TV7 Israel News – Swords of Iron, Israel at War – Day 112

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The UN is a morally decayed institution paving the way for another Holocaust – opinion

MICAH LAKIN AVNI

The UN has deviated from its vision and betrayed its founding principles. It has become a stage for dictators and despots who want to expand their power and influence

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UNITED NATIONS Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

After Hamas terrorists brutally murdered my father eight years ago, I spoke at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on the dangers of Palestinian incitement to terror. What I witnessed there was shocking and appalling.

I heard dozens of countries attacking Israel with baseless accusations and hateful rhetoric. The blatant antisemitism was horrifying, pure evil. I felt like I was in a nightmare. As I left the United Nations, I was invited to speak at a pro-Israel rally. The first words that came out of my mouth were “We survived Auschwitz as a people, and in there, they are laying the ideological train tracks to put us back in, that’s what’s going on, and that’s what’s been going on for years and years.”

Israel’s “trial” at the International Court of Justice is another painful reminder of this.

The UN was established in 1945 with a noble vision: to ensure international peace and security, foster cooperation and dialogue among nations, and protect human rights and dignity for all people.

Yet, over the years, the UN has deviated from its vision and betrayed its founding principles. It has become a stage for dictators and despots who want to expand their power and influence in the world and undermine true democracies.

The UN has lost its moral authority and credibility and has turned into a hindrance and a burden for the progress of peace, justice, and freedom. On a practical level, it has failed to achieve its goals, as evidenced by the long list of wars and genocides that it could not prevent. If the UN were a business, it would have gone bankrupt long ago; if it were a country, it would have faced a revolution. Sadly, the UN is a complex institution that survives on inertia and the illusion of its founding dream, so it persists.

A PROTEST against the sexual violence committed in the October 7 massacre – and the international silence afterward – takes place outside UN Headquarters in New York City earlier this month. (credit: YAKOV BINYAMIN/FLASH 90)

UN hypocrisy on Iran

One of the most glaring examples of the UN’s moral decay is the recent appointment of Iran as the president of the Conference of Democracy, a body that is supposed to promote democratic values and practices around the world. This is not the first time that the UN has given a platform and a voice to tyrants and dictators while silencing and marginalizing the voices of the oppressed and the persecuted.

The UN’s moral bankruptcy was also evident in its 2018 decision to appoint Iran as the vice-chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Moreover, some of the most notorious women’s rights abusers, such as Iran, Yemen, and Afghanistan, have been chosen or assigned to participate in various UN bodies and committees that are tasked with protecting women’s rights, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, the Human Rights Council, and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

A protest against the sexual violence committed in the October 7 massacre and the international silence takes place outside the UN headquarters in New York City earlier this month. (credit: YAKOV BINYAMIN/FLASH 90)

FINALLY, THE UN’s bias and hypocrisy are most evident in the disproportionate and unfair treatment of Israel by the UNHRC, a body that is supposed to protect and promote human rights around the world. The UNHRC has adopted more resolutions against Israel than against any other country in the world – and has singled out Israel as the only country subject to a permanent agenda item.

Failing to prevent war

The UN is not only morally bankrupt but also utterly ineffective in fulfilling its mission. Since its creation, it has failed to prevent 478 wars that have ravaged the world in the last 76 years. Many of these wars have been catastrophic, killing over a million people each, such as the Second Congo War, the Soviet-Afghan wars, the Bangladesh Civil War, the Nigerian Civil War, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and the Second Sudanese Civil War.

It has also betrayed its responsibility to protect the victims of genocide and human rights violations. It has turned a blind eye or minimized the horrors and crimes perpetrated by countries like China, North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela, and the agony and displacement of millions of people in places like Rwanda, Darfur, Syria, and Myanmar.

The UN has failed to live up to its noble goals of maintaining peace and security, protecting human rights, and fostering cooperation among nations. Instead, it has become a platform for demonizing and delegitimizing Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, and undermining Western civilization and the free world. Israel, as a proud and sovereign nation, should not tolerate the UN’s double standards and discrimination.

