On October 29, 2024, responding to a request from Algeria, Russia and Iran, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held an emergency session, to discuss the Israeli response to the Iranian attack on Israel. During the session, the UNSC again fell foul to the anti-Israel propaganda.
While the UNSC was quick to answer the call to provide a platform to again attack Israel, an examination of the record of the UNSC resolutions adopted since the October 7 massacre, shows that in breach of its ostensibly lofty goals, the UNSC has failed to show even the most basic moral clarity.
For over a year, since the October 7 ,2023, massacre, Israel has been under attack from seven different fronts. Genocidal terrorists and a terror-sponsoring rogue state, who openly declare their goal to destroy Israel have all participated in the attacks on Israel. Despite having had multiple discussions on the “situation in the Middle East,” the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has consistently failed to show any moral leadership. Seemingly powerless in the face of the aggression of the Ayatollahs from Tehran and their terror proxies, the UNSC has been entirely neutralized.
The failure is so great, that the UNSC has not even been able to muster an unequivocal condemnation of the Palestinian terrorist murderers – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the liberation of Palestine, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and others – who carried out the massacre, let alone promote their designation as UN recognized terror organizations. The UNSC has similarly been unable to muster a clear condemnation of Hezbollah, an internationally designated terror organization, for its aggression against Israel. So too, the UNSC has been incapable of condemning Iran for launching, on two separate occasions, over 500 explosive projectiles, including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and UAV’s, towards Israel.
In contrast to its refusal to condemn the terrorists and the Ayatollahs for attacking Israel, when it wanted to act, the UNSC knew how to respond.
The message being bull horned around the globe by the UNSC is that the massacre of Jews and the continued threat posed to the only Jewish state simply do not interest the UNSC.
Instead of aspiring to live up to the foremost goal of the UN,[1] “To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace,” the UNSC is cowering in the face of fanatical terrorism.
While the UNSC has had ample time to demonstrate moral leadership, it chose instead to ignore, excuse and UN-wash the actions of genocidal terrorists and the Ayatollahs. Instead of promoting peace, the actions of the terrorists and the Ayatollahs, combined with the abject failure of the UNSC, have now brought the entire middle east to the brink of the abyss.
Since the October 7 massacre and the ensuing war with the terrorists in the Gaza Strip, the war in Lebanon initiated by Hezbollah, the attacks launched by the Houtis from Yemen, and the Iranian missile barrage, the UNSC has adopted a number of resolutions regarding the middle east.[2] None of these resolutions condemned the genocidal terrorists or Iran.
UNSCR 2707 (2023)[3]
The first UNSC resolution regarding the middle east was adopted on November 14, 2023, over a month after the October 7 massacre. At the time, the war in Gaza raged on and hundreds of hostages taken by the genocidal Gazan terrorists during the massacre languished in Gazan dungeons, and while the Iranian proxies, Hezbollah and the Houtis, were actively engaged in attacking Israel.
Shockingly, the resolution made no mention of Hamas, no mention of the other Gazan terrorist organizations, no mention of the October 7 massacre, no mention of the hostages and no mention of the attack on Israel by Hezbollah.
Rather, acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the resolution reaffirmed the UNSC’s “strong commitment to the unity, sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Yemen” and determined that “the situation in Yemen continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security.”
UNSCR 2712 (2023)[4]
UNSC resolution 2712 regarding “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” was adopted the next day, on November 15, 2023.
As if written and adopted in a vacuum devoid of any context, the resolution merely referred to the “armed conflict” underway and made a number of general statements. The resolution did not mention the October 7 massacre and did not condemn Hamas or the other Gazan terrorist organizations for their heinous acts. The resolution was similarly devoid of any mention of Hezbollah, the Houtis, or any of their attacks on Israel.
Rather the resolution adopted the all-too-familiar approach of ignoring the Palestinian and Iranian-backed terror, while trying to shackle the arms of Israel.
The only reference the resolution made to the real situation, was the mealy-mouthed call to the genocidal terrorists, as if they cared a damn about the resolutions of the UNSC, “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups, especially children, as well as ensuring immediate humanitarian access.”
