'The UN And The Jews' Indeed (Weekend Thread)

'Dream of Solomon' by Luca Giordano ca. 1693, Museo del Prado, Madrid

You know, I take courage when the consistently anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic UK newspaper, the Guardian expresses despair over the increasingly likely selection of, what they say is a 'faceless' successor to Kofi Annan; I am talking of course about Ban Ki-moon, the current South Korean foreign minister.

Breaking the mold of the longstanding tradition among UN officials throughout the ranks to fashion the UN into "the foremost global platform for anti-Semitism", must indeed drive senior UN officials to despair, together with their faithful MSM minions.

"The mood among staff is glum," one of the officials said. "We are not very excited about the outcome." With morale low at the UN after five years dominated by divisions, deadlock and corruption, they are sceptical about Mr Ban's ability to turn the organisation round or provide the strong, inspirational leadership they had been hoping for.

Yeah, 'strong, inspirational leadership' in the fight against the hated Zionist state is what they were hoping and looking for. Let's refresh our memory with Anne Bayefsky's incredibly crisp and concise analysis, 'The UN and the Jews', mentioned in my post 'UN's Global Mission: Reviving, Spreading And Fueling Rabid Anti-Semitism' in July.

Where the UN has fallen markedly short is in the application of these principles [meaning the principles of self-determination, which are now taken to entail not just the basic right of political independence but guarantees of non-interference by other nations, a realm of domestic jurisdiction and national sovereignty, and the preservation of historical, cultural, and religious particularities], and in no case more strikingly than that of Israel. The key factor has been the changing composition of the international body. From the late 1940’s to the mid-60’s, the original membership more than doubled. Of the 67 new states joining in this period, 80 percent attached themselves to the Group of 77—the UN’s third-world caucus, made up of many former European colonies—and some 40 percent had Muslim majorities. By 1977, the five members of the Arab League who helped to found the UN had been joined by all sixteen others.

To this radicalized and often Soviet-influenced contingent, self-determination was invoked in UN circles not as a general principle but as a tool to wield against the West, especially the U.S. and its increasingly stalwart ally, Israel. Self-determination was a right of the oppressed, to be exerted against oppressors. In the prosecution of this cause, the weight assigned to historical claims was itself selective and discriminatory: those who rejected the UN's 1947 partition plan for Palestine were labeled the oppressed, while Jewish victims, from Palestine to Europe, were characterized as the oppressors.

By this means has the UN negotiated the passage from omission to commission. Not only has it consistently failed to appreciate or even to acknowledge the state of Israel’s preservation of Jewish independence and identity, it has become the loudest and most determined foe of the Zionist project.

They don't want a man who will focus on "administrative detail"; that would curtail their gravy train. They don't want a leader who "knows to disagree without being disagreeable"; that would forgo juicy Israel bashing headlines. They don't want a man with strong convictions; that would jeopardize the continuation of mindless anti-Zionist propaganda.

In short, they don't want a man who is described as "intelligent, polite, moderate and honest" and who supports "UN reform, transparency and the free market".

We may of course find to our dismay, that Ban Ki-moon has little sympathy for a beleaguered Israel, but in absence of a confirmed anti-Semitic, Muslim candidate, I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and look forward to rid the airwaves of the spineless and hopelessly corrupt Kofi Annan.

Comments

[Red Violin]

Thank you so much, Alexandra for your great blog and being a most gracious host.

[Alexandra]

Red Violin,

Will do, I am with you unreservedly on that one.

[Red Violin]

Hizballah backer and financier being awarded an honorary doctrate in St. Andrews:

I Object to the University of St. Andrews awarding Mr. Khatami an Honorary Degree!

During Mr. Khatami's presidency (Voted in by millions of Iranians whose aspirations were to see an improvement in the social, political and economic conditions in Iran), the people of Iran continued to suffer from the Islamic Republic's theocratic and oppressive policies!

Please sign the petition.

Fury as St Andrews honours Hezbollah backer

[J. Mark English]

Hello,

This is a great blog. I'm going to be sure to link yours to mine. Would you mind doing the same for me?

Thank you very much.

