PINDER: Why is the supposed peacemaker UN biassed against Israel?

Second in a series, to look closely at the United Nations Organization. See the first column here. From a recent column in the National Post by Michael Taube, “United Nations, a once noble institution when it came to international affairs and diplomacy has gradually turned into a political cesspool largely controlled by totalitarian states and rogue nations. Its horrendous lack of respect for countries that support democracy, liberty, and freedom, has in turn, led to an enormous loss of reputation.”The region now known as Israel, the West Bank (west of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip were all part of the British Mandate for Palestine. According to Avi Benlolo in another National Post column, the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War led to this Mandate by the League of Nations.Soon after its formation in 1948, Israel was attacked by most of its neighbours. This followed the passage by the United Nations General Assembly, on November 29, 1947, of Resolution 181, known as the “Partition Plan, proposed two states — one Jewish and one Arabic.”According to Benlolo, and every other serious historian, the notion now being peddled that the West Bank and Gaza have always been Palestinian territories is incorrect and misleading. This does not stop anti-Zionists from characterizing Israel as an occupier state.Benlolo further asserts that it was only “after Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War that the concept of a Palestinian state gained traction.” Divided into various administrative districts under lengthy Ottoman rule, there was never a Palestinian state, flag or anthem.Yet Israel, seeking peace in its historical home, has and still accepts peaceful coexistence. This has always been rejected by the Arab states refusing to recognize any Jewish state. Nor does most of the world, including the UN, recognize this fact, or another whereby many Palestinians work safely and happily in Israel.Instead, constant bombardments from Gaza to the West, Lebanon to the north, and Syria in the east, threaten the security of those living in Israel. More recently the Houthis from Yemen have joined the violence against Israel.Historically, and today, fellow Arab countries, other than senior leadership, have accepted no Palestinian immigration. Instead, through the generations they have been kept in refugee camps “using them as pawns to pressure Israel”, according to Benlolo.This gets us to UNWRA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Again, according to Benlolo “organizations like UNRWA perpetuate this situation, keeping Palestinians in limbo rather than encouraging their integration into their host countries. This contrasts sharply with how other refugee populations have been handled, where integration and resettlement are the norm.”It is hard to imagine that UNWRA employees are not impacted by the anti-Israel progressive tone from the top as articulated by the Secretary General. Notwithstanding, back to Michael Taube, the admission by the UN, long alleged, “that nine employees who, in their view,’ may have been involved in Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel’, will be fired.” The United Nations has made clear its anti- Zionism (against the state of Israel) and anti-Semitism (against Jewish people) bias. Other relevant anecdotal indicators — the UN celebrated flying flags at half-mast when Iranian President Raisi, aka the Butcher of Tehran, was killed in a helicopter crash. Also, the statement by Guterres following the October 7 massacre condemned Hamas but did not label it a terrorist organization. Other senior officials referred to Palestinian “armed groups” and “Hamas militants.”Why call a spade a shovel?It is only fair that I reveal my own bias which includes long-time admiration for the courage of this relatively small state surrounded in every direction by hostile parties. This led me to read a History of the Jews, by Paul Johnson, a leading historian. It is a heavy slog, full of detail, but confirms Jewish presence in the Holy Land thousands of years ago.That admiration was enhanced a week-long trip to Israel about 15 years ago with exposure to its entrepreneurial technology sector, the Israeli Air Force, and the Mossad Secret Service.It is also highly significant, and should be for the United Nations, that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and is surrounded by kingdoms, theocracies and dictatorships.It only takes a modicum of common sense to understand that the only way to prevent war is to support a strong Israel. It has been long said, and still true, that if Hamas and the other protagonists were to lay down their arms there would be peace; if Israel lays down its arms, there would be a massacre.The inappropriate actions of the United Nations, and its refusal to pursue peace and democracy is repugnant and damaging to western values. The aggressive and growing actions of Iran have destroyed Lebanon, are well along to the same outcome in Yemen, and are a major contributor to violence and destruction of Iraq and Syria.By demeaning Israel which needs our support, the United Nations is earning its declining reputation, becoming an agent for its socialist bias and unnecessarily fostering more long-term rancour and violence. The designated peacekeeper divides and increases the risk to all democracies that the rogue state Iran continues its rampage with impunity.Does the UN deserve the support of Canadians?Part III runs Sunday September 1st, and considers the UN’s role in the promotion of climate change and the chaos that has caused.