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Jewish World Review June 18, 2002 / 8 Tamuz, 5762

Diana West

Diana West
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Terrorism at the United Nations

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | It's not just massive acts or threats of catastrophe that do damage to our notion of civilization. Every bit as dangerous is the more commonplace insult or outrage that raises neither hackles nor eyebrows before passing into the record. Such an instant came and went last week, neither earthshaking in itself, nor definitive, but still deserving mention, if only to sort out whether it was worth any goosebumps or furrowed brows.

Syria, now in its eighth year on the official United States list of state sponsors of terrorism, is in its first month as the head of the United Nations Security Council. Until the presidency rotates again at the end of June, Syria -- whose capital, Damascus, serves as Terror-Central for a bloodthirsty Who's Who of terrorist gangs (from Hezbollah to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) -- is the symbolic chief of international law and order. That right there is an insult; but, of course, there's more.

Last week, after another Palestinian bomber murdered 17 more Israelis as they rode to work on a bus, the Syrian-supported and Syrian-headquartered organization Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the outrage. The group's leader, Abdullah Ramadan Shallah, incidentally, lives in Damascus following a stint as a professor at the University of South Florida. Israel then found itself in the position of having to call on the president of the Security Council (a.k.a. Syria) to condemn Syria (a.k.a. the council president) for harboring terrorists who target Israelis. Surprise, surprise: nothing happened.

But the point was made. And Syria, acting in its presidential capacity, finally decided to follow diplomatic protocol this week and circulate a letter from Yehuda Lancry, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations. In it, Lancry wrote, "Israel is appalled that a member of the Security Council continues to lend its support to organizations committed to the deliberate murder of civilians."

(According to Reuters, Syria's Ambassador to the United Nations Mikhail Webhe -- and president of the Security Council -- rather absurdly maintains that Syria only allows "some unspecified Palestinian groups to open information offices.")

Such support for terrorism, Lancry continued, violates U.N. declarations holding that "states must prevent their territory from lending any support, financial or otherwise, to terrorist organizations." Noting that a claim of responsibility for the attack came from Islamic Jihad's Damascus headquarters, he added, "Yesterday's attack comes at the precise moment ... when the fight against terrorism is at the top of the council's agenda. It is astounding that Syria is brazenly supporting attempts to subvert the anti-terrorist objectives of an international body of which it itself is president."

But how astounding is it? Perhaps the blase attitude toward what amounts to a blatant con game -- the terrorist-sponsoring state sitting in judgment of its state-sponsored terrorism -- is what is most astounding of all.

At least, it definitely should be.

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JWR contributor Diana West is a columnist and editorial writer for the Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.

Up

06/11/02: Who's policing the INS?
06/07/02: Spa Gitmo
06/04/02: Can rock gods save the queen?
05/31/02: Hillary's war
05/29/02: Have you forgotten we're at war?
05/24/02: An antiquated luxury of the past
05/21/02: From terrorists to tourists
05/19/02: Hate U.
05/07/02: Western self-loathing numbs us to violence
05/03/02: Pioneering television
05/01/02: Western self-loathing numbs us to violence
04/29/02: It's the misconduct, stupid
04/24/02: Medal of diss-honor
04/17/02: Holy sanctuary or terrorist shield?
04/12/02: Egyptian clerics solicit martyrs for murder
04/09/02: Defining terrorism down
04/05/02: The Wilder life
04/02/02: Acting, equality and the Academy
03/31/02: Speeding to conclusions
03/25/02: Hard to remove blood (libel) stains
03/21/02: The tale of Nixon's tapes --- again
03/19/02: The Big Lie lives on
03/15/02: The tunnel vision of '9/11'
03/13/02: The American Auschwitz?
03/08/02: Hating the indoctrination of hate
03/05/02: Clinton and Enron: Old friends
03/01/02: Pickering doesn't polarize, the process does
02/26/02: Destiny's prefabricated child
02/22/02: The White House heist
02/20/02: Making the grade
02/11/02: Studying student visas
02/06/02: Understanding arrogance
02/04/02: The professor's war
01/29/02: Disconnected dialogue
01/23/02: Anti-Indiscrimination
01/18/02: How much is enough?
01/15/02: Oh brothers, where art thou?
01/10/02: Air on the side of caution
01/04/02: Blacks seeing red at Harvard
01/02/02: Clinton's campaign continues
12/26/01: A tale of two exhibitions
12/24/01: Taliban Idyll
12/19/01: Right is right
12/17/01: Hillary strikes out
12/13/01: Lost files, lost presidency
12/10/01: Revolutionaries never grow up
12/05/01: Immigration reform talk is not just for 'haters' anymore
12/03/01: A new symbol of justice
11/30/01: Beyond morality
11/26/01: Can't keep a good man down
11/20/01: Tough talk at the United Nations
11/19/01: Hollywood's other battle
11/14/01: What's the matter with Sara Jane?
11/09/01: A beef with bin Laden's Beef Noodles
11/07/01: Facing up to the FBI's past mistakes
11/02/01: A school that teaches patriots to shutup
10/30/01: The gap between Islam and peace
10/26/01: The ties that bind (and gag)
10/24/01: This war is more than Afghanistan
10/22/01: The fatuous fatwa
10/19/01: Left out
10/16/01: Whose definition of terrorism?
10/11/01: Post-stress disorder
10/08/01: How the West has won
10/01/01: Good, bad or ... diplomacy
09/28/01: Drawing a line in stone
09/21/01: Prejudice or prudence?
09/14/01: When our dead will finally rest in hallowed ground
09/07/01: We want our #$%^&*() audience back!
08/24/01: The transformation from Green Mountain State to Green Activist State is all but complete
08/17/01: Enlightenment at Yale
08/10/01: From oppressors to victims, a metamorphosis
08/03/01: Opening the dormitory door: College romance in the New Century
08/01/01: How-To Hackdom: The dubious art of writing books about writing books
07/20/01: Hemming about Hemmings
07/13/01: Justice has not been served in the Loiuma police brutality case
06/22/01: When PC parades are too 'mainstream'
06/22/01: When "viewpoint discrimination" in our schools was not nearly so gnarly a notion
06/15/01: Lieberman flaunts mantle of perpetual aggrievement
06/07/01: Is graciousness the culprit?
06/01/01: The bright side of the Jeffords defection
05/29/01: Campus liberals should be more careful
05/18/01: 'Honest Bill' Clinton and other Ratheresian Logic
05/11/01: Dodging balls, Bugs, and 'brilliance'
05/04/01: Foot in mouth disease and little lost Tories
04/20/01:The last classic Clinton cover-up
04/20/01: D-Day, Schmee-Day
04/06/01: For heaven's sake, a little decency!
03/30/01: The sweet sound of slamming doors and clucking feminists
03/23/01: America's magazines and the 'ick-factor'
03/09/01: Felony neglect
03/02/01: Who's sorry now?
02/23/01: 'Ecumenical niceness' and other latter-day American gifts to the world
02/16/01: Elton and Eminem: Royal dirge-icist meets violent fantasist
02/12/01: If only ...

© 2001, Diana West