An estimated 240 people in Israel were ripped from their homes on October 7, 2023. Many witnessed the brutal slaughter of friends and family before they were taken to the terrorist tunnels of Gaza by Hamas.
On November 22, a deal was announced to return the hostages to Israel in exchange for 150 Palestinian Arab terrorists held in Israeli jails, a “humanitarian pause” to the fighting and sending in various items to Gaza including fuel and food.
The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres was happy at the announcement and issued a short statement:
“The Secretary-General welcomes the agreement reached by Israel and Hamas, with the mediation of Qatar, supported by Egypt and the United States. This is an important step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done.
“The United Nations will mobilize all its capacities to support the implementation of the agreement and maximize its positive impact on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.“
Even as roughly 200 people remain in the clutches of the Palestinian political-terrorist group Hamas, the United Nations still cannot prioritize their well-being and urge their release and instead will only focus on Gazans.
It underscores the imperative for the United States and the western world to stand solidly behind Israel as the UN remains a highly biased anti-Israel organization.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres
ACTION ITEM
Write White House on form: “The United Nations continues to ignore Palestinian terrorism and does nothing to push for the release of the remaining hostages who were ripped from their homes in Israel. In this world which only advocates for Palestinian Arabs, it is imperative for the United States and western countries to stand solidly behind Israel in this very difficult time.”
The United Nations Secretary General issued a statement on November 19, 2023 that he was “deeply shocked that two United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools were struck in less than 24 hours in Gaza.” He added “I reaffirm that our premises are inviolable.”
Does the UNSG think that Israeli nurseries are similarly inviolable, never to be infringed or dishonored?
Bloody nursery in Israel after Hamas October 7 massacre
Does the United Nations think that Jewish children in Israel should be allowed to go to school without the ruling government of a neighboring territory invading the country, storming the building and shooting children?
Israeli school riddled with bullets shot by Palestinian Arabs on October 7
Are the playgrounds of Israeli children inviolable, or are Palestinians living nearby allowed to enter and burn children alive?
Israeli classroom soaked with blood after the popular ruling Palestinian party stormed the building and butchered teachers and children on October 7
The fact that UNSG Antonio Guterres refused to demand that Hamas be held accountable for its actions gives an indication that he believes that Israeli schools, playgrounds and nurseries are not protected spaces.
When Guterres concluded his latest statement, “I also want to express my deep appreciation for all the mediation efforts led by the Government of Qatar,” the government which is the main sponsor of Hamas and the leading funder of jihadists in American schools, he also let the world know that Jews in schools everywhere are fair game for jihadi terrorism.
Politicians and presidents of universities are being graded by their reaction to Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel and Israel’s response. The pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian communities are keeping score.
Pro- Israel Statements
There are a number of statements that people expect to see, some of which are considered easy and others which show true pro-Israel bona fides.
Condemn October 7. The Hamas attack which killed over 1,200 people was brutal. Most people expect condemning the attack an easy thing to do because of its scale and brutality.
Harsh adjectives of attack. Calling the attack “barbaric”, a “pogrom”, “pure evil” and similar language is similarly expected as a logical extension of the condemnation.
Calling Hamas is a terrorist group. The United States, Canada, United Kingdom and many other countries officially label Hamas a terrorist group, so calling it as such is also not viewed as a major pronouncement but Zionists expect to hear it specifically mentioned now.
Israel has a right to defend itself. This is a natural right and obligation of countries which are attacked. Stating that Israel has such right would normally be considered redundant but nothing seems to be in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Call to release hostages. Prioritizing the release of an estimated 240 people who were seized in the October 7 attack is a basic humanitarian call. It is surprisingly absent from many public statements, upsetting many Jews and Zionists.
Bring the perpetrators to justice. A natural biproduct of all of these statements is to hold the murderers and abductors to account.
Pro-Palestinian Actions
Pro-Israeli statements blend into pro-Palestinian statements when addressing Israel’s response to the attack. People who condemn violence might want all attacks to end and can hold both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian statements concurrently. However, when people demonize Israel and support Hamas, the break in the preference becomes clear.
Call for Humanitarian Pause. Israel’s response to the October 7 attack has killed thousands of people. Calling for humanitarian pauses to allow civilians to leave the area and bring in food and fuel is viewed as natural by many peace activists who want to minimize civilian casualties.
