Post by: Breanna Tate
This summer I have been working online for Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ) within the International Law and Public Diplomacy Department. The department works to uphold human rights in the middle east by crafting complaints submitted to the United Nations’ International Criminal Court (ICC), writing reports of human rights abuses, etc. I was assigned the task of writing the transcript of a webinar covering the highlights of the UN-Israeli relationship through the lens of UN resolutions.
The actions of the UN have indicated a high disregard of Israeli borders and sovereignty and a high regard for Arab borders and sovereignty. For example, because fighting against the existence of the Israeli state has continued through terrorist attacks committed from the West Bank, Israel built a security fence. Though the UN proclaims to be a defender of peace, in 2003 the UN General Assembly, by a vote of 144 to 4, called for Israel to remove the wall; the UN, an international peacekeeping organization, condemned Israel for building a wall that kept terrorists from attacking its citizens. Why? The UN held and remains to hold that Arabs have the right to freedom of movement into the country. Yet, no sovereign state is required to let terrorists into its territory, and yet Israel has been deemed the exception.
Second, in 2009, the UN established a fact-finding mission covering the Gaza conflict called the Goldstone Report. In the document, Israel’s retaliation against terrorists, the Hamas, is condemned. Meanwhile, the Hamas and the PLO’s Charter’s call for Israel’s annihilation. So, even though the Hamas care nothing for peace, the international peace-keeping organization condemns Israel for retaliating.
Thirdly, in 2018, the UN passed Resolution ES-10/L.23 denouncing Israel’s response to the “peaceful protests” on the Gaza border. Yet, in JIJ’s article, “March 31 From the Gaza Strip,” it is written,
The terrorist organizations make cynical use of women and children, who are purposely sent to the fence to be injured. Hamas uses them as cover for its attempts to carry out terrorist attacks, including placing IEDs on the fence and launching rockets. . . The fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip separates a sovereign state and a terror organization; it separates a country that protects its citizens and murderers who send their people into danger.
The UN, the organization formed after World War II for the purpose of preventing World War III, condemned Israel for responding to acts of terror—for acting like a sovereign state. When the UN does not condemn terror, it supports terror. Dietrich Bonhoeffer professed,
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
This post was written by a Center for Global Justice Intern. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.