“For behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.” (Psalm 11:2)
Speaking before the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, condemned the Assembly’s malignant anti-Israel bias and warned the international body to “stand with Israel and stand against terror before it’s too late.”
“The international community has lost its way,” he said. “This institution was founded to stand for truth, for justice, and for moral clarity. This is no longer the case.”
“It might be too much to ask you to stand on our side in this battle between civilization and barbarism, but at least have the decency to swallow your selective outrage while Israel wages war against the extremist groups seeking to eradicate the values that we all hold very dear.”
Noting that Hamas is willing to see its own children killed for propaganda purposes, Prosor said that the international community must stop having the romantic view of Hamas as “freedom fighters.”
Ron Prosor (centre right), Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN, during the General Assembly meeting on the situation in Gaza.
Criticizing the Security Council for failing to adopt a strongly-worded resolution to press Israel and Hamas to end the conflict, Arab countries had requested the convening of the UN General Assembly.
Referring to events in Israel and Gaza as a “cycle of suffering,” UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said, “Do we have to continue like this—build, destroy, and build and destroy?” Ban asked. “We will build again but this must be the last time to rebuild. This must stop now.”
He also said the fighting in the territory “has raised serious questions about respect for the principles of distinction and proportionality in international humanitarian law.”
Remarkably, although the UN expresses such criticism of Israel for the number of civilian deaths that have occurred in Gaza, it expresses no such outrage at Hamas for using Palestinians as human shields or for the ongoing traumatization of Israeli citizens by Hamas rockets.
A Palestinian student inspects the damage at a UN school at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Although it is still unknown who is responsible, the UN immediately blamed Israel for the damage. Hamas was firing on Israel from the vicinity of the school at the time it was hit.
Ban Ki-moon also called for an investigation of the attacks on UN facilities.
In a statement that seemed to call into question the use of UN schools and shelters for the launching of rockets, Ban said, “UN shelters must be safe zones, not combat zones. Those who violate this sacred trust must be subject to accountability and justice. Mere suspicion of militant activity does not justify jeopardizing the lives and safety of many thousands of innocent civilians.”
Robert Serry, UN special envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, summed up each side’s concerns when he said, “The basic equation is: end the blockade on Gaza, address Israel’s legitimate security needs.” He didn’t mention that the last time Israel allowed free access of materials to Gaza, they were exclusively used to prepare for war against Israel.
Israel Ambassador Prosor reminded the Assembly that Israel had removed all of its people and settlements from Gaza in 2005. But the actions of Hamas have turned it into rubble.
He pointed out that the only solution is the complete disarmament of Hamas who committed a double war crime by both rocketing Israel and using civilians as human shields.
Prosor also condemned Ban’s lopsided suggestion of Israeli war crimes. He said that if the UN spent one tenth as much effort investigating Hamas as it does investigating Israel, it would “reveal horrific war crimes on the part of Hamas.”
Palestinian children pick through the rubble.
Indeed, the Lawfare Project, working together with the Center for Near East Policy Research, has found that not only does UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) allow the use of their schools for the launching of rockets thus making their children human shields, but they actually facilitate the recruitment and training of Palestinian children as both child soldiers and human shields.
The organization has verified that among a list of other offenses, UNRWA itself has confirmed that Hamas “fired into the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza where, on July 24, 2014, a UNRWA school was hit.”
Palestinian Christian and co-founder of the Emmaus Group Christy Anastas. (YouTube Capture)
Outside of the UN, some people are risking all to stand for truth.
Palestinian Christian and co-founder of the Emmaus Group, Christy Anastas, who is from Bethlehem, recently defended Israel in an open letter to her fellow Palestinians.
Contrasting Israel’s embracing of life and Hamas’ embracing of death, she said that while Israelis are working to avoid Palestinian civilian deaths, “my own people, think of them as a credible sacrifice for their cause.”
“What saddens me is that again, the suffering of millions of Israelis is not being highlighted, as if they are not human beings,” she wrote. “In the last week alone, over 750 rockets have rained on them yet the world, and my people, are not regarding this as a crime against humanity simply because no Israelis have been killed. Under the Geneva Convention, firing missiles indiscriminately at civilian targets is a crime against humanity. They have not considered how Israel cares for her citizens by building a network of bomb shelters, reinforcing buildings and public structures and providing early warning systems for her people.”
In contrast, she wrote, “The leaders of Gaza, given so much aid by the West, appear to have spent much of it on building and preparing for war, rather than helping or protecting the people.” (Emmaus Group)
She called on the Palestinians “to accept responsibility for their actions and restrain those among us who chose violence over diplomacy.”
Many of the journalists who should stand for truth have instead fueled the world’s sympathy for Hamas by not reporting Hamas activities. While some sympathize with the Palestinian cause and primarily film the women and children who are wounded, militants have intimidated many other journalists to not film them or their rocket launches.
However, one news reporter for India’s NDTV, Sreenivasan Jain, did air his coverage of a missile launching site being built under the cover of a tent in the courtyard of the hotel in which he was staying. The hotel is located among densely populated apartment complexes.
Jain described men coming and going with wires, cables, and other large items.
He managed to capture on video rockets being fired from that location. Jain had witnessed rockets fired from the same location five days earlier, and identified the men as members of Hamas. (NDTV)
In yet another blatant use of Palestinians as human shields, a similar launch was captured by the English French news television service France 24, showing a rocket launching pad about 100 yards from a UN building and about 50 yards from a hotel.
The French journalist, Gallagher Fenwick, was forced to take cover during live coverage when the rocket was unexpectedly launched from the pad. (Times of Israel)
Israel chose not to counterstrike either site.
