Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist

How the UN Helps Hamas Promote its Lies

Israel unilaterally withdrew all its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 as a unilateral good faith gesture of peace. Hamas was elected by the Palestinian Gazan population to govern the Gaza Strip in 2006. There has been no election there ever since. After Hamas vanquished its rival Fatah in 2007 for total control of Gaza--executing, imprisoning, and expelling its fellow Palestinians in the process--Hamas turned Gaza into a base for launching successive terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.

UN Leaders’ Unconscionable Moral Equivalence in the Face of Pure Evil

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the president of the United Nations General Assembly Dennis Francis delivered remarks on October 9^th regarding the war between Hamas and Israel that Hamas initiated two days earlier. They illustrate yet again the moral equivalence syndrome that the UN displays whenever the Palestinian terrorists attack innocent civilians in Israel and the Jewish state responds in self-defense.

The Day of Infamy When Hamas Slaughtered and Abducted Hundreds of Jews

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas unleashed horrific attacks on a massive scale against Israeli civilians by land, sea, and air on October 7th. The terrorists launched their savage rampage on the Jewish Sabbath and holiday of Simchat Torah, committing numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against defenseless Israeli civilians in what is being called Israel’s 9/11.

UN Refugee Convention Needs a Major Overhaul

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and many world leaders, including President Joe Biden, have called for changes to what they call the “outdated” UN Security Council by significantly expanding the number of non-permanent and permanent members. Converting the 15-member Security Council into a mini-General Assembly is a terrible idea and will render it even more ineffective than it already is today. The schisms among the five current permanent members, which prevent the Security Council from tackling difficult issues that range from Ukraine and the Middle East to Sudan, will only worsen by adding more permanent and non-permanent members to fulfill geographic and demographic quotas.

Netanyahu Lauds the Prospect for Peace with Arabs While Abbas Spews Lies and Hate

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a stirring address on September 22^nd to the United Nations General Assembly, in which he declared that Israel is "at the cusp" of a historic breakthrough in fully normalizing its relations with Saudi Arabia.

The failure for decades to reach peace agreements with Arab countries beyond those signed with Egypt and Jordan, he said, was the result of the false premise that peace with the Palestinians must come first.

President Biden Delivers Flaccid Address to the UN General Assembly

President Joe Biden addressed the United Nations General Assembly on September 19th as world leaders met for their annual UN High-Level Week gabfest in New York. He made a lame attempt to project U.S. leadership of the free world against the forces of autocracy. However, actions speak louder than words.

Preview of Upcoming UN High-Level Week

New Yorkers are gritting their teeth in anticipation of the massive gridlocks that will accompany the upcoming annual circus at the United Nations later this month, known as the General Assembly High-Level Week. As the 78th session of the General Assembly gets underway, about 145 world leaders will appear before the chamber, pontificate on a wide variety of global issues, and find reasons to avoid accountability for their own countries’ troubles and misconduct.

China’s Hypocrisy on Display at the United Nations

“The religious holy sites in Jerusalem bear on the religious sentiment of the followers,” China’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, declared at the UN Security Council’s briefing on the “Situation in the Middle East, Including the Palestinian Question” on August 21^st. “We must take a clear stand against irresponsible provocation and incitement, earnestly respect the historical status quo of the religious holy sites, and respect Jordan's custodianship over the holy sites.” He also condemned what he called the “barbaric expansion of settlements.”

Russia Pulled Out of Black Sea Grain Initiative

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine has passed the 500-day mark. Russia’s campaign of brutality inflicted on the Ukrainian people has included its wanton launching of missiles and drones that have caused widespread civilian deaths and injuries as well as destruction of vital civilian infrastructure. Russia’s forces have tortured civilians in detention and abducted Ukrainian children.

UN Again Blames Israel for Fighting Palestinian Terrorists And No Two-State Solution

Earlier this month, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres criticized Israel’s drone airstrikes and ground operations to root out Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank city of Jenin as “an excessive force used by Israeli forces.” Describing it as “the worst violence in the West Bank in many years, with a significant impact on civilians, including more than one hundred injured and thousands forced to flee,” Secretary General Guterres laid all the blame on Israel.

UN Secretary General Highlights Threats from Digital Technologies and Climate Change

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres held two press briefings at UN headquarters in New York last week. The first briefing dealt with the risks of artificial intelligence and social media digital technologies. The second briefing dealt with climate change.

In his June 12^th press briefing, Secretary General Guterres said, “New technology is moving at warp speed. And so are the threats that come with it. Alarm bells over the latest form of artificial intelligence – generative AI – are deafening.” He expressed the fear shared by many of the future evolution of AI that “completely abolishes human agency and creates a monster that nobody will be able to control.”

