Dear
Readers,
These columns began on my area of America Online, called: Judaism
Today: Where Do I Fit? People anonymously
sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response
in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become
quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many
Jewish papers and websites. I hope you find they help you
as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood
components of the Jewish way of Life. I welcome your
comments... see the end of the column.
Gil
PS
Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward
them or use them as you see fit. Please see the friendly
copyright notice at the end. |
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The
UN and Israel: A Joke!
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Dear Readers:
Earlier this year, in a column about Israel, I wrote that the United
Nations was "disgustingly anti-Israel." A reader took
issue with me. That column was not about the UN and Israel...but
this one is.
Hello Gil:
Let's try to be objective when calling the United Nations disgustingly
anti-Israel, there are positions which some consider to be neutral, they
just sound a little different than the garbage that George Bush spews.
Israel can be criticized, like any other nation.
L
Dear L:
Imagine the following fictitious scenario:
On the border between North and South Korea sit neutral UN peacekeeping
soldiers. North Korean troops are on their side of the border and
American troops protect the South Korean Border. One day, US soldiers
patrolling the South Korean border encounter a UN vehicle on the South
Korean side of the border. When the Americans approach, they are
ambushed by North Koreans who have crossed into South Korea...blatant
violations of International law. Three US soldiers are shot and
their bodies dragged away into North Korea.
Nine months later, to the shock of the Americans...and especially to the
families of the three victims, the US learns that "somehow" UN
"peacekeeping" soldiers on the border had videotaped the
ambush. Further, the UN had the video and incredibly, was
concealing this fact. Making the scenario even more of an outrage,
once the existence of the video was discovered, the UN then refuses to
let the US see the tape!
Something like this couldn't happen at the United Nations, right? Think
again! This is what happened, including the video, beginning on
October 7, 2000! The border was not Korea, but Lebanon and the
soldiers ambushed (and later declared killed) on the Israeli side of the
border were Israeli. The ambushers who crossed the border were
Lebanese based Hizballah soldiers. The UN was...well, the UN.
When it comes to Israel, unfortunately, the track record of the UN, is
exactly as I wrote in my prior column: DISGUSTINGLY biased again Israel!
Want some more evidence?
Did you know that until recently, Israel was the only country out of 189
member countries that was prohibited from serving on the Security
Council. (Which is currently chaired by Syria...speaking of a joke!)
How about the UN resolution in 1975 equating Zionism with Racism.
In 1991 under intense US pressure the UN finally repealed the
resolution...but the damage was done. Over the last decades,
misinformation about Zionism has been widespread. (What is Zionism
really? See my column http://www.beingjewish.org/jewishemail/article050802.html).
The anti-Israel voting records of the General Assembly and Security
Council leaves the impression that Israel is one of the only countries
on the planet. Of the 175 United Nations Security Council
resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel. Of the
690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed
against Israel.
Bias goes beyond those two UN bodies. The UN Commission on Human Rights
has devoted 25% of their condemnations to Israel. Yet as noted by
David Tell:
"There has been a genocide in Rwanda, an ethnic cleansing in
Yugoslavia, periodic and horrifying communal 'strife' in Indonesia's
East Timor, the 'disappearance' of a few hundred thousand refugees in
the Congo, a decades-long and culturally devastating occupation of Tibet
by the People's Republic of China . . . but none of those UN member
states has ever been subjected to the rebuke of a General Assembly
'emergency special session."
To see Tell's full article: "The U.N.'s Israel Obsession", go
to:
www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/186drluv.asp
Detect a little bias at the UN yet? Try this. The UN Relief
and Works Agency (UNRWA) has existed for over 50 years spending millions
to administer humanitarian services in Palestinians refugee camps.
Critics like Irwin Cotler, member of the Canadian Parliament and US
Congressman Tom Lantos ask, how in UNRWA schools, do suicide bombers
become glorified poster boys? Or how camps like Jenin (home to 23
suicide bombers) and serviced by UNRWA, become hornets nests of
terrorist activity?
How about when UNRWA Commissioner Peter Hansen lied to the world's
media, claiming that Israel committed a "massacre" in Jenin
and that with his own eyes he saw bodies piling up in mass graves?
Months later, his quotes have been totally discredited.
There are so many other examples of anti-Israel bias, that this column
could really be a book describing the UN's record against Israel.
And I have said nothing of absurdities like Yassir Arafat wearing a gun
holster to the podium when he addressed this world body dedicated to
peace!
I agree with you that "Israel can be criticized like any other
nation." But given the pathetic track record of the United
Nations, any critique of Israel coming from that biased body is a sad
joke with no credibility.
Gil
A FRIENDLY COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© Copyright Gil Mann
These columns can be found at www.beingjewish.org. Not
only do I give you permissions to copy these Jewish Email
columns...I HOPE YOU WILL and that you share them with others!
All I ask is that you never charge anyone for them and that you
also include this little copyright notice. Thank You!
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