Trump must enjoin UN to condemn Hezbollah, UNIFIL and Hamas

[Published 24 December 2018]

President Trump should urgently enjoin the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to condemn Hezbollah (aka Hizballah) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) following Israel’s discovery of four tunnels dug from Lebanon into Israel.

Trump signed the Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act (“HR 3342”) into law on 21 December demanding sanctions against Hamas and Hizballah personnel — foreign terrorist organizations proscribed under 8 U.S.C. 1189.

Trump is probably still smarting from the humiliating defeat - by the narrow margin of 9 votes - of the American-sponsored UNGA Resolution condemning Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza for:

1. repeatedly firing rockets into Israel

2. using airborne incendiary devices

3. constructing military infrastructure, including tunnels to infiltrate Israel and equipment to launch rockets into civilian areas

Resubmitting the Resolution to the UNGA would determine whether those countries that voted:

(i) against the Resolution (57),

(ii) abstained (33) or

(iii) did not vote (16)

will be prepared to change their morally-reprehensible decisions.

Hezbollah and UNIFIL must be made accountable for creating the current dangerous threat to peace and security on the Israel-Lebanese border in flagrant breach of international law and international humanitarian law.

HR 3342 was unanimously adopted on 11 December following Congress finding:

1. Human shields are civilians, prisoners of war, and other non-combatants whose presence is designed to protect combatants and military objects from attack, and the use of human shields violates international law.

2. Throughout the 2006 conflict with the State of Israel, Hizballah forces utilized human shields to protect themselves from counterattacks by Israeli forces, including storing weapons inside civilian homes and firing rockets from inside populated civilian areas.

3. Hizballah has rearmed to include an arsenal of over 150,000 missiles, and other destabilizing weapons provided by the Syrian and Iranian governments, which are concealed in Shiite villages in southern Lebanon, often beneath civilian infrastructure.

4. Hizballah is legally required to disarm under both United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006) and the Taif Agreement (1989).

5. Hizballah maintains an armed military force within Lebanon’s sovereign territory in direct violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), thus preventing Lebanon from exerting its lawful control over its internationally recognized borders.

UNIFIL has been clearly negligent — if not actually complicit - in allowing this simmering crisis to reach its boiling point.

UNIFIL has admitted:

“Based on UNIFIL’s independent assessment, UNIFIL has so far confirmed the existence of all the four tunnels close to the Blue Line in northern Israel.

After further technical investigations conducted independently in accordance with its mandate, UNIFIL at this stage can confirm that two of the tunnels cross the Blue Line. These constitute violations of UN Security Council resolution 1701.”

UN Security Council Resolution 1701 mandated UNIFIL to:

1. Assist the Lebanese armed forces in taking steps towards the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL deployed in this area.

2. Assist the Government of Lebanon, at its request, in securing its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of arms or related material.

Hizballah’s occupation of Lebanese sovereign territory and its build-up of 150000 weapons of mass destruction have incontrovertibly imperiled the civilian populations of both Israel and Lebanon.

UNIFIL’s failure to carry out its mandate calls for a special UN investigation.

Hamas must be expelled from Lebanon and those 150,000 missiles neutralized to prevent a Jewish-Arab humanitarian crisis of massive proportions.

United Nations member-States must stand up and be counted.

Author’s note:The cartoon—commissioned exclusively for this article‚is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators ‚ whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

UN hit list can bypass Congress and fund Trump border wall

[Published 19 December 2018]

21 Nations that received almost $14 billion in US foreign aid in 2017 could become the key to unlocking the White House confrontation between President Trump and Democrat leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer over their refusal to commit the Democrats to authorizing Congress to commit $5 billion immediately towards the construction of Trump’s border wall to prevent illegal immigration into America.

Trump’s threatened Government shutdown by 21 December seems increasingly likely as he seeks alternative sources of funding.

The following UN hit list of countries receiving US aid in 2017 offers a ready solution:

Bangladesh $261 million
Congo $494 million
Egypt $ 1475 million
Indonesia $277 million
Iraq $ 3712 million
Jordan $ 1489 million
Lebanon $505 million
Mali $230 million
Morocco $490 million
Mozambique $580 million
Niger $173 million
Nigeria $852 million
Pakistan $837 million
Russia $168 million
Senegal $197 million
South Africa $511 million
Turkey $153 million
Vietnam $150 million
Yemen $595 million
Zambia $419 million
Zimbabwe $194 million
TOTAL $13762 Million

These 21 states were major players in humiliating Trump - when an American sponsored resolution in the United Nations General Assembly seeking to condemn Hamas and other militant groups for indiscriminately targeting Israel’s predominantly Jewish civilian population since 2007 failed to secure the required two-third’s majority earlier determined as necessary for its passage.

Trump has warned on many occasions that those who receive money from America — yet do not support America diplomatically — stand to lose financially as a result.

