The Vatican, the United Nations, and the New York Times

Pope Francis gave PA President Mahmoud Abbas a medallion representing an angel of peace, last month.   Prior to that, The Holy See formally recognized the State of Palestine, and announcedtwo Palestinian saints.  The terrorist group Hamas which rules Gaza is part of a unity government with Mahmoud Abbas.  Their stated goal is the complete destruction of the Jewish State of Israel.  The Vatican later clarified the peace medallion by announcing that the Pope meant that he hoped for peace.

The self invented State of Palestine claims a right to land that was won by Israel from Jordan and from Egypt in the Arab Israel War of 1967.  There has never been a State of Palestine, and it never owned the coveted lands which are now the West Bank and Gaza.   Palestinian people were Arabs and Jews that lived in the Middle East which was controlled by many rulers over the centuries. 

Red Alert Sirens warned of incoming rockets from Gaza.  In Negev Desert towns more than 100,000 men, women, children, sick and old people ran for their lives into bomb shelters.  There was terror in not knowing if their loved ones, homes, animals, or cars were harmed.   A woman and her young daughters got into a bomb shelter, while a bomb landed in the shopping center parking lot where their car had been.  Was their father alive?  In previous rocket attacks, among the killed were 4 year old and 5 year old children.   Israel retaliated.   The New York Times had no headline about Gaza attacking Israel.   The NYT headline was about the retaliation “Israel strikes Hamas in Gaza after rocket attacks”. 

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a milk toast comment on Hamas rockets attacking civilians; calling on all parties to avoid escalation.  There was no outrage. The world remains silent.

The Vatican is not a member of the United Nations, but has permanent observer status.  The Palestinian Authority (PA) has the same non member UN status.  At the UN it pushes to be granted statehood, to be called The State of Palestine.  Maps created by the PA show a State of Palestine from the border of Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, with Israel wiped off the map.

The UN’s International Criminal Court investigates war crimes. It will arrive in Israel June 27 for an investigation.  The complaint regards Israeli military actions in Judea-Samaria and Gaza over the past year. Israel responded that they will look at relevant considerations including that Palestine is not a state and therefore the court has no authority to consider their complaint.

The United Nations has condemned Israel with 45 different resolutions. Syria had 9.  UN Representative Algerian born Leila Zerrougui leads an inquiry asserting Israel human rights abuse.   Hamas hides weapons and terrorists in schools, hospitals and civilian structures.  Hamas's playbook calls for helping to kill its own civilians, while the IDF's playbook goes to extreme lengths to protect innocent life in war. Last year Israeli Defense Force retaliation in Gaza hit schools where Palestinians including children were killed. Leila believes that Israel wanted to kill civilians. The UN investigation discovered large weapon cashes at the schools, but she persists that Israel is like Boko Haram, Hamas, ISIS, Syria, Yemen, and South Sudan; who are on the list.   

New York Times reporters hang out with other media at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem.  The Negev and Gaza are far away.  Reporters get second hand information from Hamas supporters with Gaza operations.  One bias is that Israel should defend herself, but cause no death.  Israel goes out of its way to avoid killing Gaza civilians, but sometimes in war it happens.   NYT slanted reporting influences other media.  

Czech Republic Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 8th.   Some of Netanyahu’s comments:  “Why should the Palestinians negotiate when the UN will give them everything without negotiations?   We need direct negotiations without preconditions. They are engaging in Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS), which calls for the elimination of Israel.   BDS conceals a bigoted agenda behind a smokescreen; they exploit the language of human rights.  It is a position in which there is no room for Israel.” 

“They ran away from negotiations from former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, from Ariel Sharon, and from Ehud Olmert, and they run away from me.   They refuse to negotiate with the framework of John Kerry and the White House.   They run to Hamas and the UN to try to get sanctions on Israel.  They refuse to negotiate and then try to get boycotts on Israel for there not being negotiations which they refuse to enter, it is a Catch 22.” 

The Prime Minister calls it a Catch 22.  I call it a witch’s brew.