By Maryam Qarehgozlou
Israel is the most blatant abuser of United Nations resolutions and should face expulsion from the international body for its continuous attacks on UN staff and facilities in Gaza and Lebanon, says the director of a UN-affiliated NGO.
Mohamad Safa, the Executive Director at Patriotic Vision Organization (PVA) which focuses on promoting social civilization and enhancing human rights, told the Press TV Website that Israel’s attacks on the UN jeopardize the safety of humanitarian workers and undermine its very foundations and mandate to promote peace and stability around the globe.
“The UN charter stipulates that all Security Council resolutions are legally binding under international law. And one of the conditions of being accepted into the UN is that member states should adhere to UN resolutions,” Safa, PAV’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations stated.
He said any entity that is "not consistent and regular in abiding international law and UN resolutions" should be expelled from the world body, adding that Israel is the "most flagrant abuser of UN resolutions."
Since Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7 last year, its continuous attacks on UN workers and premises in Gaza and now in Lebanon, including the recent targeting of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), have not only violated the international laws and conventions but also made a mockery of the UN and its founding principles, experts believe.
Attacks on UNIFIL
According to Safa, following the intensification of Israeli military operations in Lebanon and Gaza, UN staff, particularly field staff in Gaza and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, are “facing direct threats.”
Over the past few days, in separate incidents, the Israeli military has fired on members of the UNIFIL stationed south of the Arab country, resulting in several injuries.
On Thursday, two members of the UN Interim Force were injured when Israeli forces fired at a guard tower at the UNIFIL headquarters.
On Friday, Israeli forces once again fired at a UNIFIL watchtower, injuring two more peacekeepers.
As the Israeli bombing campaign against Lebanon rages on, the indiscriminate use of internationally banned depleted uranium bombs has come under the spotlight.
A fifth member of the multinational force was injured on Saturday in southern Lebanon after being hit by an Israeli gunfire. According to the UNIFIL, Israeli forces had “deliberately” fired at its positions along the border.
The attacks prompted harsh rebukes even from several of Israel’s allies, including France, Italy and Spain. A Downing Street spokesperson said the UK was “appalled.”
In a video statement issued on Sunday, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu brazenly threatened UNIFIL and called it to “immediately” get its troops “out of harm’s way."
“Appeasement of Netanyahu has led to this,” Sayeeda Warsi, a British lawyer and politician sitting in the House of Lords, wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Nothing is sacred or protected anymore, peacekeepers have become a target, children are being targeted, prisoners are being sexually abused, civilian populations are being starved, and all while we in the UK continue to supply arms into Israel,” she added.
Heidi Matthews, an assistant professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Canada, also said in a post on X that the attacks on various UN organizations, aim to undermine and dismantle the post-World War II international legal order.
“Israel’s physical and ideological attacks on UNRWA, UN Women & UNIFIL are part of a unified strategy to delegitimize and physically destroy the architecture of the post-WWII international legal order.
“The U.S. is abetting this & other Western powers, like Canada, are fully complicit,” she wrote.
UNIFIL refuses to give in to the pressure
Safa said the UN is monitoring the situation closely to protect its personnel and civilians amidst the Israeli aggression in both Lebanon and Gaza. “The UN peacekeeping mission which the Security Council mandates, remains in all its positions,” Safa told Press TV website.
UN and international organizations including PVA are fully committed to staying and delivering aid to the people of Gaza and Lebanon, he added. “For example, in Lebanon during the first days of the war after October 23, 2023, PVA staff worked to deliver food and bread to citizens trapped in south Lebanon or to those who could not flee," Safa said.
“It was like sending brave staff to their deaths because there were no guarantees that they would not be targeted as international humanitarian laws are being repeatedly violated with no consequences at all.
“This moment has made it clear, that we need a strong and effective UN, without the brave men and women who serve humanity, it would be impossible to get aid to the people who need it. UN staff, PVA staff, and all other aid workers remain on the ground despite all the risks,” Safa said.
Recurring aggression
UNIFIL was originally set up by the UN Security Council in March 1978 after the Israeli regime first invaded Lebanon. Nearly 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries are currently stationed in Lebanon, alongside around 800 civilian staff.
It is highly unusual and concerning for a UN member to target a peacekeeping force. However, this is not the first time that UNIFIL peacekeepers, who can be clearly identified because of blue helmets, have come under fire from Israeli military forces.
In 1987, an Israeli military tank unit attacked a village hosting a UNIFIL command post, resulting in the death of an Irish peacekeeper.
