With the focus of global attention now on Iran’s retaliation to the Israeli assault on the Iranian embassy in Syria, the UN Secretary-General is providing additional cover for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Seemingly overnight, the world’s collective gaze has swerved towards issues of ballistic missiles, belligerence, the principle of reciprocation, and Article 51 of the UN Charter.
In the midst of it all, Israel is meticulously strategizing its Rafah assault, further extending its acts of genocide without any accountability. Israel has so far killed over 42,000 Palestinians, including 15,000 innocent children and 10,000 women, while the wounded have surpassed the 80,000 mark.
Instead of focusing the world’s attention on the imminent invasion of Rafah and the continuous slaughter of the Palestinian people, the Secretary-General bewilderingly decided to spend the 5th of April emphasizing Israel as the aggrieved party.
It seems as if the Secretary-General might be indirectly supporting Israel’s acts of genocide.
In his own words, these were his opening remarks:
“This Sunday marks six months since Hamas launched its abhorrent terror attacks in Israel. The 7th of October is a day of pain for Israel and the world.
The United Nations, and I personally, mourn with Israelis for the 1,200 people, including many women and children, who were killed in cold blood. I once again utterly condemn the use of sexual violence, torture, injuring and kidnapping of civilians, the firing of rockets towards civilian targets, and the use of human shields. “
Concerning Palestinians, the Secretary-General stated:
“When the gates to aid are closed, the doors to starvation are opened”
But Mr. Secretary-General, the gates of aid are not closed. It is Israel that is blocking them.
“More than half the population – over a million people – are facing catastrophic hunger.”
But, Mr. Secretary-General, it’s not that the 2 million Palestinians are simply facing a disastrous famine. The reality is that Israel is deliberately starving them right under the world’s watchful eyes.
“Children in Gaza today are dying for lack of food and water.”
But Mr. Secretary-General, the cause of Palestinian children’s deaths is not a deficiency of water. Israel intentionally cut off any water supply to Gaza with the sole aim of killing more Palestinians.
“This is incomprehensible, and entirely avoidable.”
But Mr. Secretary-General, what is incomprehensible is how, after six months, you are quietly acknowledging the demise of diplomacy instead of denouncing the brutal killing of Palestinians.
Diplomacy which alongside the United Nations, has become at best amoral.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the United Nations appears to show less concern with the innovative and savage methods of exterminating the Palestinians. More worryingly, any remaining vestiges of the principles of international humanitarian law seemed to have been killed along the way.
Instead, when asked yesterday about the UN’s role on the temporary pier that the US is constructing in Gaza, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson proudly stated that the UN “will support any plan to increase the delivery of aid, whether by sea, air, or, of course, most importantly, by land.”
Isn’t it baffling how the Secretary-General couldn’t manage to convince the US and Israel to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people for a half-year, yet a US-built pier in Gaza, allegedly aimed at preserving Palestinian lives, is nearing completion?
When it comes to the prominent influence of the U.S. on the United Nations, one needs only look at the legislation enacted by Presidents G. Bush and Bill Clinton.
This US law unequivocally prohibits any form of financial assistance to any international organization that recognizes Palestine as a full member. This dear reader, is the chief reason that the bid for Palestine’s full membership in the UN hasn’t been successful and will never be.
This implies that if the United Nations Security Council ever approves Palestine’s full membership, the US, which is the largest contributor to the UN, is legally bound to retract its 27% assessed contributions.
That is why the Secretary-General’s statements always start by reminding the world that we ought to condemn the 7th of October attacks and mourn those killed by Hamas while hinting that Palestinians could also be facing a mysterious famine…
The 7th of April in the UN also marked the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and the Secretary-General made sure to issue another remarkable statement:
“We will never forget the victims of this genocide. Nor will we ever forget the bravery and resilience of those who survived, whose courage and willingness to forgive remain a burst of light and hope amidst this dark chapter in human history.
Let’s ensure that the acts that began on April 7, 1994 are never forgotten — and never repeated. Anywhere.”
Yet Mr. Secretary-General, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, Palestinians are being killed in their own land. It is called Palestine. And the world is watching in silence. In cowardice.
The Secretary-General is, of course, not directly responsible for the killings of Palestinians. He, however, takes the path of least resistance and continues to offer a plethora of rationalizations and lies to conceal his cowardice and chiefly to preserve the US funding for the United Nations.
In doing so, the Secretary-General has effectively undermined any lasting faith in the virtue of multilateralism and the ethical grounding of diplomacy.
