The United Nations (UN) is generating pressure on Israel to stop defending itself against the terrorist organization Hamas following the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust on Oct. 7, 2023. UN staff and bodies excuse Hamas’s actions, draw false moral equivalences between Hamas and Israel, and criticize Israel even when it makes clear and deliberate efforts to avoid civilian casualties.
1. Top UN officials make excuses for Hamas
“Today’s violence must be put in context,” specifically the “aggression” Israel perpetrated in the form of “almost six decades of hostile military rule over an entire civilian population,” wrote UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) special rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese on Oct. 7. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Oct. 24 that “nothing can justify” Hamas butchering civilians, but he then presented a long and one-sided account of Palestinian grievances, saying the Hamas attacks “did not happen in a vacuum.”
2. The UN General Assembly refuses to condemn Hamas
On Oct. 27, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) failed to pass a resolution that would have unequivocally rejected and condemned the terrorist attacks by Hamas. Instead, the assembly approved a resolution expressing concern overall violence since Oct. 7 — without mentioning Hamas or explaining that Hamas had initiated the violence. The UNGA-approved resolution calls for establishing a mechanism to protect the Palestinian civilian population without asking the same for Israelis. It also calls for an immediate ceasefire, which would enable Hamas to survive, rearm, and carry out future attacks on Israel, something its leaders have pledged to do.
3. The UN equates Hamas’s slaughter with Israeli attempts at self-defense
While condemning violence in principle, many UN statements focus exclusively on Palestinian suffering. Others equate Hamas’s deliberate slaughter of Israeli civilians with the collateral loss of Palestinian lives caused by Israel firing on Hamas militants embedded in dense urban terrain. For example, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed “concerns that the principles of distinction and proportionality are not being respected by both sides.” UN Women condemned both sides’ “attacks on civilians.” Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) criticized the harm being inflicted on both sides. In all these cases, the UN erased the distinction between Hamas’s deliberate, criminal targeting of civilians and the tragic cost of Israel defending itself from an enemy that uses civilians as human shields.
4. The UN nurtures Palestinian grievances rather than resolving conflict
The UN maintains numerous bodies that prolong and exacerbate tensions rather than resolve the long-running conflict. Whereas all other refugees in the world fall under the jurisdiction of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN has a Palestinian-specific refugee agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). By conferring refugee status on descendants of actual refugees, something not done for any other population, UNRWA has increased the population under its care from 700,000 in 1948 to 5.9 million today. This figure includes more than 2.3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, counted as refugees despite living in lands Palestinians claim for a future state. By promoting a fictitious Palestinian right to claim land in Israel and not offering resettlement as an option, UNRWA helps make the “refugee” issue intractable.
5. The UN does not consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization
The UN does not recognize Hamas as a terrorist group despite decades of suicide bombings, thousands of rockets launched indiscriminately at Israeli cities, and the barbaric actions of Oct. 7. In addition, the UN body formerly known as the 1267 Committee, now known as the ISIL (Dae’sh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, does not view Hamas (or any other Iranian proxy) as a terrorist group. In line with this view, no UN condemnation of Hamas’s brutal attack labeled the group as a terrorist organization. Moreover, UNRWA employs members of Hamas, supports Hamas’s public relations efforts, such as erasing social media posts insulting to Hamas, and teaches Palestinians to hate Israelis. Relatedly, several UNRWA staffers praised Hamas for the Oct/ 7 massacres.
6. The UN spreads false information
UN bodies and officials quickly spread Hamas’s false narrative blaming Israel for the Oct. 17 blast at Gaza’s al-Ahli Hospital, which instead was hit by an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket. Nine of the UN’s special rapporteurs for human rights falsely claimed that Israel had said “an attack on the hospital was imminent if people inside were not evacuated.” In fact, Israel had issued a broad call to evacuate northern Gaza, including hospitals, for the safety of the patients. Going further, the nine UN rapporteurs said there is “a risk of genocide against the Palestinian people.”
7. The WHO ignores Hamas’s use of human shields
The World Health Organization criticizes Israel for attacking Palestinian ambulances but makes no mention of Hamas reportedly using those vehicles to ferry terrorists. The WHO is also silent regarding Hamas deliberately disabling Israeli ambulances on Oct. 7 and murdering medical first responders to prevent Israelis from receiving life-saving care. The WHO has also not addressed Hamas’s use of Shifa Hospital and other healthcare facilities as command centers. Relatedly, the WHO holds Israel to an antisemitic double standard by maintaining an agenda item at its annual gatherings dedicated to scrutinizing Israel, something no other country faces. During the coronavirus pandemic, the WHO dedicated an entire day of an eight-day conference to examining Israel’s alleged violations of Palestinian health rights.
