Circus of the Absurd

July 12, 2023

 

In 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) condemned Israel more times than it did all the other countries in the world combined. UNGA passed a total of 28 resolutions rapping a specific nation across the knuckles. Fifteen of these resolutions criticized Israel, while 13 condemned various other countries, like Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Syria and the United States.

Let’s put matters into perspective. In 2022, Russia invaded a sovereign neighbor, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths and the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Iran cracked down on innocent civilians protesting inhumane treatment by the regime, imprisoning, torturing and executing its own people. Women in Afghanistan continue to be subjected to a future without education, worth or a voice. And in Syria, the Butcher of Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad, continues to slaughter his people with impunity. Then there are human rights violations in countries like Algeria, China, Cuba, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Despite these atrocities, UNGA felt that Israel was the main perpetrator of evil over the course of 2022 and thus focused its full attention on vilifying the only democracy in the Middle East.

Preposterous? Indeed. But sadly, not surprising. In fact, the UN and its various committees, assemblies and councils are notorious for its overt anti-Israel probes, resolutions and rhetoric.

With such a track record, is it any wonder that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls the UN a “circus of the absurd?”

From the Horse’s Mouth

“We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by—whether it is the Jewish lobby or specific NGOs…I would go as far as to raise the question of why are they [Israel] even a member of the UN…We want to continue to expose [Israel’s actions]. You cannot allow a country in the world to get away with this kind of [activity]. Israel has no intention of ending the occupation, and the persistent discrimination against the Palestinians lies at the heart of the systematic recurrence of violations.”
            —Miloon Kothari, one of three members of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem, and in Israel. The UN Human Rights Council created this commission in 2021 in the aftermath of Operation Guardian of the Walls. The COI is unique in that it is an open-ended investigation and the only one of its kind set up to investigate a UN member state with no end date.

“I hope that the Palestinian struggle to end colonization gains this kind of momentum, especially in the civilian campaign of BDS, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions…On the BDS campaign. I’m very pleased to hear that there’s so much activity and support…”
            —Navanethem Pillay, a member of the COI

“Armed and masked Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinians in their homes, attacking children on their way to school, destroying property and burning olive groves, and terrorizing entire communities with complete impunity. Disturbing evidence of Israeli forces frequently facilitating, supporting and participating in settler attacks, makes it difficult to discern between Israeli settler and State violence. The impunity of one is reinforced by the impunity of the other.”
            —Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories; Morris Tiball-Binz, special rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions; and Clément Voule, UN special rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association

The Other Side Weighs In

“Unfortunately, because of the [Israeli–Palestinian] conflict, Israel’s been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias—and sometimes even discrimination…It’s an unfortunate situation.”
            —Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the UN, admits the world body’s attitude toward Israel in answer to an Israeli student’s claim that the UN discriminates against Israel

“When the Human Rights Council treats Israel worse than North Korea, Iran, and Syria, it is the Council itself that is foolish and unworthy of its name. When that happens…the Council fails to fulfill its duty to uphold human rights around the world.”
            —Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the UN

“The UN’s assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions is surreal. Israel is the Middle East’s only democracy, yet instead the UN is empowering the region’s despots. It’s absurd that out of a total of 28 UN General Assembly resolutions that criticize countries this year, more than half are focused on one single nation—Israel. Make no mistake: the purpose of these lopsided texts is not to promote human rights, but to demonize the Jewish state.”
            —Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental watchdog organization

“@UNHumanRights Council is a sham, a mockery of the noble purposes it pretends to represent. It is an exclusively anti-Israel platform, manipulated by bloodthirsty dictatorships hiding their own massive human rights violations by attacking Israel.”
            —Emmanuel Nahshon, deputy director general for Public Diplomacy at Israel’s Foreign Ministry

“More decisions disconnected from reality by the circus of the absurd…The time has come to change the name to ‘the Council for Decisions against the Only Democracy in the Middle East.’”
            —Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

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