So the message to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is not to concentrate his verbal ammunition at Israel when the Palestinians are largely responsible for their own plight
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came under heavy criticism last week from Israel and its supporters for remarks he delivered to the UN Security Council regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His critics, including yours truly, considered his remarks a one-sided takedown of Israeli policies and a justification for Palestinian violence against defenseless Israeli civilians.
The Secretary General answered his critics with an op-ed article in the New York Times entitled "Don't Shoot the Messenger, Israel."
First, Ban Ki-moon accused his critics of "twisting my words into a misguided justification for violence." He sought to clear up any misunderstanding of his true intentions by declaring that "Nothing excuses terrorism. I condemn it categorically." So far so good. And, to Ban Ki-moon's credit, he did issue a condemnation over the weekend of Hamas's renewed building of terror tunnels from Gaza into Israel, which he repeated in his op-ed article.
