OP-ED: The UN Damages The Cause Of International Peace More Than Any Other Body

NEW YORK (VINnews) — The UN’s stated goal at its established was to maintain international peace and security, and Under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Security Council can take enforcement measures to maintain or restore international peace and security, including economic sanctions and in extreme cases adopting international military action.

It is hard to imagine however a body which has done more to destroy the peace and security in the Middle East than the UN in recent years. This not due only to the clearcut bias against Israel, the only thriving democracy in the entire region, although that in itself is deplorable.

Anyone noting the 99 human rights condemnations of Israel since 2006 would think that it is a pariah state where people’s ears are cut off for fomenting terror, where women are executed for not performing religious obligations, where enforced disappearances and abductions occur on a daily basis. That these atrocities occur in Russia, Iran and Syria seems to be of little concern to the UN, which issued only 57 condemnations to the other three nations combined. There wasn’t even a single General Assembly resolution in 2022 on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, although none of these are models of democratic rights.

But the current war has exposed another aspect of the UN’s active placing of obstacles to peace at every level. The superfluous UNRWA organization founded in 1948 to deal with the Arab refugee problem has not just perpetuated the problem and weaponized it against Israel over the past 75 years, it has now been discovered to have operatives actively involved in terrorist activities themselves. If this is not enough for the UN to conduct a thorough internal investigation, it should at least turn the spotlight of the peace-craving organization to those who are utilizing its resources and reputation to foment war and mayhem.

Yet far from seeing Hamas as the aggressor and kidnapper which should be condemned for its vicious attacks, the UN seems intent on reinstating the terrorist organization in Gaza and allowing it to continue to hold hostages in contravention of international law. The security council resolution called for a cease fire as well as the unconditional release of hostages, but the second clause was not defined and could lead to Hamas labelling their prisoners in Israel as “hostages” and demanding that thousands of them be returned in exchange for Israeli hostages, many of whom they define as military captives.

In the wake of the UN resolution, Hamas predictably rejected the latest Israel-US prisoner exchange framework, buoyed by the support from the international organization. Had the UN tried in some way to pressure the terrorist group into concessions, it might actually achieve its goal of stemming the misery of ordinary Gazans. As it is, the UN has given Israel no option but to fight to free its citizens unlawfully kidnapped by Hamas, thus perpetuating the conflict further. It is time for the UN to realize that, far from promoting international peace, it is doing more than any other body to extend wars which could have concluded long ago with more effective diplomacy.