While largely established to forge “friendly relations among nations,” the U.N. has been anything but friendly toward the Jewish state: Israel.

In fact, the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) has long afforded a platform and impunity for those promoting Israel’s destruction and the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homeland. In 1974, the UNGA hosted the then-chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Yasser Arafat, who infamously referenced his “freedom fighter’s gun” during his speech. At that time the PLO was an “internationally recognized terrorist organization” with its charter stating that “[a]rmed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.”

Some four decades later, terrorists still receive impunity in the UNGA. In 2018, the UNGA rejected a resolution that sought to condemn the terrorist group Hamas. While the assembly condemned antisemitic terrorism for the first time in 2021, it has targeted Israel in 112 resolutions since 2015. This represents a staggering 70 percent of all UNGA condemnations since then.

Sadly, the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) fares not much better in its astonishing bias against Israel.  While conceived to address human rights violations at large, 55 percent of its condemnatory resolutions have targeted Israel — a free multiparty democracy according to Freedom House.  Further, the Council’s Agenda Item 7, which targets Israel, remains the only permanent agenda item devoted to scrutinizing a single U.N. member-state, out of 193 total members.

If you thought U.N. anti-Israel bias could not get any worse, think again. In December 2021, the General Assembly committed to funding the UNHRC’s “Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel,” which was established after the latest Israel-Gaza war in May 2021.

This new commission reeks of double-standards regarding its mandate, funding, and membership. It deserves to be discredited immediately before it places Israeli (and arguably Jewish) identity under attack in its report, whose first edition is scheduled for release in June 2022. Allegations of apartheid and war crimes are expected, despite Israel’s extensive efforts to guarantee legal equality, integrate its Arab citizens, and comply with the laws of warfare. As noted by legal expert Professor Anne Bayefsky, these likely impending allegations could fuel unprecedented adverse action against Israel and its people, including prosecutions of Israeli officials in the ICC, arms embargoes, and widespread boycotts.

Systemic double-standards corrupt the commission, the “first ever open-ended” commission of inquiry (COI) and the first ever COI whose mandate need not be “renewed every year.” For example, the mandate’s timeframe allows the U.N. to scrutinize Israel from time immemorial to eternity, a reality that allows the COI to scratch old wounds and prime Israel for further discrimination. Unsurprisingly, the mandate is purposefully broad in scope, allowing the COI to investigate the “[u]nderlying root causes of recurrent tensions” and alleged human rights abuses “up to and since 13 April 2021.”

Double-standards in funding also abound. Despite the Syrian Civil War claiming at least 1,368 times more lives than the tragic Hamas-Israel war in May 2021, the COI on Syria commands only half of the funding and two-thirds of the staffers as does the COI’s new mandate to lambaste Israel.

The COI also has a serious problem when it comes to impartiality. All of the commission’s members have well-documented biases against Israel. The report to be released by the COI will surely reflect the anti-Israel and arguably antisemitic attitudes of those presiding over it, including allegations of apartheid and war crimes.

The president of the COI — Navi Pillay — has falsely accused Israel of apartheid, signed a letter calling for countries to “[suspend] free trade agreements with Israel,” and delivered the opening and closing remarks at the Durban Conference in 2009.

The Durban conference has been an infamous platform for antisemitism. In years past at Durban, Iran’s then-president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, promoted Holocaust denial.   Protesters openly praised Hitler and disseminated “cartoons of hook-nosed Jews” and copies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, “the most notorious… antisemitic publication of modern times.” Thirty-eight countries boycotted the Durban Conference in 2021 precisely because of its antisemitism.

While Pillay’s presidency over the COI is inexcusable, so is Miloon Kothari’s membership as a commissioner.  Anything but impartial, Kothari prepared a U.N. report in 2001 in which he “called Palestinian terrorism ‘resistance,’ while glossing over massive suicide bombings that wounded and killed thousands of Israelis.” He has accused Israel of war crimes, apartheid (“banstustan-type [sic] situation”), and ethnic cleansing.  He has even blamed Israel for “infighting between Palestinian factions.”     

The last remaining commissioner — Chris Sidoti — also warrants brief scrutiny for his bias. Having worked closely aside Palestinian NGOs for over fifteen years, Sidoti has accused Israel of “not recogni[zing] the application of international human rights law in the territories.”

