The disdain for the United Nations of many American supporters of Israel is misplaced and thoughtless. Without the UN’s help, Israel will not be able to get out of Lebanon for a long time.
It is easy to forget that Israel was founded by a UN resolution. Definitively ending challenges to its right to exist will also have to be legalized by UN resolutions.
The US created the post World War II political order and put the UN at its core. So, Israel’s unconditional American supporters should think again unless their real agenda is to seek a much wider war to dismantle the UN and create a new global system.
There is grievous contradiction in their demands. They want international legitimacy and peace for Israel. Yet they denigrate the UN, which alone can make possible the legal framework, the international agreements and the multinational army necessary to achieve those purposes.
The UN is the global community’s parliament and Security Council. At some point, Israel and its unconditional supporters will have to recognize that peace agreements imposed through canons will inevitably be broken. They will have to recognize that killing implacable enemies does not end hatred; it gives birth to vicious cycles of vengeance for generations.
That was Europe’s experience before centuries old enmities were ended through proactive goodwill after World War II. The UN was created as a vital part of that future of freedom from the “scourge of war.�
For agreements to succeed, all sides must accept them voluntarily. That means each must gain something from it. The acceptance must be legalized through Security Council resolutions. Negotiation is the only way to achieve such acceptance and the UN is the only credible forum in the eyes of the wider international community.
It is well to remember that the global community comprises many heavily armed nations, including nuclear powers. Even super powers like the US can no longer dictate to others. These are the facts of this 21st century. All of us, citizens of the world, must learn to adapt to this global community whatever the historical glory or grievances of our tribes and civilizations.
The impotence of military power is highlighted by Israel’s inability to impose a victor’s surrender on the far inferior Hizballah militia. Killing tens of thousands of people would certainly bring total victory. But Israel would become isolated in the global community, probably distanced even by the US and castigated by its own people.
That leaves Israel no way out other than seeking the UN’s help to neuter Hizballah. It is currently using non-compliance with UN resolution 1559 as the legal basis for its bombing of Lebanon. Similarly, it will have to use future UN resolutions to extricate itself and build the peace. In this context, anti-UN rhetoric is unhelpful for Israel.