UN Blames Israel for Committing Violations Against Palestinian Children

The world’s leading human rights offenders gathered at the UN and charged the Jewish State with violating the rights of Palestinian children. As usual, facts and reality were of no consequence to the discussion.  

The United Nations (UN) has again charged Israel with misconduct, this time alleging that the Jewish state is committing violations against Palestinian children.

The charges were leveled on Tuesday during a special Security Council (UNSC) meeting dedicated to “Children in Armed Conflict.”

Venezuela’s envoy to the UN, Rafael Ramirez, charged that Israel “denies Palestinian children their status as minors, and subjects them to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

“We note with shame that while some countries call for accountability for violations against children in armed conflicts, when it comes to violations committed against Palestinian children by Israel, they remain silent,” Ramirez said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

In May, Ramirez suggested that Israel was working to implement a “Final Solution” against the Palestinians. He later partially retracted his anti-Semitic remarks.

Iran, which has repeatedly been cited and sanctioned for multiple human rights violations, stated that the international community should “bring an end to Israeli impunity” when it comes to “restricting the rights of Palestinian children.”

Saudi Arabia, another leading violator of human rights and a country that has been blamed by the UN for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in the Yemen conflict last year, joined the criticism.

Israel’s Mission to the UN responded by pointing out that during the past 10 months of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis, which have claimed the lives of 39 victims and wounded some 500, 47 of the attacks were carried out by Palestinian youth.

The Mission’s legal adviser, Amit Heumann, who represented Israel during the session, noted the importance of both tackling Palestinian exploitation of children as well as protecting Israeli children living in fear of terrorism.

He recalled the case of Hallel Yaffa Ariel, the 13-year-old Israeli girl killed by a 17-year-old Palestinian terrorist who broke into her bedroom in June.

“Children killing children. This is the direct result of the venomous hatred preached to children in Palestinian society,” Heumann stated. “For the sake of peace, for the sake of the children on both sides, the international community must send a clear message to the Palestinian leadership.”

“Children are our most precious gift,” he added. “They deserve to grow up in a society which fosters a vision of hope, and promotes an education that preaches peace instead of hate, tolerance instead of violence and mutual understanding instead of martyrdom.”

He turned the UNSC’s attention to Lebanon and Gaza, where children are used as human shields by Hezbollah and are trained as terrorists by Hamas. “Instead of learning how to swim or play soccer, the children of Gaza are taught how to assemble automatic weapons and operate shoulder-fired missiles.”

“It is the responsibility of leaders everywhere to protect children at all costs, to protect them from the ravages of war and to shelter them in a protective environment, where children can thrive,” Heumann said. “Unfortunately, the Palestinians are failing at this most critical responsibility. Instead of nourishing their youth with the dreams of a bright future, Palestinian children are fed a steady diet of hatred for Israel and glorification of violence in the lessons they learn in school, in the sermons they hear in the mosque, and in the streets that are named after terrorists.”

By: Max Gelber, United with Israel