Call for Ceasefire. A ceasefire is viewed as much more extreme than a pause, especially early in the Israeli counter-attack. Pro-Israel people want to see the military capabilities of Hamas destroyed and a premature end to the campaign would give Hamas a huge victory. Pro-Palestinians believe that it is the only way to save thousands of Palestinian lives and are not concerned that Hamas may launch more attacks as they promised to do.
Say the October 7 attack had “context.” Backers of Palestinians do not want the narrative of the story to be that Hamas initiated the fight. While people may or may not acknowledge the brutality of the October 7 massacre, they discuss the blockade of Gaza and other Palestinian grievances to frame the discussion.
Rip down Kidnapped posters. The fate of 240 people ripped from their homes undermines the Palestinian narrative which paints Arabs as the victims.
Calling Hamas a “resistance movement”. Hamas calls itself a “resistance” movement, making it sound like a reactionary force rather than a terrorist group. Palestinian sympathizers use the nomenclature, even after the October 7 attack which killed more Jews in a day than any day since the Holocaust.
Not condemning October 7 attack. Many people released statements which skip the Hamas attack and only address Israel’s ongoing attack on Gaza. This is appreciated by the Palestinian community as it frames the oppressor and oppressed narrative to their liking. In contrast, it is considered appalling and a red flag to much of humanity as failing to condemn horrific acts like placing a baby in an oven alive, an action of psychopaths.
Call to “Free Palestine from the River to the Sea.” This demand to end Israel as a Jewish State goes beyond the specific war. It marks the war as the beginning of a liberation of land from Jewish control.
Call to “Globalize the Intifada”. This chant has many iterations like “Intifada revolution”. It spells out the desire to ‘Free Palestine’ with violence as well as either attack Zionists everywhere and/or any entity considered a western imperialist power.
Shouts of “Gas the Jews” and other forms of attack. The call for violence against Jews everywhere, not just in Israel, is the extreme end of pro-Hamas statements, shouted at rallies and in social media.
The scorecard shows people’s preferences in the conflict, like U.S. President Joe Biden and Congressman Ritchie Torres on the pro-Israel side, university leaders like Columbia University president Minouche Shafik who say nothing, and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Queen Rania of Jordan and Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the pro-Palestinian side.
Politicians, university presidents and corporate CEOs who all waded into politics in the Russia-Ukraine War and Black Lives Matter incidents, are being pushed to make statements about the 2023 Gaza War, with many angering supporters of each side. Everyone is checking the scorecard to gauge where people’s loyalties lie.
And of course, there were over 1,400 people butchered in Israel on October 7.
The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres addressed each, condemning the attacks.
Regarding Cameroon, Guterres called “on the Government of Cameroon to conduct an investigation and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.”
For the attack in Myanmar, Guterres said of the terrorists, “Those responsible must be held to account.”
Yet despite to much greater scale and barbarity of the attack on Israel, Guterres pared back his comments. He specifically did not want the Government of Israel to hold the Hamas terrorists accountable.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
In the immediate aftermath of the worst crime against Jews since the Holocaust, Guterres offered “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.”
Does Guterres think that Hamas terrorists are “civilians” to be protected? Does he not believe that the 1,000-plus terrorists that invaded Israel and burned families alive should “be held to account?” What is the purpose of the statement that is a world apart from what Guterres offers to other countries?
Seemingly, the United Nations is sending a message that countries like Cameroon and Myanmar can and should hold terrorists to account. But not Israel. Israel must use “maximum restraint” despite the horror.
To give context to the 1,400 people killed in Israel on a single day, the total deaths from terrorism in 2022 in the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was 791 people. The one day toll in Israel was more than any country for the entire year of 2022.
Yet the United Nations urged “maximum restraint.”
This treatment of Israel in the face of terrorism has a long history, as the UN adopted Palestinian Arabs long ago and protects them at all times, even – or especially – when they engage in grotesque jihadi terrorism.
But even now? Even in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre?
According to the United Nations, Israel may never act as judge; it is only to be judged, scrutinized and criticized. It is an object to be acted upon, and must otherwise remain silent, even when slaughtered.
Over the past week, several resolutions were put forward at the United Nations Security Council to advance a ceasefire in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War. Each failed, regardless of whether the resolution was written by Brazil, Russia or the United States.
The first failure was because the text did not explicitly call out Hamas as being a terrorist group, deserving of complete condemnation for the gruesome butchery it committed against people in Israel on October 7. Not all countries label Hamas a terrorist group (appallingly) but some wordsmithing allowed parties to just condemn the actions of October 7 without calling the group terrorists.
