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Michael Kohler

The United Nothings

In my late-teens and early 20s, I spent a lot of time in Israel. This was the early 1990s and a family friend, a few years older than me, had recently finished spending his late-teens and early 20s in the IDF serving in Lebanon.  The first Gulf War was now over, the first Intifada where I saw friends get hit in the face with stones thrown through bus windows was winding down, and people thought peace was in the air with the 1993 Oslo Accords and 1994 Peace Treaty with Jordan.  I recall a passing white jeep with “UN” emblazoned on its hood and roof, and my friend calling them “The United Nothings.”  I saw that jeep with its blue-helmeted soldiers as the good guys – there to promote and keep peace as part of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and recall questioning why my friend had such a cynical, pejorative opinion.  He, of course, had his reasons from his time serving in Lebanon, and I realized it was something I would never understand having not experienced what he experienced.

I was thinking of that encounter recently as I realize now, more than ever, that his characterization of the “UN” as the United Nothings was correct – although it actually does not go far enough.  “Nothing” has the connotation of zero, or unbiased, or neutral.  The United Nations are none of those things, at least when Israel is involved.

Here we are, once again, in the exhausting position of having to defend Israel’s right to defend itself and protect its citizens.  We can spend pages summarizing the history of conflict along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon; but there is no such need.  We just need a few quick bullet points covering the last 18 years:

  • There was a war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah which began when Hezbollah attacked the northern border, captured three Israeli soldiers and held them hostage (any of this sound familiar?);
  • For 34 days, war waged with Hezbollah indiscriminately attacking Israeli villages and cities, and Israel attempting to remove this threat from its northern border and dismantle Hezbollah’s control over southern Lebanon;
  • Because Israel evacuated many of its citizens from the north and built bomb shelters to protect those that remained while Hezbollah purposely fought from, fired rockets from, and hid weapons in civilian centers, the obligatory “scorecard of death” showed approximately 1,100 Lebanese and Hezbollah terrorists killed whereas approximately 160 Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed. This discrepancy led to calls of “war crimes” and “disrespect for international law” levied against Israel (this ringing any bells?);
  • The international community negotiated a truce, codified in U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 that required Israel to withdraw its troops from Lebanon (which it did), and required Hezbollah to withdraw all its fighters, weapons and infrastructure from Lebanon south of the Litani River to the Israeli border (which it did not). Only the Lebanese army and UNIFIL forces were permitted in that area to ensure Hezbollah does not reestablish its presence there;
  • Fast forward 17 years: Hamas launches its October 7th, 2023, attack and Hezbollah joins the fight the next day. With a 200,000+ person army of terrorists, tens of thousands of missiles smuggled from Iran, and miles and miles of deep underground tunnels, Hezbollah over the past year has fired over 9000 missiles and drones into Israel.  All of this military  infrastructure built and attacks taking place under the noses of both the Lebanese army and UNIFIL who were either criminally negligent at their jobs or complicit in allowing all of this to take place;
  • But, here comes the good part! Hezbollah has now learned to attack Israel and fire at its troops from behind or in close proximity to the UNIFIL troops using them as human shields (sounding familiar??).  The IDF warns UNIFIL to take cover, to move, that they will be firing on the locations of Hezbollah troops and to move for their safety.  They don’t, several are slightly or moderately injured, and you guessed it, the world is aghast at the brutality and lack of respect Israel has for international law for purposely firing on UN troops – what barbarians they must be!  Even the pope this morning demands “respect” for the UN peacekeepers;
  • Israel continues to plead with the U.N. – withdraw your forces, move them out of harm’s way asserting Israel must be permitted to dismantle Hezbollah from the very villages and land UNIFIL was supposed to ensure Hezbollah never occupied again after 2006. Since UNIFIL and the Lebanese army has failed to do so, Israel must be permitted to do only what UN Security Council resolution 1701 demands;
  • “No,” says UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti, they can’t withdraw, they are mandated by the Security Council to uphold its resolution and maintain the ceasefire! What ceasefire??? What are they reporting back to the Security Council:  what a great job they’ve done over the past 18 years in letting Hezbollah reconstitute as an army more formidable than most small nations???

While that is the answer from the United Nations today, they had a very different answer more than 50 years ago when another middle eastern country requested the removal of U.N. peacekeeping forces.  It was May 1967.  Both Hafez al-Assad in Syria and Gamel Abdel Nasser in Egypt were rattling the swords of war promising an imminent attack on Israel from multiple fronts to destroy the “Zionist entity.”  But there was a minor problem: following the 1956-57 Sinai Campaign, a U.N. Emergency Force of more than 3000 soldiers manned the Egypt-Israel border in the Sinai to keep the peace.  Nasser requested, and the U.N. acquiesced, removing its peacekeeping forces leading to hostilities the following month.

The moral of the story is simple and clear: when asked to withdraw its forces for their own safety so Israel can dismantle Hezbollah forces in accordance with the Security Council resolution, the answer from the U.N. is a resounding, “no.”  But when asked by an invading Egyptian army for U.N. forces to step aside so they can attack Israel, the answer is, “no problem.”

Unfortunately, such is the story of Israel, the hypocrisy, and the double-standard to which it is held.  But the story doesn’t end here: stay tuned for the next chapter in the coming months when the U.N. and international community demand Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza with the guarantee that a U.N. force will insure it remains demilitarized and free of Hamas rule, followed by the indignation leveled at Israel for not wholeheartedly endorsing such a plan.  Why would they object?  What could possibly go wrong?

About the Author
Michael Kohler is on the Long Island Regional Board of the American Jewish Committee, is committed to strengthening the relationship between US Jews and Israel, and professionally works as an immigration attorney on Long Island, N.Y. The opinions expressed are personal and do not reflect those of AJC or any other group or organization.
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