UNIFIL failures another indictment of anti-Israel UN

Thank you, Ramesh Thakur, for an unambiguously clear, factual explanation of the current situation facing Israel (“UNIFIL safety lies with United Nations, not Israel”, 17/10).

It is beyond belief that all those UNIFIL soldiers were unaware of what was going on right under their noses. The UN has been a hotbed of anti-Israel activism for decades. The current secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, is just the latest head to blame the victim of terror instead of the actual perpetrators. Add that to his hysterical outbursts about climate change, and decent countries that care about their future should be reconsidering their costly membership of the risibly titled United Nations.

Helen Dyer, Ferndale, WA

Ramesh Thakur has good reason to observe that UN forces in Lebanon have minimal capacity to exercise a moderating role in the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

He builds on this unfortunate reality to argue for the legal and moral legitimacy of Israel’s incursion into southern Lebanon and the absence of any obligation for Israel “proactively to protect the peacekeepers”.

What is missing from his analysis is any recognition of the role Israel has played in sowing seeds of division and grievance in the region. From its inception as a nation, Israel has consistently refused to comply with the original UN resolution that endorsed a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

This has not been simply a matter of passive resistance but one of active subversion. Israel’s decades-long campaign of dispossession, dehumanisation and control of the Palestinian people has been carried out with impunity. Its current disregard for UN peacekeepers in Lebanon is all of a piece with its chronic contempt for the UN itself.

Tom Knowles, Parkville, Vic

The slaughter of 1200 Jewish citizens and taking of 250 hostages, 100 of whom remain in captivity in Gaza, by Hamas on October 7, 2023, confirm an indisputable truth. Ending the war in Gaza demands acceptance of the right of Jewish people to defend Israel.

Those repeated calls for Israel, in defending itself, to exercise restraint and agree to a ceasefire are at best naive, at worst dangerous; in the first instance, the IDF does not target non-combatants; in the latter, ceasefire would allow an enemy to regroup, rearm and to launch far deadlier strikes.

Israel needs to ignore calls that it not attack Iran’s nuclear assets, as doing so aids the capability of Iran to execute Iran’s stated mission of wiping Israel from the map; Israel needs to press its advantage, degrade and neutralise the economic, military and political capacity of Iran’s theocratic regime, of Hamas and Hezbollah.

Ending the war calls Palestinians to conclude – 77 years after the UN determined an independent Jewish state be established in Palestine – that the goal of expelling the Jews from Palestine is a lost cause. Indeed, determining for life, for the peaceful coexistence of Palestinians and Israelis in Palestine, is the wiser, worthier goal.

Robert Boone, Bomaderry, NSW

When two UN staff were injured in Lebanon last week, world leaders were quick to condemn Israel. As more facts emerge, a more nuanced appraisal becomes possible.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has two responsibilities. First, to ensure that Hezbollah withdraws north of the Litani River, 30km from the Israeli border.

Second, that Hezbollah should be disarmed. It has had nearly 20 years to achieve these objectives. It has failed. In the past 12 months, Hezbollah has fired 9000 rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon. Also it has built tunnels housing military equipment and supplies in preparation for an Al-Aqsa flood-style pogrom. One of these tunnels was directly under a UNIFIL compound on the Israeli border.

Hezbollah was using UN staff as human shields. UNIFIL declined Israel Defence Forces recommendations to move its staff to safety. It would not be told what to do by the Israelis. Now either UNIFIL is incompetent, or it is complicit. Either way, Greg Sheridan is correct when he argues that “UN ‘peacekeepers’ must pack their bags and leave southern Lebanon”.

Moreover, Australia should re-evaluate its unconditional support for the partisan UN and its agencies.

Peter Fenwick, East Melbourne, Vic