ADC calls for UN anti-Israel report to be condemned
Australia’s B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) has called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to unequivocally reject and condemn the draft report by Leila Zerrougui, the special representative of the Secretary- General for children and armed conflict, which recommends placing Israel on a list with terrorist organisations such as ISIS, Boko Haram, Taliban and al-Qaeda, and states like Syria and Sudan— entities that systematically cause harm to children and are considered to be among the world’s worst human-rights violators.
Dvir Abramovich
ADC Chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich said: “This latest outrageous attempt by the UN to blacklist, delegitimise and demonise Israel as a rogue state that systematically harms children in conflict situations must be denounced and rejected immediately by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
To adopt a hateful and hypocritical draft report that recommends placing Israel in the same category as ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko-Haram and the Taliban would irreparably destroy the credibility and reputation of the UN. T
he Israeli army risked the lives of its soldiers to minimize civilian casualties during the Gaza operation in 2014, and its conduct was labelled by Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of The British forces in Afghanistan, as unparalleled in the history of warfare. While Hamas was placing innocents as human shields next to ammunition reserves and rocket launchers, Israel dropped more than 2 million leaflets, telephoned 165,000 civilians to provide them with hours of notice to move out of areas in advance of airborne attacks, and cancelled missions when Palestinian civilians were being used as human shields.
It is Hamas and Islamic Jihad who should be added to this list. Hamas, with the expressed goal of destroying the State of Israel, has engaged in multiple war crimes, carrying out homicidal bombings inside Israel often sending children and women, launching missiles indiscriminately at Israeli cities, using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and causing the deaths of more than 160 defenceless children who were forced to dig tunnels for the purpose of attacking Israel. Hamas terrorists also used hospitals, mosques and UN schools to store weapons and to fire mortar shells from those locations. Any move to equate the monstrous and bestial actions of terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, Isis, Hamas and Islamic Jihad to Israel’s rightful and justified defence of its population would be an antisemitic slur and defamation that must be vigorously countered”.
The final report is due to be published on June 18.
When I was a child, my late father Z”L said to me, “Read. Get an education. That is something nobody can take away from you. ”
But my dear father was under the misapprehension that with education come understanding and good judgment.
I believe he might have changed his tune if he’d read that Leila Zerrougui, the special representative of the Secretary- General for children and armed conflict, sees Israel on a par with terrorist organisations such as ISIS, Boko Haram, Taliban and al-Qaeda.
She is an educated woman, a lawyer, even a judge. Yet, I feel sorry for the children who have come under her judgments. She shows a startling lack of understanding of the meaning of war, terrorism and armed conflict.
Far be it for me to try to educate Ms Leila Zerrougui, but her views point to the need for international leadership to recognise the difference between the terror tactics of the myriad Jihadist groups beheading and suicide-bombing their way around the world, and the Israeli army operating in a democratic society that protects the rights of all its citizens.
Has Netanyahu beheaded any Muslim or Christian children in Israel yet?
Tomorrow I go to the synagogue. I shall pray most fervently for Ms Leila Zerrougui to get a broader education.
For the sake of all children caught in warfare, why don’t we all pitch in, waive her HECS fees, and just put her through an intensive in Philosophy and Ethics from anywhere but ISIS U.
Given that her job is to protect the moral and human rights of children suffering conflict, she needs to demonstrate an understanding of the importance of bringing an end to conflict, rather than fuelling it. But dear me, given her track record, she’s going to need a lot of extra coaching.