The United Nations Security Council has declared that Hamas is a legitimate government organization and not a terrorist group, despite the recent mass slaughter of hundreds of innocent civilians.
Multiple nations have recently declared Hamas to be a terror group in the wake of the recent terror attack.
Despite the attacks, the UN Security Council has not sanctioned Hamas.
NN reports: Richard Goldberg, senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, blasted the unelected UN in a statement:
“The UN Security Council votes to impose sanctions and designations on groups like al Qaeda, the Taliban, or ISIS.
“But no such sanctions or designations exist for Iran’s axis of terror groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah.”
The Council, under resolutions passed in 1999, 2011, and 2015, sanctions ISIS and al Qaeda, along with associated individuals and groups.
The UN’s committee on those resolutions oversees sanctions measured imposed by the Council.
However, there are no such sanctions in place for Hamas and Hezbollah.
The lack of sanctioning comes as Israel is pushing back against Hamas.
Israel was hit by a surprise attack from Hamas that killed more than 1,300 Israelis.
“The UN insists these are legitimate political movements and therefore can freely work with them,” said Goldberg.
Goldberg previously served as the director for countering weapons of destruction at the White House National Security Council between 2019 and 2020.
Israeli and U.S. officials have criticized the UN, including the Security Council for allegedly having an anti-Israel bias.
The Council is made up of 15 members, including permanent membership for the U.S., U.K., France, China, and Russia.
Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. introduced a resolution in 2018 to label Hamas as a terror group.
However, the resolution received only one vote in favor – that of the United States.
Russia and its veto power often form a roadblock on the Council for any action against Iran and Iran-backed entities.
The Associated Press reported this week that the U.S. demanded the Council condemn “these heinous terrorist attacks committed by Hamas,” but no immediate action was taken.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said afterward that “a good number of countries” did condemn the atrocity but not all council members.
Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan has criticized the UN’s reaction to the attack against Israel.
In a Tuesday statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for both Israel Defense Forces and Hamas to “respect international humanitarian law” and defuse tensions.
The unelected bureaucrat also criticized Israel’s “full siege” of Gaza.
“The UN’s response to Israel’s early warning to the residents of Gaza is shameful,” Erdan said in a statement.
“For many years, the UN has turned a blind eye to the arming of Hamas and its use of the civilian population and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip as a hiding place for its weapons and murder.”
“Now, instead of standing by Israel, whose citizens were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists and who tries to minimize harm to those not involved, it preaches to Israel.
“It is better for the U.N. to focus now on returning the hostages, condemning Hamas, and supporting Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Goldberg, meanwhile, said that the failure of the Council to designate Hamas a terror group has knock-on effects on other agencies — including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) when vetting staff.
“There is zero requirement for UNRWA to submit its list of staff and beneficiaries for U.S. counterterrorism vetting.
“They use their own lists instead and wouldn’t you know it, since Hamas isn’t a U.N. terror group they magically find no evidence of support for terrorism.”
