Did the UN Secretary General Justify Hamas?

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres (BBC)

I used to have respect for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. When he was chosen for that position, I recall his rebuke to Holocaust deniers. Especially in the Arab world.  I remember thinking, ‘Finally! ...a UN leader that will stand up for Israel’s right to exist.’ Although he was also sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians, I understood that it was not unreasonable to sympathize with a people he saw suffering. 

But his recent statement about Israel’s war with Hamas exposes a bias that undermines his credibility. Being sympathetic to a suffering people does not mean placing equal blame on both sides. It means looking at the facts and the context and then forming an opinion based on that understating. Guterres has not done that. That became obvious in the following comment made by Guterres - reported in Reuters: 

"It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation," 

Guterrez was quick to deny that he was justifying the Hamas attack: 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday rejected accusations by Israel that, in a statement to the Security Council, he had justified attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel. 

"I am shocked by the misrepresentations by some of my statement ... as if I was justifying acts of terror by Hamas. This is false. It was the opposite," he told reporters, without specifically naming Israel.

Sorry Mr. Guterrez. Not buying it. It’s true that the Hamas attacks did not happen in a vacuum and that indeed Palestinians are suffering. But as noted here many times, their suffering is not Israel’s fault. It is the fault of Palestinian terrorists that have attacked Israeli civilians in suicide bombings and assorted other acts of terror. Terrorists that live in the territories among fellow Palestinians blending in with their brethern. Thereby hiding in plain sight. 

How many suicide bombings and assorted other murderous attacks must Israel endure before taking measures to protect themselves? Yes, these measures do indeed cause hardships for the Palestinian people. But what choice does Israel have? How many Israelis have to be killed by Palestinian terrorists before they take action to prevent them? 

Israel has learned the hard way not to trust a Palestinian leadership that rewards the families of Jihadists killed in action... and names streets after them. 

So yes! The Hamas attack did not happen in a vacuum. And yes, Palestinians are suffering. But the fault lies not with Israel. The plain and simple fact is that it is the fault of a Palestinian leadership that glorifies Jihadist terror. And a Hamas that acts upon it. That is the root cause of the problem. 

Furthermore, Mr. Guterres, you completely ignore the fact that Palestinians could have had their own state over 75 yeas ago, when your own UN partitioned Palestine into 2 nations. One Jewish and one Arab. Israel agreed immediately, But the Arab nations rejected it and instead went to war hoping to drive the Jews into the sea! Hamas is currently the most severe expression of that attitude. 

In that cause, they do NOT want their people to live well. They want their people to suffer so they can villify Israel for it. Making sure that their own people see Israel that way, too. 

So if you are going to say that the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation," you need to tell the truth about why that is. And place the blame where it belongs. Which is NOT on Israel but on the Palestinian leadership and their henchmen Hamas.  

The one thing I am 100% sure of is this. Israel would like nothing better than to live in peace and friendship with the Palestinian people. Remove terrorism and Jew hatred from the equation and Israel would be happy to help them build a state that would live in peace and harmony with them. That was true in 1948. And it is still true today. At least in theory. It’s just too bad that the level of hatred has increased to the point of no return. Thereby requiring Israel to take measures it would have preferred not to take. Which currently means doing what’s necessary to  destroy their mortal enemy, Hamas.

That you did not mention any of that, Mr. Guterres, and said simply that ‘The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,’ imputes blame to Israel. That is both unacceptable and a lie. While its true that you did originally say the following: 

"Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets."

That was completely undermined by his later comment. I therefore agree with Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan. I call upon Guterres to resign immediately.