My site:
www.americanlegends.blogspot.com

Take care,
Mark

[nofate]

Ariel: ditto Kenny also. Two daughters, I pray every day for their protection by guardian angels or whatever.

terrorism lives: I think you are living in a fantasyland of your own making. The islamofascists do not care what you think. If they ever make it to your neck of the woods, you will have a quick awakening. I would suggest a series of articles, for free, to be found here that will give you a more informed position to argue from. Also, read the article offered by Red Violin, above, to help open your eyes. Here is an article by Iranians on the freedom of the press enjoyed inside Iran. You state: "i was born in a country consumed with hatred and fear", but you accuse this site of fomenting that which your country was able to improve. We are, in part, about the improvement of opportunity in other countries that are under the thumb of islamofascist thugs who are bent on making the whole world into their image of state run Islam. There is a wealth of information out there, follow out some of the links offered on this site and you will maybe become more informed. Enjoy.

And one more thing. You need to do a little more research on the background of our blogstress, who courageously, and freely puts her bio and philosophy out here for all to see, before you go making baseless accusations that have absolutely no basis in fact. Grrrr!

[mac Brachman]

Ariel: Ditto to what Kenny said. I have just one son, no daughters, and I fear for him every day. Shalom, Mac Brachman

[terrorism lives]

dear alexandra
i am not sitting in zim, i am sitting in south africa - which makes my dismay at your situation all the more intense.
i was born in a country consumed with hatred and fear but have had the honour of seeing it transformed not into utopia, but into a workable example of what can happen when people stop complaining about discrimination and injustice, and instead do something about it. not through more violence and more destruction (because that went on for a long time and wasn't getting anywhere), but through much more difficult and painful compromise.
if you continue to polarise the world as progressive-muslim, jewish-antisemitic, for you-against you, it will remain divided and in conflict for countless generations to come. is this the world you want your children and grandchildren to live in?
climb off your high horse and walk among the ordinary people of both sides. i'm pretty sure you'll find that most of them want the same thing - peace.
it is possible to find a workable solution, but only if we are all willing to face the fact that WE might be just a little bit wrong too.

[Kenny]

Ariel,

I have daughters. It sucks that that happened to yours.

[Ghost Dansing]

Hmm...in researching Mugabe and Zimbabwe, I unfortunately learned all about Nicholas Hoogstraten.

How does a Marxist like Mugabe end up being backed by something like Hoogstraten?

I don't know about 'oil for conversion to Islam' with Iran, but it would seem that Labor Unions aren't part of the Mugabe vision:

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe denied entry to a delegation of U.S. trade unionists on Friday, the latest group of labor activists barred by President Robert Mugabe's government.

The AFL-CIO delegation had hoped to meet officials of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), which saw dozens of its members arrested and some badly beaten this month when police stopped them from marching to protest against low wages.

Bill Lucy, a member of the AFL-CIO executive council and head of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, said the seven members of the team had been stopped at passport control at Harare's international airport and told they were not welcome.

"(Zimbabwe's) security and police forces have to be condemned worldwide for this kind of harsh treatment," Lucy told a news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, adding that all members of the delegation had valid Zimbabwean visas.

He added that while the group was at the airport it had been slipped a DVD of video recordings of police putting down the September 13 march and beating up ZCTU members.

"We're going to go from one end of our country to the other to let people know that peaceful demonstrations are subject to attack by the Zimbabwean government," Lucy said.

"We think we're going to develop an education program certainly to raise levels of awareness, focused on the African-American community in the United States."

Mugabe's government, fighting deep economic crisis, has moved against the ZCTU as well as the beleaguered opposition and civil society groups, fearing popular unrest.

It has barred visits by South Africa's COSATU labor federation, accusing it of being allied with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, a party with strong union roots.

Lucy, who was in southern Africa to attend a COSATU congress in South Africa this week, said he planned to take the issue to the International Labor Organisation.

The AFL-CIO is the largest U.S. labor federation, counting some 9 million members among its 53 affiliated unions.