We cannot sit by idly while the UN paves the way for another Holocaust. 

It is time for Israel, a vibrant and resilient democracy, to withdraw from the UN and lead an initiative to create a new institution with other democracies that share our values and vision. Israel has an opportunity to fulfill its biblical mission as a “light unto the nations” and lead the way for a new and values-based international forum that promotes democracy and real human rights.

Some might argue that leaving the UN would isolate Israel from the international community and expose it to its enemies. They might also say that Israel relies on the UN’s recognition of our sovereignty and legitimacy. 

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Israel Marks ‘The Saddest Birthday in the World’ of Baby Bibas, Still in Hamas Captivity

Debbie Weiss

Orange balloons fill the skies above Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Thursday as hundreds gathered to mark the grim milestone of the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, who is a hostage in Hamas captivity. Thursday, January 18, 2024. (Photo: Debbie Weiss)

Orange balloons fill the skies above Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Thursday as hundreds gathered to mark the grim milestone of the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, who is a hostage in Hamas captivity. Thursday, January 18, 2024. (Photo: Debbie Weiss)

Dozens of orange balloons filled the skies above Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Thursday as hundreds gathered to mark the grim milestone of the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, the youngest hostage to be abducted by Hamas during its onslaught of southern Israel October 7.

Kfir was taken hostage along with his brother Ariel, 4, and parents Yarden and Shiri, from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Nir Oz was one of the hardest hit communities of the attacks, with more than a quarter of its residents murdered or abducted.  

Israeli performers, celebrities and Bibas family members addressed the crowd at the event, dubbed by the family as “the saddest birthday in the world.”

There have been no recent updates on the family’s condition or whether they are even alive. Shortly after the truce in November, in which most of the children were released, the Hamas terror group announced that Shiri and her two sons had been killed in an airstrike but no evidence was provided for this claim.

A birthday cake for Kfir Bibas, who is a hostage in Hamas captivity. Thursday, January 18, 2024. (Photo: Debbie Weiss)

Hamas later released a video of Yarden Bibas in which he appeared to be in acute anguish, crying over the alleged death of his family and blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel maintains that all videos released by Hamas are part of its psychological terror campaign and likely scripted by the terror group. 

“We don’t even know if Shiri realizes that today is her son’s birthday,” Yossi Shneider, a cousin of the family, said at the event. 

Another cousin, Yifat Zailer, said that despite the anguish, the family was holding out hope.  

“We are angry and desperate and heartbroken but we are still hopeful that they’re okay,” Zailer told The Algemeiner. 

Asked if she had a message to convey to the Bibases on the off chance that they could hear her, Zailer said: “We want to tell them to remain strong and to know that the whole family is gathering together and going all around the world to meet diplomats and whoever we can to get them out of there.”

Tzipi Nov, who came to the event wearing an orange shirt in a nod to the Bibas boys distinctive red hair, expressed anger at the world for not doing more to get the hostages freed and for not doing more to stem the tide of radical Islam.

“It is unacceptable that only in Israel people care and the rest of the world doesn’t. I find myself trying to convince people overseas that this is a global issue,” Nov told The Algemeiner. 

“Radical Islam has reared its head in a very dangerous way and people are ignoring it. I’m here for the little boy but also to tell the world to be careful. Tomorrow it’ll be your child, your grandchild and great grandchild.” 

Yarden Raelbrook’s emotions were mixed. “As a soldier, it makes me feel good to see everyone come together to be with this baby,” she said. “But it’s so sad. The pain is unimaginable.”

Eli Dyamant, a friend of Kfir’s grandfather who came with his own grandson to the event, said: “To think that a child his age is being held by Hamas. I look at my grandson and my heart breaks. He and Kfir are the same age.”

Michal Weizman, a children’s entertainer who sang at the event, said the whole world had been moved by Kfir and his family’s plight. 

“How much we are all missing this baby that we don’t even know,” she said. “And here we celebrate a birthday with balloons and wishes and cake, but without the birthday boy himself.”