Of the Free Socialist Territories wrote:New Chalcedon wrote:Not cool, Israel. So not cool.
However, I can see why they've stopped caring what the international community (aka the UN and related bodies) has to say about them, since said community has spent the last 40 years monomaniacally focussing on their blemishes, without examining their neighbours in the slightest. After all, when was the last time that Saudi Arabia was condemned by any organ of the UN for the appalling way the government in Riyadh treats the Shi'a minority in Eastern Saudi Arabia? When was the last time that the UN bothered to even note, far less deplore or take action about, the way the Coptic Christians are treated in Egypt, or the Maronite Christians in Lebanon? And yet, year after year, UN body after UN body focusses its attention of Israel, chiding them over their shabby treatment of the non-Jewish Israelis without bothering to do anything about the way that Israel's (Islamic) neighbours all do far worse things to their minority-group citizenry.
And the media is, ultimately, worse. After all, one might be forgiven for thinking that headlines depicting the massacres of Coptic Christian communities in Egypt might sell papers, yet the media continue to run with the "Israel is evil to Palestinians" line. They don't even have the typical media defense of "we're just in it to make bucks and sell papers".
I'm increasingly inclined to believe that it's a near-universal truth that to be the leader of a Middle Eastern country, one must demonstrate that one is a complete bastard by discriminating with great fervour and energy against one particular group. Even in Syria, once Assad (who I despise, by the way) has gone, I don't see life being fun for the Alawite minority. Israel has done awful things, but we shouldn't only look at that.
And yet, the UN Human Rights Council has condemned Israel in 48% of all its country-specific resolutions since its formation in 2006, whilst nominating Sudan (you know, that country which recently exterminated over a quarter-million Darfuris in an effort to keep the oil-rich southern regions as part of the nation) to sit on it. Their Special Rapporteur on the Question of Palestine has been criticised by the Palestinian Authority as being too anti-Israeli/pro-Hamas (not to mention that he has also posted rabidly anti-Semitic cartoons on his personal blog during his time in office, and remains in office - the mind boggles).
With "impartial observers" like this, Israel is clearly correct in assuming that a majority of the UN "has it in" (in the vernacular) for Israel: it doesn't matter what Israel actually does or does not do, the UNHRC will simply appoint anti-Semites to "investigate" Israeli actions, whilst officially ordering them to ignore Hamas/Fatah human rights violations. Why, then, should they give a damn what the "international community" thinks about them, since it appears that the international community has made up its collective mind a long time ago?
