What’s the Matter with António Guterres?
Israel | 20 June 2024, 15:35 pm IST
1 | Timeline
The United Nations had a three-week window of opportunity to categorically condemn the October 7th massacre and abductions and to impose immediate and severe international political consequences on the perpetrator — and thus to reassure Israelis. Had that happened, the Israeli government might have been persuaded to desist from a full-scale military response.
Instead, Secretary General António Guterres fawned.
Here is a post October 7th timeline (so far) of the Appeaser-in-Chief’s words and deeds aimed at rewarding Hamas by keeping them in power:
OCT | Guterres contextualizes Hamas’ atrocities, stating “It is important to also recognize the attacks did not happen in a vacuum.” Prior to and after his making these remarks, the organization he heads calls vote after vote after vote insisting that Israel not fight back:
- On Oct. 16th and 18th, the US and others veto UN Security Council resolutions that demand an Israeli ceasefire but fail to mention Israel’s right of self-defense.
- On October 25th, Russia and China veto a US-authored Security Council ceasefire resolution because it articulates Israel’s right to defend itself.
- On October 27th, the UN General Assembly passes a ceasefire resolution that fails to mention Hamas or call for the hostages’ release.
NOV | Guterres, having waited 55 days, finally calls for an investigation of Hamas’ sexual atrocities. Read about it here.
DEC | Guterres invokes rarely used UN Charter Article 99, which brings a ceasefire resolution to a Security Council vote followed by a General Assembly vote. The resolutions are heavy on the word “humanitarian” but deliberately fail to mention much less condemn Hamas (per proposed amendments voted down [!] by the Security Council and the GA).
JAN | Acting in UN Court as proxy plaintiff for Iran and Hamas, UN member nation South Africa smears Israel with a false allegation of genocide.
FEB | After consulting with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazarini, Guterres appoints individuals and organizations with track records of extreme anti-Israel bias to a misleadingly named Independent Review Group (aka the Colonna investigation) that he tasks with persuading leading democracies to reinstate funding to UNRWA (the goal) by whitewashing UNRWA’s ties to terror (the strategy). Read about it here. Meanwhile, the US vetoes yet another Security Council resolution that demands an immediate, unconditional Israeli ceasefire on Hamas but fails to call for the hostages’ release.
MAR | The Security Council finally passes a ceasefire resolution; according to this analysis, the US abstains because the text “neither acknowledges Hamas’s October 7 massacre nor explicitly ties a ceasefire to the release of hostages.”
APR |
- Guterres leaves Hamas off the UN’s sexual-violence blacklist. Read about it here.
- The Colonna investigation delivers its whitewashing of UNRWA’s ties to terrorism.* (Please see Part 9b of this essay, which links to detailed, damning evidence re UNRWA that António Guterres is hiding from donor nations.)
MAY | Guterres mourns the Butcher of Tehran.
JUN | Guterres endorses the Pillay report’s blacklisting of the Israeli military. (Please see Part 9c of this essay, which links to critiques of that report.)
*I confess to having wondered if the Colonna report’s publication date (April 20th) slyly alludes to, um, you fill in the blank. . .
2 | “Natural” is a Lie
“Natural” is a lie. Among Jihad’s apologist-appeasers, António Guterres told it first!
Political Islamists and their UN and Western apologist-appeasers always use the code word “natural” (instead of extremist-ideological) when claiming that any and all acts of terror — if performed by Palestinians — are to be understood as built into human nature in response to political and/or social disadvantage:
“Natural” ranks right up there with coded battle cry “by all means necessary”; these are dog whistles tooted ad nauseam not only by jihad’s death cultists but also by the UN’s and the West’s moral relativists. I refer to those shams — UN Secretary General António Guterres most notoriously among them — who contextualize Palestinian barbarity:
Guterres would do well to learn from British journalist Melanie Phillips’ critique of apologists for terror: “The liberal West views Muslims and the developing world with contempt; they don’t regard them as being properly human, [which] is to take moral responsibility for your actions, to be held responsible. The liberals in the West think that everything Muslims do is explained by what’s done to them. And you cannot get more profoundly racially prejudiced than that.”