In 1996, an Israeli shelling targeted UNIFIL’s Fijian battalion in Qana, southern Lebanon, causing over 120 Lebanese civilian deaths, injuries to approximately 500 people, and harm to four UN soldiers.
In late November 2023, Israeli troops fired upon a UNIFIL patrol near Aitaroun, southern Lebanon; fortunately, no peacekeepers sustained injuries.
What does the law say about targeting UN peacekeepers?
Safa asserted that the safety of UN personnel and property as well as all international organizations must be guaranteed under law, noting that attacks against peacekeepers and aid workers are "in breach of international law and may constitute a war crime,”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also warned any attacks on peacekeepers “may constitute a war crime,” adding that “UNIFIL personnel and its premises must never be targeted.”
The Rome Statute’s Article 8(2)(b)(iii), which founded the International Criminal Court in The Hague, identifies the deliberate targeting of peacekeeping and humanitarian missions as war crimes.
The attacks are also a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006).
Israeli regime’s genocidal war against Palestinians did not begin on October 7, 2023, but in the summer of 1948 when thousands were killed and displaced and their villages were destroyed.
The recent attacks on UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon represent an alarming escalation in a series of Israeli attacks against UN staff and facilities both in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon, analysts say.
In the Gaza Strip, where more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, Israeli forces have repeatedly struck make-shift UN-run schools, hospitals, and other facilities over the past year, leading to extensive civilian casualties and significant damage to infrastructure.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported earlier this month that more than 300 aid workers, the vast majority from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), have been killed in Gaza over the past year.
This is “more than in any other single crisis, making Gaza the most dangerous place for aid workers,” it said.
Why Israel is not expelled from the UN?
Despite its genocidal actions, the Israeli regime has not faced expulsion from the UN which raises questions about the organization’s ability to enforce accountability among its member states, as well as the effectiveness of international law and conventions in preventing and punishing such actions.
The fact that Israel continues to be in the UN despite these transgressions has sparked criticism from various quarters, with some arguing that it undermines the credibility of the world body as a whole.
“Israel has broken SIXTY-TWO United Nations Resolutions with absolutely no consequences. To put this into perspective, Iraq broke two and got invaded and destroyed by the United States for 8 years,” wrote one user on X.
“But Israel violates all the red lines of war and attacks schools and hospitals, which is considered a violation of international law, but no one says anything, which means that human rights are practically a toy of politicians,” wrote another user.
“Remarkable: Israel is simultaneously bombing 4 UN member states, has killed 200 UN employees in Gaza, violated the Vienna and Geneva Conventions, and barred the UN SecGen from entering Israel. Yet, the UN has done nothing. If this were any other country, it would be dismembered,” another user wrote on X.
According to Safa, Israel’s latest breach of international law – a ground invasion in violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and Security Council resolution 1701 – will only add to this mounting toll of death and displacement.
“We deplore Israel’s increasing disregard for international law,” Safa told Press TV website.
Israel has not been expelled from the UN or formally held accountable due to a combination of political, legal, and geopolitical factors, he stated. “Accountability under international law, including the Geneva Conventions, is complex and relies on political will for enforcement,” the UN worker remarked.
“I was the first to raise this issue at the UN Human Rights Council in 2023, which led to me being threatened, censored, and closing my international bank accounts." He noted that the broad international consensus required for the expulsion of Israel from the UN or taking strong punitive measures against the Zionist regime has historically been difficult to achieve due to differing political interests.
And most importantly, he said, as a close ally of Israel, the US often uses its veto power in the UN Security Council to block resolutions against Israel.
“Despite condemnation from various UN bodies, legal and diplomatic pathways for accountability are often slow or obstructed by geopolitical dynamics,” he noted.
Safa warned the UN’s credibility is challenged when members like Israel act with impunity, adding that it raises concerns about its ability to "enforce international law and protect human rights." “We express grave concern for the safety of civilians, including UN personnel, and strongly condemn the loss of lives," he stated.
“We urgently call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and swift intervention by the UN Security Council to fully discharge its role and prevent further escalation of violence and arbitrary displacement, ensure the protection of civilians on all sides, investigate the crimes committed, and further strengthen the UN’s protective presence in the region.”
However, he regretted, that the UN remains bound by the limitations of its member-driven structure, where decisions often rely on the consensus of key states, especially in the Security Council.
“To restore credibility, the UN could push for reforms, enhance accountability mechanisms, and ensure that no member state is exempt from scrutiny or consequences.”
