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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 3/23/17

Moral Failure at the United Nations

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Part I -- Moral Failure On 15 March 2017 the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) published a report on Israeli practices and policies toward the Palestinians. Using international law as its comparative criterion, the report came to a "definitive conclusion" that "Israel is guilty of Apartheid practices." The term Apartheid was not used in the report merely in a "pejorative" way. It was used as a descriptor of fact based on the evidence and the accepted legal meaning of the term. Such was the immediate uproar from the United States and Israel that U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a moment of moral failure, ordered the report's withdrawal. The head of ESCWA, the Jordanian diplomat Rima Khalaf, decided that she could not, in good conscience, do so and so tendered her resignation. Part II -- Reportage The initial New York Times coverage of the incident paid little attention to the accuracy of the report, an approach which, if pursued, would have at least educated the Times' readers as to the real conditions of Palestinians under Israeli domination. Instead it called the report, and those involved in producing it, into question. For instance, the NYT told us that "the report provoked outrage from Israel and the United States." The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, was quoted as declaring that, "when someone issues a false and defamatory report in the name of the U.N. it is appropriate that the person resign." At no point in the NYT story was it noted that Ms Haley's charge that the report was false, was itself false. Other coverage by the NYT improved only slightly. The NYT did pay attention to the fact that, among the authors of the report, was former U.N. human rights investigator Richard Falk. Falk served six years as U.N. Spacial Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories. According to the NYT, his presence had to "gall[ed] many Israeli supporters who regard him as an anti-Semite." There is something troubling about a newspaper that claims to represent the epitome of professional journalism reporting such slurs without properly evaluating them. Richard Falk, who is Jewish, has an impeccable record of both academic achievement and public service. His reputation for honesty and dedication to the cause of human rights exemplifies the best practice of Jewish values. Thus, he has every right to say that "I have been smeared in this effort to discredit the report" -- a study which "tries its best to look at the evidence and analyze the applicable law in a professional manner." Part III -- Israel's Behavior An objective consideration of Israel's behavior makes it hard to escape the brutal reality of its officially condoned practices. On 17 March 2017, at the same time as the forced withdrawal of the ESCWA report, the U.S. State Department released a report on "grave violations against Palestinian children living under Israeli military occupation." This was part of the department's annual "country reports on human rights practices." Among the problems cited were Israel's practice of unlawful detention, coerced confessions and excessive use of force, including torture and killings. Usually these annual human rights reports are made public by the Secretary of State. This year Rex Tillerson, who presently holds the office, was nowhere in sight. And, of course, President Trump failed to issue any of his characteristic tweets in reference to the Israel's barbaric behavior.

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Lawrence Davidson is a history professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Foreign
Policy Inc.: Privatizing America's National Interest
; America's
Palestine: Popular and Offical Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli
Statehood
; and Islamic Fundamentalism. His academic work is focused on the history of American foreign relations with the Middle East. He also teaches courses in the history of science and modern European intellectual history.

His blog To The Point Analyses now has its own Facebook page. Along with the analyses, the Facebook page will also have reviews, pictures, and other analogous material.

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