The above remarks begin at the 03:10 time mark:
3 | Guterres Safeguards UNRWA
So many studies exist by reputable UN watchdogs, and so many investigative journalists have documented UNRWA and the UNRWA schools’ linchpin-intergenerational role in inciting Palestinians to hate and murder Jews, that I’ve no need to add editorial comment.
Go to “Sources: Guterres Safeguards UNRWA” (Part 9b of this essay) for links. And please listen to this — and watch this:
4 | Guterres’ Protégés
Everything sounds better in French and, arguably, Italian. The exception to this rule is the UN’s roster of rabid Israel-eliminationist Rapporteurs, most infamous among them Frāncés/cā Ál/bānésē.
According to UN Watch, Albanese’s known for “orchestrating lawfare campaigns, whitewashing Hamas terrorism, and cynically manipulating governments into funding UNRWA.” Her lovely name (in lilting iambic trimeter) belies her venomous hatred for Israel and Israelis, whom she demonizes at every manufactured opportunity.
2024’s Silver Medalists among the UN’s indefatigable strategists gunning for the State of Israel’s delegitimization (destruction) — which they plan to achieve by first maligning, culturally isolating, and dehumanizing Israelis — include the authors of the Colonna and Pillay reports.
And don’t get me started on faux-feminist UN Women, who have offered belated, reluctant lip service to the fact of Hamas’ lethal gang rapes and genital mutilations and declined to name the perpetrator. Read about that here and here and here and here.
Please go to “Sources: Guterres’ Protégés” (Part 9c of this essay) for links.
5 | Fake Empathy
You’ll never guess what António Guterres keeps in his pocket!
Of all his sins of omission and commission in grudging response to the Hamas massacre and abductions, this publicity stunt on the war’s 104th day sent my shit detector into overdrive: “Israeli hostages freed from captivity in Gaza [met] for the first time with UN Secretary General António Guterres on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. . . . Guterres surprise[d] those at the meeting by pulling out of his pocket a dog tag [calling] for the release of the hostages, saying, ‘The dog tag is in the right pocket of my coat, where my hand normally is, and I take it with me everywhere to remember the hostages at every moment.’”
Why hidden, Mr. Secretary General? Why in your pocket?
The Bring Them Home Now dog tag and yellow-ribbon pin are meant for display. Why does this even need saying?
Who, Mr. Secretary General, are you afraid of — or (speaking of pockets) in which theocratic-fascist regime’s extortionist pocket do you reside?
- Do you worry that Saeed Iravani will spy with his little eye your making a sartorial gesture signaling concern for Hamas’ enslaved captives?
- Are you scared that on your globetrots, you’ll be targeted for sentiments not toeing jihad’s line?
- Perhaps you fear Nerdeen Kiswani’s stormtroopers’ converging on your place of business at 405 E 45th St, New York, NY?
Nothing more thoroughly exposes your nakedness than this failure to display solidarity with hostages on the outside of your (Emperor’s) New Clothes!
Nothing more thoroughly speaks to your moral cretinism than this weaseling out of an imperative to publicly and daily demand the hostages’ release.
6 | Guterres Mourns the Butcher of Tehran
Well sheesh! At this rate, the United Nations had better order crisp, new flags ready for lowering to half-mast when the Hamas Politburo, Lebanon’s Nasrallah, and Vlad Putin bite the dust.
What’s next on António Guterres’ ceremonial agenda, I wonder: Inking Hitler’s birthday into the UN calendar year? Naming Leila Khaled UN Women’s patron saint?
Whereas I would bet that were an Israeli leader to die on his watch, Guterres’ resolve to honor UN member nations’ heads of state would hit the SEC Gen’s office fan, fly out the window, and waft its bouquet through Manhattan.
