The United Nations: have you studied your own data?

The United Nations. Who could be against it? After the Second World War, the successor to the League of Nations was meant to settle conflicts between countries and, with all its agencies, make the world a better place.

History has indeed known many striking secretaries-general, each of whom viewed and influenced world history in their own way.

The current (Portuguese) UN chief, António Guterres, also stands out. In my view he is (too) often wrong and often just says things from the podium to keep his position. Within the UN you have to stay "virtuous", because you can serve two five-year terms. Imagine saying something the Islamic countries dislike: that means votes against you at re-election.

Recently he said in a speech: "Violence by Jewish settlers is soaring to alarming levels." HUH?

He is not the only one eager to appear virtuous. President Macron of (financially and morally) bankrupt France also warns on the world stage of a "dramatic increase in settler violence".

All that is left for me is to test the facts, not the opinions. Here is the first factual number you should remember: 59.

That is the total number of Palestinian Arab fatalities over the past ten years according to data from OCHA (the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). Not 5,900. Not 590.

59.

Only ONE of those 59 was the victim of unprovoked violence by an Israeli civilian. The other fatalities were either terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis, or Arabs killed in confrontations with Israeli security forces. Of those, there were four incidents (all related to Arab riots) in which it could not be definitively established who fired the fatal shot: the IDF or Israeli civilians.

Take the year 2024, for example. OCHA records five Palestinian fatalities. What they don't tell you is that all five were killed by Israeli security forces, not by "settlers".

For extra context: over the comparable period, the number of Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria killed in Arab terror attacks was 12 per 100,000, compared with 0.04 Arab fatalities per 100,000 – INCLUDING those killed while carrying out attacks and those killed by the IDF.

So, Secretary-General Guterres, President Macron, and everyone who cites these figures:

Have you studied your own data?