Deadly Israeli Intransigence
The Arab League has condemned Israel for its air strikes on the Gaza Strip. There is no indication that the Arab League condemns the attacks by Palestinian terrorists on unarmed Israeli civilians. There is no hint given that the Arab League is remotely concerned that the IDF strikes result from ongoing mortar barrages from Gaza into Israel, nor that Israel cannot sit idly by while its citizens continue to be attacked.The terrorists, representing the Popular Resistance Committee, entered Israel by way of the Egyptian Sinai border, entered from Gaza, to give them access to a highway close to Eilat where the atrocities took place. But it is intolerable to Jordan and to the Arab League and to Egypt that Israel has responded to these deadly provocations with deadly force.
As is usual, the Arab League has turned to the United Nations to 'deplore' Israel's aggressions, to force Israel to cease its military action. "We issued a statement condemning the Israeli offensive on Gaza ... and Egyptian land", the Arab League Secretary-General informed reporters in Cairo. "The United Nations has to take procedures to stop the Israeli offensive", he stated with the full force and dignity of his position.
Lebanon, holding sway in the United Nations as a member of the revolving 15-member temporary Security Council used its influence well, to prevent a condemnation of the terrorist attacks upon Israel. While Secretary General Ban Ki Moon saw fit to deplore the carnage in Israel with the death of eight Israelis at the hands of its neighbours, the United Nations was withheld from issuing a statement.
It's fairly ironic, in fact, that an Arab state, divided by sectarian antipathies and tribal animosities, and partially ruled by a terrorist organization whose mandate, like that of Hamas and its sister terrorist brigades, would have influence in the United Nations. Clearly demonstrating the value of that institution as a purveyor of universal values in its ongoing mission to support human rights and peace in the world.
India, the United States and Europe condemned the attempts by Lebanon to once again isolate Israel and hold it responsible for the attacks committed upon its soil and its people; to overlook the reality of constant vicious bombardments of Grad and Kassam rockets from the Gaza Strip, and to focus on Israel as "occupier" of Arab land.
Lebanon claims it will support a motion to condemn the violence against Israel only if an equal condemnation is issued by the UN of Israel, for its response.
Not to be outdone, the Palestinian Authority issued its own scathing condemnation of Israel's defensive response to the terrorist attacks at Eilat. A senior Fatah official took pleasure in accusing Israel of the commission of 'war crimes', holding that Israel alone is responsible for an escalation of regional tensions.
And the other half of the PA equation in Gaza condemned the Israeli "massacre" that targeted the commander of the Popular Resistance Committee and four of his men who had planned and executed the series of deadly attacks within Israel.
As always, in the Middle East, the cards are stacked with the world riveted on the enticing slanders and accusations that paint one country as the progenitor of all that ails the world, including war.
Labels: Israel, Middle East, Political Realities, United Nations
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