Michael Shine : The United Nations that we know today was formed in 1949 with an initial membership of 58 members. Within its original charter was the sentence: The right to self-defense is reaffirmed in Article 51, which states, “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations . . .”
Michael Shine
Today there are 193 member countries, Israel is one of them, and Palestine (a non-country) is not. Palestine, i.e. that group of peoples living in an area to the East of Israel (between Israel and Jordan) and Gaza (a strip of land, once governed by Egypt and now governed by a terrorist organization called Hamas) adjoining Egypt and Israel, wants to be independent, but not through negotiation (after all they have been offered independence during negotiations on a number of occasions but have refused), but apparently through terror and military attack. Indeed the charter of the governing body of Gaza, Hamas, calls for the total destruction of Israel and the killing of all Jews within it. With this aim, Hamas (and their associates such as Islamic Jihad, IS, Hezbollah and others) have, for almost a decade, been firing rockets at, and carrying out terrorist attacks against, Israel’s civilian population. Israel, in accordance with the United Nations Article 51 above, defends itself, and what happens? The United Nations again finds cause to condemn Israel. This however is not totally surprising.
In the UK on July 24th 2014 Lord Jonathan Sacks asked the British upper chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords, this question:
My Lords, at this difficult and distressing time, which is surely a source of grief to all of us, will the Minister comment on what a Government not blind to humanitarian concerns but seeking to defend their citizens from missile attack do when missiles are stored in schools, rocket launchers are placed beside hospitals, ambulances are used to transport terrorists, entrances to tunnels are set inside apartment blocks and civilians are used as human shields?
The response, pretty much as per the UN response was, Israel can defend itself – but it mustn’t hurt anyone in the process. Pause for thought – how then?
So why has the Western world and the UN turned so much against Israel? Why are 38% of all UN the Human Right’s Councils findings anti-Israel. There are a number of excuses (note please, not reasons, but excuses) why this has come about.
Firstly the majority of the countries that have become members of the UN since its formation are Islamic states. Part of their thinking is a deep down hatred of Jews. They vote against Israel as a matter of course. Indeed a much respected former Israeli emissary to the UN, Mr. Abba Ebban, once said: “If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.”
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abbaeban167935.html#kTmdUodBluphWTqD.99 Michael Shine.
Secondly: The Occupation. The western world’s left-wing liberals has convinced itself that further to its being attacked by the massed Arab armies of its belligerent neighbours, and successfully defending itself, much to the annoyance of many, Israel illegally occupies the land of another country that it “won in war”. Is this indeed the case? Which country is Israel illegally occupying?
“Many pro-Palestine activists and members of the international community falsely have claimed that Israel has violated the Fourth Geneva Convention. For example, a UN Human Rights Council panel has declared that Israel building Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria violates the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Yet, there is a strong legal case to be made that the term occupation does not even apply to Judea and Samaria, as well as East Jerusalem. Article 2 of the Geneva Convention has made clear that the Fourth Geneva Convention only applies to two or more high contradicting parties, which is not the case at hand since the international community never recognized Jordan’s annexation of Judea and Samaria.Further, Egypt never bothered to annex Gaza and no Palestinian Arab state ever existed throughout human history. However, according to the San Remo Resolution of April 25, 1920 and the Mandate for Palestine of July 24, 1922, Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem, and Gaza were all supposed to be part of a Jewish state. These agreements are still relevant, since Article 80 of the UN Charter states that all mandates of the League of Nations are still valid.” Written by Rachel Stern in : http://unitedwithisrael.org/why-israel-is-not-violating-fourth-geneva-convention/
This brings us to third excuse. Israel is killing ‘peaceful civilians’ in Gaza. Unfortunately this is correct. It is a true cause of pain felt throughout Israel. It is what happens in times of war when a nation is called upon to defend itself from attack. Golda Meir, the first female PM of Israel is quoted as saying: “When peace comes, we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons.” Press conference in London (1969), as quoted in A Land of Our Own : An Oral Autobiography (1973) edited by Marie Syrkin, p. 242
However, contrary to that which the media would generally have us believe, nowhere near as many “Innocents” as the UN and Hamas would have the world believe were killed. And far fewer children – although the 160 plus that died during their enforced tunnel building labour were no doubt also included (The UN takes statistics provided by the terrorist organization Hamas, and repeats them without any checking of the validity of those reports, as do many of the international media reporters who have lied their way through much of the recent conflict) and uses this to accuse Israel. Reasonable and intelligent readers can see through some of this nonsense as did the BBC (recognized by their generally anti-Israeli reporting but here telling some truth): http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28688179
Throughout this recent conflict Israel has agreed to 8 periods of truce, Hamas has broken each and all of them, and this is what one Hamas spokesman had to say (regarding the ‘current’ talks in Egypt).
In a statement made prior to the Egyptian-mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas, Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri makes it clear that Hamas has no intention in making peace with Israel in any shape or form.
Al-Masri said: “In the lexicon of the resistance, the word tahdiah [lull] means preparation for the battles to come” and that the resistance “will continue to develop, manufacture, and expand its arsenal of weapons… until the Zionist enemy leaves our land in its entirety.”
See the viseo: http://unitedwithisrael.org/hamas-ceasefire-prepare-future-battle-destroy-israel/
Yet the Western World and the United Nations continue to vilify Israel, and only Israel. Why is that? If, after really considering the facts (we can debate opinions, but facts are facts) you think that it may possibly be something to do with, old fashioned and centuries old, Jew hatred, then, much as it pains me to say it, you may well be right.
Michael Shine