Mugabe needs to look for that "Union Label.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/09/22/zimbabwe.union.reut/index.html

Alas, there is political solidarity between the United States, Iran and Zimbabwe in one area:

(Washington, D.C., January 25, 2006) - In a reversal of policy, the United States on Monday backed an Iranian initiative to deny United Nations consultative status to organizations working to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

As the U.S. government acknowledged in its 2004 country report on Iran, Iranian law punishes homosexual conduct between men with the death penalty. Human Rights Watch has documented four cases of arrests, flogging, or execution of gay men in Iran since 2003. In its 2004 country report on Zimbabwe, the U.S. government noted President Robert Mugabe’s public denouncement of homosexuals, blaming them for “Africa's ills.” In the past, Mugabe has called gays and lesbians “people without rights” and “worse than dogs and pigs.”

The U.S. has reversed position since 2002, when it voted to support the International Lesbian and Gay Association’s request to have its status reviewed. Officials gave no explanation for the change.

In voting against the applications to the NGO committee, the U.S. was joined by Cameroon, China, Cuba, Iran, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Senegal, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Votes in favor of consultative status came from Chile, France, Germany, Peru, and Romania. Colombia, India, and Turkey abstained, while Côte d'Ivoire was absent.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/25/iran12535.htm

[Ariel]

gringoman & mac: I also think you're dead on. As a whole, Islam seems to think it is above reproach. The world must apologize to it.

mac: (On that earlier thread) It wasn't me, Mac, it was my little girl. The molester was an older teenager, a tortured soul for whom my wife and I wanted help more than punishment. The molestation was relatively minor, if groping, hard fondling, and exposure are minor. She did lose trust and innocence that day. We of course became the bad guys for reporting it, and no longer attend any family functions because of their disgraceful behavior in protecting the predator. Politeness and courtesy is all we muster for them.
Outside my patio door, on the masonry block wall, scrawled in the way of a little girl's writing is the plea "get away". She wrote it that day. I haven't the heart to touch it.
My little girl no longer has nightmares, at least. Except when I'm stupid enough to let her watch a horror movie.

[Alexandra]

Terrorism Lives,

Sitting in Zim, you should know that hatred and violence is indeed alive and well.

As for being scared for the future, yours is I would say in immediate jeopardy, and has been for some time, so you need not worry about elsewhere in the world. Mugabi just might seal his devil pact with Ahmadinejad in a sort of a 'oil for conversion to Islam' deal, in which case you may be down on your knees facing Mecca five times a day.

[mac Brachman]

To all: I suggest checking out Israelinsider web site (israelinsider.com): today's lead story concerns a Muslim cab driver in Britain who left a blind woman stranded because she insisted on boarding the taxi with her seeing-eye dog. This is the religion of compassion? Shalom, Mac Brachman

[mac Brachman]

I tend to agree about the Guardian; I have never seen any balance or fairness in its ME coverage. However, at the risk of others objecting, I would not characterize the Guardian's Sunday sister, the Observer, this way. I believe it is more balanced and sympathetic to Israel.

To Ariel: (From the earlier thread) What happened to you should happen to no one. I was fortunate in never having been abused; if I had been, I don't know if I could have forgiven.

To Gringoman: I agree with you. From what I've seen about Islam, unfortunately in the current era, Muslims believe a) they never do anything wrong, and therefore don't need others' forgiveness and b) are entitled to be unforgiving of non-Muslims even unto death (of the non-Muslims, that is, inflicted by the Muslims) unless the latter repent of their ways and convert to Islam. Åssuming they are given the option. As I've said before, certain captive non-Muslims (who are also non-Jewish) are given the option. Jews, on the other hand, are given the Hitler/Himmler/Heydrich option: how do you wish to die? Shalom, Mac Brachman

[Red Violin]

Sorry for being off topic:

A secular mullah and his followers who is calling for the end of political Islam has been arrested by militant islamofascists in Iran:

Gateway pundit has more:

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/

[terrorism lives]

i just stumbled upon this sight and have never been so scared for the future of this world we all have to share. so much blind bitterness and hatred in accusing others of the same.

god, please. help us all.
whoever you are.

[Red Violin]

Alexandra: I couldn't agree more. The articles are mostly written to deliver half-truths in hopes of promoting the tyranny of the left. It's a shame that they can't just stick to reporting the news.

