EDITORIAL: How much ‘peace’ did UN peacemakers bring?

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The utter hypocrisy of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres telling Israel to stop targeting UN peacekeeping troops, and forcing them to evacuate their positions in southern Lebanon, underscores the abysmal failure of the UN’s Middle East policies.

The UN troops are there as a result of the 2006 ceasefire deal, which required Hezbollah to cease operations in Lebanon, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to withdraw, after a 34-day conflict between the two countries.

A UN resolution in August 2006 called for Israel and Lebanon to support a long-term solution based on the withdrawal of Israeli troops and Lebanon taking control of the area and expelling Hezbollah, after the terrorist group triggered the war with incursions into Israel. As part of the UN-brokered deal, Hezbollah was supposed to disarm and retreat north of the Litani River. The IDF committed to leave Lebanon and did so.

The UN pledged up to 15,000 additional troops to aid Lebanon in keeping terrorists from its borders. So a more reasonable question to ask is what have those “peacekeeping” troops been doing in almost two decades they’ve been there?

There are more than 10,000 troops from five nations currently positioned in southern Lebanon. Under their very noses, Hezbollah terrorists continue their war on Israeli citizens. They’ve fired thousands of missiles into northern Israel, causing the evacuation of approximately 60,000 Israelis from their homes.

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So what were the peacekeepers doing if they weren’t stopping Hezbollah in its rampages — as required by the UN’s own deal? Not only has Hezbollah not withdrawn, the terrorist group has massively increased its warmongering capabilities by importing weapons from Iran and building a network of tunnels.

So, which country has refused to live up to the terms of the ceasefire deal? Lebanon, which has not only failed to stop the proliferation of Hezbollah, but allowed it to flourish? Or Israel, which until the attacks of Oct. 7 last year, lived up to its commitment and suffered as a result?

Is it any wonder Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently declared Guterres “undesirable” and banned him from Israel?

The UN can’t — or won’t — get signatories to its own ceasefire to respect the pact. Then it blames Israel — the only country that played by the rules — when hostilities occur.