Antonio Guterres is the Secretary-General of the United Nations – and here is more on his lamentable UN speech on Hamas and Israel:
Excellencies,
Even war has rules.
We must demand that all parties uphold and respect their obligations under international humanitarian law; take constant care in the conduct of military operations to spare civilians; and respect and protect hospitals and respect the inviolability of UN facilities which today are sheltering more than 600,000 Palestinians.
Israel already “upholds and respects” its “obligations under international humanitarian law.” It needs no scolding from Antonio Guterres. Ever since the IDF began, it has upheld “the purity of arms” which includes taking “constant care…to spare civilians.” Israel does as much as is humanly possible to spare civilians, but the conditions created by Hamas, that uses its own people as human shields, make the task of protecting civilians hellishly difficult.
The relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, the level of civilian casualties, and the wholesale destruction of neighborhoods continue to mount and are deeply alarming.
It bears repeating: there have been, and will be more civilian casualties. Those inflicted by Hamas are deliberate’ those inflicted by Israel are accidental, and deeply regretted by the IDF. The only sensible questions to be asked are these: Does Hamas do everything it can to put civilians in Gaza in danger? And does the IDF do everything it can to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza? The answers to both questions is “Yes.”
As for the “level of civilian casualties,” even Joe Biden has recognized that the figures put out by the Hamas-run Ministry of Heath are not to be trusted. We still have no idea how many Gazans were killed, and of that number, how many really were civilians and how many were Hamas operatives. Guterres is apparently convinced that figures released by Hamas’ Ministry of Health are to be trusted. On what basis does he think we should trust Hamas about anything? Hamas is known for its endless lies. Just a week ago the terror group was claiming there were “500 dead” after “the explosion at the “Al-Ahli Hospital where an Israeli rocket hit.” Now we know that Hamas lied in three important respects: first, the explosion was not at the hospital, but at an adjacent parking lot; second, the explosion was caused by a rocket launched from Gaza by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, that misfired, falling out of the sky onto the parking lot, where it exploded; third, the number of dead was not 500, as Ham s reported, but between 10 and 50, according to several Western intelligence agencies..
I mourn and honour the dozens of UN colleagues working for UNRWA – sadly, at least 35 and counting – killed in the bombardment of Gaza over the last two weeks.
Did Guterres ever say that he “mourned and honored” the 1400 Israelis murdered on October 7? No.
I owe to their families my condemnation of these and many other similar killings.
The protection of civilians is paramount in any armed conflict.
This is nonsense. In any armed conflict, the protection of civilians is important but victory over the enemy is paramount. What does Guterres think of how the Allies fought World War II? Does he think that “protection of civilians” was “paramount” when they firebombed Dresden, Cologne, and Tokyo? Was “protection of civilians” paramount in American minds when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, thereby rendering unnecessary an invasion by the Americans of the Japanese home islands, which would have resulted in tens of thousands of American deaths and even more Japanese deaths?
Protecting civilians can never mean using them as human shields.
Protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than one million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself.
Even before Guterres made his remarks, the Rafah Crossing, that had been kept shut by Egypt, not Israel, had been opened to truckloads that went into Gaza carrying medicine, food, and water. Israel did not object; Israel had not in fact, ever tried to shut down the Rafah Crossing; it was Egypt that chose to do so. Israel only objects to letting in fuel, for Hamas is likely to steal it and use it not to run desalination plants and hospital generators, but to replenish the fuel it uses for military vehicles. Israel has presented proof that while Gazans lament the “cut off” of fuel, 500,000 liters of that fuel is in tanks controlled by Hamas. Does Guterres know any of this? Shouldn’t he have mentioned the enormous amount of fuel that “Hamas should free up for civilian use”?
I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza.
Israel has not committed any violations of international law in its war against Hamas in Gaza. It tries to minimize civilian casualties by warning them away from targets. Egypt, not Israel had been preventing aid from getting into Gaza; now that truckloads of food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid are being allowed in by Egypt through the Rafah Crossing, Israel has raised no objections.
