Ban Ki-Moon calls for ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal

Cross-posted by Gary Fouse
fousesquawk



This is what the UN is trying to rescue



BEIRUT, Jan 17 (Reuters) - "U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday that if Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip it should include a timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Hamas-ruled enclave.

Israel is planning to announce on Saturday a halt to its three-week Gaza offensive without any deal with Hamas, an Israeli official said.

Ban said he could not confirm whether Israel would declare a halt to the fighting, though he hoped it would.

"This unilateral declaration should be accompanied by a timetable for Israeli withdrawal," Ban told reporters in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Ban confirmed that he would be attending a summit meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on Sunday organized by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss Gaza. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Dominic Evans)"



Well, isn't that nice? Once again, the UN calls for a cease fire every time Israel fights back. Where was the UN as Hamas was lobbing rockets into southern Israel. Did they ever call for a halt to that-or take concrete steps to end it? How many times Did Ban-Ki-Moon or any of his woeful predecessors ever go to the Middle East to try and stop the terrorist acts upon Israeli civilians?

But as soon as Israel goes after the Hamas killers (or Hezbollah killers), all the terrorists have to do is take shelter among innocent civilians, show the media the dead and presto! The whole world, the EU and the UN all call for a cease-fire, which only means that the Israelis cease operations, withdraw and hunker down for the next wave of rockets and terrorist attacks. They can't even build a wall to keep out suicide bombers without these same bodies and the ubiquitous Jimmy Carter crawling out of the woodwork.

For all you outraged Americans who are taking to the streets to condemn Israel, ask yourselves this simple question; imagine if Cuba were launching rockets into Miami and other parts of South Florida, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians. What would you expect the US to do? Would you expect the US to go to the UN and ask them to demand a cease fire from Cuba? Ask the UN to issue a few resolutions, perhaps? Go to the EU and asked them to stop all trade with Cuba or place an embargo upon that country?

Or would you invade Cuba and take out the killers? And suppose the Cuban troops all donned civilian clothes and fought back from civilian centers like schools, hospitals, and crowded residential areas? Would you expect the American military to stop operations and withdraw back to the USA?

Here is my fervent hope: I hope that Israel ignores calls for a cease fire and finishes the job of killing the Hamas terrorists. Then I hope they turn to Hezbollah and finish that job as well.

And the UN, the EU and world opinion? They can all take a giant leap as far as I am concerned. If they insist on siding with terrorists, then their voices should be ignored.

Sooner or later, sensible people must realize that Israel's fight is our fight, their enemies our enemies. Israel is fighting the battle (in self-defense) that the whole civilized world should be fighting. It is not about the rights of Arabs who conveniently identify themselves as "Palestinians", a questionable term that has never represented any national or government entity in recorded history. It is about the fact that the Arab world that abounds Israel cannot accept the idea of a Jewish (or any non-Muslim state) in the region. These so-called Palestinians could have had their "Palestinian State" as far back as 1948. Instead, they rejected the two-state solution and drew their swords-because they wanted it all-and still do, no matter what their spokesmen may tell you from time to time. Read the Hamas charter. It calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Read the words of Ahmedinejad of Iran who has publicly stated that he wants to wipe Israel off the map.

May God forgive us if we stand aside and let these terrorist barbarians who go by the name of Hamas, Hezbollah (and Iran) destroy Israel and create another Holocaust in the process.