While substantial attention was paid to the situation in the Gaza Strip, no mention was made of the over 140,000[5] Israelis who had been forced to abandon their homes, or what was left of them, due to the terror of the Gazan and Hezbollah terrorists.
By comparison, when the UNSC truly wanted to denounce terror, it certainly knew how to do so. Just a month earlier, on September 15, 2023, the UNSC adopted resolution 2697 (2023).[6] In that resolution the UNSC made clear that “that ISIL/Da’esh constitutes a global threat to international peace and security through its terrorist acts, its violent extremist ideology, its continued gross, systematic and widespread attacks directed against civilians, its violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of human rights, particularly those committed against women and children…” The UNSC further condemned “the commission of acts by ISIL/Da’esh involving murder, kidnapping, hostage-taking,…”
UNSC resolution 2716,[7] adopted on December 21, 2023, and titled on the UNSC website as “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts,” was similarly lacking. Instead of addressing the Palestinian terrorists and the Iran-back terror proxies, Hezbollah and the Houtis, the resolution dealt solely with Afghanistan, never mentioning the threat to international security posed by the Gazan terrorists or the Iranian proxy war against Israel.
Once again, the UNSC proved that when it truly sought to address the root causes of terror and its horrors, it certainly had the ability to do so.
UNSC resolution 2718,[8] adopted on the same day, also ignored the actions of the Palestinian terrorists and the Iran-back terror proxies, Hezbollah and the Houtis. Rather, it focused on the activities of United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), another one of a plethora of UN organizations that fails to acknowledge reality.
According to its website, UNDOF was established in 1974, after “war erupted in the Middle East between Egyptian and Israeli forces in the Suez Canal area and the Sinai, and between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.”[9] Shamefully, undermining its basic mandate, UNDOF is even incapable of clearly stating that it was the Egyptians and the Syrians who, on October 6, 1973, launched the war in the hope of annihilating Israel. Apparently, the inability of the UN and its organizations to clearly identify the true aggressors is nothing new, but rather a longstanding pattern of failure.
Having said that, UNSC resolution 2718 again demonstrated the UNSC’s ability to clearly identify terrorists and adopt measures to combat them. Thus for example, one provision of the resolution provides that UNSC reaffirmed “its readiness to consider listing individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities providing support to ISIL (Da’esh) or to the Al-Nusra Front (also known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham or Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham), including those who are financing, arming, planning, or recruiting for ISIL (Da’esh) or the Al-Nusra Front and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida as listed on the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List, including those participating in or otherwise supporting attacks against UNDOF peacekeepers.”
Needless to say, to this day, the UNSC has expressed no such commitment to sanction members of the genocidal Gazan terror organizations or those who support, fund and arm them. Clearly, in the so-called global battle against terror, in the eyes of the UNSC, terrorists who murder, rape, torture and kidnap Jews are not worthy of being sanctioned.
UNSCR 2720[10]
UNSC resolution 2720 was adopted on December 22, 2023, and directly addressed the war. However, following what had already become the UNSC’s clear course of action, the resolution again failed to mention the October 7 massacre, the genocidal Gazan terrorists, or the Iranian terror proxies. Most of the resolution was devoted to the alleged hardships of the Gazans.
Most noticeable, was the maliciously misleading language of the resolution used to make demands of “all parties to the conflict.” Failing again to identify the true aggressors, the UNSC chose to adopt language that placed democratic, law-abiding Israel, on the same footing as the genocidal terrorists. While appearing even-handed, the UNSC knows that the Gazan terrorists have no basic respect for human life, let alone UNSC resolutions. Thus, in the attempt to appear neutral, in reality the UNSC was not only ignoring the actions of the genocidal terrorists, but also, simultaneously castigating and making demands solely of Israel.
The only reference the resolution made to the actions of the genocidal terrorists was to repeat the mealy-mouthed call for the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address medical needs of all hostages.”
As if the genocidal Gazan terrorists had not just committed a massacre in an attempt to annihilate Israel, the resolution continued delusionally by reiterating the UNSC’s “unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-State solution where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace.”
Seemingly oblivious to the situation on the ground, the resolution then stressed “the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.” Were the members of the UNSC unaware of the fact that as a result of internal Palestinian politics, the Palestinian Authority (PA) had not had any governance role in Gaza since 2007? Were they unaware that when given the chance, the Palestinian people elected the genocidal terrorists from Hamas to head the PA?