Hamas and Egypt should let refugee civilians out, even at the risk of Hamas fighters escapimg and returnimg to fight another day. Also, when the Israeli planes come over, Hamas should sound sirens amd let the civiliams down into the tumnels. Why do you think there are no bomb shelters im Gaza, Mr. Guterres?
I’ve read that one of the Hamas leadership said the tunnels were only to shield their “fighters” and not the civilian population. This means to me the civilians are an irrelevancy to Hamas except for generating hand-wringing propaganda and as human shields.
This is true. Hamas claims that the UN is responsible for the Gazans as they are all refugees. Either way, it won’t help much. Hamas must be eliminated and people will die. The problem seems to be for too many that not all those who died will be my brethren.
Nor,
No 2nd Amendment, Jabs or lgbt support from Netanyahu.
No! Hamas fighters who will magically become civilians can not be allowed to live. As Hamas threatens to repeat Oct 7 until all Jews are killed must be eliminated. And all those UN employees reporting back… they are Gazans who are employed by the UN! NOT exactly innocent bystanders.
The UN is a total wase to continue to allow these Criminals in America its way past time to move it all to Moscow or Bejing without America
Mogadishu is probably lovely this time of year. Perhaps they ought to move there.
I agree with your recommendation, but Mogadishu is located 2 degrees from the equator, so it’s lovely all year round.
The US should withdraw from the UN and throw them out of the country. I would bet the entire organization would collapse within 5 years for lack of funding. It makes no sense to keep hosting and financing this group of 3rd world crap holes who hate the West. Let them pay their own way and we’ll see how long they can afford to pretend to be relevant on the world stage.
Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender. That’s it period. Those making the call are either well-meaning ignorant fools or knowingly defending evil islamofascist butchers.
I’ll take “knowingly defending” for $100m, Alex.
I don’t know how many times I’ve said this over the effing years, but the United States has to get out of the UN. It is a communist enterprise. The member states routinely vote against U.S. interests. The U.S. pays nearly 25% of the budget. Provides the building. GET OUT OF THE UN!!!!!!
as hamas and gazans love death , let the IDF comply with their wishes . strange that everyone is defending people who love death , no one is defending israel , only defending death mongers . give the arabs what they want and then some . israel needs to ignore the bleeting do gooders of the west and finish the job even if they have to level gaza to the ground and then blow up every tunnel flooding them if need be . time to play hardball .
We’ll see where the do-gooders stand when the islamist cells in their country start carrying out their mission with bombings and murderous attacks against civilians. I’m afraid it’s going to take a solid slap in the face to wake them up to the real threat. Every act of appeasement only serves to embolden the savages. Tiktok videos of murder and desecration have these peaceniks shitting their pants in fear. This is no time for sissies.
He is the very representation of a cesspool that should be dismantled and cast out of US soil. Brazenly immoral and ignorant of the truth, Israeli officials justly called for his dismissal.
The Message that People are getting: Amazing how many People remark about the mixed messages coming from the Biden administration. The head of the snake Iran has been given funds who in turn funds Hamas, and Hezbollah. Lo and Behold, there is a holocaust and war in Israel.
Then, as Israel tries to defend her land and clear out those who are attacking her, the Biden administration goes to Israel to arrange a ceasefire, stopping Israel from defending towns and cities from Hamas and Hezbollah. It would seem that the Administration is definitely in support of Hamas re-furbishing their supplies and reorganizing.
Remember when they chant Palestine should be free from the river to the sea, this means Israel should be pushed out of their own land.
What happened when Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2006?
How should Israel defend its population when Hamas hides behind human shields?
Who has offered peace…….and Who has rejected Peace?
Who are the antisemties engaged in modern blood libel by falsely accusing Israel of genocide?
Who steals the water pipes. for plumbing and makes rockets out of them?
Who uses the cement tunnels under gaza to sneak into the Kibbutz’?
Its time to get real on the facts of the obsession to destroy Israel and who is to blame.
The problem is that Israel’s main claim to legitimacy in the eyes of the world is the UN vote of Nov. 1947. If the UN itself is illegitimate (and it seems that it is), how does Israel claim a right to exist?