Although the U.N. regularly boasts about the importance of neutrality and impartiality in its humanitarian efforts, the report to be issued by the COI remains at the mercy of these three biased officials, who were appointed by a similarly biased and largely non-democratic U.N. Human Rights Council, whose members reportedly scapegoat Israel through bloc voting to detract from their own human-rights abuses.

While this most recent manifestation of the U.N.’s anti-Israel lawfare may not surprise anyone, it should mobilize people of goodwill to speak out.  Rooted in unprecedented double-standards and corrupt membership, the COI is bound to harm Israel and perpetuate the root causes of the conflict.

This witch hunt serves only to undermine the U.N.’s integrity with regard to human rights and international law, and it further entrenches its systemic anti-Israel bias and antisemitism. Anyone who cares about Israel, the Jewish people, and human rights should take action now to discredit the U.N.’s latest shameful campaign of hate.

HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

The Bible speaks of a time when all the nations of the world will be unified in their hatred of Israel and desire to divide Jerusalem, Israel’s capital city.

Zechariah 12:3 KJV – “In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

Given this Biblical prophecy, it is not surprising in the time shortly prior to its fulfillment the United Nations would unfairly single out and demonize the Jewish State.

The Bible has a great deal to say about supporting and blessing Israel. In Genesis, we read that those who despise and work against Israel place themselves at enmity with God.

Genesis 12:3 KJV – “I will bless them that bless [Israel], and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

This warning also, if not especially, applies to nations.

In the Book of Numbers, a man named Balaam was hired to curse the people of Israel. However, despite his best efforts, God insisted Balaam bless the Jews instead. When explaining to the king why he could only bless Isreal, he told him that God shall “eat up” nations who make themselves enemies of the Jews (Num. 24:8). He then echoed Genesis 12:3, saying, “Who shall stir [God] up? Blessed is he that blesseth [Israel], and cursed is he that curseth thee” (Num. 24:9).

The irrationality with which many have despised the Jews is often puzzling to those who may be unfamiliar with God’s Word. Why has antisemitism flourished throughout history? Why are unsubstantiated and wicked accusations about Israel and the Jewish people often quickly accepted?

One of the numerous examples is the Black Plague in the 1300s. Many at that time pointed the finger at the Jewish population, claiming that they had spiked wells causing the illness. Similar to what took place in Nazi Germany, Jews were then evicted from countries, forced into ghettos, and massacred by a population that was swift to eat up anti-semitic propaganda. Even to this day, we have seen hordes of people who try desperately to blame the Jewish people for the coronavirus!

This madness can only be understood through the lens of Scripture.

Through the Jewish people, God brought the law, giving His creation an understanding of sin, and subsequently, through the Jewish people, God provided humanity a Savior from that sin, Jesus Christ (Romans 9:4-5, 7:7, 10:4, 3:1-2, Matt. 5:17).

The Jewish people and the nation of Israel are interwoven within God’s plan for all mankind, beginning to end. They are, by God’s mercy, the chosen people used to bring about His perfect will and salvation (Luke 2:25-32). It is for this reason that a battle, which is spiritual in nature, is constantly being waged against Israel and the Jews (Eph. 6:12). Satan detests the people through whom God provided His Son, Jesus Christ, who will ultimately defeat him and his followers (Revelation 20:10).

Although the world may look at Israel and automatically see red, to the Believer in Jesus Christ, the reborn State of Israel should arouse awe of God and hope.

Thousands of years ago, God promised that Israel would again become a nation under miraculous circumstances (Ezekiel 36, 37, Isaiah 66:7-8). This is especially important because Jesus told His disciples that when Israel is reborn, one generation would not pass away before His Second coming (Matthew 24:32-34).

Therefore the nation of Israel has been used to bless believers yet again, with the joyful expectation of our Blessed Hope, the soon catching away of the Bride Of Christ to forever be with the Lord in the Rapture of the church (1 Thess. 4:15-18, Titus 2:13, 1 Corin. 15:51-53).

If you do not know Christ, seeing the nation of Israel should promote urgency in you to accept Jesus today. Satan hates Israel, and he hates you also. But God displayed His power to us, through the rebirth of Israel and by countless other means, that we may come to know Him and the saving knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:29).