7 | Wikipedia Weighs In
IRANIAN ALLIES RUSSIA & CHINA
According to Wikipedia, “In 2019, human rights groups criticized Guterres for being ‘silent’ as China sent ethnic Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to the Xinjiang re-education camps. Human Rights Watch chief Kenneth Roth said that Guterres ‘has been notably silent on one of the most important. . . the most brazen human rights abuses . . . because he is worried about upsetting the Chinese.’” Furthermore, “the U.S. and other Western nations [have] accused Guterres [of being] overly soft on Russian president Vladimir Putin.”
Why am I not surprised?
ISRAEL
On the other hand, and yikes is this embarrassing: “In 2020, the World Jewish Congress awarded [Guterres] the Theodor Herzl Prize, [calling him] a ‘true and devoted friend of the Jewish people and the state of Israel.’”
This is some serious bootlicking, Guys! Herzl must be turning in his grave.
8 | Folklore Meets Fact
In British folklore, meeting a weasel is a bad omen. António Guterres is a very bad omen indeed.
Everything this callous bureaucrat — who whitewashes dictatorships and terror regimes — has chosen to do or not do in response to Hamas’ gang-rapes, torture-murders, abductions, and enslavement of captives has contributed to the already compromised United Nations’ decline into worse than irrelevance — into collusion with global jihad.
9 | Sources
a. | UN CEASEFIRE RESOLUTIONS (shortlist)
The Conversation: Ceasefires are not a panacea for what needs to be done to provide meaningful, structural security for those most affected by complex systems of violence that transcend times of war.
Barron, Robert. “What Does the U.N. Cease-Fire Resolution Mean for the Israel-Gaza War?” United States Institute of Peace. 26 March 2024. <https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/03/what-does-un-cease-fire-resolution-mean-israel-gaza-war>.
“Gaza: Security Council adopts US resolution calling for ‘immediate, full and complete ceasefire.’” UN News. 10 June 2024. <https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1150886>.
“U.S. Abstains From Ceasefire Resolution at UN Security Council.” Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). 25 March 2024. <https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/03/25/u-s-abstains-from-ceasefire-resolution-at-un-security-council/>.
“Why has an Israel-Hamas ceasefire been so elusive? A timeline of key moments in the search for peace.” The Conversation. 19 May 2024. <https://theconversation.com/why-has-an-israel-hamas-ceasefire-been-so-elusive-a-timeline-of-key-moments-in-the-search-for-peace-229801>.
b. | GUTERRES SAFEGUARDS UNRWA
Baroness Ruth Deech: UNRWA’s mission is not to help people, but to perpetuate a political conflict.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH UNRWA?
“The Case Against UNRWA.” [Compilation.] UN Watch. <https://unwatch.org/the-case-against-unrwa/>. Accessed online 19 June 2024.
“Hillel Neuer Testifies Before U.S. Congress on UNRWA.” YouTube, uploaded by UN Watch. 31 January 2024. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caSdJ019oNA>.
“International Summit for a Future Beyond UNRWA.” [Full event livestream.] UN Watch. 26 February 2024.<https://unwatch.org/future-beyond-unrwa-summit/>.
Neuer, Hillel and Dina Rovner. “Submission by United Nations Watch to the Independent Review Group on UNRWA Neutrality.” UN Watch. 9 April 2024. <https://unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/United-Nations-Watch-Submission-to-UNRWA-Review-Group.pdf>.
“What Matters Now to Haviv Rettig Gur: UNRWA’s problem isn’t the terrorists in its ranks.” YouTube, uploaded by The Times of Israel. 25 April 2024. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3qP7Gc5IW4&t=8s>.
THE UNRWA SCHOOLS
“Anatomy of an UNRWA School: An Evaluation of the Material Taught in Beit Hanoun UNRWA Schools.” IMPACT-se. <https://www.impact-se.org/wp-content/uploads/UNRWA-Beit-Hanoun-Schools_18.1-Final.pdf>. Accessed online 16 June 2024.