Trump has already well and truly practised what he preached:

1. Defunding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) of $360 million annually

2.Withdrawing from UNESCO leaving it to fund the 22% of its budget lost as a result

3.Calling on NATO countries to meet their agreed share of the NATO budget

4.Cutting more than $200 million in funding the Palestine Liberation Organisation

Trump has already ominously warned those countries that humiliated him on the Hamas Resolution that they could be in the firing line for reductions in their annual foreign aid as a result of not voting with America.

This threat becomes increasingly more likely as the Democrats dig in their heels and refuse to give the President the $5 billion he needs to build the border wall — one of the President’s cardinal promises made in the 2016 election campaign that has been frustrated by the Democrats from the day Trump became President.

Trump should be readily able to determine how $5 billion of this $14 billion funding to these recalcitrant states can be redirected to building the border wall.

Trump can also look at defunding:

1. Another 54 recipients of US aid that supported a two-thirds majority vote being required on the Hamas resolution over America’s claim that a simple majority only was necessary and

2. An additional 36 similarly US-funded countries that voted against condemning Hamas on the actual motion

Jordan and Egypt — in addition to not voting with America — apparently continue to resist Trump’s efforts to replace the Palestine Liberation Organisation in negotiations with Israel on Trump’s peace proposals. Their aid could be substantially reduced by a clearly-piqued and very angered Trump.

The ball is now well and truly in the Democrats hands.

If the President does not secure the border wall funding from Congress — then those countries that humiliated Trump could well see their foreign aid in 2019 slashed from their 2017 levels.

Trump is determined to protect America against illegal immigration — and no one will be allowed to stand in his way of making America great again.

Author’s note:The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” — one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed atDrybonesblog

United Nations, Egypt and Jordan could scuttle Trump's peace plan.

[Published 12 December 2018]

President Trump’s long-awaited peace plan to end the Arab-Jewish conflict — slated for release by the end of January 2019 — could be indefinitely shelved.

This possibility has emerged following the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) failing to pass an American-sponsored resolution A/73/L.42 (“Resolution”) - condemning Hamas and other militant organisations in Gaza for indiscriminate attacks on Israel’s civilian population.

Protecting all civilian populations from the ravages of conflict and war was turned on its head when the Resolution failed to attract a two-thirds majority vote demanded by UN Arab-member states - rather than a simple majority argued for by America which was lost by a narrow margin of three votes.

The Resolution had sought to condemn Hamas — whose Covenant calls for the destruction of Israel - for the first time since Hamas was created in 1987.

The Resolution served as a barometer to measure whether 134 of the 193 UN members comprising the Group of 77 would be prepared to support one pro-Israel humanitarian resolution being passed to break the cycle of over 700 UNGA anti-Israel resolutions their voting bloc had always guaranteed. Only 35 possessed the moral integrity to break ranks and support the Resolution, 32 abstained and 15 did not vote.

Trump was publicly humiliated — and Hamas considerably boosted - when the Resolution only mustered 87 votes “for” to 57 “against” — 9 votes less than the 96 required for its successful carriage.

41 of the 57 dissenting votes were cast by Islamic States of whom only 6 — Azerbaijan, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Senegal and Turkey — maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. Solidarity with the Islamic bloc took precedence over humanitarian concerns to protect Israel’s civilian population under daily attack.

The other 16 dissenters were:

Belarus, Bolivia, Botswana, China, Congo, Cuba, Lao, Mauritius, Namibia, Nicaragua, Russia, South Africa, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela do not have diplomatic relations with Israel. America would have reasonably expected support for the Resolution from some of the remaining 13.

Egypt and Jordan were the two Arab states Trump would have probably been focusing on to replace the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in negotiations with Israel —after the PLO had made it clear on many occasions that it would not negotiate with Israel on Trump’s proposals under any circumstances.

Egypt and Jordan’s credentials as replacement negotiators were unique — being the last two Arab states to respectively occupy Gaza and Judea and Samaria (West Bank) between 1948 and 1967 — the specific territories that Trump’s plan will address and whose sovereignty still remains disputed between Arabs and Jews.

Egypt and Jordan’s dissenting votes are not what Trump would have anticipated from these two major recipients of America’s generous largesse. Their readiness to risk losing substantial foreign aid and American protection rather than assist Trump in getting his Resolution adopted is bad news for Trump. Without securing their prior agreement to negotiate with Israel — Trump’s plan seems destined to never see the light of day.

Other dissenting Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Oman also showed their preparedness to risk losing ongoing American support rather than white-ant the UN Islamic-voting bloc.

Trump’s United Nations ambassador — Nikki Haley — disclosed:

“The president called and he said, ‘Nikki what happened?’ And I told him, and he goes, ‘Who do we need to get upset at? Who do you want me to yell at? Who do we take their money away?’” “I’m not gonna tell you what I told him,” she added.

Trump’s revenge on those 57 dissenting states will be but a small consolation prize if his “deal of the century” is prematurely trashed in the White House shredder.

Author’s note:The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators— whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog