The role of the United Nations in Gaza.

 The role of the United Nations in Gaza is, understandably, a subject of considerable discussion presently.  There is considerable evidence that members of the various United Nations entities operating in Gaza are sympathetic to Hamas and are actually cooperating in the struggle against Israel.  I do not have any way to confirm or deny these charges, but I find them to be very credible.   I can not imagine an organization that depends on local employees in a situation, such as exists in Gaza today, to be anything other than sympathetic to Hamas.  Any Palestinian that is not would be inviting retribution, if not death, even if they were for some reason, or another, opposed to Hamas.  My guess is that virtually the entire population of Gaza is, in fact, dedicated, heart and soul, to the fight against Israeli “occupation.”  Trying to find a citizen of Gaza that does not know where the local tunnel exits are would be a fool’s errand and a healthy percentage of the citizenry almost certainly helped construct the Hamas labyrinth beneath the city and today participates in hiding entrances and exits.  Harboring a local command center or arms depot in your second bedroom is almost certainly a matter of considerable prestige in the local society.  What has to be understood is that the people living in Gaza do not like Israel.  Whether they should or not is immaterial to the real-politic situation on the ground and we should not be confused about the matter, just as we should not be surprised that their sons and daughters that have come to this country for schooling feel the exact same way.

I repeat what I have said in earlier articles, I support Israel, but I am not blind to the challenges facing the Arab population concentrated in Gaza, and I do not believe that a solution can be found to the “Palestinian Problem” that does not provide a significantly better life for the Arab populace.  This does not mean that I condone the inhumane stupidity represented by the events of October 7.  Quite the contrary, I see that stupidity as being part of a larger problem and that is Shia Islam’s internecine war with Sunni Islam.  Specifically, Teheran was concerned that Jerusalem and Riyadh were about to significantly improve their relationship to the detriment of Shia interests in the region.  The killing in Gaza is, in fact, a side show in a much, much more important struggle that is poorly understood in this country.  I don’t pretend to understand it either, but I see it clearly and firmly believe that it transitions into the various manifestations of Radical Islam that are largely being ignored by the entire Western world including you and me.  The Gaza microcosm should be seen as a precursor to a much more difficult battle between the Western world and Radical Islam as represented today by the likes of Al Qaida and ISIS.  

I do not claim to be smart enough to suggest the best way forward, but I do not believe that our current approach to Radical Islam is sufficient, and I see Jerusalem’s current effort against Hamas and Hezbollah as being nothing more than a significantly ratcheted up version of our own “Over-the_Horizon” assassination of individual leaders that we don’t like.  There is no question but that sometimes it is necessary to kill an enemy, but anybody that believes that, by itself, it leads to anything other than retribution has not read very much real history, preferring instead fiction dressed in the current set of patriotic colors.  All of this is. as it always has been, but there is a significant difference that we are blithely ignoring - the invention of satellite guided ballistic missiles tipped with multiple, independently guided nuclear war heads.  That conflict, when it comes, is going to make a profound change in the way we humans live.  It will be even more important than all of the things we are quibbling about today - gas prices, the age of the fetus, the sign on the bathroom door, and our precious feelings.