In her first press briefing, US
Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley came out swinging. After sharing with reporters impressions from
her first Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Middle East issues, Haley vowed
that the US would no longer turn a blind eye to the UN’s outrageous bias
against the Jewish state.
“We will not repeat the mistake of [UNSC]
Resolution 2334 [which castigated Israel for settlement building], instead we
will push for action on the real threats in the Middle East” says Haley. [read my blog of January 16, 2017 – “Repeal
UN Resolution on Israel”]
Haley mentioned Hezbollah’s illegal
buildup of rockets in Lebanon, the money and weapons Iran provides to
terrorists, strategies for defeating ISIS, and holding Syrian dictator Bashar
al-Assad accountable for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians. None of these issues was raised at the
meeting of the UNSC, Haley noted; yet they find the time to castigate Israel.
In 1947, the UN voted in favor of the
creation of a Jewish state and an Arab state.
But in 1975, under Soviet influence and with the help of dozens of
autocratic regimes in Africa, South America and the Middle East that are
eligible to vote, the UN passed the “Zionism is Racism” resolution. It is the venue for the preposterously named
Human Rights Council (UNHRC) – a body that gives special honors to moral achievers
such as Cuba, Pakistan, Russia and Syria … while issuing more condemnations
against Israel than against all other countries in the world combined.
The UNHRC’s agenda item 7 dictates
that Israel’s purported human rights violations must be raised and discussed
every single time the UNHRC convenes.
In 2016, the UN General Assembly (UNGA)
adopted 18 resolutions against Israel and the UNSC adopted 12 Israel-specific
resolutions, “more than those focused on Syria, North Korea, Iran and South
Sudan put together,” as Samantha Power [Obama’s UN Ambassador] noted in her
speech in defense of the US’s inexplicable abstention on resolution 2334.
Now with the rise of what The New York Sun referred to in an
editorial as “Haley’s Comet,” there is new-found optimism that an institution
thought to be irredeemably and incorrigibly slanted against Israel can be salvaged
for the benefit of all mankind. Haley
related how the US sought unsuccessfully to get the UNSC to condemn a
Palestinian terrorist attack in which a terrorist driver attempted to run over
innocent Israelis and stab them. She
said the UNSC’s decision to block a statement of condemnation was “shameful.”
Our UN Ambassador Haley has no
intention of giving up, and her unrelenting confidence that change is possible
could be contagious. Maybe the UN really
will abandon its fixation with Israel and begin living up to its true calling
of mitigating conflicts and championing human rights. Before Haley’s arrival there was little reason
to hope for such.
Attitudes toward Israel are changing
with or without the UN. The Jewish state
has succeeded in fostering new diplomatic relations, including with Muslim countries
in Africa and Asia. And Iran’s
increasingly belligerent behavior has brought Israeli interests in line with
those of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States. As Haley noted, Israel is recognized as a
beacon of stability in a region overcome with turmoil. Its technological innovations and
entrepreneurial spirit have made Israel a world leader in fields such as cyber security
and water security.
Haley’s courage and vision … coupled
with an US Executive Branch that is pro-Israel … come to the UN at a time when
Israel’s standing in the world is changing.
Her first press conference is the opening volley in a winning battle to
end the UN’s bias against Israel.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor,
Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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