Read this article in the New York Times(registration required) on why Israel was justified in rejecting the UN inquiry into the Jenin incident. The author, Yuval Steinitz, is chairman of the subcommittee for defense planning and policy of the Israeli Knesset. He has a lot to say about the manner, yet he manages to say it in a remarkably calm and diplomatic fashion.
Personally, I knew the probe was a farce as soon as I saw that Cornelio Sommaruga was named to it; Sommaruga is the former head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and his biggest distinction is his refusal of Red Cross recognition of the red star of Magen David Adom as an equivalent symbol to the red cross and the red crescent as internationally recognized medical symbols. His reasoning ("we'd have to allow swastikas," to paraphrase) doesn't hold water, as both the cross and the crescent are religious symbols, not political symbols. He simply has a bias against Magen David Adom (I won't say it is anti-semitism, but it certainly has all the hallmarks).
For a refreshing take on the Church of the Nativity standoff in Bethlehem, read what Myria has to say at It Can't Rain All The Time. Her reading of the situation is dead-on. If the situation were reversed, and it was Israelis in the church, can you imagine the outcry from the EU-nuchs?
posted on May 04, 2002 03:58 PM
