n It’s sad that nobody has come to Jonah Kaplan’s defense for pointing out what should be obvious in Wednesday’s column (“United Nothing irresponsible on Israel,” page 3). It has become very un-politically correct to criticize the United Nations while criticizing Israel has become very P.C. The people writing to criticize Mr. Kaplan’s views and the democratic state of Israel should be ashamed of themselves.
While Mr. Kaplan’s views are put forth in a blunt manner, they are largely true. I would like to point out a few facts to Daily Free Press readers. There are no other democracies in the Middle East besides Israel. There are 191 states with U.N. membership and only one with limited membership (Israel). From 1945 to 2003 there have been zero resolutions against Palestinian terrorists. But from the period 1962 to 1989 there were 429 resolutions against the democratic state of Israel.
Israel is barred from the Security Council, the World Health Organization, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, the Commission on the Status of Women and the World Intellectual Property Organization. Three states that sponsor terrorism are eligible to sit on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (CHR): Syria, Cuba and Libya, along with China, Sudan and Zimbabwe, whose abuse records are terrifying.
During the last 35 years, 26 percent of all CHR Resolutions went against Israeli interests. From 1945 to 2004, more than half of U.N. Security Council Resolutions regarding the Middle East have condemned Israel. All of this is quite remarkable considering that Israel’s land mass compared with the rest of the Arab Middle East is 0.16 percent, and it has no oil.
Has the U.N. condemned the killing of homosexuals in the Middle East? It is sad that Palestinians have and still declare asylum for fear of their lives if they are exposed as gay. Are DFP readers aware that after the Asian tsunami Israel sent an entire field hospital complete with doctors and supplies to Asia to save civilians – many of whom are Muslim? Are they also aware they Israel offered the same to the United States during the Katrina aftermath?
There is a fundamental difference in how Israel – a democracy – fights a war and how the Palestinian terrorists fight a war. The so-called Palestinian “freedom fighters” target any poor soul – more often than not, just an average Joe. Israel targets the terrorists. This is why the U.N.’s plethora of resolutions against Israel are meaningless. An enormous double standard is employed. The fact that the U.N. continually uses it is deplorable. All of this being true, when the U.N. sees all nations as equal it will become a respected institution.
Samuel Ashner CAS ’07
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