Little is new in Israel’s current conflict with the international community in Gaza and Lebanon.
Israel’s attacks on UNIFIL (the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) mark a further deterioration in a relationship that has been difficult since the founding of Israel in 1948.
According to a leaked UNIFIL report, Israel has attacked UN positions 12 times, at times even using white phosphorus against soldiers mandated by the international community to keep the peace.
The use of white phosphorus, a wax-like substance that burns at temperatures high enough to melt metal has been condemned by rights groups.
A UNIFIL spokesperson confirmed the attacks, saying: “Since [Israel’s army] began incursions into Lebanon on 1 October, UNIFIL has recorded about 25 incidents resulting in damage to UN property or premises,” referencing the number between 1 and 20 October.
The bulk of those attacks, the spokesperson said, had been Israeli fire or actions. However, others had come from unknown sources, he added.
“Five peacekeepers were hurt in three separate incidents at our headquarters, and 15 peacekeepers suffered symptoms after inhaling an unknown smoke released by the IDF (Israeli army) in Ramyah on 13 October, which caused skin irritation and gastrointestinal symptoms,” he said.
Without testing capabilities, the spokesperson added, UNIFIL has been unable to identify what the smoke was.
Israel has demanded that the UN withdraw its troops from the areas it has invaded, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming that Hezbollah uses UNIFIL as “human shields”.
However, UNIFIL have stressed they remain in Lebanon under a UN mandate, which includes enforcing the Blue Line that separates Lebanon from Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
The mandate was established in 2000 and reinforced by UN Resolution 1701 in 2006.
“Our role in monitoring and reporting violations of Resolution 1701 is more important than ever,” the spokesperson said, “Hezbollah [sic] has fired rockets from near our positions, putting peacekeepers in danger.
“IDF tanks have taken shelter inside one of our positions, saying it was to avoid taking fire. We reiterate that … the inviolability of UN premises must be respected.”
A history of violence
Justifying the attacks on UN forces in Lebanon, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen referred to the body as a “failed organisation” and UNIFIL as a “useless force” on Twitter in mid-October.
The current conflict between Israel and the views of the international community does not exist in isolation but is the latest in a string of confrontations Israel has had with the UN.
Israel has attacked UN staff in Gaza, accused staff of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) of allying with armed groups, and repeatedly claimed the UN is anti-Semitic for every comment that is critical of its actions.
At present, a bill is circulating in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) that will ban UNRWA, the largest humanitarian provider in Gaza at a time of acute crises, from the enclave. Observers are confident the bill will pass.
On Tuesday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied on its Hebrew X account the historical fact of the UN’s role in Israel’s establishment, claiming that Israel was founded solely through “victory…in the War of Independence”, which is what Israel calls the conflict that resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes in 1948.
https://x.com/IsraeliPM_heb/status/1846230453931348013
Translation: “Prime Minister’s Office: A reminder to the president of France: It was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors – including from the Vichy regime in France.”
The English-language account did not carry a similar post.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been barred from entering Israel over what the government says is his failure to “fully condemn” a missile strike by Iran on Israel in October.
“The UN matters to people in Israel. That the country was founded by UN charter [in 1948] is part of the collective memory,” analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg said from Tel Aviv.
“However, we’ve been seeing a gradual process of delegitimisation of the UN throughout the last few decades, when it has been portrayed as a bastion of anti-Israel or even anti-Semitic sentiment by Israel’s leaders.”
Ironically, one of the leading critics of the UN is Netanyahu, himself Israel’s former ambassador to the body from 1984 to 1988.
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