The Geneva-based human rights organization UN Watch has issued a press statement criticizing the UN for failing to describe yesterday’s attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria as “terrorism.” The attack, which Israel blamed on Iran and which claimed seven lives, marked a new escalation in the confrontation between Iran and the rest of the world, as well as the return of international terror to the security forefront. But despite the urgent nature of the issue, and the horrific nature of the attack, the UN could not bring itself to call it “terror.”
UN Watch has the details:
• A U.N. spokesperson said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms.” In fact, however, the U.N. chief’s choice of terms was weak in comparison to his statement two weeks ago on the bombing of churches in Kenya. In that case, Mr. Ban rightly spoke of “terrorist “attacks, “reprehensible and criminal,” saying the perpetrators “must be held to account.” Yet today he referred only to the deadly “bombing” of Israelis — noticeably declining to describe it as an act of terrorism — and he made no call for holding the perpetrators to account. UN Watch today urged Mr. Ban to clarify his position and to truly use the strongest possible terms to condemn today’s terrorist attack.
• U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has remained silent on today’s attack. By contrast, hours after the Gaza Flotilla incident of 2010, Ms. Pillay expresed her “shock” and condemned Israel. The top story on her office website instead criticizes Western states for how they combat terrorism, with America accused of having “dangerous” laws that violate due process. Supported by a Facebook campaign now going viral, UN Watch called on the High Commissioner to speak out for victims of terrorism, condemn today’s gruesome murders in Bulgaria, and instruct her staff to investigate the perpetrators and hold them fully accountable for the crimes.
• The U.N.’s 47-nation Human Rights Council has also stayed silent. By contrast, in 2004 it wasted no time in convening an emergency session to eulogize Hamas terrorist leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and to condemn Israel. Currently, the council is busy with yet another “fact-finding mission” into alleged Israeli human rights violations. The council has never mandated an inquiry into terrorism or rocket attacks targeting Israelis.
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