Posted on 09/12/2004 6:14:23 PM PDT by kcar
Relatives of Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawaed convene press conference ahead of filing civil suit against UN. Charge kidppings couldn’t have succeeded without UN assistance and active involvement. Anat Shihor-Aharonson
The families of the three IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah have accused the United Nations of involvement in the abductions.
“Today we can say with certainty that the UN was actively involved in the kidnappings of our sons”, the families of Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawaed charged during a press conference they convened ahead of filing a civil suit against the UN in a US court, eight months after their bodies were returned to Israel for burial as part of the prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah.
The families’ representatives argued that from analyzing the chain of events that led to the abductions, it is clear that a high level of cooperation existed between UNIFIL personnel and the Hezbollah. Without this assistance, they claim, the kidnappers would not have been able to obtain UN license plates and uniforms, which they used during the ambush and kidnappings.
According to their statement, UNIFIL personnel were used as a diversion in order to draw the soldiers to the ambush point. It is also clear, they charge, that UN officers witnessed the abductions but did nothing in order to help the Israeli troops.
The families charge that several hours after the kidnappings, UN soldiers located two vehicles six kilometers from the ambush point. In one car, several items were found including UN license plates, while in the other car the UN staff discovered large blood stains.
In a highly unusual measure, as defined by the families, the UNIFIL staff, assisted by members of the UNTSO organization, took the items out of the cars, something that is strictly forbidden according to UN guidelines, took them to their base near Rosh Hanikra and eventually handed them over to the Hezbollah.
Several days after the kidnappings, senior UN officials came to understand the high degree of sensitivity in the matter and instructed their subordinates to shred all photos and reports of the incident.
According to Professor Shimon Sheetrit, who represents the families, the UN’s actions were illegal and contradict the entire structure on which the UN was established.
The families also plan to sue Hezbollah for kidnapping the soldiers, in addition to Syria, Lebanon and Iran for supporting the Lebanese terror organization. Since the October 2000 abductions, Israel and the families have expressed outrage over the UN’s inability to prevent the kidnappings.
In July 2001, it was revealed that UNIFIL soldiers filmed Hezbollah operatives as they were transferring the three IDF troops, about 18 hours after they were kidnapped, from a distance of barely 20 km from point of abduction.
In addition, it became evident that several UN soldiers knew that the Lebanese terror group intends to kidnap IDF soldiers from the area of the Shaba Farms and had even been paid off by the Hezbollah in order to turn a blind eye.
Israeli officials were also infuriated over the fact that the UN had hidden a tape that was filmed during the abduction and demanded of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to use that tape in order to help determine the fate of the soldiers. Only after a long struggle, the UN allowed Israeli officials to view the tape, but only four times.
During the Second World War, Americans gained a certain image of Britain, as well. We saw an island threatened on every side, a leader who did not waver, and a country of the firmest character.
And that has not changed.
The British people are the sort of partners you want when serious work needs doing. The men and women of this Kingdom are kind and steadfast and generous and brave. And America is fortunate to call this country our closest friend in the world.
Kcar,
The UN edicts are presently unenforcable. No one but Bush thinks the UN should either live up to its word or relegate themselves to irrelevancy.
By the way, all of my previous posts above are excerpts from Bush's Whitehall speech.
Im not this eloquent...
The terrorists have a purpose, a strategy to their cruelty. They view the rise of democracy in Iraq as a powerful threat to their ambitions. In this, they are correct.
They believe their acts of terror against our coalition, against international aid workers and against innocent Iraqis, will make us recoil and retreat. In this, they are mistaken. GWB-Whitehall speech
Gotta think the UN was just a convenient flag to drape himself with, while coalition-building for a cause justified by US-self defense and quite probably other fed-up countries. Using a trick his father used. But the UN well was in his regime already poisoned - the result of world socialists realizing the Soviet model was dead and flocking to an attention-deprived debating society. Oh yeah, and FRANCE. Time to jettison the whole thing - and set up a 21st century League of Free Nations. If the old apparutus pretends to still be worth a dime, ignore it.
Your questions are ones I have asked over and over again. I guess it's not politically correct for the mainstream media to report on this or (heaven forbid!) as such questions.
The UN is the most corrupt organization on earth. Kofi (Famous Anus) Anan should be locked up.
I agree with you about the Whitehall speech. It was amazing.
Now we see why the Israelis would not agree to any UN peacekeeping troops instead of the security wall. Such a formation in practice would have been a one-way membrane that would let terrorists in, but stopped the IDF from pursuing them.
Remember what happened in the Balkans in the early '90s.
Also remember that the UN has condemned the Jewish State far more than any other nation -- all this during the Gulag, the Cultural Revolution, the Killing Fields, etc.
bump
I would like to see us drop the U.N. like a hot potato. You are right, maybe we shouldn't worry too much about it's ability to function without us.
What a corrupt bunch of garbage inhabits that building.
Sadly, there is nothing surprising in this story.
No more UN for US-list
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
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