Israel being blamed for UN’s failure to get UN observers out of the line of fire

Isn’t this just typical? World leaders and other talking heads are crawling out of the woodwork to slam Israel for repeated aerial and artillary attacks near or on a UN post in southern Lebanon. As I noted in an earlier post this week, UN Sec. General Kofi Annan accused Israel of deliberately targeting the post, as if to suggest that it was UN workers themselves who were being targeted. They were not. Israel was targeting nearby Hezbollah terrorists who were using the UN post and surrounding areas as a cover of sorts. Via the UK Independent:

Jan Egeland, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator, said “We did repeatedly in recent days say to Israel that this was an exposed position, that Hizbollah militants were 500m away shielding themselves near UN workers and civilians. That’s why it is so inexplicable that what happened happened.”

The question is: why, in the middle of a war zone, and knowing that Hezbollah was using UN workers as shields, did UN observers stay behind rather than get out of harms way?

The answer: They were required to stay there unless given the order by the UN Sec. General to leave.

It’s unfortunate the four UN workers were killed, and my sympathies go to their families. However, this UN post was being used as a cover for Hezbollah terrorists, and Israel targeted it accordingly. When civilians are in a war zone, they are strongly encouraged to evacuate. Those at the UN post were unarmed civilians who should have been ordered to leave by the Sec. General because it was too dangerous for them to stay. They weren’t told to leave, and we’re seeing the consequences of yet another failure in leadership on the part of Kofi Annan. So when the smoke clears (no pun intended) the blame shouldn’t be put on Israel for defending itself. It should be put on Kofi Annan, for failing to allow these UN observers to leave in order to find safer ground.

Annan is merely using the incident with the UN observers at the post as another excuse to cover for his own incompetency, as well as to aid in heaping more world scorn on Israel, a country the UN clearly despises (more on that here). And the world is falling right in line with the Sec. General because of how he is deliberately trying to frame the issue.

Shame on you, Mr. Annan. If nothing else has blatantly exposed the UN as anti-Israel to this point, maybe your bogus accusations finally will.

PM Update: Annan’s Claims On Casualties May Unravel:

UNITED NATIONS — An apparent discrepancy in the portrayal of events surrounding the deaths of four unarmed U.N. observers in Lebanon threatens to unravel Secretary-General Annan’s initial accusation that Israel “deliberately” targeted the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

A Canadian U.N. observer, one of four killed at a UNIFIL position near the southern Lebanese town of Khiyam on Tuesday, sent an e-mail to his former commander, a Canadian retired major-general, Lewis MacKenzie, in which he wrote that Hezbollah fighters were “all over” the U.N. position, Mr. MacKenzie said. Hezbollah troops, not the United Nations, were Israel’s target, the deceased observer wrote.

PM Update II: Little Green Footballs has the details on at least two instances of Hezbollah firing on UNIFIL. One UNIFIL worker was badly injured and treated – at an Israeli hospital. Where’s the outrage, Kofi?

Read more via Captain Ed, Flopping Aces, Atlas Shrugs, Jeff Goldstein, Blog For All, All Things Beautiful, Macsmind

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Memeorandum has the latest on the conflict in the Middle East.

Prior:

• He’s not right very often, but when he is …
• Kerry echoes Dean talking point on Israel/Lebanon conflict: This wouldn’t have happened had he been president
• Showing gratitude to our troops for helping evacuate US citizens in Lebanon
• Question of the day
• Bush makes crystal clear where he stands on the issue of Israel versus Hezbollah
• It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s SuperDem!
• Larry “small wonder Rove’s mother killed herself” Johnson doesn’t think Hezbollah is a terrorist organization
• More on the Israel/Lebanon conflict
• The latest developments in the Israel vs. Lebanon conflict
• Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers, kills at least seven other Israelis – Israel says it’s an act of war