The UN has just, once again, given the world a large serving of Red Herring. For anyone who might not be familiar with the term, a Red Herring is not a fish. A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question. In this case. it’s talking about the Arab-Israel conflict, specifically. clashes in Jerusalem. Why is this a Red Herring? Because the UN is unable (or unwilling?) to do anything meaningful to halt the war in Ukraine. Diverting attention to Jerusalem is a very convenient way to do this. And it doesn’t matter if the diversion is full of fabrications and untruths (or half truths).
The primary issue is that Russia has invaded Ukraine, is committing war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population, and lying to the world (and to its’ own citizens) about what is occurring. Russian statements about the war amount to one of the most extensive cases of “Fake News” ever seen. The lies accompanying their justification for the war and their descriptions of what is, or has, happened, are totally without independent verification, One example is the claim that they are letting civilians leave besieged Ukrainian cities. They did provide a safe exit route. But only for people leaving to go to Russian held areas. And even then, it appears, the refugees are taken to camps or housing that is isolated from any outside contact. Another example is the “spin” they attempted to place on the loss of the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship, MOSKVA. I suspect that they knew they could not hide from satellite imagery. But close in photography, reportedly from a Turkish vessel, clearly shows that the Russian “explanation” doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Nobody really wants a wider war. But no one has found a way to stop Putin. Talking about other issues at the UN is certainly not going to get him to move his armies out of Ukraine.
Now let’s shift focus to the Red Herring issue. The Arab-Israeli conflict is also one that has proven to be insoluble so far. Palestinian Arab claims, supported by some other countries, center on a solution that eliminates the current nation of Israel totally. Reading the still extant charters of the Palestinian Arab parties proves this. None of them, Fatah (current possessors of the reins in the Palestinian Authority), Hamas (current rulers in Gaza), and the Palestinian Arab Islamic Jihad, are all united in this ultimate aim. Fatah does maintain some forms of cooperation with the Israeli government. But for the past several months Fatah has been using all the Arabic language media it controls to promote clashes with Israelis. They still award Terrorists who have been killed or are in Israeli prisons with generous ‘pension’ payments. A recent upsurge in attacks on Jews by Palestinian Arabs (including by some who had Israeli citizenship, but considered themselves Palestinian only) resulted in several murders. Almost all of them seem to have been motivated or encouraged by Fatah media broadcasts. The last heavy rocket fire from Gaza, and the resultant Israeli responses ended by both sides simply refraining from continuing. There was no formal agreement. Hamas refuses to talk directly to any Israeli representative. They present their demands to an Egyptian mediator. On the Israeli side there is a recognition that Israel is not going to accept any of the more extreme Arab requests (including committing national suicide). Therefore Israeli is content to let the Arab parties run their own affairs. The Palestinian authority is scheduling new elections. Despite the forecast that Fatah will not win if they are held. Fatah has postponed such election often. It is even possible that the current wave of propaganda support for violence against Jews is due to the potential election. But it is also clear that the Arab population in both Israel, Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority controlled areas is very divided. All of them recognize that the Arab ruling groups are totally corrupt. All of them still refer to Israel as an “occupier”, but realize that the use of that term is not accurate. Many Arabs living inside Israel have been applying to be granted Israeli citizenship. But there are still many who would prefer to live in relative poverty and squalor under corrupt Arab leaders rather than prosper under Jewish rule.
Wetherhorn 