Israel and the UN
Israel and the UN
By Todd Strandberg
The United Nations was established in October of 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. The UN did a good job of maintaining the peace between the Soviet Union and NATO block nations. During the Cuban Missile crisis, the organization helped cool tempers in what was the closest we ever came to nuclear conflict.
At the founding of the UN, there were 51 nations. Today, 193 nations have joined the club. The only non-members are the Holy See and the State of Palestine, which I don’t think are actual countries. If we add all the nationalities under the jurisdiction of other countries, one could argue that there are 247 different countries.
One of these disputed nations is Kosovo. On 17 February 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia. It has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 112 UN member states. On 22 July 2010, the International Court of Justice ruled that Kosovo’s declaration of independence did not violate international law, which its president said contains no “prohibitions on declarations of independence.” Kosovo remains tied to Serbia mostly because of apathy.
In 1971 the Republic of China (Taiwan) had its UN membership revoked and its seat was taken by Communist China. Citizens of Taiwan are not even allowed to enter the United Nations New York building. Great care is made not to anger the People’s Republic of China, which regards the territories administered by Taiwan as their own territory.
A possible reason why there are dozens of countries that should be recognized by the UN as free nations is because the UN spends most of its energy on one dispute: the State of Palestine. This so-called nation has no working monetary system, its government is a dictatorship, and its citizens are mostly made up of Jordanians. Without direct support from Israel, the State of Palestine would have collapsed into chaos.
The UN has spent more time worrying about Israel than any other nation. The UN human rights council has issued 135 resolutions, and 68 of them concern the Jewish state. Nations like Cuba, Myanmar and North Korea have camps that should have triggered all of this council’s red flags, and yet the UN worries more about perceived human rights violated in Israel.
When Israelis are the victims of terrorism, the UN only offers token condemnation. After a 2005 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv was carried out by Islamic Jihad, the Security Council issued only a “policy statement” urging the Palestinian Authority to “take immediate, credible steps to find those responsible for this terrorist attack” and bring them to justice.
The Most bizarre thing about the UN’s relationship with Israel is how it tries to micro-manage affairs that no other nation would tolerate. The UN passes resolutions that dictate where Israel can build a road or buildings.
When the UN voted to void Trump’s decision to move our Embassy to Jerusalem, there should have been outrage in the press. The US Congress had already passed a law directing the president to make the move. It was craziness for the media to cheer the UN’s attempt at overriding our constitution.
Trump did the right thing by cutting $285 million from its 2018–2019 United Nations budget. Regarding the cut, Ambassador Nikki Haley stated “we reduced the UN’s bloated management and support functions, bolstered support for key U.S. priorities throughout the world, and instilled more discipline and accountability throughout the UN system.” I would pull all funding from an organization that says Zionism is a form of racism.
Another good move was Israel announcing it is leaving UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency. The spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the decision was based on the organization’s “attempts to disconnect Jewish history from the land of Israel.” Last year, UNESCO said the Jews had no link to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. It is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids.
Unless the UN is slapped back into reality, its next moves will be to say that Israel is not really a nation and the Jews are not part of the human race. A very heavy burden comes with being God’s chosen people. The Bible plainly warns that the Jews would suffer relentless persecution at the hands of many nations:
“And among those nations you shall find no rest, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul” (Deuteronomy 28:65).
“Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9).
–Todd