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The UN Endorsed Hamas’ Terror Tactics; Its Slippery Slope Is Now a Chasm
Delegates react to the results during the United Nations General Assembly vote on a draft resolution that would recognize the Palestinians as qualified to become a full UN member, in New York City, US, May 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Less than two miles away from the glitz and glamor of Broadway, there is another show taking place — theatre of the absurd.
When the United Nations General Assembly passed yet another “Palestine” resolution on May 10, 2024, it demonstrated that the immoral slippery slope that the UN has been on for years, is now a cliff. Common sense, logic, decency, and morality have fallen into the abyss.
Although the UN is nominally the global body in charge of peacemaking and conflict resolution, this anti-Israel resolution actually makes peace and reconciliation less likely than ever before.
Practically, the resolution itself was meaningless. It is designed to promote the recognition of a Palestinian state by upgrading the rights of the non-member observer “State of Palestine” in the United Nations — with an eventual goal of achieving full membership and statehood, something that can only be granted through a UN Security Council resolution.
However, that stunt was already tried on April 18, and was vetoed by the United States. In a dig at the US, the May 10 resolution expressed “deep regret and concern” that “one negative vote by a permanent member of the Security Council prevented the adoption of the draft resolution.”
The additional rights granted to the Palestinians are window dressing without any real substance. For example, the Palestinians will now be able to make statements and submit proposals on behalf of a group at the General Assembly, and the “State of Palestine” can now be seated among member states in alphabetical order.
But for all the self-congratulatory backslapping about another lopsided resolution being passed, the Palestinians still remain observers without the right to vote or be appointed to any major UN body, including the Security Council, UNESCO or the Human Rights Council.
Yet, despite the ineffectiveness of this resolution, its intent was clearly to internationalize the conflict and place further pressure on Israel to accept a Palestinian state, bypassing both negotiations and any obligation on the Palestinians to agree to live in peace alongside Israel.
This has long been the goal of the Palestinian leadership, who have rejected every peace deal or offer ever made to them since even before 1947, often resorting to violence and terror in response.
Unfortunately, 143 countries chose to uphold that rejectionist approach, while only 9 countries showed moral fortitude by rejecting it; a further 25 others abstained.
Among the countries supporting this farce were liberal democracies like New Zealand and Australia which, rather than taking a constructive approach to actually encourage peacemaking and negotiations, decided to throw in their lot with dictatorships like China, Russia, and Iran instead.
They naively argued that supporting the resolution will lead to momentum for their desired goal of a two-state-solution. Yet sadly, in doing so, intentionally or not, they endorsed rewarding terror with concessions. If the brutal actions of October 7 were to act as the catalyst leading to the creation of a non-negotiated Palestinian state, this will only encourage more terror and violence — not just in Israel, but around the world.
The message of October 7, apparently, is that terrorism works.
The UN took the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust — and Israel’s war of survival that was launched in defense — and used this as an excuse to call for a Palestinian state.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), whose UN ambassador referred to Hamas as his brothers, has not condemned, even once, what happened on October 7 as a terror attack. Yet the PA is now reaping the benefits of the terror war that Hamas unleashed.
Hamas, which utterly rejects any peaceful two-state-solution, also welcomed the resolution, calling it “an affirmation of the international rally around our people.”
Yet this supposed concern for the Palestinian “people” is pretty ironic considering Hamas uses them as human shields, and is responsible for the many thousands of Palestinian civilians killed since it deliberately launched its terror war.
The UN is supposed to promote global peace and security, but in reality, it is frequently a conduit for the interests and ideologies of the worst dictatorships and human rights violators.
Shamefully, but unsurprisingly, the UN has yet to condemn Hamas — and the Security Council only held its first meeting dedicated to Israeli hostages seven long months after they were stolen. More and more, the UN is cementing its position as the world’s useful idiot, providing legitimacy to causes that deserve no legitimacy at all.
Justin Amler is a Policy Analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
The post The UN Endorsed Hamas’ Terror Tactics; Its Slippery Slope Is Now a Chasm first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Says ‘Extremely Cautious’ on Success of Nuclear Talks with US
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Iran and the United States have agreed to continue nuclear talks next week, both sides said on Saturday, though Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi voiced “extreme cautious” about the success of the negotiations to resolve a decades-long standoff.
US President Donald Trump has signaled confidence in clinching a new pact with the Islamic Republic that would block Tehran’s path to a nuclear bomb.
Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held a third round of the talks in Muscat through Omani mediators for around six hours, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as constructive.
“The negotiations are extremely serious and technical… there are still differences, both on major issues and on details,” Araqchi told Iranian state TV.
“There is seriousness and determination on both sides… However, our optimism about success of the talks remains extremely cautious.”
A senior US administration official described the talks as positive and productive, adding that both sides agreed to meet again in Europe “soon.”
“There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” the official added.
Earlier Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi had said talks would continue next week, with another “high-level meeting” provisionally scheduled for May 3. Araqchi said Oman would announce the venue.
