Yesterday ended the week-long yearly gathering at the United Nation known as the 69th General Assembly where numerous countries of the world come to share their concerns, pleas and/or demands.
It all started with a four-minutes Climate Summit opening act by “newly appointed United-Nations messenger of peace” Leonardo DiCaprio. I found it less that convincing because as a private jet and mega yacht owner, DiCaprio cannot possibly expect to be taken seriously by the representatives of the global community. Has the UN lost all discernment or are they another victim of postmodern relativism? Have we entered a new chapter in mankind’s history when truth doesn’t really matter any longer?
I think we could get a good answer to this question if we were to take a closer look at both speeches by Palestinian Authority’s leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.
One was characterized by deceptive chutzpah and the other by righteous chutzpah!
Being Jewish, I might be accused by some of being biased and blindly pro-Israel. But like I have said before, being pro-Israel doesn’t mean that one is anti-Palestinian, sadly, the opposite is seldom true!
Frankly, I am not biased, I am just interested in factual truth–something most of the world and as it appears, the UN, are not so attracted to. But don’t take my word for it, instead, why don’t we look at both sides, compare and assess?
Mahmoud Abbas delivered a speech, laced with lies, accusations and hatred albeit protected by a thick veneer of victimhood. Amazingly, it garnered a rather long final applause from the gallery, generated I suppose, by all the UN representatives in favor of the “State of Palestine”. from Abbas’ transcript, we can glean statements on Israel and the recent Gaza War such as: “the scale of this genocidal crime is larger, and that the list of martyrs, especially children, is longer.” or another quote that could be taken verbatim and put in the mouth of Mr. Netanyahu and become truth about Hamas and Gaza, yet it came out of Abbas’ mouth: “This last war against Gaza was a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world, moment by moment, in a manner that makes it inconceivable that anyone today can claim that they did not realize the magnitude and horror of the crime.”
Abbas had the audacity to accuse Israel of genocide! Excuse me Mr Abbas, but you might need a history lesson or two in order to understand what a true genocide is. Then again, we must not forget that Mr. Abbas’s doctoral dissertation titled: “The Other Side: The secret relationship between Nazism and Zionism” states that the Holocaust had far less victims than claimed and that Zionists collaborated with Nazis, ludicrous at best!
Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic killing of a particular ethnic group. If anything, Hamas could be accused of having a genocidal agenda on their own people after we witnessed how they didn’t hesitate to put civilians (including children) in danger. We know that they have genocidal tendencies when it comes to Israel, but to their own people…seriously?
But wait, it gets worse when he dares to say that:” At the same time, I affirm that our grief, trauma and anger will not for one moment make us abandon our humanity, our values and our ethics; we will always maintain our respect and commitment to international law, international humanitarian law and the international consensus.”
How can he possibly keep a straight face while making such a statement? Humanity, values and ethics are the last thing that Hamas and by proxy Fatah and Mr. Abbas were interested in. It is well worth noticing that Mr. Abbas cared to mention the Palestinian teenager deplorably killed by Jewish teenagers. This was an unacceptable act of retaliation for the three abducted and murdered Jewish teens, who of course were not even mentioned by Mr. Abbas. Was this a case of selective memory?
Mr. Abbas also talked quite a bit about the settlements. Even though I don’t agree with the labeling of the land as “occupied territories”, the issue of the settlements is a very difficult one to handle. Yet, any honest, truth-seeking observer in the region knows that the keeping or relinquishing of land has no bearing on the issues at hand and/or on peace. A development here or a kibbutz there will not change the fact that Mr. Abbas refuses to recognize the existence of Israel.
Hitler and his Nazi cohorts refused to recognize the Jewish people’s right to exist. This made it very easy for them to justify their annihilation. Mr. Abbas is no different in his ideology and makes the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people a necessary and unavoidable step in the establishment of the State of Palestine. For this, he gets a lot of support from many Muslim states such as Iran and several terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and others. This and so much more of his caustic tirade was deceptive chutzpah.
Then came Mr. Netanyahu’s speech, just two days later. In his presentation, The Jewish Prime Minister jumped right in by denouncing radical Islam and stating truthfully that Israel was just a starting point in their destructive agendas:” everywhere we look, militant Islam is on the march. It’s not militants. It’s not Islam. It’s militant Islam. Typically, its first victims are other Muslims, but it spares no one. Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Kurds – no creed, no faith, no ethnic group is beyond its sights. And it’s rapidly spreading in every part of the world.
Responding to Mr. Abbas’ accusations of genocide, He proceeded in explaining all the steps taken by the IDF to prevent the unnecessary death of civilians in Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu compared both sides stating: Israel was doing everything to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties. Hamas was doing everything to maximize Israeli civilian casualties and Palestinian civilian casualties. Israel dropped flyers, made phone calls, sent text messages, broadcast warnings in Arabic on Palestinian television, always to enable Palestinian civilians to evacuate targeted areas. No other country and no other army in history have gone to greater lengths to avoid casualties among the civilian population of their enemies.
Hamas embedded its missile batteries in residential areas and told Palestinians to ignore Israel’s warnings to leave. And just in case people didn’t get the message, they executed Palestinian civilians in Gaza who dared to protest. No less reprehensible, Hamas deliberately placed its rockets where Palestinian children live and play.
He also impressed upon the UN delegates that the Islamic State of Iran was possibly the biggest threat to Israel and to the West. Especially if it soon becomes the Nuclear Islamic State of Iran.
Mr. Netanyahu’s speech was in many ways a response to Mr. Abbas’ one. As such, and based on factual truth and not relative truth, He delivered a passionate message of righteous chutzpah that should be taken very seriously.
What will come out of the 69th UN General Assembly has yet to be seen. But I have lost confidence in an institution that was once a beacon of hope and peace in a developing world. The United Nations have become so politically correct that they are blinded and even wooed by speeches like the one delivered by Mr. Abbas. Of course it doesn’t help when the vast majority of the delegates are anti-Israel to start with.
I applaud Mr. Netanyahu for his boldness and like him, I will quote Isaiah 62, but not just verse 1 , I would like to also add verse 2, because I do believe that God Has a glorious future for Yisrael:
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,
Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness,
And her salvation like a torch that is burning.
The nations will see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory;
And you will be called by a new name
Which the mouth of the Lord will designate.
If the few remaining friends of Israel like you and I do not speak on her behalf and support the only democracy in the Middle East, the next speech we hear might be her eulogy, God forbid! (Well, He actually does forbid it in Jeremiah 31:35-37).