[Alexandra]

Good to see you Jonathan.

I was educated in England and lived there for the best part of my life, prior to the US, and I can assure you it is not news to me.

Every article from the Guardian has a distinct anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic bias. All we can debate about is degree and nuance which to me is a fruitless exercise.

Find me one article that is neutral or pro-Israel in the context of the Middle Eastern conflict.

[Jonathan Korman]

the consistently anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic UK newspaper, the Guardian

Eh?

I've seen the Guardian be frequently critical of Israeli policy. But consistently anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic? That's news to me.

[nofate]

Interesting take on this at WaPoGlobal blogsite by Kin-ming Liu: For a failed organization like the U.N., it doesn't really matter who becomes its next Secretary General, especially when the world body seems to have adopted affirmative action in selecting the candidate. Ban Ki Moon, South Korea's foreign minister and the forerunner, should ask himself: Am I the favorite because I'm good or simply because I'm Asian?

I Yahooed Mr. Kin-ming Liu, who is writing at the WaPo blog, but I'm not sure if he is destined for a long and distinguished career with them, as a look through the "Recent Posts" box on the left of the screen, reveals some interesting articles by Mr. Liu, especially this one, which drew a lot of interesting comments, that lead more to the conclusion that the WaPo will not put up with his point of view for long, just as his editors in Hong Kong would not.

[Ghost Dansing]

The false equation of "Zionism equals racism" has its origins in the passage of the Arab and Soviet-sponsored United Nations resolution of November 10, 1975 which declared Zionism a "form of racism and racial discrimination."

The highly politicized resolution was aimed at denying Israel its political legitimacy by attacking its moral basis for existence.

The resolution, which U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan described as a "low point" in the history of the U.N., was finally repealed on December 16, 1991. Unfortunately, there have been numerous efforts by Arab representatives at international conferences to reintroduce this heinous equation, most recently at the 2001 United Nations Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.

http://www.israelaustin.com/israelnow/inaccuraciesaboutisrael6.asp

Durban as a Festival of Hate

The atmospherics at the WCAR was that of a Festival of Hate - particularly at the NGO Conference. Every "thematic" or "regional" tent, every street march, every demonstration, every communication or information medium, was festooned with or disseminated booklets, placards, leaflets, bumper stickers that proclaimed Israel's "Racism", "criminality", and "illegality", with the notion of Israel as an Apartheid state having particular resonance in South Africa.

The clarion call was clear: just as the struggle against racism in the 20th century required the dismantling of South Africa as an apartheid state, so the struggle against racism in the 21st century requires the dismantling of Israel as an apartheid state.

http://www.jafi.org.il/agenda/2001/english/wk3-22/6.asp

Israel
One of the most hidden but critical of South Africa's strategic relationships during the apartheid era was that with Israel, including both the Labor and the Likud governments. Israel officially opposed the apartheid system, but it also opposed broad international sanctions against Pretoria. For strategic reasons, much of the debate in Israeli government circles stressed coordinating ties to Pretoria within the framework of the tripartite relationship among Jerusalem, the United States (Israel's primary benefactor), and South Africa. Israel was also opposed to international embargoes in general, largely as a consequence of its own vulnerability to UN and other international sanctions.

South Africa and Israel had collaborated on military training, weapons development, and weapons production for years before broad sanctions were imposed in the late 1980s. Military cooperation continued despite the arms embargo and other trade restrictions imposed by the United States and much of Western Europe. Israel and several other countries discreetly traded with, and purchased enriched uranium from, South Africa throughout the 1980s. Romania's former president Nicolae Ceausescu, for example, used Israel as the "middleman" for exports to South Africa. In a few cases, joint ventures between Israel and South Africa helped to reduce the impact of sanctions on South African businesses.

The Israeli interest in South Africa sprang in part from the presence in South Africa of about 110,000 Jews, including at least 15,000 Israeli citizens. Israeli leaders sometimes justified trade with South Africa as support for the South African Jewish community, and South Africa provided a market for some of Israel's military exports. Israel's arms trade with South Africa was estimated at between US$400 million and US$800 million annually (see Arms Trade and the Defense Industry, ch. 5). In 1986 Israel also imported approximately US$181 million in goods, mainly coal, from South Africa, and exported to South Africa nonmilitary products worth about US$58.8 million.

