AA Edit | Did UN chief cross a line?

The United Nations is a toothless tiger in whose history the world is still searching for any war that it had helped stop. Apart from pedantic calls for an immediate ceasefire, there is little the association of nations can do if the combatants do not wish to heed well-meaning advice.

The UN does, however, reflect the divisions already etched in this conflicted world. Even so, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres may have crossed a line in recalling the genesis of the coordinated terror attack on multiple places that Hamas carried out with an unparalleled show of barbarity.

Of course, there is a history to it, as much as there will be to any militant movement. And yet there can be no justification whatsoever for acts of terror, even if the epic suffering of today is a result of historical occupation of places the Palestinians lived in. The way the UN secretary general said it about Palestine, it did sound as if he was justifying Hamas’ barbarous acts.

The UN Secretary-General did condemn the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that has brought the region to its current state teetering on the brink of a wider conflict, with Israel facing the prospect of a two-front war as Hezbollah’s commando force in southern Lebanon is straining at the leash while the leadership in Beirut advises restraint. But in doing so while castigating the other side for inflicting a collective punishment on the Palestinians, he has proved to be less diplomatic and far too political while calling for a humanitarian ceasefire.

Nothing takes place in a vacuum, not even a UN meeting or the right to veto that renders it powerless to exert any of its collective decisions. With the Security Council hamstrung, the UN General Assembly’s nonbinding decisions can do little when man takes on man and transforms into an animal-like avatar bent upon death and destruction.

The UN is not going to help end this war. Even the US, while calling for restraint as a trickle of hostages are being released by Hamas terrorists, has said that Israel will decide for itself when to go ahead with the ground offensive to get at the Hamas leadership. Will reason return in time is the only question that needs to be answered now but UN politics will not be aiding it.