UN Honors Palestinians’ Narrative of a “Catastrophe” They Falsely Blame on Israel

---

The United Nations has sunk to a new low in its animus against Israel. On May 15^th, the UN officially commemorated for the first time, pursuant to a General Assembly mandate, what the Palestinians refer to as Nakba (catastrophe). The “catastrophe” the Palestinians continue to whine about was Israel’s declaration of independence seventy-five years ago. The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People organized a High-Level Special Meeting to commemorate “Nakba Day,” which included a keynote address by the President of the Palestine Authority, H.E. Mahmoud Abbas.

Looking back at Russia's Abuse of its Security Council Presidency

---

Russia abused its presidency of the United Nations Security Council during the month of April, which is mercifully over. 

First, in early April, Russia hosted an informal meeting of the Security Council on the “evacuation of Ukrainian children.” Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, used the meeting to spread lies that Russia is saving Ukrainian children while Ukraine has been making them suffer. The “featured” speaker, appearing virtually, was Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s so-called children’s rights commissioner, against whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant, along with President Vladimir Putin, for the alleged war crime of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.

Russia Uses its April Presidency of Security Council as a Propaganda Platform

As Russia’s war crimes multiply during the course of its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian regime is serving as the president of the United Nations Security Council for the month of April. The last time Russia served as Security Council president, which rotates among the 15 members monthly in alphabetical order, was in February 2022, the month that Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, held a press conference on April 3rd at which he derided accusations that Russia would be using its presidency to spread disinformation about Ukraine. But that is exactly what Russia is doing.

The United Nations Violates the Taiwanese People’s Human Rights

The United Nations is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) this year. But when it comes to living up to key human rights set forth in the UDHR in its own operations, the UN has fallen far short under pressure from the Chinese Communist regime.

UN Observes International Women’s Day Without Confronting Two Disturbing Issues

---

About 1,800 people gathered to mark International Women’s Day at the United Nations on March 8th. “The United Nations is proud to stand with women and girls everywhere in breaking down the barriers that hold all of us back,” Mr. Courtenay Rattray, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s Chef de Cabinet, said on behalf of the Secretary General. “Together, let’s realize a more inclusive, just, and prosperous world for women and girls, men and boys, everywhere.”

But the United Nations system is having a problem deciding what it means to be a “woman.” And a side event praised the treatment of women in the Muslim world rather than confront head-on the reality of gross violations of women’s human rights in Muslim-majority countries.

High-Level UN Meetings Recognizing First Anniversary of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

The United Nations recognized the first anniversary of Russia’s February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine with high-level meetings of both the General Assembly and Security Council.

On February 23, 2023, the General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities, Russia’s complete and unconditional withdrawal of its military forces from all of Ukraine, and full accountability for crimes committed on Ukraine’s territory. The resolution reaffirmed the urgent need to reach a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with the United Nations Charter and called for all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law.

The UN Once Again Shows its Anti-Israel Bias

The United Nations Security Council adopted a one-sided presidential statement on February 20th, which raked Israel over the coals for announcing further construction and expansion of settlements in the West Bank and giving legal status to settlement outposts. The presidential statement also expressed opposition to “confiscation of Palestinians’ land, demolition of Palestinians’ homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians.” But the presidential statement made no mention of the recent murders of innocent civilians in Israel by Palestinian terrorists.

The presidential statement was authored by the United Arab Emirates in coordination with what the UN calls the “Observer State of Palestine” after deciding not to pursue their draft resolution that the United States reportedly refused to accept.

The Humanitarian Catastrophe in Afghanistan

Since the Taliban took the reins of power in Afghanistan following President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal of all American troops from the country in August 2021, conditions in Afghanistan have gone from bad to worse. The bottom is dropping out of the country as a catastrophic humanitarian crisis has taken hold. About two-thirds of the population, some 28 million people, are dependent on humanitarian aid but are not getting what they need. Six million Afghans are now on the brink of starvation.

Israeli Minister’s Visit to the Temple Mount

This past January 3rd, Israel’s new Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, paid a brief early morning visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. It should have been non-controversial. But his visit was seized upon by Israel bashers as a violation of the so-called “status quo,” an arrangement that has come to be interpreted as prohibiting Jews and other non-Muslims from praying in any manner anywhere at what the Muslim world calls al-Haram al-Sharif. Even silent prayer is covered by this prohibition. Minister Gvir visited the Temple Mount to pay his respects to its sacred history and, in his new role as Minister of National Security, to likely assess security conditions there. But he did not pray during his short visit to the Temple Mount. Minister Gvir did not set foot in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits at the southern end of the Temple Mount. He did not enter any other Muslim mosque or shrine while on the Temple Mount.