If you would like to know more about Salvation through Jesus Christ — Click here

While largely established to forge “friendly relations among nations,” the U.N. has been anything but friendly toward the Jewish state: Israel.

In fact, the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) has long afforded a platform and impunity for those promoting Israel’s destruction and the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homeland. In 1974, the UNGA hosted the then-chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Yasser Arafat, who infamously referenced his “freedom fighter’s gun” during his speech. At that time the PLO was an “internationally recognized terrorist organization” with its charter stating that “[a]rmed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.”

Some four decades later, terrorists still receive impunity in the UNGA. In 2018, the UNGA rejected a resolution that sought to condemn the terrorist group Hamas. While the assembly condemned antisemitic terrorism for the first time in 2021, it has targeted Israel in 112 resolutions since 2015. This represents a staggering 70 percent of all UNGA condemnations since then.

Sadly, the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) fares not much better in its astonishing bias against Israel.  While conceived to address human rights violations at large, 55 percent of its condemnatory resolutions have targeted Israel — a free multiparty democracy according to Freedom House.  Further, the Council’s Agenda Item 7, which targets Israel, remains the only permanent agenda item devoted to scrutinizing a single U.N. member-state, out of 193 total members.

If you thought U.N. anti-Israel bias could not get any worse, think again. In December 2021, the General Assembly committed to funding the UNHRC’s “Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel,” which was established after the latest Israel-Gaza war in May 2021.

This new commission reeks of double-standards regarding its mandate, funding, and membership. It deserves to be discredited immediately before it places Israeli (and arguably Jewish) identity under attack in its report, whose first edition is scheduled for release in June 2022. Allegations of apartheid and war crimes are expected, despite Israel’s extensive efforts to guarantee legal equality, integrate its Arab citizens, and comply with the laws of warfare. As noted by legal expert Professor Anne Bayefsky, these likely impending allegations could fuel unprecedented adverse action against Israel and its people, including prosecutions of Israeli officials in the ICC, arms embargoes, and widespread boycotts.

Systemic double-standards corrupt the commission, the “first ever open-ended” commission of inquiry (COI) and the first ever COI whose mandate need not be “renewed every year.” For example, the mandate’s timeframe allows the U.N. to scrutinize Israel from time immemorial to eternity, a reality that allows the COI to scratch old wounds and prime Israel for further discrimination. Unsurprisingly, the mandate is purposefully broad in scope, allowing the COI to investigate the “[u]nderlying root causes of recurrent tensions” and alleged human rights abuses “up to and since 13 April 2021.”

Double-standards in funding also abound. Despite the Syrian Civil War claiming at least 1,368 times more lives than the tragic Hamas-Israel war in May 2021, the COI on Syria commands only half of the funding and two-thirds of the staffers as does the COI’s new mandate to lambaste Israel.

The COI also has a serious problem when it comes to impartiality. All of the commission’s members have well-documented biases against Israel. The report to be released by the COI will surely reflect the anti-Israel and arguably antisemitic attitudes of those presiding over it, including allegations of apartheid and war crimes.

The president of the COI — Navi Pillay — has falsely accused Israel of apartheid, signed a letter calling for countries to “[suspend] free trade agreements with Israel,” and delivered the opening and closing remarks at the Durban Conference in 2009.

The Durban conference has been an infamous platform for antisemitism. In years past at Durban, Iran’s then-president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, promoted Holocaust denial.   Protesters openly praised Hitler and disseminated “cartoons of hook-nosed Jews” and copies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, “the most notorious… antisemitic publication of modern times.” Thirty-eight countries boycotted the Durban Conference in 2021 precisely because of its antisemitism.

While Pillay’s presidency over the COI is inexcusable, so is Miloon Kothari’s membership as a commissioner.  Anything but impartial, Kothari prepared a U.N. report in 2001 in which he “called Palestinian terrorism ‘resistance,’ while glossing over massive suicide bombings that wounded and killed thousands of Israelis.” He has accused Israel of war crimes, apartheid (“banstustan-type [sic] situation”), and ethnic cleansing.  He has even blamed Israel for “infighting between Palestinian factions.”     

The last remaining commissioner — Chris Sidoti — also warrants brief scrutiny for his bias. Having worked closely aside Palestinian NGOs for over fifteen years, Sidoti has accused Israel of “not recogni[zing] the application of international human rights law in the territories.”