Pacchiani, Gianluca. “UNRWA textbooks were pivotal in radicalizing generations of Gazans — watchdog.” The Times of Israel. 26 March 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/unrwa-textbooks-were-pivotal-in-radicalizing-generations-of-gazans-watchdog/>.
Rovner, Dina and Arik Agassi. “UNRWA Education: Reform or Regression? A Review of UNRWA Teachers and Schools Concerning Incitement to Hate and Violence.” UN Watch and Impact-se. March 2023. <https://unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023-Report-UNRWA.pdf>.
Rovner, Dina. “Report: UNRWA’s Terrorgram: How a Telegram Group of 3,000 UNRWA Teachers in Gaza Celebrated the October 7th Hamas Massacre.” UN Watch. January 2024. <https://unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/UN-Watch-UNRWA-Terrorgram-.pdf>.
Rovner, Dina. “UNRWA: Hate Starts Here: How UNRWA Teachers Indoctrinate Palestinian Children and Promote Terrorism and Antisemitism.” UN Watch. November 2023. <https://unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Hate-Starts-Here-2023-Report-UNRWA.pdf>.
Schanzer, Dr. Jonathan. “United Nations’ Bigotry Towards Israel: UNRWA Anti-semitism Poisons Palestinian Youth.” Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 8 November 2023. <https://www.fdd.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/11-08-23-Schanzer-Written-Testimony.pdf>.
“This is how terrorists are made.” YouTube video, uploaded by Middle East Insight. 27 October 2023. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVY3JRxqSfU>.
“UNRWA Education: Textbooks and Terror.” IMPACT-se. November 2023. <https://www.impact-se.org/wp-content/uploads/UNRWA-Education-Textbooks-and-Terror-Nov-2023.pdf>.
c. | GUTERRES’ PROTÉGÉS
British journalist Melanie Phillips: The United Nations and Hamas are in bed together.
Francesca Albanese
CAMERA Senior Analyst David Litman: In pursuit of her goal of destroying the Jewish state, Albanese masquerades as a human rights activist.
“Exposed: Francesca Albanese’s Global Influence Network Targeting Israel.” UN Watch. 11 June 2024. <https://unwatch.org/exposed-francesca-albaneses-global-influence-network-targeting-israel/>.
Schanzer, Dr. Jonathan. “United Nations’ Bigotry Towards Israel: UNRWA Anti-semitism Poisons Palestinian Youth,” pp. 6–7. Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 8 November 2023. <https://www.fdd.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/11-08-23-Schanzer-Written-Testimony.pdf>.
“The 10-Point Plan: How Francesca Albanese’s Global Influence Network Manipulated Countries to Reinstate Funding.” UN Watch. 11 June 2024. <https://unwatch.org/ten-point-recovery-plan-for-unrwa-how-francesca-albaneses-global-network-planned-to-influence-countries-to-reinstate-funding/>.
Wagenheim, Mike. “Not an international crime to kill soldiers, UN’s Francesca Albanese says of Oct. 7.” JNS. 22 December 2023. <https://www.jns.org/not-an-international-crime-to-kill-soldiers-uns-francesca-albanese-says-of-oct-7/>.
Wagenheim, Mike. “‘Standard delusional inversion,’ experts say of responses from UN’s Francesca Albanese to JNS.” JNS. 22 December 2023. <https://www.jns.org/standard-delusional-inversion-experts-say-of-responses-from-uns-francesca-albanese-to-jns/>.
The Colonna Report
UN Watch: Ms. Colonna stated that the purpose of her investigation is to ensure that donations to UNRWA continue — not that everything be done to stop systematic UNRWA staff complicity with and promotion of terrorism.
“Exposed: UNRWA’s Rigged ‘Independent’ Review: A Report on the Colonna Investigation of UNRWA’s Terror Ties.” UN Watch. 18 April 2024. <https://unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/UNRWAs-Rigged-Independent-Review.pdf>.
