By Daled Amos
The UN really put its foot down this time!
On May 10, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres issued a statement condemning "the latest security developments in Gaza" -- not "the attack by terrorists," and not "the conflict." Just "the latest security developments in Gaza."
He began, naturally, by condemning Israel:
The Secretary-General condemns the civilian loss of life, including that of children and women, which he views as unacceptable and must stop immediately. Israel must abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the proportional use of force and taking all feasible precautions to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations.
The implication is that Israel is not being careful, and that if Israel really was being careful, no civilians would be injured at all -- conveniently side-stepping the issue of terrorists using human shields, a detail which Guterres does not mention at all.
The Secretary-General also condemns the indiscriminate launching of rockets from Gaza into Israel, which violates international humanitarian law and puts at risk both Palestinian and : Israeli civilians.
The Secretary-General urges all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint and to work to stop hostilities immediately. [emphasis added]
On the heels of asking that the rockets not be fired indiscriminately, Guterres now asks that the terrorists who are launching the rockets show restraint? Is he trying to appeal to their better nature?
Finally, he addresses the legal experts among PIJ:
He reiterates his commitment to supporting Palestinians and Israelis to resolve the conflict on the basis of relevant United Nations resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements.
...We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, promote calm and work towards a political horizon and regional stability in line with the commitments in the Aqaba and Sharm el Sheikh declarations. [emphasis added]
This is the same mentality that wants to claim that terrorists are really freedom fighters -- as if history was full of groups that fought for freedom for their people by targeting innocent, unarmed civilians.
Why can't the UN and EU bring themselves to at least refer to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad by name? And why do they make believe that the terrorists are a moderate, democratic that will listen to reason -- if only they are reminded of the legal ramifications of their actions?
Have things sunk so low that they are afraid of implying any sort of support for Israel?
Or has the pro-Palestinian propaganda been so successful that Palestinian terrorists can now kill Jews with impunity because no one dare criticize them?
The UN and EU go out of their way to avoid identifying the Palestinian terrorists behind the violations of international law. This is just a more circumspect way of covering up for the Palestinian Arabs than Francesca Albanese's strategy to claim that Palestinian terrorist attacks are just their exercise of self-defense.
Can you imagine what it would be like if either the UN or EU could just issue an unambiguous statement like what Austria tweeted?
We strongly condemn the indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza into #Israel. The violence must stop immediately. Every civilian live must be protected under all circumstances.
— MFA Austria (@MFA_Austria) May 11, 2023
Nah, me neither.