Although the U.N. regularly boasts about the importance of neutrality and impartiality in its humanitarian efforts, the report to be issued by the COI remains at the mercy of these three biased officials, who were appointed by a similarly biased and largely non-democratic U.N. Human Rights Council, whose members reportedly scapegoat Israel through bloc voting to detract from their own human-rights abuses.

While this most recent manifestation of the U.N.’s anti-Israel lawfare may not surprise anyone, it should mobilize people of goodwill to speak out.  Rooted in unprecedented double-standards and corrupt membership, the COI is bound to harm Israel and perpetuate the root causes of the conflict.

This witch hunt serves only to undermine the U.N.’s integrity with regard to human rights and international law, and it further entrenches its systemic anti-Israel bias and antisemitism. Anyone who cares about Israel, the Jewish people, and human rights should take action now to discredit the U.N.’s latest shameful campaign of hate.

HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

The Bible speaks of a time when all the nations of the world will be unified in their hatred of Israel and desire to divide Jerusalem, Israel’s capital city.

Zechariah 12:3 KJV – “In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

Given this Biblical prophecy, it is not surprising in the time shortly prior to its fulfillment the United Nations would unfairly single out and demonize the Jewish State.

The Bible has a great deal to say about supporting and blessing Israel. In Genesis, we read that those who despise and work against Israel place themselves at enmity with God.

Genesis 12:3 KJV – “I will bless them that bless [Israel], and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

This warning also, if not especially, applies to nations.

In the Book of Numbers, a man named Balaam was hired to curse the people of Israel. However, despite his best efforts, God insisted Balaam bless the Jews instead. When explaining to the king why he could only bless Isreal, he told him that God shall “eat up” nations who make themselves enemies of the Jews (Num. 24:8). He then echoed Genesis 12:3, saying, “Who shall stir [God] up? Blessed is he that blesseth [Israel], and cursed is he that curseth thee” (Num. 24:9).

The irrationality with which many have despised the Jews is often puzzling to those who may be unfamiliar with God’s Word. Why has antisemitism flourished throughout history? Why are unsubstantiated and wicked accusations about Israel and the Jewish people often quickly accepted?

One of the numerous examples is the Black Plague in the 1300s. Many at that time pointed the finger at the Jewish population, claiming that they had spiked wells causing the illness. Similar to what took place in Nazi Germany, Jews were then evicted from countries, forced into ghettos, and massacred by a population that was swift to eat up anti-semitic propaganda. Even to this day, we have seen hordes of people who try desperately to blame the Jewish people for the coronavirus!

This madness can only be understood through the lens of Scripture.

Through the Jewish people, God brought the law, giving His creation an understanding of sin, and subsequently, through the Jewish people, God provided humanity a Savior from that sin, Jesus Christ (Romans 9:4-5, 7:7, 10:4, 3:1-2, Matt. 5:17).

The Jewish people and the nation of Israel are interwoven within God’s plan for all mankind, beginning to end. They are, by God’s mercy, the chosen people used to bring about His perfect will and salvation (Luke 2:25-32). It is for this reason that a battle, which is spiritual in nature, is constantly being waged against Israel and the Jews (Eph. 6:12). Satan detests the people through whom God provided His Son, Jesus Christ, who will ultimately defeat him and his followers (Revelation 20:10).

Although the world may look at Israel and automatically see red, to the Believer in Jesus Christ, the reborn State of Israel should arouse awe of God and hope.

Thousands of years ago, God promised that Israel would again become a nation under miraculous circumstances (Ezekiel 36, 37, Isaiah 66:7-8). This is especially important because Jesus told His disciples that when Israel is reborn, one generation would not pass away before His Second coming (Matthew 24:32-34).

Therefore the nation of Israel has been used to bless believers yet again, with the joyful expectation of our Blessed Hope, the soon catching away of the Bride Of Christ to forever be with the Lord in the Rapture of the church (1 Thess. 4:15-18, Titus 2:13, 1 Corin. 15:51-53).

If you do not know Christ, seeing the nation of Israel should promote urgency in you to accept Jesus today. Satan hates Israel, and he hates you also. But God displayed His power to us, through the rebirth of Israel and by countless other means, that we may come to know Him and the saving knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:29).

If you would like to know more about Salvation through Jesus Christ — Click here