When combined, the true meaning of the UNSC commitment to establish a Palestinian state that would be governed by the PA, is nothing more than a call to reward the genocidal terrorists from Hamas for raping, murdering, torturing and beheading 1,200 people and kidnapping over 250 others.
Resolution 2722,[11] adopted on January 10, 2024, gave the UNSC another opportunity to address the attacks on Israel. Focusing on the activities of the Houti terrorists in Yemen, the resolution addressed at length the terror organization’s attacks on “merchant and commercial vessels transiting the Baab al-Mandab” and emphasized the resulting “increased cost of transportation of essential goods will have a negative impact on the economic and humanitarian situation worldwide.”
While commerce and freedom of navigation were clearly of great importance, the UNSC failed to make any mention of the Houti attacks on Israel.
UNSCR 2728[12]
Adopted on March 25, 2024, resolution 2728 again directly addressed the war between Israel and the genocidal terrorists. Following in its already established tradition, the resolution ignored the October 7 massacre and the attacks on Israel by Hezbollah and the Houtis.
Instead of addressing the true aggressors, the resolution called on Israel to unconditionally surrender to the terrorists, by implementing “an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.”
Knowing that their calls would fall on the deaf ears of the genocidal terrorists, the UNSC again tried to feign concern by demanding “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs.”
On the morning of April 13, 2024, the homicidal Ayatollahs in Iran fired over 330 explosive projectiles – ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and UAV’s – at Israel. Despite the blatant breach of international law, the UNSC again failed to pass any resolution condemning the Ayatollahs.
On June 10, 2024, the UNSC adopted two resolutions – UNSCR 2734 and UNSCR 2735. While both resolutions theoretically addressed the threats of terrorism and the international response required, they were divided by an abyss.
Resolution 2734,[13] titled on the UNSC website[14] as a resolution on “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts,” spanned 30 pages and included over 100 paragraphs. The resolution opened by restating the fundamental truth that “terrorism in all forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to peace and security and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivations, whenever, wherever, and by whomsoever committed.” The resolution added “that terrorism poses a threat to international peace and security and that countering this threat requires collective efforts on national, regional, and international levels on the basis of respect for international law and the Charter of the United Nations.” The resolution continued by detailing a list of steps – including, inter alia, financial steps, trade embargoes, designation of terrorists, international cooperation etc. – that should be adopted and implemented on both the national and international level to deal effectively with the threat posed by terrorism.
While talking in universal terms about the global threat of terrorism, shamefully, the resolution focused solely on ISIL and Al-Qaida and made no reference whatsoever to any of the Palestinian terrorist organizations dedicated to murdering Jews and destroying Israel – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and many others. The resolution similarly excluded any reference to Hezbollah or the Houtis.
UNSCR 2735[15]
In contrast to the unwavering condemnation of terror contained in UNSCR 2734, UNSCR 2735 focused on the response to the genocidal terror of the Gazan terrorists. Instead of proscribing a detailed and agreed international framework for combatting the Gazan terrorists, all the resolution did was present a plan for the implementation of a ceasefire.
The plan itself was fundamentally flawed and reflected another major moral regression of the UNSC.
While the previous UNSC resolutions had at least paid mealy-mouthed lip-service to the unconditional release of all the hostages held by the genocidal terrorists, suddenly UNSCR 2735 merely included a call for the release of the hostages as part of Israels multi-stage surrender to the terrorists. According to the resolution, Israel was not only required to stop fighting the terrorists and withdraw from the Gaza Strip, but it would also be required to agree to the “the exchange of Palestinian prisoners” – a synonym for releasing thousands of convicted terrorist murderers – and to implement a “major multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza.”
Having metaphorically, but practically presented Israel’s head on a platter to the genocidal terrorists, by including in the resolution Israel’s agreement to its terms, the UNSC then called “upon Hamas to also accept it.”
History shows that the genocidal terrorists rejected the UNSC resolution.
While the website of the UNSC gave resolution 2737,[16] adopted on June 27, 2024, the title of “The situation in the Middle East,” it solely addressed the continued functioning of UNDOF, without mentioning any aspect of the attacks on Israel.