“Exposed: UNRWA’s Rigged ‘Independent’ Review.” UN Watch. 15 April 2024. <https://unwatch.org/exposed-unrwas-rigged-independent-review/>.
“Hillel Neuer testifies before U.S. Congress on UNRWA and the Colonna Report.” YouTube, uploaded by UN Watch. 11 June 2024. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_GTqizyYzk>.
The Pillay Commission of Inquiry
Israel Foreign Ministry: The Pillay report describes a fictional reality in which decades of terror attacks have disappeared, there are no continuous rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, and this is not a democratic country defending itself from a terror assault.
AFP and TOI Staff. “Member of UN Gaza probe says sorry for ‘Jewish lobby’ remark; Israel rejects apology.” The Times of Israel. 4 August 2022. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/member-of-un-gaza-probe-apologizes-for-jewish-lobby-remark-slammed-as-antisemitic/>.
Agencies and TOI Staff. “UN reports accuse Israel of ‘extermination,’ crimes against humanity; Hamas of war crimes.” The Times of Israel. 12 June 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-reports-on-gaza-accuse-israel-of-crimes-against-humanity-hamas-of-war-crimes/>.
Cohen, Ben. “How António Guterres Betrayed the Jews.” Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. 19 June 2024. <https://www.jewishexponent.com/how-antonio-guterres-betrayed-the-jews/>.
Ghert-Zand, Renee. “Israel forbids doctors from speaking to UN group investigating Oct. 7 atrocities.” The Times of Israel. 16 January 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/government-forbids-doctors-from-speaking-to-un-group-investigating-oct-7-atrocities/>.
Rovner, Dina. “Legal Analysis of Pillay Commission’s 2024 Report to The Human Rights Council.” UN Watch. 13 June 2024. <https://unwatch.org/legal-analysis-of-pillay-commissions-2024-report-to-the-human-rights-council/>.
UN Women
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan: It took the UN five months to finally recognize the horrifying sex crimes that occurred during the Hamas onslaught of October 7. The shame of the silence of the UN is crying out to the heavens.
“After 8 weeks, UN Women condemns Hamas for Oct. 7 onslaught, expresses alarm over accounts of sexual assault.” The Times of Israel. 2 December 2023. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/after-8-weeks-un-women-condemns-hamas-for-oct-7-onslaught-expresses-alarm-over-accounts-of-sexual-assault/>.
“Exposed: UN Women Deputy Chief Endorsed 153 Tweets Attacking Israel & Zionism.” UN Watch. 18 December 2023. <https://unwatch.org/exposed-un-women-deputy-chief-endorsed-153-tweets-attacking-israel-zionism/>.
Ginat, Gitit. “U.N. Women’s Groups Accused of Boosting Hamas Massacre Deniers.” Daily Beast. 14 November 2023. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/un-womens-groups-accused-of-boosting-hamas-massacre-deniers>.
Hajdenberg, Jackie. “Amid outcry over silence, UN Women posts, then deletes, condemnation of Hamas attack.” The Times of Israel. 28 November 2023. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-outcry-over-silence-un-women-posts-then-deletes-condemnation-of-hamas-attack/>.
Karmel, Ariela. “Israeli women are under brutal attack and there is complete silence.” Calcalist. 30 October 2023. <https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjxrkypma#:~:text=Three%20weeks%20after%20her%20abduction,by%20Hamas%20on%20October%207>.
Spiro, Amy and Agencies. “UN finds evidence of rape on Oct. 7 and after; Israel: They tried to downplay issue.” The Times of Israel. 4 March 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-finds-evidence-of-rape-on-oct-7-and-after-israel-they-tried-to-downplay-issue/>.
Spiro, Amy, Jacob Magid and Carrie Keller-Lynn. “After 7 weeks of silence, UN chief calls to investigate Hamas sex crimes on Oct 7.” The Times of Israel. 30 November 2023. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-7-weeks-of-silence-un-chief-calls-to-investigate-hamas-sex-crimes-on-oct-7/>.