A more difficult pickle exists for the members of the UNSC about stating that Israel – like every other country – has a right to defend itself. The UN has adopted Palestinians as their perennial wards and is loathe to state the obvious, which will result in death and injury in Gaza.
Time and again, the UN has excused and ignored Palestinian terrorism. Over and again it has demanded that Israel use ‘utmost restraint’ after heinous Palestinian terrorism, while it tells every other country to bring ‘perpetrators to justice.’
Will the UNSC finally say that the Jewish State has the right to defend itself and bring the 1,500 Hamas terrorists and its leadership to justice? Will the carrot of a ceasefire be enough to say a basic truth aloud?
US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Members of the UN have condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as a form of collective punishment against all Gazans while they ignore the collective punishment of terrorism. Israel has an obligation to root out the terrorists and bring the hostages home. A UN failure to acknowledge those simple facts will brand the agency forever as an antisemitic cesspool and gateway for global anarchy.
ACTION ITEM
Email White House “Support Israel’s right and obligation to defend itself against the horrible Palestinian terrorist groups pulling people out of their homes for torture and death”
In the weeks following the brutal slaughter of 1,400 people in Israel, Israel has been actively trying to bring over 200 hostages home, bring the Hamas perpetrators to justice, and ensure that peace can prevail. In its efforts to minimize civilian casualties, Israel asked Gazans living in the northern part of the strip to move south. It continues to give the civilians additional time as requested by the United States, before it begins a ground incursion.
This is all too much for the United Nations Secretary General.
On October 24, UNSG Antonio Guterres lambasted Israel saying “Protecting civilians can never mean using them as human shields. Protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than 1 million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself.” He seemingly doesn’t want Israel to bring the Hamas terrorists to justice in ensuring that civilians stay in the north and act as human shields for the Satans of Gaza.
In his comments, Guterres finally made it clear why he excuses Hamas. He does not believe that Hamas is like ISIS, a genocidal jihadi group hell-bent on killing infidels. He believe they are part-and-parcel of the Palestinian mainstream.
In his remarks yesterday, Guterres said: “It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”
There was no separation between Hamas and Palestinians. Guterres tied the terrorists’ actions directly to Palestinians’ complaints and demands. While Guterres said “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians,” he immediately went on a long list rationalizing the Arab brutality.
For the United Nations, Hamas and the Palestinian people are one and the same. Bringing Hamas terrorists to justice is an anathema, as it would mean inflicting harm on the United Nations favorite adopted wards, Palestinian Arabs.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at Cairo Peace Summit, October 2023
On June 28, 2016, Ban Ki Moon, Guterres’s predecessor as Secretary General, visited Gaza and told the audience: “I stand with the people of Gaza to say that the United Nations will always be with you.”
He wasn’t lying.
The United Nations has kept its promise of always standing with the people of Gaza, even the evil terrorists who hack children to death, rape women and burn families alive.
ACTION ITEM
Write US Ambassador to United Nations “The Secretary General cannot say there’s no excuse for terrorism… and then give excuses for terrorism. If Hamas indeed represents the will of Gazans as the UNSG states, then their hopes for killing Jews and destroying Israel must be vanquished as well as the terrorists who commit atrocities.”
To listen to the media, would would imagine that Gaza is the worst place to live, much worse than neighboring Egypt for example, which controlled the Strip from 1949 to 1967.
Here are the statistics as reported by the World Bank.
Table 1: Life statistics in Gaza and Egypt
The average life expectancy in Gaza is 74 years, about 1.5 years longer than in Egypt. There are roughly 2.5 fewer deaths per 1,000 people in Gaza than in Egypt, with death rates of 3.8 and 6.3, respectively.
The medical care in Gaza is quite good and has extended the lives of Gazans beyond those found in neighboring Arab Egypt. The United Nations providing healthcare to its adopted wards similarly helped the young Gazans.
Table 2: Infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births in Gaza and Egypt
As seen in Table 2, babies born in Palestinian territories do significantly better than they do in Egypt. This is primarily driven by free healthcare services provided by the United Nations to Palestinian Arabs but not to Egyptians.
The United Nations also provides free education to Palestinian Arabs but not to Egyptians.
Table 3: Literacy rates for Palestinian Arabs and Egyptians
The gap in literacy scores between Palestinian Arabs and Egyptians is staggering. According to the World Bank, Palestinian literacy rate is 96.2%, while it is a terrible 67.4% for Egyptians. The Palestinian literacy rate is slightly higher than Saudi Arabia and is only surpassed by Jordan among Arab countries in the region.
