Sutanu Guru
Executive Director, C Voter Foundation
The United Nations has been in the news in India in recent days. And this is related to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, or the terrorist organisation Hamas to be more specific. A resolution calling for immediate cessation of hostilities and movement of humanitarian aid to residents of Gaza Strip which is being bombarded daily by Israel was passed in the UN General Assembly with 120 countries in support, 14 countries against and 45 countries abstaining. India was one of the countries that abstained. All hell broke loose in India when the news came out. “Liberals” & Modi critics (not much to differentiate between the two anyway) enacted as if apocalypse has arrived. They blasted the Narendra Modi regime for abandoning the decades old “moral” position of always supporting the cause of Palestine. Since the glorious days of Nehru till Modi became the prime minister, India has usually voted against Israel in the UN. Critics termed this shift in stance as morally reprehensible. Some even went to the extent of saying India acted like this because the regime doesn’t like Muslims.
What the liberal critics have conveniently ignored are the following facts. On October 7, Hamas terrorists broke into Israeli neighbourhoods bordering Gaza and went on a slaughter spree that lasted for hours. They raped girls, burnt alive families, beheaded babies, called their family members over phone in triumph even as they were doing all this and fled back to Gaza with moe than 200 innocent civilians as hostages. There is no UN resolution condemning these barbaric acts of terrorism. There is no UN resolution demanding that Hamas must unconditionally release all innocent hostages. But the UN wakes up when Israel retaliates and starts bombing suspected Hamas locations. Inevitably, thousands of Palestinians in Gaza including children are killed. When the resolution is being discussed, many countries including India insist that a few lines condemning Hamas terrorism be included in the resolution. When that doesn’t happen, India abstains.
The most ghastly and grotesque development is hundreds of thousands of liberals, leftists and Islamists marching across cities around the world in support of Palestine and calling the Hamas as “resistance” & “freedom” fighters. I can understand the support for Palestine; I strongly support a separate sovereign state of Palestine. I know innocent Palestinians are suffering as cannon fodder. But can one not also condemn the Hamas terrorism and mourn for the gang raped girls and beheaded Jewish babies of Israel? Even more grotesque, liberals in India are supporting this public display of naked and irrational hatred towards Jews. They should ask themselves: what if Lashkar-E-Toiba terrorists (like in 26/11) again succeed in breaching Indian defences and gang ape girls, behead babies and burn families in an Indian city? I have no doubt global liberals, leftists and Islamists will call that an act of “resistance” by LeT for the “cause” of Kashmir. Will Indian liberals adopt the same stance? To my shock, I have enlisted that a lot of Indian liberals will do that.
But what about the United Nations? It was formed in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1945 as a global institution that will act as a force for peace and ensure wars and mass casualties do not recur in the future. Has it performed its task? It has spectacularly failed to do so. From the Korean War of the early 1950s to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the UN has been a mute and hapless spectator as conflicts and wars have killed millions of innocent people. It is a caricature of a debating club where members use bombastic rhetoric and tired cliches to which no one pays any attention; except the media in domestic countries. Countries that have serious power don’t give a damn about the UN and its meaningless virtue signalling resolutions. In any case, five countries, the US, Russia, England, France and China have veto powers in the UN Security Council and use the veto ruthlessly to promote their strategic interests. To continue this useless talking shop, tax payers of member countries (mostly rich countries) together pay about $ 3.5 billion every year with UN bureaucrats earning fat tax free salaries and flying business class.
There is something even more rotten about the UN. The biggest story of 2022 was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. By any yardstick, it violates all international norms. The UN dutifully recognised this and passed 6 resolutions against Russia. One resolution each was passed against wonderful and democratic regimes in Myanmar, North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran. Even the US was hit with one resolution. Guess how many resolutions were passed against Israel by the same body in 2022? You got it: 15. In 2006, the UN set up a Human Rights Council. Members countries have been countries with stellar human rights records like China, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Libya, Sudan and others. Since then, about 50% of the condemnations from this august body have been targeted at Israel. Nothing against China, Iran and Qatar of course.
What purpose does such an immoral body serve? Forget morals: is it worth spending billions of dollars on it every year?
Disclaimer:
This is the personal opinion of the author. The views expressed in this write-up have nothing to do with www.prameyanews.com.
