UNprincipled

Following on from the previous post, Ha'aretz notes the outcome of the UN report on the Mugrabi Gate mishigas:

Israel's excavation work at the Mugrabi Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem is being carried out in accordance with international standards, according to the report drafted by a team of UNESCO experts who came to Jerusalem to expect [sic] the controversial dig.

Sources in the UN said the report, which will be published on Wednesday, accepts Israel's claims that the excavations do not harm the Temple Mount compound, and support the legality of the work.

How widespread will this conclusion be reported?

Rhetoric question.

It's a recurring theme, a la Groundhog Day:

1. Accusations made by countries hostile to Israel.
2. Lots of protest and noise and criticism levelled at Israel. Plenty of media coverage.
   
3. Israel denies any wrongdoing. Media coverage of Israeli response limited to one line in an article.
   
4. Vote taken to send a UN investigation team.
5. Time passes. Story subsides with the bitter accusations against Israel in the media's collective memory.
6. UN investigation team concludes no significant wrongdoing by Israel.
7. Little or no media coverage of the UN findings.
   

Previous examples include the use of depleted uranium in Lebanon and the Jenin 'massacre' that wasn't. Also, the investigation into the deaths of Gazans on the beach from the unexploded shell is a similar example, with Human Rights Watch playing the part of the UN in this case.

There is a twist to the story this time.

A UN report on Israel is by definition incomplete if it merely vindicates Israel's position. There needs to be some criticism:

However, the report criticizes Israel's choice to carry out the excavation independently, without including international bodies in the plans, and calls on Israel to temporarily halt the excavation immediately to allow continued international supervision.

So there we have it. A member nation of the UN complies with international standards, but it still needs to have international supervision.

A member nation is criticised and pressured to subjugate sovereignty to the UN.

Whatever happened to the UN principles where the sovereignty of a member nation was respected?

Perhaps respect of sovereignty only applies to countries like Sudan where, provided genocide takes place within one's borders, the UN won't send an investigation team.

Instead the team will be diverted to Jerusalem, where there is access by all people of all religions to the city and its religious sites.