The Jerusalem Post's editorial board tackles the ongoing crisis amid growing criticism of UN inaction:
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon has called on the president of the UN Security Council to convene and condemn Hamas for the murder of six Israeli hostages.
Danon noted that Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino suffered for almost 11 months, as did their families and loved ones, with no sign of life being communicated, nor access granted to the Red Cross.
"These innocent people were brutally executed just a few days ago by Hamas terrorists. Their vile and heinous murders have outraged Israel and its people and should equally shock the conscience of the world," Danon wrote. "As our nation mourns the loss of these six beautiful lives, I call upon the Security Council to urgently convene a briefing to condemn Hamas in the strongest possible terms and to address the dire situation of the 101 hostages still held in captivity in Gaza. Despite the passage of nearly 11 months since the massacre of over 1,200 Israelis on October 7, the council has yet to condemn Hamas nor act decisively for the hostages."
Danon pointed out that on May 27, with full backing from the United States, Israel agreed to a hostage deal and Hamas refused.
"Even after the United States updated the deal framework on August 16 – Israel agreed, and Hamas again refused. In recent days, as Israel has been engaged in intensive negotiations with the mediator in a supreme effort to reach a deal, Hamas continues to steadfastly refuse all proposals," he said. "The Security Council must not delay in taking action."
UN inaction over the hostage crisis has morally stained the institution that is meant to take the lead in resolving international crises. Adding insult to injury was a statement by UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese saying that all hostages – both "Israeli and Palestinian" – should be freed. "Whether the Israeli #hostages found dead in a Gaza tunnel were executed or killed, this is yet another heinous crime that must be accounted for," she tweeted. "Condoleances [sic] and solidarity to all those who are mourning their beloved ones. May all hostages, whomever their captors, return soon to the love of their families and community. #freethehostages – both Israelis and Palestinians."
António Guterres
For a UN official to draw an equivalency between the hostages abducted by Hamas and Palestinian terrorists being held in Israeli jails is outrageous – and the secretary-general, António Guterres, should at the very least censure if not dismiss the Italian jurist, who should know better.
But Guterres himself has failed to condemn Hamas for murdering the six hostages. "I will never forget my meeting last October with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other hostage families," he posted on X. "Today's tragic news is a devastating reminder of the need for the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza."
Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, noted that Guterres refused to name the perpetrators while equating their horrible deliberate execution with Israel's effort to release them.
"The United Nations top apparatus – its Security Council, General Assembly, and Human Rights Council – has never specifically condemned Hamas," she told Fox News Digital. "UN denial of the right of Israeli self-defense and its promotion of violence against the people of Israel has never been more clear. No amount of UN photo-ops with hostages or their families will erase the reality of the UN's insidious role in the nightmare of war in Israel for seven decades."
According to the Preamble of the UN Charter signed in 1945, the purpose of the United Nations is, inter alia, "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained."
As we mourn for the six hostages, we urge the UN to change its course, condemn Hamas, and take action immediately on behalf of the 101 hostages it is still holding.
See the whole editorial online here: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-817461
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