{"id":16275,"date":"2011-12-12T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=16275"},"modified":"2011-12-11T13:35:29","modified_gmt":"2011-12-11T13:35:29","slug":"who-will-watch-the-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2011\/12\/who-will-watch-the-watchdog\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Will Watch the Watchdog?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pro-Israel NGO Behind NATO\u2019s War on Libya Is Targeting Syria <\/em><\/p>\n

On December 2, the Geneva-based UN Watch welcomed<\/a> that day\u2019s \u201cstrong condemnation<\/a>\u201d of Syria by a UN Human Rights Council emergency session, and its establishment of a special rapporteur to monitor the situation there following what it called \u201ca global campaign<\/a> to create the post by a coalition of prominent democracy dissidents and human rights groups\u201d led by UN Watch itself. The non-governmental organization, whose self-appointed mandate<\/a> is \u201cto monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter,\u201d expressed regret, however, that the UNHRC resolution \u201cpaid special deference\u201d to Syria\u2019s \u201cterritorial integrity\u201d and \u201cpolitical independence,\u201d decrying the provision as \u201ca clear jab at NATO\u2019s intervention in Libya, and a pre-emptive strike against the principle of the international community\u2019s responsibility to protect civilians under assault.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the same day, UN Watch delivered a speech<\/a> to the Human Rights Council plenary session in which it denounced the UN Security Council\u2019s \u201cshocking silence on Syria\u2019s atrocities,\u201d calling on it to take \u201curgent action to protect the civilian population before thousands more are beaten, tortured and killed.\u201d It also urged UNESCO to reverse its recent decision<\/a> to elect Syria to two human rights committees. Submitting that day\u2019s UNHRC resolution to UNESCO\u2019s Executive Board<\/a>, the NGO demanded that they \u201cexpel the Assad government from those panels immediately.\u201d The statement went on to berate the UNHRC for its \u201clongtime policy, and that of the old Commission, of turning a blind eye to Syria\u2019s gross and systematic violations.\u201d Also \u201cwrong and harmful,\u201d in UN Watch\u2019s view, was the UN body\u2019s \u201cpolicy of supporting Syria\u2019s cynical and transparent ploy each year to condemn Israel for alleged violations of human rights, which should not be repeated this March.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those familiar with the NGO\u2019s unmistakable governmental ties<\/a>, <\/strong>it will come as no surprise that UN Watch could downplay Israel\u2019s extensively documented human rights abuses as \u201calleged\u201d while at the same time confidently asserting that \u201cthe facts are clear\u201d regarding Syria\u2019s \u201cgross and systematic violations of human rights.\u201d As Ian Williams, a former president of the United Nations Correspondents Association, wrote in a 2007 Guardian <\/em>opinion piece<\/a>, \u201cUN Watch is an organization whose main purpose is to attack the United Nations in general, and its human rights council in particular, for alleged bias against Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded in 1993 under the chairmanship of Ambassador Morris B. Abram<\/a>, the former US permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, UN Watch is affiliated with the American Jewish Committee. Described by one expert on US-Israeli relations<\/a> as \u201cthe foreign policy arm of the Israel lobby,\u201d the AJC also takes a keen interest in the UN\u2019s alleged bias against Israel. According to a 2003 article<\/a> in the Jewish Daily Forward<\/em>, a \u201csustained effort\u201d by the lobby\u2019s foreign policy arm resulted in the United States \u201cembarking on the most comprehensive campaign in years to reduce the number of anti-Israel resolutions routinely passed by the United Nations General Assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n

In February, UN Watch organized 70 \u201crights groups\u201d<\/a> to send a letter<\/a> to President Obama, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, and UN Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon demanding international action against Libya by invoking the \u201cResponsibility to Protect<\/a>\u201d doctrine. Speaking to the Jerusalem Post<\/em> <\/a>at the time, the NGO\u2019s executive director, Hillel Neuer<\/a>, said that \u201cthe muted response of the US and the EU to the Libyan atrocities is not only a let-down to the many Libyans risking their lives for freedom, but a shirking of their obligations, as members of the Security Council and the Human Rights Council, to protect peace and human rights and to prevent war crimes.\u201d <\/strong>Despite the unsubstantiated<\/a> nature of its allegations,\u201d UN Watch\u2019s \u201cUrgent Appeal to Stop Atrocities in Libya<\/a>\u201d proved sufficient<\/a> to get Libya suspended from the Human Rights Council before being referred to the Security Council, and ultimately provided the spurious justification for NATO\u2019s eight-month \u201chumanitarian<\/a>\u201d bombing of the country.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly <\/strong>the most significant signatory<\/a> of the UN Watch-sponsored letter was Carl Gershman<\/a>, president of the \u201cmisnamed<\/a>\u201d National Endowment for Democracy<\/a>. Funded by American taxpayers but outside Congressional oversight, the Endowment has been meddling<\/a> in other countries\u2019 internal politics since its inception in 1983. As Allen Weinstein<\/a>, NED\u2019s architect<\/a> and first acting president, famously told the Washington Post<\/em> in 1991, \u201ca lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.\u201d A lot of what NED does today can also be understood by observing its longtime president\u2019s career path. A former head of the neo-Trotskyite Social Democrats-USA<\/a> <\/strong>who steadily <\/a>evolved<\/a> <\/strong>into neoconservatives, Gershman is no stranger to pro-Israel lobbying<\/a>, having worked in the research department<\/a> of the Anti-Defamation League in 1968 and served on the governing council of the American Jewish Committee in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n

Although UN Watch purports<\/a> to believe in the United Nations\u2019 mission to \u201csave succeeding generations from the scourge of war,\u201d the pro-Israel NGO bears significant responsibility for <\/strong>inducing a devastating war<\/a> on the current generation in one Arab country <\/strong>already this year and is clearly determined to repeat the carnage<\/a> in another. As long as UN Watch\u2019s motto of \u201cMonitoring the United Nations, Promoting Human Rights\u201d continues to obscure its real mission of \u201cManipulating the United Nations, Promoting Israel\u2019s Interests,\u201d the warning of a Roman poet<\/a> becomes increasingly pertinent: \u201cQuis custodiet ipsos custodes?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

Maidhc \u00d3 Cathail is a <\/em>political analyst<\/a><\/em> and editor of <\/em>The Passionate Attachment<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pro-Israel NGO Behind NATO\u2019s War on Libya Is Targeting Syria – As long as UN Watch\u2019s motto of \u201cMonitoring the United Nations, Promoting Human Rights\u201d continues to obscure its real mission of \u201cManipulating the United Nations, Promoting Israel\u2019s Interests,\u201d the warning of a Roman poet becomes increasingly pertinent: \u201cQuis custodiet ipsos custodes?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}