Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, recently penned an op-ed piece in the New York Times called “Don’t Shoot the Messenger, Israel”. He wrote this article to explain his recent comments that Israel’s unwillingness to end the “occupation” of Judea and Samaria is the true cause of Palestinian terrorism, and the Palestinian Authority’s incitement to stab, shoot, and ultimately murder innocent Israelis. The current wave of Palestinian terrorism in Israel has claimed the lives of 31 Israelis -- most recently Hadar Cohen, a 19-year-old woman stabbed and shot to death while standing guard in Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinians turned out for the funerals of Cohen’s assailants to honor them. 

The secretary general’s column is both wrong in its facts, and demonstrates an obvious bias by him against Israel.

The secretary general writes, “the everyday reality of occupation provokes anger and despair, which are major drivers of violence and extremism and undermine any hope of a negotiated two-state solution.” This statement is simply not true, and quite literally excuses Palestinian terrorism. The major driving force of the violence and extremism stems from the incitement to murder Jews and Israelis that has come from the Palestinian leadership for decades. Former Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat, the father of the PA, said in 1970, “The goal of our struggle is the end of Israel, and there can be no compromise.” In 1995, just after the second Oslo Accords were signed, Arafat stated, “All of us are willing to be martyrs along the way, until our flag flies over Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine.” The PA have incited violence against Israelis for years. His successor Mahmoud Abbas recently admitted to ignoring a 2008 ‘land for peace’ offering from Israeli Prime Minister Olmert stating “I rejected [the peace plan] out of hand.” The Secretary General ignores the fact that from Arafat to Abbas, Palestinians have endlessly acknowledged they do not want peace. 

Ban Ki-Moon also claims that Israeli settlements are an obstacle to peace and cause terrorism, and that Palestinian frustration comes from Israeli “Plans for over 150 new homes in illegal settlements.” We can dislodge this claim with a little history lesson: settlements have never been an obstacle to peace. From 1949-1967 under Jordanian control, there were zero settlements in Judea and Samaria, and there were still numerous Palestinian terrorist attacks. In 1978, Israel froze the building of new settlements for 3 months in the hopes of attracting the Arabs to join the Camp David Accords, but it did not. The peace process also did not benefit when Israelis froze settlements again in 1994, 2005, 2008, and 2010. In fact, during the Oslo Accords in September 1993 and Oslo 2 in September 1995, Jewish population grew in the disputed territories by roughly 50%, but this did not deter the Palestinians from signing the accords. In 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Barak offered to withdraw from over 90% of Judea and Samaria, which would have removed many settlements, but Arafat refused to make peace. In 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert offered a similar plan, which was similarly rejected by Abbas.

Then there is the bias the Secretary General clearly shows against Israel.

In his column, Ban Ki-Moon mentioned being “Disturbed by statements from senior members of Israel’s government that the (two state solution) should be abandoned altogether.” These statements are not inflammatory, but reflect the reality of the situation, and certainly pale in comparison to the far more disturbing statements made by the PA leadership. Does he not listen to the president of the Palestinian Authority? President Mahmoud Abbas said in September 2015 that he does not want Israelis to “Desecrate [the al-Aqsa Mosque] with their filthy feet.” Also in September, President Abbas proclaimed on Palestinian television, “We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on its way to Allah.” Not once in the NY Times piece does Ban Ki-Moon mention these words coming from the mouths of the Palestinian President, which not only incite, but welcome his people to commit terror attacks. After the murder of Hadar Cohen, Abbas visited with 11 families of the Palestinians who murdered her and others to congratulate their “martyred sons.” Why did Ban Ki-Moon not adequately denounce these quotes or the glorification of these acts?

The secretary claims that “Thousands of Palestinian homes in the West Bank risk demolition” from Israeli policies, which are “Legal on paper but are discriminatory in practice.” Palestinian homes get demolished as a consequence for terrorism, and hopefully a deterrence to future attacks. The Palestinian Authority pays monthly stipends to terrorists and their families, which the Wall Street Journal reports comes to more than five times the average monthly salary of a Palestinian worker. Demolishing homes is a tactic used to persuade Palestinians to discourage their families from committing terrorist attacks against Israelis instead of taking the PA reward money. This tactic does not incentivize murder; unlike the PA’ s stipends to terrorists. Yet these Palestinian actions are never mentioned by Ban Ki-Moon.

The simple fact that the secretary is penning this column is an example of his bias against Israel. There are over 200 disputed territories in the world, none of which Ban Ki-Moon writes articles about. He also ignores that the world is overflowing with violence and war crimes that easily dwarf anything that is happening in Judea and Samaria. In the time Ban Ki-Moon spent writing about 150 settlements in Israel, Boko Haram killed 86 people in Nigeria, reportedly burning some children alive. Also, Bashar al-Assad murdered another 164 of his own people, in a civil war that has claimed the lives of 300,000 people. Did Ki-Moon write an article about Boko Haram or Assad’s war crimes? No. Did he write an article about Islamic State jihadists crucifying or enslaving minorities? The concentration camps in North Korea where people are worked to death and starved by their government? No -- not important. But alert the media, Israel is constructing new homes in Judea and Samaria, and that is worth a good ‘ole anti-Israel NY Times op-ed.

In November 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted six resolutions singling out Israel, and none on any other country. Ban Ki-Moon’s obsession with Israel puts him in good company at the United Nations. 

Lindsay Schneider is a Research Associate at the Endowment for Middle East Truth.