URGENT ACTION ALERT - CONDEMNATION OF SECRETARY GENERAL BAN KI-MOONS CONDEMNATION Dear Ambassadors, Thank you so much for Holding Hands for Israel. A very warm welcome to those of you who have recently joined us. Unfortunately and true to form, the United Nations is once again displaying its knee jerk bias against Israel. I am calling on each of you to dig deep, shine bright and walk tall as we confront this institutional bias. United Nations Seretary General Ban Ki-moon has recently issued unfounded and very strong condemnations of Israel regarding its anti-terrorism operations in Gaza. It is unfounded and misguided pronouncements such as these that are emboldening Hamas and other terror organizations and inciting antisemitism around the globe. This must stop once and for all. Each of us must know we did all that could be done. Thank you. G-d bless you. Much love, Susan HOW YOU CAN HELP 1. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WISH TO BE PART OF A MASSIVE DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN SEPTEMBER (OR ORGANIZING A RALLY IN YOUR AREA). 2. IMMEDIATELY PLEASE CALL, E-MAIL, FAX AND/OR WRITE TO UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY- GENERAL BAN KI-MOON DEMANDING AN APOLOGY FOR HIS UNFOUNDED AND DANGEROUS CONDEMNATION OF ISRAEL IT IS THE TERRORIST ORGANIZATION HAMAS - THE GOVERNING BODY IN GAZA - THAT SHOULD BE CONDEMNED FOR COMMITTING A DOUBLE WAR CRIME - INCESSANTLY FIRING MISSILES, ROCKETS AND MORTARS AT ISRAELI CIVILIAN POPULATIONS WHILE USING THE CIVILIAN POPULATION OF GAZA AS HUMAN SHIELD. HAMAS STATE SPONSORS, IRAN AND QATAR , MUST ALSO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. As a matter of both principle and precedent, it is crtical that we confront Hamas legally regarding its barbaric use of human shields and not blame casualties on governments defensively responding to acts of terror. This is critical to our struggle to eradicate terror in our lifetime. HAMAS - THE GOVERNING BODY IN GAZA- MUST ALSO BE CONDEMNED AND FORMALLY CHARGED WITH INCITEMENT TO GENOCIDE. ITS VIRULENTLY CHARTER CALLS FOR THE ANNIHILATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWS. ITS LEADERS. SCHOOLS, CAMPS AND PUBLIC MEDIA ARE OBSESSIVELY FOCUSED ON ACHIEVING THAT OBJECTIVE. Additional Background We must join the ZOA in condemning in the strongest possible terms United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for his aggressive condemnation of Israel over its counter-terrorist operations in Gaza, which included the UN head condemning an Israeli strike on July 20 in the Shujaiyya neighborhood of Gaza City as an atrocious action -- even though UN officials had already testified to Hamas having successfully prevailed upon the residents of Shujaiyya to stay as human shields. The ZOA has also condemned the Secretary-General for saying that Hamas violence was due to grievances in Gaza over restrictions on their territory, ignoring that restrictions have followed rather than caused Hamas terrorism launched from Gaza. The ZOA also took the Secretary-General to task for completely ignoring Hamas actual goals of destroying Israel and murdering Jews worldwide, as stated in the Hamas Charter. In a letter to Ban Ki-moon, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein and National Chairman of the Board Dr. Michael Goldblatt wrote: We are writing to you regarding the strong and -- to our mind, utterly unjustified and baseless -- condemnations you have publicly uttered in recent weeks regarding Israel and its entirely legitimate efforts to defend and protect the state of Israel and its citizens from unprovoked, unjust, illegal and terroristic assault from Hamas in Gaza ... [Regarding the July 20 strike on Shujaiyya] We were saddened and outraged that you chose to utter your condemnation before any evidence had been properly taken in the matter and thus before a clear idea could be formed of the circumstances of the tragedy. Nor did you say anything about Hamas having deliberately imperiled its civilians, something that was already known to you through reports by UN officials with respect to the precise residential area in question. According to your own officials, on 16 July, the Israeli military delivered text messages to virtually all the residents of Ash Shujaiyya and Az Zaitoun neighborhoods in eastern Gaza city, approximately 100,000 people, warning them to leave their homes ... ahead of attacks to be launched in the area ... the Palestinian Ministry of Interior in Gaza reportedly instructed the residents ... not [to] flee the area ... the vast majority decided to stay ... We note that, on July 21, you stated that, These restrictions [on Gaza] should be lifted as soon as possible so that people should not resort to this kind of violence as a way of expressing their grievances. This statement is simply so untrue and misleading that we wonder how it can be uttered by a responsible international official. Hamas did not attack Israel because of restrictions imposed on Gaza; restrictions were imposed on Gaza because of continuing assaults upon Israel by Hamas from Gaza since 2007. As you would know, in the last ceasefire of 2012, Israel relented under pressure to the relaxation of restrictions upon Gaza by agreeing to the importation into Gaza of steel and concrete, supposedly for much needed development and infrastructure. We now know that both have been instrumental in Hamas construction of terror tunnels into Israel. The problem is not restrictions, but Hamas. Hamas is a Nazi-like terrorist organization that calls in its Charter for a war upon the Jews until all Jews are obliterated. Yet nowhere have you condemned Hamass genocidal goals. You have not referred the matter for consideration of breaches of the Genocide Convention. On these cardinal issues, you have been silent. Is not Hamas double war crime of deliberately firing missiles into Israeli cities and simultaneously embedding its own forces in civilian areas in Gaza the sole reason civilians have been killed in Gaza in recent weeks? By what then right do you condemn Israel for legitimately targeting Hamas rockets and the vast network of tunnels they have burrowed deep into Israel territory for the purpose of carrying out mass-casualty attacks? Civilian deaths are always tragic, but why, then, have you not laid the responsibility where it rests -- with Hamas for its genocidal goals, its terrorist assaults, its targeting of civilians and its documented use of human shields? By not merely criticizing or querying Israels actions, but actually condemning them in the strongest terms, you have given aid and comfort to Hamas by making Israel the recipient of condemnation for war crimes that should actually have been leveled at Hamas. You have thereby incentivized Hamas war crimes in the future and thus helped in however small a way to ensure a future renewal of hostilities. No army is free of committing mistakes and where criticism is warranted it should be made. However, there has been no lack of proportion by Israel in this conflict. To stop the rockets and destroy the terror tunnels are both legitimate and vital interests that Israel was entitled and indeed obligated to pursue. In this sense, you were wrong to claim, as you did, on July 21, that Israel had acted disproportionately because most of the death toll has been among the Palestinian people. Proportionality as you must know is not about equal casualty statistics -- where would that leave the Allied powers who defeated Nazi and Japanese aggression and founded the United Nations? -- but about using no more than necessary force to achieve legitimate military objectives. By what right do you aid and abet Hamas false claims that civilian deaths in Gaza, which they did so much to maximize, are the product of Israeli disproportionality? Your statements have done immeasurable harm to the truth and to Israels reputation. You owe Israel a public apology and the world a public statement that condemns Hamas for its genocidal goals, its terroristic actions and the consequent harvest of civilian casualties in Israel and Gaza. We look forward to your detailed response.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 19:47:34 +0000
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