Ahead of the lead negotiators’ meeting, expert-level indirect talks took place in Muscat to design a framework for a potential nuclear deal.
“The presence of experts was beneficial … we will return to our capitals for further reviews to see how disagreements can be reduced,” Araqchi said.
An Iranian official, briefed about the talks, told Reuters earlier that the expert-level negotiations were “difficult, complicated and serious.”
The only aim of these talks, Araqchi said, was “to build confidence about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.”
Trump, in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday, said “I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran,” but he repeated a threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.
Shortly after Araqchi and Witkoff began their latest indirect talks on Saturday, Iranian state media reported a massive explosion at the country’s Shahid Rajaee port near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, killing at least four people and injuring hundreds.
MAXIMUM PRESSURE
While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades.
Trump, who has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
Since 2019, Iran has breached the pact’s nuclear curbs including “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week Iran would have to entirely stop enriching uranium under a deal, and import any enriched uranium it needed to fuel its sole functioning atomic energy plant, Bushehr.
Tehran is willing to negotiate some curbs on its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian officials, but ending its enrichment program or surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile are among “Iran’s red lines that could not be compromised” in the talks.
Moreover, European states have suggested to US negotiators that a comprehensive deal should include limits preventing Iran from acquiring or finalizing the capacity to put a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile, several European diplomats said.
Tehran insists its defense capabilities like its missile program are not negotiable.
An Iranian official with knowledge of the talks said on Friday that Tehran sees its missile program as a bigger obstacle in the talks.
The post Iran Says ‘Extremely Cautious’ on Success of Nuclear Talks with US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Palestinian Leader Abbas Names Likely Successor in Bid to Reassure World Powers
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named close confidant Hussein al-Sheikh as his deputy and likely successor on Saturday, the Palestine Liberation Organization said, a step widely seen as needed to assuage international doubts over Palestinian leadership.
Abbas, 89, has headed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) since the death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 but he had for years resisted internal reforms including the naming of a successor.
Sheikh, born in 1960, is a veteran of Fatah, the main PLO faction which was founded by Arafat and is now headed by Abbas. He is widely viewed as a pragmatist with very close ties to Israel.
He was named PLO vice president after the organization’s executive committee approved his nomination by Abbas, the PLO said in a statement.
Reform of the PA, which exercises limited autonomy in the West Bank, has been a priority for the United States and Gulf monarchies hoping the body can play a central role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Pressure to reform has intensified since the start of the war in Gaza, where the PLO’s main Palestinian rival Hamas has battled Israel for more than 18 months, leaving the tiny, crowded territory in ruins.
The United States has promoted the idea of a reformed PA governing in Gaza after the war. Gulf monarchies, which are seen as the most likely source of funding for reconstruction in Gaza after the war, also want major reforms of the body.
CALL FOR HAMAS TO DISARM
Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the destruction of Hamas but it has also ruled out giving the PA any role in government there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.
Hamas, which follows a militant Islamist ideology, has controlled Gaza since 2007 when it defeated the PA in a brief civil war after winning an election the previous year. It also has a large presence in the West Bank.
At a meeting of the PLO’s Central Council on Wednesday and Thursday that approved the position of vice president without naming an appointee, Abbas made his clearest ever call for Hamas to completely disarm and hand its weapons – and responsibility for governing in Gaza – to the PA.
Widespread corruption, lack of progress towards an independent state and increasing Israeli military incursions in the West Bank have undermined the PA’s popularity among many Palestinians.
The body has been controlled by Fatah since it was formed in the Oslo Accords with Israel in 1993 and it last held parliamentary elections in 2005.
Sheikh, who was imprisoned by Israel for his activities opposing the occupation during the period 1978-89, has worked as the PA’s main contact liaising with the Israeli government under Abbas and been his envoy on visits to world powers.
The post Palestinian Leader Abbas Names Likely Successor in Bid to Reassure World Powers first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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3rd Round of Nuclear Talks Between Iran, US Concludes in Oman
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – The third round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program has concluded on Saturday, US media reported.
The two sides are understood to have discussed the US lifting of sanctions on Iran, with focuses on technical and key topics including uranium enrichment.
On April 12, the US and Iran held indirect talks in Muscat, marking the first official negotiation between the two sides since the US unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The second round of indirect talks took place in Rome, Italy, on April 19.
All parties, including Oman, stated that the first two rounds of talks were friendly and constructive, but Iranian media pointed out that the first two rounds were mainly framework negotiations and had not yet touched upon the core issues of disagreement.
According to media reports, one of the key issues in the expert-level negotiations will be whether Washington will allow Iran to continue uranium enrichment within the framework of its nuclear program. In response, Araghchi made it clear that Iran’s right to uranium enrichment is non-negotiable.
The US, Israel and other Western actors including the United Nation’s nuclear agency reject Iranian claims that its uranium enrichment is strictly civilian in its goals.
The post 3rd Round of Nuclear Talks Between Iran, US Concludes in Oman first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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