Ode to the United Nations and its Gazan Staff

I don’t celebrate the death of any civilian non-combatant anywhere, whether in a drive-by shooting in Chicago or a war or act of terror. Unfortunately, war is hell, and there are civilian casualties. That’s truly sad. But I am proud to live in a country that not only does everything possible to protect us through a powerful standing army, a dedicated reserve army, and the investment of billions in technologies to prevent loss of life.  I am also proud to live in a country that has among the most, if not the most, moral armies in the world, always seeking to limit, if not prevent, civilian non-combatant loss of life.

Operating by these standards often puts Israeli soldiers in harm’s way, risking their lives to preserve the lives of civilian non-combatants in Gaza. It sometimes means not striking terrorists who are a clear and present danger, even en route to carry out a terrorist attack. There are videos of Air Force pilots calling off an air strike because of the terrorists’ proximity to children.  

I am also grateful to live in a country where we don’t do what our enemies in Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and others do: using their own civilians as human shields. Other than being evil and a war crime, this makes clear that these ISIS-like Islamic terrorists are not fighting FOR their own people but just to kill us.

In that context, I was dismayed but not surprised to read recently that the UN has criticized Israel because of the death of 88 UN staff in Gaza. Again, I do not celebrate the death of any civilian non-combatants. However, rather than criticizing Israel, for the death of its staff members, the United Nations should be looking in the mirror and asking itself difficult questions as to how it is culpable for and has enabled this situation for decades. The UN has enabled the Islamic terrorists to threaten and slaughter Israelis by allowing their staff and facilities, including civilians, to be out of harm’s way. Deliberately.

With 57% of Gazans actually supporting Hamas in a recent Arab-based poll, they should ask how many of its “staff members “are, in fact, Hamas terrorists. Do they vet out their staff to prevent this possibility?

The United Nations should reflect on how it has allowed Hamas and other terrorist organizations to use their schools and other facilities in and around which to hide weapons and their terrorists.

How have United Nations agencies spent decades conferring refugee status among Palestinian Arabs as something one inherits from generation to generation, the only people in the world with this status, rather than resettling them and resolving a demographic problem rather than perpetuating it?  How, in doing so, can the UN act in good faith that the Palestinian Arab leaders have the stated goal to destroy Israel, a UN member state?  

How is it that the United Nations funded and run schools deliberately allow the instigating and inciting of hatred and terror toward Israel and Jews, inciting violence and genocide against an entire people? Should this really be part of the curriculum for raising good citizens of the world?

How did the United Nations allow Hamas to steal hundreds of thousands of liters of diesel fuel from a United Nations facility without saying a word? Was this an inside job?

How is it humanly possible that the Secretary General of the United Nations had the obscene hubris to rationalize the massacre of 1400 people in Israel on October 7 by saying that the world needs to understand the context, effectively justifying a crime against humanity? Really?

How is it possible that the United Nations peacekeepers have allowed Hezbollah in Lebanon to acquire more than 150,000 long-range precision missiles under its watch in violation of direct United Nations resolutions? If Hezbollah opens a front with Israel, now or any time in the future, and Israel strikes its bunkers, weapons storages, terror leaders where they are hiding, and more, the blood will be on the hands of the UN for allowing southern Lebanon to become infested with terrorists, nestled among the civilian population.

Rather than playing the victim, and as sad as the death of any one civilian who is not directly or indirectly related to Hamas and the other terrorists is, the United Nations is directly culpable for enabling the evil of the Islamic Palestinian Arab terrorists we are witnessing in Israel, and the consequence in Gaza of Israel’s invasion to destroy Hamas and release the hostages.   And yes, that includes the death of 88 UN staff.

Blame for the massacre on October 7 starts with Hamas, and with the assistance to Iran, and with no less culpability to the UN for passing resolution after resolution against Israel, elevating Iran’s Islamist regime, barely ever mentioning human rights violations, atrocities, and war crimes that are committed by actual terrorist entities, all of which directly play into the terrorist’ hands.

It is indeed sad that so many UN staff members were killed. After they bury their colleagues, the UN must look in the mirror because of their decades of institutional guilt for strengthening the terrorists and bringing us to this day. Their behavior is UN-becoming in enabling this, as much as it is in their blaming Israel, the one UN member state that dozens of other member states and terrorist entities want to wipe off the map.

Photo Courtesy: ©Getty Images/Dan Kitwood / Staff

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Christian Headlines. 

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

 Jonathan Feldstein was born and educated in the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 2004. He is married and the father of six. Throughout his life and career, he has been blessed by the calling to fellowship with Christian supporters of Israel and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel. He writes regularly for a variety of prominent Christian and conservative websites and is the host of Inspiration from Zion, a popular webinar series and podcast. He can be reached at firstpersonisrael@gmail.com.