B’nai B’rith International sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressing deep dismay over a United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) agreement designating millions of dollars for Palestinian advocacy and courtroom warfare against Israel.
In the letter, B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin wrote: “Included in the Framework’s exceptional allocation of resources would be many millions of dollars to train Palestinians to ‘effectively access international accountability mechanisms in order to hold Israel accountable for its [alleged] violations.’ The unnamed mechanisms might presumably include the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Council. Lawfare has persistently been wielded as a threat by Palestinian leaders to not merely isolate and impugn Israel but to practically hinder Israel’s critical efforts at self-defense that are aimed at preserving the lives of its citizens and that also head off catalysts for more costly mutual confrontation. Lawfare’s primary achievement, however, is the erosion of Israelis’ trust in a Palestinian partner with whom to negotiate genuine reconciliation and peace.”
Additionally, Saltzman and Mariaschin wrote: “Mr. Secretary-General, why is it appropriate for the United Nations to single out the Palestinians alone for support of political advocacy and ‘national narrative’? Moreover, Palestinians’ exploitation of UNESCO, in particular, to politicize the designation of heritage sites and to shamelessly whitewash Jews’ ties to holy places in their sole ancestral homeland has brought that body into catastrophic disrepute and made it complicit in an overt perpetration of contemporary anti-Semitism.”
They concluded: “Peace will only come from a willingness by Palestinians to discontinue confrontation, end terrorism and incitement, accept Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish democracy, and engage in resolving disputes exclusively through direct bilateral negotiations and compromise. UN development assistance would have a far greater likelihood of positive impact if invested in initiatives bringing Palestinians and Israelis together, rather than further apart.”
