Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist

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

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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

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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

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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.

UN Secretary General’s Final Press Conference of 2022

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres held his end-of-year press conference at UN headquarters in New York on December 19th. “There may be plenty of reasons for despair,” he told reporters. Nevertheless, he said, “despite the limitations and long odds, we are working to push back against despair, to fight back against disillusion and to find real solutions.”

UN Continues to Promote Palestinian Victimhood Narrative Against Israel

In a message commemorating November 29th as the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that he was “deeply saddened by the growing number of Palestinian civilians who have lost their lives in the spiral of violence engulfing the occupied West Bank.” The Secretary General failed at the same time to acknowledge the growing number of Israeli civilians killed and injured by Palestinian terrorists. Perhaps he did not want to ruin the Palestinians’ special day, although that is no excuse for obscuring the truth. At the very least, however, Secretary General Guterres should have acknowledged the fact that this November 29th is important for an entirely different reason. It is the 75th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s adoption of Resolution 181 – the original two-state solution.

UN Climate Conference Approves Climate Change Reparations Fund

The 27th session of the Conference of the Parties on climate change organized by the United Nations (COP27) has wrapped up its two-week proceedings at Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. The conference parties are the nearly two hundred countries that agreed to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. COP27 culminated in the parties’ approval of an agreement to establish a climate change “loss and damage” fund for developing countries, in what amounts to reparations for the havoc from natural disasters these countries allegedly suffered as a result of climate change.

High-Level UN Officials Advise Elon Musk to Limit Free Speech on Twitter

Elon Musk purchased Twitter with the avowed purpose of restoring free speech because, he said, it is “important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner without resorting to violence.” Twitter is still in a transition period under Mr. Musk’s new leadership. Nevertheless, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk decided that he could not wait before strongly urging Mr. Musk, in an open letter he wrote earlier this month, “to ensure human rights are central to the management of Twitter under your leadership.” Mr. Türk then laid out in his letter six fundamental principles from a human rights perspective that he believes Twitter must follow.

Russia Suspends Participation in Life-Saving Black Sea Grain Initiative

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative last summer between Ukraine and Russia, which has allowed grain shipments to leave Ukraine's ports and pass through a "humanitarian" corridor safely. Russia has now jeopardized this life-saving arrangement by suspending its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative for an "indefinite period." The Black Sea Grain Initiative freed up Ukrainian agricultural products for export that had been blocked from reaching global markets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The increased exports brought more stability to the global food market, which helped to lower prices. Wheat purchased by the World Food Program was able to reach vulnerable people in food insecure areas. In short, this Initiative has helped to relieve the food crisis, which had been exacerbated by Russia's war in Ukraine. Now all that progress is at risk because Russia once again is trying to use vitally needed food as a weapon of war.

UN Watch Files Complaint with UNSG Guterres Alleging Censorship and Discrimination

UN Watch, a non-governmental organization (NGO) accredited by the Economic and Social Council that monitors the United Nations’ adherence to its stated human rights principles, filed a complaint on October 6th with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The complaint charges that Eric Tistounet, chief of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) staff, has systematically harassed, censored, and discriminated against UN Watch over a course of at least 15 years. Mr. Tistounet’s conduct, UN Watch alleges, is in violation of the United Nations Charter and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, as well as of UN staff rules, procedures, and practices.

China and Russia Headline Another Day at the UN’s High-Level Debate

On September 24th, the next-to-last day of the world leaders’ annual gathering at United Nations headquarters in New York, the headline speakers addressing the General Assembly were the foreign ministers of China and Russia. Foreign Ministers Wang Yi of China and Sergey Lavrov of Russia excused their autocratic regimes’ aggressive behavior and condemned anyone who would try to meddle in what they consider to be their own internal affairs.

President Biden’s UN Speech: Tough on Russia but Feckless Otherwise

President Joe Biden delivered his second speech on September 21st at the annual high-level session of the United Nations General Assembly. Normally the President of the United States speaks to the General Assembly on the first day of the high-level session but President Biden’s trip to Great Britain to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral caused him to postpone the speech by a day.

UN Secretary General Guterres’ Press Conference

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres held one of his rare press conferences on September 14th ahead of the gathering of world leaders next week in New York for the annual General Assembly high level debate. He delivered an extremely stark message about the state of the world today. The Secretary General’s opening remarks focused on climate change. He painted a “future of permanent and ubiquitous climate chaos on an unimaginable scale” unless “action is taken now, unless funds are disbursed now.” The gloom and doom message went on from there:

The UN Continues Its Outrageous Campaign to Delegitimize the Jewish State of Israel

The United Nations has yet again singled out the democratic Jewish State of Israel for condemnation over alleged human rights abuses while letting UN member states with atrocious human rights records off the hook. On July 22, 2022, the UN’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the three principal bodies of the United Nations, passed a resolution accusing only Israel of violating the human rights of women and girls. The resolution, adopted by a vote of 40 to 6 with 4 abstentions, might as well have been drafted by Palestinian propagandists.

UN Says That Mexico-U.S. Border is the World’s Deadliest Land Crossing

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is part of the United Nations, concluded in a report it issued on July 1st that the United States-Mexico border crossing is "the deadliest land crossing in the world.” At least 728 lives were lost in 2021. IOM said that this total was 53 per cent higher than in 2020, the last full year of the Trump administration, and was the highest since at least 2014 during the Obama-Biden administration. According to Edwin Viales, author of the new IOM report on migrants in the Americas in 2021, “this number remains an undercount due to the diverse challenges for data collection.”