One of those who spoke yesterday at the UN Security Council was UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov. And his speech is very instructive regarding the warped thinking plaguing so many.
You can see his speech below,
but I want to focus on this particular section.
Israel is acting immorally by escalating settlement building in response to Palestinian terror attacks, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov said on Tuesday
“Settlement construction is not a morally appropriate way to respond to murder,” Mladenov told the UN Security Council at its monthly meeting in New York.
But what about mentioning that the palestinians are acting immorally by escalating terrorism in response to “settlement building”? How about lecturing the palestinians about that? Heck, they are escalating terrorism anyway – settlement building, Donald Trump’s Jerusalem announcement, waking up on the wrong side of the bed, these are all fake excuses.
Sure, Mladenov did mention terror and violence in his speech, but he did focus on it like he did on this non-issue of Jews building homes in Judea and Samaria. And when he did, he called upon “all sides to reject violence, condemn terror, ensure accountability and work to reduce tensions.”
This very much reminds me of John “Lurch” Kerry’s speech at the Saban Forum over a year ago, in which he focused on the same issue of “settlement building”, way more than on the more serious issue of palestinian incitement and terrorism.
These speeches are not helping; in fact they are part of the problem. They send a message to the palestinians that they can continue with the terrorism, because the international community will still focus on Israel’s suppose indiscretions. This is why, I believe, the recent statements of the US administration have been important.
