UN investigating anti-Semitic incidents in UN security service

[Behind the Aegis]

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations has launched an investigation of anti-Semitic incidents in the UN security service, according to a letter Wednesday to all security staff.

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, follows the reprimand of a security guard for drawing swastikas on a log sheet knowing a guard from Israel would almost certainly see them. The guard also made Nazi-like salutes to his Israeli colleague.

In a separate incident, a female Israeli security employee alleged that she was assaulted while working in Vienna. It was not clear whether that incident was sexually related or motivated by anti-Semitism, a UN official said.

The letter from Diana Russler, the deputy to UN security chief David Veness, said the Department of Safety and Security and the Office of Human Resources Management have jointly established a panel to investigate "recent allegations of anti-Semitic incidents in the Security and Safety Service ... and establish the facts.?

more...

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. What the hell are you talking about?

And who is "the ruling tribe thought police?"

[AlienGirl]

4. The ruling tribe thought police...the moderators? I think he meant me!

:rofl:

[Judi Lynn]

3. I read this article days ago, and didn't post it. Here are some others

from that time period:

Swastikas Found at United Nations Cause Uproar Among Israelis

By BENNY AVNI - Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 22, 2006


UNITED NATIONS - United Nations officials are investigating a recent spate of anti-Semitic incidents against staff, including the scrawling of Nazi swastikas in an official log book which was deliberately intended to upset an Israeli security officer.

The victim, who has declined to be interviewed for this article for fear of retaliation by superiors, has tried to get the organization to punish the perpetrators but has not so far been satisfied with the results, according to sources familiar with the case.
(snip/...)

http://www.nysun.com/article/27976

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.N. SWASTIKA GUARD SLAPPED

Post Wire Services

February 22, 2006 -- The United Nations has reprimanded a security guard at its Manhattan headquarters for drawing swastikas on a log sheet that was later seen by an Israeli guard, officials said yesterday.
The guard who drew the swastikas was issued a letter of reprimand and asked to attend sensitivity training, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Dujarric would not identify the guard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the same organization which published the original article:

Last update - 06:32 22/02/2006


UN guard rebuked for drawing swastikas on security log

By The Associated Press

The United Nations has reprimanded a security guard for drawing swastikas on a log sheet later seen by a guard from Israel, a UN spokesman said.

The guard who drew the swastikas was issued a letter of reprimand and was asked to attend sensitivity training for the September incident, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday.

Dujarric would not identify the guard who was reprimanded.

A UN official speaking on condition of anonymity said the guard had also made Nazi-like salutes to his Israeli colleague. The official, who was not authorized to disclose the information publicly, said the guard was from Jamaica.

The Israeli guard also was not identified.
(snip/...)

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/685697.html

ETC., ETC., ETC.

[Karmakaze]

5. Disgusting!

A reprimand? The guard should have been fired. Having said that, trying to extend the acts of an individual or individuals to the entire UN is wrong.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Hmmm...seems someone agrees...

"Israel's Deputy UN Ambassador Daniel Carmon said last month, when asked about the swastikas and Nazi salutes, that "those signs of hatred and terror are things of the past and they cannot happen in 2006." But he said that the act of one security guard could not be compared to the larger issue of anti-Semitism at the UN."

This is not an isolated act. Read the whole article and you will see why this is problematic.

[Karmakaze]

7. I read the whole article...

and saw one clearly racist incident and one POSSIBLY racist incident. How does that equate to the entire UN? There have been anti-Arab racist incidents among the Israeli security services - does that mean the entire IDF is racist?

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Considering the history of the UN...

...I think they are trying to show that problems are still there.

[Karmakaze]

10. What problems?

What history?

Let me just say I never thought the Zionism is Racism resolution was anti-Semitic. Anti-Zionist, of course, anti-Semitic, well... And no, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic are NOT the same thing. One is aimed at policy, the other at race. There are quite a few anti-Zionist Jews, and no matter how much the Israel supporters want us to think these people are "self-hating Jews", I reject that characterisation.

Unless of course Zionism IS about race, in which case the Zionism is Racism resolution was right. You can't have it both ways, either Zionism is a racial feature, in which case it by definition excludes other races and thus is racist, or it is a policy, in which case being anti-Zionist is like being anti-Capitalist, or anti-Communist.

I am personally not against Israel as a state - what I am against is Israel as a JEWISH state - in other words a state by and for Jews and exclusive of non-Jews. That would be racism, and sadly that is the history of the state of Israel as well as the current policy.

[Behind the Aegis]

11. you really need to read more history.

You seem to be a little confused.

"I am personally not against Israel as a state - what I am against is Israel as a JEWISH state - in other words a state by and for Jews and exclusive of non-Jews. That would be racism, and sadly that is the history of the state of Israel as well as the current policy."

Does this mean you are also against Arab nations set-up as "a state by and for Muslims and exclusive of non-Muslims?" Because there are lots more of them!

[Karmakaze]

12. Yes, it does...

Racism, no matter what the form should not occcur. However, we were not talking about Arab states, we were talking about Israel and the UN.
So it seems YOU are the confused one.

[Behind the Aegis]

13. No, the confusion is yours.

You gave an example of why you disliked Israel, I pointed out the NUMEROUS Arab nations that are the SAME way. And, while you say "Racism, no matter what the form" should not occur, you don't seem to not want to explore it further, just deal with the ugly little incidents as they crop up.

[Andromeda]

14. I disagree with your definition of Zionism...

and especially your view that Israel shouldn't be a Jewish state. Israel doesn't exclude non-Jews even though it is a Jewish state. Virtually all Jews were forced to leave the Arab states and now there are only around 8,000 Jews living in Arab states because they were forced to leave. I don't believe Saudi Arabia allows Jews in their state at all but I might be wrong about that.

(As an aside, the Saudis don't recognize Israel as a state even though they claim to be "allies" of the U.S.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_Arab_lands

Israel was created in 1948 because the Jews had no place to go--no homeland. Do you think it's wrong for the Jewish people to have their own homeland where they can live and work in peace without having to worry about being uprooted or killed? I don't see how you can call it racism. The Jews would have nowhere to go to raise their families and practice their faith if they were living in any of the Arab states.

[Andromeda]

15. Here's a link...

The title "Anti-Semitism in the United Nations" was carefully chosen. It does not charge the UN, an indispensable world organization, with anti-Semitism. Rather, it suggests that there is a considerable anti-Semitic component behind the policies pursued there and expressed without challenge (except by the United States) in its fora.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/UN/unantisem.html

[MrPrax]

8. UN must be doing something good...

given the historical context vis a vis Israel, the US, the Unaligned Movement, the Arab League members, etc that ONLY two incidents have ocurred.