Similarly, while UNSCR 2739[17] and UNSCR 2742[18] focused on the terrorism of the Houtis and Yemen, they made no mention of the Houti terror directed against Israel and its civilians.
UNSCR 2749[19]
Adopted on August 28, 2024, UNSCR 2749 addressed, for the first time, the war between Israel and Lebanon. Continuing its moral failing and inability to objectively recognize the terrorist actions of Hezbollah, as the cause for the war, the resolution ignored the fact that the terrorist organization had launched thousands of rockets, UAV’s and anti-tank missiles into Israel, indiscriminately targeting Israel’s civilian population.
Alongside its failure to recognize the terrorist aggression, the resolution similarly failed to recognize Israel’s right to self-defence. Instead, the resolution reaffirmed the UNSC “commitment to the full implementation of all provisions of resolution 1701.”
UNSCR 1701[20] was adopted in 2006 following the Second Lebanon War. Similar to the current conflict, the Second Lebanon War started after Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel from Gaza in June 2006, killed a number of Israeli soldiers and kidnapped another, taking him into Gaza. Two weeks later, as Israel was conducting a military operation in Gaza to secure the release of the soldier, Hezbollah decided to come to the assistance of its genocidal Gazan friends. On the instruction of the organizations Secretary-General, on July 12, 2006, Hezbollah terrorists infiltrated Israel, attacked an IDF patrol, and then proceeded to take hostage the bodies of two of the murdered soldiers.
Adopted on August 11, 2006, UNSCR 1701 called for the removal of the Hezbollah terrorists from southern Lebanon, the deployment of the Lebanese army in that area, and for measures to be adopted to prevent the Iranian terror regime from re-arming its terror proxy.
The only provision of the resolution that was ever implemented was the requirement that Israel withdraws all its forces from Lebanon. The rest of the resolution was never implemented. Hezbollah never retreated from southern Lebanon and despite receiving substantial US aid, the Lebanese army never deployed in the south. While Hezbollah finished the Second Lebanon War with between 13,000-15,000 rockets of limited range, by October 8, 2024, when Hezbollah again came to the assistance of Hamas, its arsenal had grown ten-fold to over 150,000 warheads. The new weaponry was also technologically developed and included not only short-range rockets, but also long-range GPS-guided precision missiles[21] and an array of UAVs.[22]
To complete the disgrace of the Security Council, UNSCR 2749 reiterated its “its strong support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon,” but made no similar recognition of Israel’s right to territorial integrity or sovereignty.
Understanding the complete impotence of the UNSC, on October 1, 2024, the Ayatollahs in Iran launched another massive attack on Israel, firing over 180 ballistic missiles.
Despite the blatant Iranian aggression, the UNSC again shamefully failed to adopt any resolution.
The October 7 Massacre
On the morning of October 7, 2023, more than 3,000 terrorists from Gaza, including members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, all internationally designated terror organizations, together with others, invaded Israel and conducted a heinous massacre. The terrorists flooded more than 30 Israeli towns, villages, kibbutzim, and a number of military installations.
Men, women, the elderly, sick people, children, and babies were murdered. Some were shot, others were raped.[23] Some were beheaded, many were tortured, others were burned alive. Approximately 1,200 people were murdered. Among those murdered were 822 civilians,[24] including 531 men and 291 women; 40 were children under the age of 18; 68 were foreign nationals; 18 Bedouin citizens of Israel were murdered, 11 of them on October 7 and seven more due to rocket strikes; 61 police officers were killed, of whom, 58 fell in combat during the October 7 massacre, including 15 who fell during the attack on the Nova Music Festival, during which 379 people were murdered; 10 personnel of the Israel Security Agency were murdered; and 5 firefighters were murdered.
All that remained of some victims were their teeth, requiring the assistance of archaeologists to identify them[25]. An additional 6,900 people were wounded to different degrees.