Despite the better education and healthcare, Palestinian Arabs have a weaker economy, especially in Gaza.
Gaza’s economy is much weaker than in Egypt or the West Bank as the territory is ruled by the Hamas political-terrorist group. Israel and Egypt have a blockade around the area to stop the flow of weapons into the strip which has launched five wars against Israel since it seized the area. Many countries won’t trade with the region because of its violent jihadi leadership which pours its resources into waging war rather than to develop society.
Local Gazans often incorrectly attribute “social services” to Hamas, when the healthcare and education are principally provided by the United Nations. The similarity in healthcare and educational statistics in Gaza and the West Bank prove this out.
Despite Hamas failing Gazans, it remains extremely popular. According to a September 2023 poll, Palestinians would elect the leader of Hamas (58%) over Fatah (37%) to the presidency. Much of that is because 53% of Palestinian believe that the pathway to end the “struggle” against Israel is via violence (as pushed by Hamas), while only 20% support negotiations (as voiced by Fatah).
The United Nations has given Gazans the very best healthcare and education among the region’s Arab nations, all for free. Despite the better education and physical health, Gazans focus their efforts on destroying Israel and in the process, their own economy, and now, their infrastructure.
After the terrorist attacks on the United States on 9/11/2001, the U.S. enlisted many countries in a “War on Terror,” and also got the United Nations General Assembly to adopt resolutions to combat the evil scourge.
“To refrain from organizing, instigating, facilitating, participating in, financing, encouraging or tolerating terrorist activities and to take appropriate practical measures to ensure that our respective territories are not used for terrorist installations or training camps, or for the preparation or organization of terrorist acts intended to be committed against other States or their citizens;
To cooperate fully in the fight against terrorism, in accordance with our obligations under international law, in order to find, deny safe haven and bring to justice, on the basis of the principle of extradite or prosecute, any person who supports, facilitates, participates or attempts to participate in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or provides safe havens;
To ensure the apprehension and prosecution or extradition of perpetrators of terrorist acts, in accordance with the relevant provisions of national and international law, in particular human rights law, refugee law and international humanitarian law. We will endeavour to conclude and implement to that effect mutual judicial assistance and extradition agreements and to strengthen cooperation between law enforcement agencies;”
After the events of October 7, 2023, it is beyond question to anyone in the world that Hamas is a heinous terrorist group. It is therefore incumbent on all nations to do the following:
Every nation should immediately label Hamas and Palestinians Islamic Jihad “terrorist groups”;
Define the Gaza Strip as a “safe haven” in which terrorists plan and prepare for terrorist activities;
Support Israel in “the apprehension and prosecution or extradition of perpetrators of terrorist acts”;
Demand the surrender of every Hamas and PIJ terrorist and the release of every hostage this week;
Barring the surrender above, support Israel’s efforts to prosecute such terrorists, including moving Gazan civilians out of combat zones;
Reaffirm the commitment to fight terrorism as laid out in the action plan above
The UN Secretary General fails to do this. At the “Cairo Summit for Peace” on October 21, Antonio Guterres said:
“Our near-term goals must be clear:
Immediate, unrestricted and sustained humanitarian aid for besieged civilians in Gaza.
Immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
And immediate and dedicated efforts to prevent the spread of violence which is increasing the risk of spillover.
To advance all these efforts, I appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire now.”
This is a disgrace in flies in the face of the United Nation’s own action plan to “ensure the apprehension and prosecution or extradition of perpetrators of terrorist acts.” Guterres didn’t even mention fighting Hamas in the aftermath of the most detestable terrorist actions in modern times.
UNSG Guterres at Cairo Peace Summit, October 2023
Worse, by not demanding the terrorists be brought to justice and instead seeking a ceasefire, Guterres is attempting to block Israel’s counter-terrorism offensive AND provide a safe haven in Gaza for the terrorists to operate into the future.
All countries should demand the resignation of the Secretary General and label Hamas a terrorist group immediately.
ACTION PLAN
Contact White House: “Push every country to label Hamas a terrorist group. Demand the resignation of the UN Secretary General for attempting to provide a safe haven for terrorists and attempting to stop the prosecution of the most vile perpetrators of terrorism.”
The United Nations Security Council tried to get a resolution passed last night to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza. The Russian resolution was supported by China, United Arab Emirates, Mozambique and Gabon for a total of five, while four opposed (the United States, Britain, France and Japan) and six abstained (Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana, Malta and Switzerland). Nine votes are needed to pass a UNSC resolution so the matter failed.
