Diplomacy

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Analysis Shows UN Secretary General’s Op-Ed Attack on Israel “Unprecedented”

by TheTower.org Staff |

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s recent New York Times op-ed, which was critical of Israeli policy, is “unprecedented” in its focus on a single country, a Jerusalem Post analysis showed.

Post diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon noted in an analysis on Monday that of the 85 op-eds Ban has written since becoming secretary-general in 2007, “not one of them has the finger-wagging tone toward a specific government that Ban used in his Monday piece.”

Of those 85 pieces, there is not one devoted to the scourge of terrorism, or to Iran, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Venezuela or Armenia’s occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In 2010 he wrote a piece for the United Arab Emirates Khaleej Times about Cyprus, but it was very diplomatic and did not apportion blame in that conflict or prescribe a solution.

Of the 85 pieces, 15 were written about climate control, 11 about global economic issues, and 10 generic pieces about the UN. He has now penned four on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – more than any other conflict on the planet.

In the one piece Ban wrote on Syria, which was published in 2014, Keinon observed that Ban “was careful not to blame any one side” and didn’t mention Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad even once. Ironically, Ban mentioned Assad in his first op-ed as secretary-general, noting that after meeting with him, “my aim is to build a relationship – one that might help moderate events in Lebanon and, ultimately, return Syria more fully into the international community.”

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said in a statement that “the Palestinian incitement machine produces terror, and the Secretary-General’s statements legitimize terror.” Danon’s comment echoed the sentiments of Netanyahu and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren about statements similarly critical of Israel that Ban made last week.

In addition to his criticisms of Israeli policies in the op-ed, Ban refused to acknowledge any Palestinian responsibility for their lack of statehood.

[Photo: Flash90 ]

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