Over two hundred and fifty hostages, most of them alive but also some dead bodies,[26] were snatched by the terrorists to be used as leverage against Israel. While some of the hostages were released in a deal with the genocidal terrorists, and others were rescued in daring IDF operations,[27] as of October 30, 2024, 101 hostages continue to be held by the genocidal terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The October 7 attack was carried out under cover of a barrage of more than 3,000 rockets and mortars fired by the terrorists, indiscriminately targeting Israel’s civilian population.[28]
The way forward
If the UNSC seeks to maintain even a modicum of respectability, let alone legitimacy, it must be willing to clearly identify and sanction the true aggressors. In stark contradiction of the dominant discussions in the UNSC, the source of violence and terror, and the sole culprit for undermining the security of the middle east is Iran, not Israel.
For over a year, Iran and its multiple terror proxies have been engaged in thousands of attacks on Israel and its citizens. From the October 7 massacre carried out by the Gazan terrorists, through the war on Israel launched by Hezbollah, the attacks of the Houtis and the direct ballistic missile attacks, Iran and its axis of evil, have been doing their utmost to attack Israel, murder Jews, and torpedo the expansion of Abraham Peace Accords.
Similar to the United Nations General Assembly, the UNSC has lost its moral compass. Instead of clearly identifying the Iranian aggressor and its terror proxies, the UNSC is kowtowing to the belligerency of the Ayatollahs.
The failure to adopt a clear resolution condemning the October 7 massacre, and to sanction Iran and its terror proxies will forever remain a stain on the UNSC.
If the UNSC does not change direction and show the moral clarity and leadership needed, it risks losing whatever minimal standing it still enjoys.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the movement
[1] Article 1, para. 1 of the UN Charter
[2] See: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/resolutions
[3] n2335249.pdf (un.org)
[4] https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n23/359/02/pdf/n2335902.pdf
[5] https://fs.knesset.gov.il/globaldocs/MMM/bb4ad946-3c2d-ef11-815f-005056aac6c3/2_bb4ad946-3c2d-ef11-815f-005056aac6c3_11_20597.pdf
[6] https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n23/269/50/pdf/n2326950.pdf
[7] https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n23/407/49/pdf/n2340749.pdf
[8] https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n23/415/70/pdf/n2341570.pdf
[9] https://undof.unmissions.org/background
[10] n2342487.pdf (un.org)
[11] n2400928.pdf (un.org)
[12] n2408081.pdf (un.org)
[13] n2416483.pdf (un.org)
[14] Resolutions adopted by the Security Council in 2024 | Security Council
[15] n2416511.pdf (un.org)
[16] n2418731.pdf (un.org)
[17] n2418724.pdf (un.org)
[18] n2419892.pdf (un.org)
[19] n2425089.pdf (un.org)
[20] Etpu (un.org)
[21] https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/hezbollah-and-lebanon-an-in-depth-examination-under-hassan-nasrallah-s-leadership/hezbollah-s-precision-guided-missile-project/
[22] https://israel-alma.org/2023/12/17/hezbollah-its-origin-growth-and-capability/
[23] In the course of the massacre, the terrorists specifically used sexual violence against the victims – https://palwatch.org/page/35268; https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/report/mission-report-official-visit-of-the-office-of-the-srsg-svc-to-israel-and-the-occupied-west-bank-29-january-14-february-2024/20240304-Israel-oWB-CRSV-report.pdf
[24] https://www.gov.il/en/pages/swords-of-iron-war-in-the-south-7-oct-2023
[25] https://www.timesofisrael.com/archaeologists-sift-through-devastation-to-help-families-of-oct-7-victims-gain-closure/
[26] The body of at least one victim was taken by an UNRWA employee – https://www.timesofisrael.com/mother-whose-sons-body-was-seized-by-unrwa-staff-calls-on-un-head-to-meet-in-geneva/
[27] https://www.gov.il/en/pages/hostages-and-missing-persons-report
[28] For more comprehensive details of the massacre, see (among others): https://govextra.gov.il/mda/october-7/october-7/what-happened-on-the-7th-of-october/; https://www.hamas-massacre.net/; https://oct7map.com/; https://www.october7.org/; https://t.me/hamasdid; https://www.memri.org/reports/special-announcement-%E2%80%93-hamas-atrocities-documentation-center-hadc; https://www.gov.il/en/pages/swords-of-iron-civilian-casualties; https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/hamas-israel-war-24/all-articles/what-happened-in-the-october-7th-massacre/