8. UN calls for a ceasefire play into Hamas’s hands
Hamas has a two-fold strategy: kill as many Israelis as possible and ensure Palestinian casualties to win international support. To do so, Hamas places its terrorists and weapons within population centers, using civilians as human shields. Rather than criticize Hamas for using human shields or supporting Israel’s right to defend itself against an enemy using human shields, the UN has pushed for a ceasefire, pointing to the high Palestinian death toll without linking it to Hamas’s human shields strategy. A ceasefire would grant Hamas impunity for the crimes of Oct. 7 and preserve its ability to carry out future massacres. By pressuring Israel to halt its maneuvers against Hamas, the UN demonstrates the effectiveness of Hamas’s human shields strategy.
9. The UN criticizes Israeli efforts to minimize civilian casualties
Israel warned Palestinians for weeks to evacuate the warzone in northern Gaza in order to protect them from military action to remove Hamas. Instead of encouraging this effort to minimize civilian casualties, the commissioner-general of UNRWA described Israel’s efforts to relocate the Gaza population as “horrendous.” The Oct. 27 UNGA resolution framed it as the “forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population.” Secretary-General Guterres’ spokesperson called for the order to be “rescinded.” In fact, Israeli warnings are consistent with international law.
10. The U.S. must demand much-needed UN reforms
The UN’s Orwellian focus on Israel has undermined the basic functions of the multilateral body, and reforms are desperately needed. Some recommendations for the United States include:
•Requiring the overhaul of UNRWA to ensure an accountable and transparent organization. Any further U.S. funding should include specific contingencies.
•Demanding the UN Security Council add Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations to its list of sanctioned entities and individuals.
•Dismantling bodies that serve as Palestinian propaganda vehicles. Any agency dealing with the Palestinian cause should prioritize counter-radicalization and co-existence.
•Encouraging the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as the standard for all UN bodies.
•Reforming the selection process at the Human Rights Council to block the worst violators of human rights.
Reprinted with permission from The DC Journal by ISOpinions.
The United Nations is about as useless and incompetent as Joe Biden.
UN reform? If it’s meant as a joke it’s not funny It should be first prosecuted for fraud and war crimes then dismantled permanently
The United Nations is anathema to world peace and we should invite that anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-freedom organization to take its headquarters somewhere else, OUTSIDE the United States, and without so much as another dime of U.S. taxpayer money. There is NO agency of the U.N. which currently furthers the stated mission of that organization.
We must stop giving money to the UN!
Defund the UN.
The UN has coddled terrorists, communists, and dictators for many years.
Along the way, it has provided a cushy way of life for thousands of bureaucrats who’d be lucky to get a job at a fast-food joint otherwise.
It’s not worth salvaging.
get out of the UN,IF they think Hamas is anything but a terrorist organization.We don’t need to UN,they need us!!!
After the election of 2024 is over and either Trump or another GOP candidate has won, the new president should taken immediate action to remove the United States from membership in the United Nations. All funding should be stopped and the UN should be given 6 months to vacate their NYC premises and find another location within the borders of another country. It was the United Nations that originally voted to give the land which is now Israel to the Jewish people and now, all they do is give lip-service to Israel while supporting the terrorist organizations that would destroy, not only the country of Israel, but every Jew in existence. The United Nations has lost whatever integrity they might have had in the past and have shown they are nothing more than a “woke” organization who favors terrorist jihadists rather than peaceful nations. They have become a waste of time and money and should be evicted from our shores.
We so need to get out of the UN !
The UN is one of the organizations who promote Communism..never knew how many of these people are Communist. Shocking!! Frightening…and digusting. Where are the good men who want people to live their lives free of all Corruption??
A useless organization thumbing their nose at American Taxpayers, and the disgraceful Biden Administration
The UN is now a hot bed majority members of which are Islamic and anti Jewish. The General Assembly is a darce. The Security Council is another with Russia and Communist China as permanent members. Time to dissolve this anachronism of a dinosaur
Like China, Russia, Iran, N. Korea and many others today, the U.N. IS the enemy ! They need to be kicked out of our country and never given another dime of taxpayers’ money…
PresidentTrump despised the UN and wanted us out. He was right about everything he said and did, with Drmocrats fighting him 24/7. And we’ve also found out the criminal activities of the WHO against all humanity during COVID & who knows what else.
Any organization that puts Iran on the Human Rights Council shouldn’t be taken seriously to begin with… USA OUT OF THE UN/UN OUT OF NYC!
We need to remove the UN from US soil and immediately stop funding them!!! They are the enemy!
I say the US needs to be anti UN , anti WHO ! Why on Gods green earth do we have anything to do with these two anti Israel groups is beyond my comprehension?