In 1987 Israel took steps to reduce its military ties to South Africa to bring its policies in line with those of the United States and Western Europe. Then Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres announced the Israeli plan to ban new military sales contracts with South Africa, to reduce cultural and tourism ties, to appoint a committee to study sanctions proposals, and to condemn apartheid--which Peres characterized as "a policy totally rejected by all human beings." Israel also established educational programs in Israel for black South Africans. Nevertheless, through the early 1990s, several secret treaties remained in force, continuing the military relationship between the two countries and their joint research in missile development and nuclear technology.

http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/85.htm

I don't see Kofi Anan as Israel's "bogeyman" as much as some do here. Also, the UN has not been all bad for Israel... though there continues to be a problematic relationship in many ways.

One of the "whys" in this matter, and in my opinion, is an issue that dates back well into the Cold War.

At the time, in the 70's and 80's, Israel found itself in close relations to the apartheid government of South Africa, just as a "human rights" awakening was happening on the continent, and more importantly, internationally.

The Arabs saw in this relationship, as international opinion mounted against South Africa and Rhodesia, a chink in Israel's moral armor... and they stabbed at it with their daggers. Russia too saw an opportunity to strike at the United States through its close ally Israel, and piled on the bandwagon.

The African anti-apartheid leadership, while generally desiring good relations with Israel, also questioned its relations with South Africa.

As a result, we see this type of rhetoric, equating Israel with the racist policies of apartheid to this day.

Israel gradually extricated itself from its relationship with South Africa, and of course, South Africa as it then existed has ceased to exist.

However, the history is there, and the historical relationship remains a tender spot for the Israelies... especially when trying to overcome old prejudices that linked them to apartheid in the minds of African and other "third world" UN members. And, of course, our old friend Russia still draws on these chords of discontent to counter American influence at the UN.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2000.htm

On 22 September 1979, a U.S. Vela surveillance satellite detected a "brief, intense, double flash of light near the southern tip of Africa." Due to its characteristics, U.S. officials estimated that the flash could have resulted from the test of a nuclear device with a yield of 2 to 4 kilotons. South Africa emerged as the prime suspect, but the South African government denied that it had conducted a nuclear test. Subsequently, noting that South Africa did not supply a complete nuclear device with HEU until November 1979, AEC head Waldo Stumpf said that "this should put to rest speculations as to whether South Africa was responsible for the 'double flash' over the South Atlantic Ocean." Other speculation alleged that Israel had conducted a nuclear test, either alone or in conjunction with South Africa.

South Africa and Israel, both of whom had signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty, would have been in violation of international law if it could have been proved that they had conducted a test. More important, the Carter administration was acutely aware that clear evidence of a test could seriously disrupt U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Middle East or in southern Africa. And it could have led to a cutoff in military aid to Israel.

Waldo Stumpf, "South Africa: Nuclear Technology and Nonproliferation," Security Dialogue 4 (1993): 458. David Albright and Corey Gay, "A Flash from the Past," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November/December 1997, http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=nd97albright.

[mac Brachman]

Until a few weeks ago, I did not know who Ban Ki-Moon was, but reading about him in the MSM over the last few weeks, with its (the MSM's) many references to Mr. Ban as "colorless," "a detail man," "a man with the soul of a bureaucrat," etc., apparently all meant as invidious comparison to the current stellar occupant of the office of UN Sec Gen, I could only think that this Ban must be a pretty good guy. If the NYT, Economist, Newsweek, et al. find Ban lacking in all the qualities that made those MSM outlets so enamored of Mr. Annan, then, contrarian that I am, I found myself instinctually siding with him. I agree with Alexandra's caution in her last paragraph, but it is hard to imagine a UNSG as passively or actively hostile to Israel as the distinguished Mr. Annan. Shalom, Mac Brachman

[Liquid]

Lets all bring strong prayer for Ki-moon that he will be an honest man and not fold to corruption.