In the wake of the worst attack against the Jews since the Holocaust, the international community has wasted no time in condemning the world’s only Jewish state. In January, South Africa brought a case before the United Nations’ International Court of Justice in The Hague accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. The Court’s ruling does not call for a ceasefire, but it does renew false claims about Israel’s actions in the war. The allegations of genocide, now left unchallenged by the ICJ, demonstrate a complete disregard for the facts.
First, South Africa alleges that Israel is targeting Palestinian civilians despite clear evidence that Hamas deliberately hides among civilians and uses its own people as human shields. The case also fails to mention that Hamas builds terror bases underneath designated safe zones such as hospitals.
South Africa also accuses Israel of withholding humanitarian aid from the Palestinians, ignoring that Israel has allowed more than 10,000 aid trucks to enter Gaza since the start of the war. Palestinians are suffering, but they should blame Hamas, who is known to steal humanitarian aid like food and medical supplies. Israel is accused of limiting access to clean water, yet no attention is paid to Hamas’ admission that they dig up water pipes to build rockets.
The case relies on data from the unreliable Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths and does not count how many Palestinians are killed by errant Hamas rocket fire. It is a disgrace that a case with such blatant negligence for truth was brought in the first place.
Hamas has declared publicly that it will repeat the October 7 attack until Israel is destroyed, and it has already demonstrated that it has no hesitation to violate a ceasefire agreement. To portray Israel’s response as anything other than a justified anti-terrorism operation is to distort the truth. Hamas has already murdered over 1,200 Israelis and still holds more than 100 people hostage, yet it is Israel that must defend itself on the world stage? This antisemitism-fueled double standard is commonplace, especially at the UN.
Women’s rights groups were nowhere to be found after the October 7 attack. It took until December 1 for UN Women to name and condemn Hamas for its violence against Israeli women. Denouncing Hamas for using rape as a weapon should not be difficult, especially for an organization that purports to stand for women’s equality. The international community should be unequivocally standing with Israeli women, but it’s not. In Israel’s time of need, women’s rights organizations are silent.
Likewise, the international community was silent for decades in the twentieth century when Jews were persecuted and subjected to pogroms across the Arab world. In 1948, over 800,000 Jews lived in Arab countries. Today, that number is closer to 3,300. The UN apparently has nothing to say about Jewish refugees; meanwhile, it has passed over 100 resolutions for Palestinian refugees.
If the international community was truly concerned about the mistreatment of the Palestinians, they would be condemning the terrorists responsible for the October 7 attack and standing up for the only democracy in the Middle East. Instead, Mexico and Chile referred both Israel and Hamas to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. In reality, claims that Israel is engaging in genocide only serve to embolden terrorists. Palestinian civilians have lost their lives from the war in Gaza, but the only ones to blame are Hamas.
The world cannot rely upon the United Nations to stand up for the Middle East’s only democracy. After October 7, the UN passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire, rejecting an amendment that would have condemned Hamas and the taking of hostages. The singling out of Israel for global denunciation is indicative of the sheer antisemitism still permeating the international community. The irony, of course, is that this treatment of Israel proves exactly why there needs to be a Jewish state.
Countries that believe in freedom and human rights must stand up to this bigotry. It came to light that twelve employees of the UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee organization, participated in the October 7 attack. Several countries, including the United States, have responded by ending funding to the UNRWA. Hopefully, this is a sign that the world is waking up and that the UN will be held accountable for its anti-Israel bias. The international community must no longer look the other way as Jews are victimized.
Russell Kitsis
Russell Kitsis is a Jewish conservative student at Babson College. Russell is studying finance and hopes to work in investment banking upon graduation.
The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff.
