UN representatives downplaying terror when perpetrators are Palestinian and victims are Jews
By David E. Kaplan
“Words, words, words,” was Hamlet’s reply to Polonius’ question,
“What do you read, my lord?”.
By repeating the word three times, Hamlet suggests that what he is reading is meaningless.
Jews can never afford that luxury of dismissing ‘words’ as “meaningless”!
Take the relatively innocuous word “scuffle”. It seems such an insignificant word; hardly worthy of any analysis or concern. Generally speaking, if reported that there had been somewhere a “scuffle”, one might just as likely ignore the news item.
Yet its usage earlier this month was anything but insignificant and harmless. On the contrary, it exposed blatant antisemitism at high echelons of the United Nations that warranted a summons to Israel’s Foreign Office.
The individual so summoned was the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process- Tor Wennesland.
After Palestinian Ammar Hadi Mufleh and two male accomplices failed in their attempt to carjack an Israeli couple on the 2 December 2022, they then tried to grab an Israeli police officer’s rifle, stabbing him before the officer responded by shooting Mufleh dead. The stabbing and shooting can be seen clearly on security camera video footage.
While this was a clear premeditated terrorist attack only thwarted by the quick action of the Israeli police officer, this was not the way the UN’s Wennesland saw it. Soon after the failed terrorist attack,
Wennesland, who not only should have known better but in fact did know better – tweeted that he was :
“horrified by today’s killing of a Palestinian man, Ammar Mufleh , during a scuffle with an Israeli soldier near Huwara in the occupied West Bank. My heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family. Such incidents must be fully and promptly investigated and those responsible held accountable.”
A ”scuffle”?
Displaying no concern for the victims – only “heartfelt condolences”to the attempted killer’s family – how about the UN’s “horrified” Wennesland being “investigated” and held “accountable”?
Israel’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanual Nachshon had it right when he tweeted that Wenneland’s remarks are:
“a total distortion of reality” explaining that:
“This incident is a major terror attack, in which an Israeli policeman was stabbed in his face and the life of another police officer was threatened and consequently he shot his assailant. This is NOT a ‘scuffle’ – this is a terror attack!”
This devious twisting of facts exposing bias, prejudice and antisemitism is systemic within the United Nations. Not to be outdone by Wennesland, another UN official joined the fray expressing support for terrorist attacks on Israel. Addressing a Hamas conference in Gaza following the terrorist attack, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories said:
“You have a right to resist occupation….Israel says, ‘resistance equals terrorism’, but an occupation requires violence and generates violence.”
Is this not the UN legitimizing and giving green light to violence against Jews?
If the UN has a nefarious track record when it comes to the Jewish state, Israel also knows how to respond.
When on the 10 November 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution equating Zionism with racism,Chaim Herzog, Israel’s current State President’s father – then Israeli Ambassador to the UN – responded concluding with these words:
“For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper and we shall treat it as such.”
With that Herzog – before the eyes of the world – tore the resolution in half.
In further response to that iniquitous UN resolution, the street names of “UN Avenue” in Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were switched to “Zionism Avenue“.
Whether thwarting terrorism or antisemitism, Israelis today are STREETSMART!
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Just as the League of Nations failed in its charter to prevent further war so the United Nations has followed in its impotence. Not only impotent but such a contradiction of (ig)noble objectives when countries like Pakistan and Congo are members of the UNHRC. When Afghanistan is one of 45 members of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Only today the Afghan government issued a prohibition of women’s higher education, closing all universities to women.