One man. Two visits. Two very different voices.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has just been to the Gaza Strip.

He visited a Gaza City neighborhood that was damaged during IDF Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli response to 8 years of Arab attacks in which more than 10,000 missiles were fired from Gaza on Israeli civilian communities. Ban Ki-moon assured the Arab aggressors on behalf of the UN: "we stand with you."

He referred to Israel's decision to permit the entry of limited quantities of building supplies as "a drop in a bucket of water" and vowed that he would demand that the Israeli authorities do more. "This is a positive, welcome step and I believe that we need far more ... I have repeatedly made it clear to Israeli leaders that their policy of closures is not sustainable and is wrong ... It causes unacceptable suffering," Ban said.
 
“The world has condemned Israel’s settlement plans in east Jerusalem,” Ban went on to say at a news conference, continuing: “Let us be clear. All settlement activity is illegal anywhere in occupied territory and must be stopped.”
 
Following his visit to Gaza and his profuse comments on behalf of the Palestinian Arabs of Gaza and of Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank), Ban Ki-moon met with the parents of Gilad Schalit, a Jew who was kidnapped from Israel while still a teenager and has been held ever since – coming up to 4 years now – without prospects of freedom and without access to his parents, legal representation (not that he is accused of anything other than being a Jew), visits by the Red Cross (not that they have ever demanded to visit him) or such basic human rights as access to daylight.
 
"Gilad is being held by Hamas with disregard for basic human rights - a situation which is intolerable and unacceptable to any person in the free world," Ban Ki-moon told Gilad’s parents.

That’s it. Nothing else. No question of “demands” being made on his Hamas captors. No question of how pressure is to be ramped up against Hamas in the UN.

Here is a video that shows how Schalit's Hamas captors - the government of Gaza - mock his parents and trample both Gilad's and his parents' basic human rights, parading an actor portraying their captive and threatening dire consequences if their human trafficking demands are not met:



The UN chief was keen to “condemn” Israel for building apartments in an area of Jerusalem that has never belonged to any sovereign nation other than Israel, but chose not to condemn Hamas for Gilad Schalit’s continued incarceration.

The UN chief branded Israel’s plans to build apartments as “illegal” – a word he carefully avoided using with regard to Gilad Schalit’s continued incarceration.

Israel may have allowed the entry of some construction materials into Gaza and Ban Ki-moon may regard this as “a drop in a bucket of water” – but Israel is still waiting for him to demand a corresponding symbolic “drop in a bucket of water” from the Hamas regime with regard to such niceties as the release of Schalit, the cessation of rocket fire (27 rockets so far this year, one civilian fatality in Israel last week while the UN chieftain was actually in Gaza), the cessation of anti-Semitic indoctrination on Hamas TV and in schools.

Ban Ki-moon anguished over the “wrong” and “unacceptable suffering” of the Palestinian Arabs subjected to road blocks and border closures, but did not mention the need for Israeli civilians to spend their entire lives within walking distance of bomb shelters for fear of repeated and continuing missile attacks from Gaza, nor did he talk about the “unacceptable suffering” of Schalit’s parents for the crime of being Jewish.

Israel is still waiting for Ban Mi-moon to publicly state “we stand with you” in the face of continued Palestinian Arab rocket attacks, racist incitement, rioting in public places, physical attacks on civilians and military personnel. In fact, Israel still waits for any sign from the UN chieftain that he stands with Israel on any score whatsoever or that he understands any aspect of the Jewish state’s predicament.

Ban Ki-moon stands firmly with the Palestinian Arabs, whatever they do.

And Ban Ki-moon stands very much apart from Israeli victims of continued Palestinian Arab aggression.

Ban Ki-moon does indeed represent the “United Nations” – nations united in their animosity towards the Jewish state of Israel.


Relevant links from this site:
In English:
UNHCR vs UNRWA
Brazening it out
Rocket diplomacy with UN backing
Strange priorities


In Swedish:
Ockupation och bosättning - vem gör vad
Rysk roulett

Brazening it out

This business of occupation and settlement isn't all it appears to be.

There's a whole lot more to it that many countries, national leaders, religious movements and ethnic groups would prefer not to talk about - while they continue to point the finger of blame at the Jewish state of Israel.

(With thanks to Yaakov Kirschen, Israel, who regularly publishes exquisite social and political commentary in cartoon form in the Dry Bones Blog: http://drybonesblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/response.html)

But don't just pick on the USA.

After all, there's Great Britain and its continued settlement activity in Gibraltar.

Not to mention the Falkland Islands, off the coast of Argentina but 13,000 kilometres away from Britain, with the threat of war to protect continued British settlement rights looming ever closer.

China continues its settlement activity in Tibet. One million Tibetans ethnically cleansed and replaced with ethnic Chinese.

How about Russia's continued settlement activity in Japan's Kuril Islands?

Then there's Iran's occupation of some of Iraq's prime oilfields.

And Syria's de facto continued occupation of Lebanon - now ratified by the USA under Barack Hussein Obama, who has exchanged ambassadors with Damascus to cement his acceptance of Syria's hegemony.

No list would be complete without mentioning France's continued occupation and settlement of various overseas territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans as well as territory on the South American coast. There are currently more than 2.6 million people living in settlements in these overseas French territories, and their occupation continues. Go shopping in the faraway Caribbean island of St Martin and you will be speaking French and paying in euros - the EU-wide currency that succeeded the French franc.

Of course, no discussion about settlement activity can be complete without spotlighting Turkey's continued occupation and settlement of Cyprus.

Actually, there you have it. There's no discussion on any of the above. At all.

There's only discussion on condemnation of Israel for building 1600 apartments in an area that was never part of any other country in the entire history of the region.

Hypocrisy is too polite a word for it.