restraint.“
This is an old, despicable story, in which the UN urges the world to fight terrorism while demanding Israel accept terrorism as a penance for existing.
On June 27, 2023, Tor Wennesland, the United Nations Special Coordinator For Middle East Peace (actually the Coordinator for Palestinian Appeals), addressed the United Nations Security Council. He gave a long list of Israeli actions against Palestinians while giving barely any details of SAP (Stateless Arabs from Palestine) attacks against Israelis.
In one review of the back-and-forth violence, Wennesland recounted that on June 21 “armed Palestinians fired towards al-Jalamah checkpoint, north of Jenin. An Israeli drone subsequently launched a missile at their vehicle, killing three Palestinians, one a child. The IDF said that the three were responsible for a number of shooting attacks in the West Bank. Two were later claimed as members by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the third by Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.”
Wennesland clearly knew that Arabs were recruiting and arming children to engage in terrorist attacks but said absolutely nothing about this horrific activity during his entire report.
Both he and the UN know that this is a red line.
According to the Paris Principles on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 2007, “A child associated with an armed force or armed group” refers to any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.“
But the global farcical organization does not utter a word about Arab children committing terrorism as part of organized groups. Instead, Wennesland stated that “Children in particular must never be the target of violence, used or put in harm’s way,” condemning Israel for killing young terrorists, rather than the Arab groups who recruit child fighters.
The Arab American Institute’s James Zogby was given the floor at the UN as well and said “there is an extremist political culture in Israel today. Polling data shows that a majority of Israelis do not view Palestinians as equal human beings. And given the traumatic nightmare visited upon millions of Palestinians for the past 56 years, is it any wonder that a recent poll shows a majority of Palestinians rejecting moderate leadership and favoring armed struggle. This tragic deformity in Palestinian political culture is the result of the continued brutality of the occupation.”
The countries on the Security Council picked up on the twisted theme. Russia, Ghana, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France and Malta all berated Israel for the death of Arab children, missing the critical element that the Arab children are fighting alongside adult terrorists. The Israeli representative called it out, “that cancerous [Palestinian] hatred, which has poisoned the minds of children and adults, is the root of the conflict and must be addressed and condemned by the Council.”
No one seemed to hear or care.
Has there ever been a more disgusting inversion of blaming the victim? The majority of SAPs favor killing Jewish civilians inside of Israel, not “armed struggle” against extremist Israelis. The SAPs recruit and arm children to murder as many Jews as possible.
And the United Nations not only ignores the horrible spectacle but gives an audience to people to whitewash the crimes.
The UN is tacitly supporting Palestinians recruiting children to kill Jews, and the US and world say nothing.
ACTION ITEM
The UN ignores and absolves Palestinian Arabs recruitment, training, and arming of children to kill Jewish Israelis. This must be condemned clearly and forcefully, as all bright lines have been erased in the global body’s onslaught against the Jewish State
“The United Nations continues to ignore and absolve Palestinian Arabs recruitment, training, and arming of children to kill Jewish Israelis. It must be condemned clearly and forcefully, as all bright lines have been erased in the global body’s onslaught against the Jewish State.“
Boat packed with as many as 750 fleeing migrants capsizes off Greece in June 2023
Since 2014, the United Nations International Organization of Migrants estimates that 56,912 migrants and refugees are dead or missing. This year is set to be perhaps the deadliest on record, as thousands of people flee their homes due to war or poverty.
The United Nations and media spend a scant moment mourning these poor souls. Men, women and children who reluctantly ran to far-away lands in pursuit of peace were quickly forgotten. No actions are taken to prevent the frequent tragedies.
The United Nations has other priorities:
For synthetic “refugees” over real refugees; and
For people who seek to murder over defenseless souls
The UN has dressed up Palestinian Arabs who have been living in the same land for generations, as a special class of “UNRWA Refugees”. It pardons their jihadi violence against Israeli Jews as a matter of routine and concocted resolutions.
The media closes its eyes and minds to the facts that Palestinian Arabs are not refugees who do not deserve a special UN agency accompanied by a promise of invading a UN member state. Politicians suspend belief that they favor a two state solution while simultaneously advocating that the Jewish State shouldn’t be Jewish and forced to take in millions of Arabs from a few miles away.
The UN held a week-long conference on counterterrorism in June, and subsequently informed Israel that only the rest of the world can combat the global scourge. Israel must accept jihadi violence as penance for its existence.
The UN Security Council is now scheduled to meet to invert reality in discussing Israel’s successful raid to eliminate terrorists in Jenin but will not convene to dismantle UNRWA camps in Gaza and the West Bank which serve as the incubators for Muslim extremists.
It is terribly sad that politicians, the United Nations and media do not attend to peaceful people in actual dire need. It is a horrific state of reality, that the world supports jihadi extremists living next to Israel in their quest to kill Jews and the only Jewish State.