Who opposes children's rights? Does anyone want children to be harmed? Obviously, there is no such person. We all love children, we all want to take care of them and look after them, they are our future. But it turns out not all of us. Israel doesn't like children. It harms them, kills them in the hundreds and thousands, and does not care at all for their safety and well-being.
That, at least, is what anyone who follows UNICEF, the UN body that cares for children, will think. More than 20 press releases have been issued by the organization since the beginning of the war. Nine of them deal exclusively with the situation of Palestinian children in Gaza, and the rest speak of "concern for the welfare of children in Israel and Palestine" – without even mentioning that Israeli children were kidnapped.
The November 5 announcement is particularly impressive. It lists the damage caused to Israel in the greatest detail of all the other announcements, but clarifies that this does not justify the IDF attacks, which are a "scandal." The November 14 announcement calling on all sides to release "all abducted children" is also outrageous. Israel, as is well known, did not kidnap a single child.
How many posts dealt with the murder, rape and abduction of Israeli children? Zero. Say, "Good morning! Only today did we discover that the UN is anti-Semitic? That international bodies will always make sure that condemnations of Israel flow fluently?" No, not only today we found out, we always knew. And just as UNICEF is mobilized "in full" to fight Israel, so are women's organizations and green organizations (thanks to Greta), and so is the Human Rights Council.
When I led, along with my friends and colleagues in the national camp, the opposition to Israel's accession to the Istanbul Convention, we claimed that we were interested in preserving the patriarchy. Judy Shalom Nir Mozes even claimed that we wanted women to be beaten. When we presented blocking accession as an achievement and a goal for continuing the struggle, we were already labeled professional misogynists.
But the writing was on the wall. For example, Prof. Eugene Kontorovich of the Kohelet Forum wrote at the time: "Based on Israel's experience with similar international bodies... The committee is expected to publish reports condemning Israel's treatment of Palestinians. This is not a hypothetical concern – these days the UN employs 'experts' whose job it is to compile reports on the situation in different countries. Their reports on Israel are an ongoing condemnation of Israel's policy in the territories."
And what is happening today? On 20 November, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls issued a report on Israel's violation of the dignity and rights of Palestinian women in its operation in Gaza. Rape of Israeli women by the Nokhba? Didn't happen. Women held captive with their young children by Hamas? There wasn't. Women were murdered at a party and dragged through the streets of Gaza to the cheers of the crowd? All of a sudden.
More than 20 press releases have been issued by the organization since the beginning of the war. Nine of them deal exclusively with the situation of Palestinian children in Gaza, and the rest speak of "concern for the welfare of children in Israel and Palestine" – without even mentioning that Israeli children have been abducted
We must commend most of the women's organizations in Israel and the prominent activists in the field, who joined this propaganda struggle, and who are discovering, some of them somewhat belatedly, the sense of betrayal and turning their backs on the part of their counterparts around the world. This is important and admirable, but there is one lesson that is important for all of us to learn: we can conduct our public discussions in a businesslike manner. It is worth listening to the arguments, it is worth hearing the concerns.
You can oppose the transfer of funds and support for UNICEF – not out of a desire to harm children, but simply because it is not appropriate for you to support an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel organization. You can oppose joining the Istanbul Convention – not out of a desire to harm women, but simply because you don't want these crazy people to issue reports against Israel for political reasons, or to impose immigration policies that do not take into account the need for a single Jewish state in the sea of terror around us. It is possible and permissible to listen.
Even if you disagree, argue, and even decide differently in the end than you wanted, in the end we are on the same side. And yet, however much we might like to think otherwise, the whole world (or in this case the whole world) is against us.
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