UN General Assembly Leader Regrets Durban II Not More Focused On Israel

Insane myopia at the United Nations continues. It would appear that the only nation whose actions concern the United Nations to the point of taking action is Israel. They ignore North Korea's nuclear program, which has been restarted despite non-proliferation agreements. They ignore North Korea's missile launches, despite UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting them. They ignore Iran's missile tests and regularly repeating statements calling for the annihilation of Israel.

They ignore the human rights violations by dozens of countries, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Sudan, but Israel gets special treatment by being singled out for castigation and undermining Israel's legitimacy?

These gatherings instead focus on Israel's actions to defend itself from genocidal thugs in Hamas, Hizbullah, and other terrorists arrayed against Israel on her borders. They worry more about Israel's retaliation to eliminate terrorists attacking them than against thousands of kassam rockets and mortars fired by Hamas from Gaza.

So, it goes without saying that the United Nations General Assembly President expressed regret that the Durban II statement didn't single out Israel more than it did to condemn it for actions dealing with the Palestinians. How come there were no expressions of regret for China's dealing with Tibet or Sudan's actionable and provable genocide in Darfur or Sri Lanka's actions against the Tamil Tigers or the Thai government's actions against the Islamist insurgents or the Taliban's ongoing assault on human rights and freedoms in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

Well, it's pretty simple because the President is a leftist who has made these kinds of statements on Israel in the past:

Father Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, a socialist parliamentarian from Nicaragua whose tenure as UNGA chief is coming to an end in September, said in a Friday summary speech that it was a shame that a passage regarding the rights of Palestinians to statehood had been removed from the final text of the current conference.

D'escoto Brockmann, who has been accused in the past of making anti-Western and specifically anti-Israeli statements, expressed satisfaction that a concluding text had been coordinated.

But he added that it was unfortunate that the text no longer focused on the Palestinian "victims" whose plight had been the central issue of the first Durban conference.

Brockmann hasn't just been accused of making those statements in the past; they're on the record and verifiable. He's claimed that Israel engaged in genocide in Gaza (all facts to the contrary and purposefully ignoring real genocide in places like Sudan). He's embraced Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. They're like peas in a pod - both with the same goals.

This is on the heels of the head of the UN Human Rights Commission saying that Durban II was such a success, even though it singled out Israel by name and that the critics were wrong for trying to brand the conference as a forum of hate. Apparently everyone wants to ignore Ahmadinejad's outburst during the keynote address where he once again claimed Israel was illegitimate and called for Israel's destruction. Ahmadinejad's very presence shows just how rigged this whole process was given that Iran regularly violates all manner of human rights and freedoms, by executing gays for simply being gay, for sham trials (see Roxana Saberi and the Alaei brothers), and for flogging women who are found in the presence of men who aren't related to them. Throw in the fact that countries with large Muslim populations who regularly treat those who aren't Muslim as second class citizens (a fact prevalent among countries where sharia is imposed or sought to be imposed) and there are billions of people affected by that racism, xenophobia, and hate.

The UN Admits Hamas Stealing Its Supplies

It's not the first time this has happened, but when Hamas comes in and raids entire warehouses of humanitarian aid, the UN is going to have to say something.

Hamas police in Gaza have seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents, UN spokesman Chris Gunness said Wednesday.
A Pelestinian man carrying a...

A Pelestinian man carrying a bag of flour given through UNRWA's aid program [illustrative].
Photo: AP
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Gunness said the policemen raided a UN warehouse in Gaza City, snatching 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels - supplies meant for 500 Palestinian families. He said the incident took place on Tuesday evening and that it marked the first time Hamas had seized UN aid.

In a statement released Wednesday, UNRWA condemned the theft "in the strongest terms," and demanded that it be "returned immediately." The statement added that the organization "has a strict system of monitoring aid delivery and ensuring that its assistance reaches only the intended beneficiaries," and that officials were present "taking all possible steps to avoid its diversion."

Israel has charged that Hamas routinely confiscates supplies meant for needy Gazans.

A Hamas government spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Gunness has repeatedly sided with Hamas and claimed that Hamas didn't steal supplies in the past and that Israel had regularly targeted civilians and UNRWA facilities. This puts his prior statements at odds with the facts.

Hamas has been stealing supplies all along and reselling them to Gazans so that the terrorist group can raise money for its war against Israel.

A number of reports from the Strip paint a picture of very difficult humanitarian conditions, not least because of Hamas itself. The suspicion is that the group's operatives have seized control of any supplies passing through the crossings – including those sent by Israel and international organizations.

Reports say Hamas takes a cut out of all aid that arrives, including flour and medicine. Supplies intended to be distributed without gain among the population is seized by the group and sold to the residents, at a profit to the Hamas government.

One such incident was recorded Monday, when a convoy of trucks carrying supplies through the Kerem Shalom crossing was opened fire upon and seized by Hamas gunmen. Similar incidents occurred with trucks carrying fuel.

This is what you get when you provide humanitarian aid to a terrorist group who controls a region with an iron fist and which considers its jihad against Israel paramount over any humanitarian concerns.

The situation in Gaza is dire because Hamas makes it so, and UNRWA facilitates such actions by looking the other way as the terrorist group operates freely in the refugee camps, hires Hamas thugs as support staff, and is so thoroughly penetrated by Hamas, that it is not much more than a propaganda outfit for Hamas.

As much as the UN would protest otherwise, they have admitted that there is no way to check the background of those they hire, which means that Hamas is on the payroll and does have access to UNRWA facilities.

As Kenneth at LGF notes, UNRWA facilitates terrorism through its operations, and perpetuates the Palestinian refugee situation simply by defining refugee differently than the other UN agency responsible for refugees, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). UNRWA defines refugees to include the descendants of any original refugee, meaning that there are millions more people who are considered refugees than otherwise. It also provides a permanent bureaucracy since there is no incentive to end the operations since you have a constantly growing population.

UNRWA helps millions fewer people than UNHCR, and yet has a vastly larger budget per capita and has far more people on the payroll than UNHCR. Hamas has exploited this situation time and time again, and the UN has sat back and complained about Israel's actions.

The problem resides first and foremost with Hamas, but the UN is also responsible for facilitating the crisis.