The UN has nothing to loose. They hate America and yet we continut to pay most of their bills. We need to kick them out of America and possible disband it in the near future.
The United States must withdraw from the UN immediately. We don’t need them.
The UN is part od the One World Order
Way back in the 1960-70s, my Uncle Les had a bumper sticker: “Get US out of the UN”. As kids, we thought he was kind of a kook but he was more astute than we thought.
How far will will the evil progress before provoking the righteous wrath of God ?
Hamas is part of the UN unofficial
If Trmp gets in ,hopefuly he will get us out of the U N . Then kick the U N;s Ass out of the U S . Kyle L.
Pretty easy..kick the UN out of New York and out of the US ..They have proven once again how take something meant for good and muddy it with sewer waste
Pretty good article until it got to number 10. That should have stated the John Birch Society’s project for almost all of its 65 years of operation: “Get US out of the UN and the UN out of the US”. The U.N. was started by communists (Alger Hiss–the U.S representative) and run by communists ever since. What else can you expect from the organization. We can speed up its demise if millions of Americans write to their congress person and ask them to introduce and then support the American Sovereignty and Restoration Act.
They’re lucky it isn’t me. Large bulldozers would follow my troops, and large trucks with winter salt spreaders as we see during the winter, would follow the dozers spreading the salt.
We need to completely withdraw from that sorry institution they call the UN.
Take the UN offices and all it’s members and kick them out of our country, NOW, if not sooner! I’m sick to death of them freeloading off us constantly asking that we send money to line their pockets while we have people starving to death on our streets. The “anti-freedom coalition” (Terrorists) have taken control of the UN and they’re no longer wanted in this country. Let them build another facility, (without our funding), in some other country, preferably the Mideast. Syria or Iraq would be good choices since the terrorists wouldn’t have to travel as far. It would also help serve putting all our enemies in the same nuclear target area.
The UN needs to go!
The UN is a tumor that needs to be eradicated. Its relevance is non-existent. It needs to be kicked out of the USA, disbanded and its leadership prosecuted and executed.
It’s past time for the USA to leave the UN.
We need to get out of the UN.
Don’t you just love that it is called the Israel/Hamas war, putting Israel first as if she is the aggressor and equalling the two as if they are tiresomely equally at fault.
The UN is a corrupt Mafia type business. They stay on the side of chaos so that they can get the USA to give more money. In theory the UN may be good but the reality is that corruption abounds. Ask the millions of Africans who have been allowed to starve to death, been killed by terrorist groups while UN Peace keeping forces watched and were not allowed to stop. The USA is culpable because they have seen the corruption, talked about it but continue to fund it. Get out of the UN!
What makes the UN’s opinion relevant ? Why does anyone waste space reporting on UN opinions or decisions ? The UN is a waste of time and money and has not accomplished anything for 40 years. I care more about what your mother believes than the UN.
They don’t make excuses for Hamas They make excuses for Islam Is there one country where it existed and lived in peace with other faiths ever starting from 7th century Never Not in India not in Indonesia not in any other country This is the elephant in the room politicians are trying to present as a rabbit Cuddly and harmless At this point we all are Israelis
USA should get out of the UN, and the UN should gat its [donkey] out of USA.
As long as we have a U.N. we will never have peace. They protect the guilty and condemn those who protect their own or assist those in need. They take our money and then spit in our face.
UN organization belongs in the sewer; among the rat population!
The UN has never told the truth!They are never hojnest.
This really for the UN is no longer doing its job of promoting world peace for its dominant by religious idealism of Islam.t
It’s time to take Our money and say GOODBYE to the useless, corrupt UN and focus on something important like the U.S.
Once again, President Trump has it right!
The UN was a big mistake by President Roosev elt from the very beginning, it should have been built in bombed out Europe.
UN is useless! No news there.
We (the US) need to withdraw from the UN and kick them out of New York.
There is NO reform possible for the UN. It is bought and paid for. The only good thing is to cancel it. If the U.S. stopped paying membership and allowing it a place of honor in NYC, it would crumble of its own heinous weight of prejudices and lies.
UN out of the USA, no funding from US, and all the buildings in NY can house the homeless and Biden’ illegal aliens!
The United Nations, like the League of Nations before it, is a pipe dream of the gullible progressives. It is long past the time to wake up and withdraw from this destructive waste of time, money, and lives. It has presided over countless conflicts without end (like Korea.) And numerous territorial disputes which have never been resolved. It’s useless.
The original intent for it’s creation was noble but the U.N. has evolved into something anathema to it’s origin. It should be dissolved or a the very least defunded and moved out of the US.
U.S Out of U.N. – U.N. out of U.S.
No more money for the UN.