Linda Thomas Greenfield, the US Ambassador to the UN was appalled that the resolution did not even mention Hamas by name, let alone condemn it. In summarizing her remarks the UN wrote that the October 7 “acts brought to mind the heinous atrocities by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Da’esh, and it is these acts by Hamas that led to the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, she said, stressing: “Civilians should not suffer for these atrocities, and it is the Council’s responsibility to address the crisis, unequivocally condemn Hamas and support Israel’s right to self-defence under the Charter of the United Nations.” However, the proposed resolution does not meet these conditions, by failing to mention Hamas, she said, calling this “outrageous and indefensible”. The United States could not vote for a resolution that dishonours victims. It is Hamas that set the crisis in motion, she said, stressing that members cannot allow the Council to shift the blame to Israel.“
US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Albania, which abstained, said that “Albania abstained from the draft resolution presented by Russia because the text failed to adequately address all critical issues, including the condemnation of terrorist attacks by Hamas.”
It is obvious and essential to call out and name and condemn Hamas. Observers may question whether the omission was done to protect Hamas or give countries an easy reason to reject the resolution so Israel can bring Hamas to justice.
But this is familiar territory. In December 2018, the UN General Assembly tried to pass “Activities of Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza” (document A/73/L.42). While the text gained plurality support in a recorded vote of 87 in favour to 57 against, with 33 abstentions, it failed to meet the two-thirds adoption requirement. As summarized by the UN “The text would have had the Assembly demand that Hamas and other militant actors, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, cease all provocative actions and violent activity. It would have also encouraged tangible steps towards intra‑Palestinian reconciliation, including in support of the Egypt’s mediation effort.”
The United Nations has never in its history condemned Hamas.
Evil to condemn (Boko Haram, al Shabab, Hezbollah)
Evil to tolerate (governments of Syria and Saudi Arabia)
Evil to ignore (Hamas)
He went to war with the first category, tried to help other forces get rid of the second, considered it realpolitik in needing to deal with the third group and thought the fourth was other people’s problem.
That is essentially a recap of the world regarding placing Hamas in the right category. Whether the group is evil and a terrorist group is not really relevant for many. Hamas speaks for local Palestinians who want to destroy the Jewish State and move into that thriving land where grandparents used to live.
Western countries are demanding that the world call out and condemn Hamas (category 2 at a minimum) and ideally support Israel, which has a category 1 score for the group. But that will not happen because those countries are not looking for a two state solution but a single Palestine solution, and Hamas is the tip of the spear (it’s a category 3 or 4 at best, and may be a force for good).
Or maybe for them it’s just theater, as Israel is so unique that there is unlikely to be spillover into their countries.
In an intense scene from Game of Thrones (The Mountain versus The Red Viper S4E8), a man came back to avenge the rape of his sister and murder of her children. He returned to a place he despised to demand a confession from the killer and bring quick justice for the heinous crimes. “Say her name!” he demanded as they fought to a common death, as spectators looked on. So it is with Israel’s return to Gaza which it left in 2005, to reclaim hostages and bring Hamas to maximum justice.
There is no debate about the atrocities committed by Hamas, they are plain facts. When people and governments refuse to call it out, they are not simply siding with those who want to see the end of the Jewish State; they are awaiting the theater of Jews and Arabs slaughtering each other over the narrow strip of land far from their shores.
If and when the United Nations can call out the evil of Hamas, thousands of lives in the region will be saved, and the terrorist group will be on a path for elimination. I am not optimistic.
To paraphrase the song, “there’s no fundraising business like war business,” and UNICEF leaned into the Israel-Hamas war with ads on social media.
The cover page shows a young boy walking in the street with a large header “For Every Child.” The lead-in text wants people to “help UNICEF be there for children when disaster strikes.”
Upon clicking the page, one reads about “the brutal attacks on Israel and the declaration of war,” and how “UNICEF is responding in Gaza.”
There is no mention of the decapitated Israeli babies, the young Israeli children taken hostage, the Israeli youth suffering burn and bullet wounds in Israeli hospitals. There is no UNICEF response for those Jewish children.
Because United Nations agencies aren’t meant for Israel, and donors to United Nations agencies would withdraw funding if monies went to help Jewish children. Donations are for the Arab people of Gaza only, as laid out by the UN and its donor base.
When UNICEF says “For Every Child,” it means “For Every Non-Jewish Child.”
First One Through 