By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 3, more
here --
The UN's Ban
Ki-moon on
August 1 said
that an
Israeli
Defense Forces
soldier had
been taken
hostage and it
called into
question the
credibility of
Hamas.
After the IDF
on August 2
said the
soldier, Hadar
Goldin, had in
fact been
killed in
action, Ban
Ki-moon did
not issue any
correction --
even in his
next
statement,
about the
shelling of
the UNRWA
school in
Rafah. Call it
schizophrenia.
Ban's August 1
statement,
into which UN
officials tell
Inner City
Press Ban was
pressured, had
performed its
function. Now
it's back to
auto-pilot.
On NBC's Meet
the Press, the
State of
Palestine's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Riyad Mansour
was badgered
by David
Gregory,
notably more
schmoozy than
usual, about
Hamas' use of
human shield.
"Ask Doctors
Without
Borders,"
Mansour
retorted, and
cited the
shelling of
the Rafah
school.
UN's
function as
figleaf and
theater, Ban
delivers: On
August 1 at
noon in New
York, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
through his
spokesman said
that the an
Israeli
Defense Forces
soldier had
been taken
captive and
that this
called "into
question the
credibility of
Hamas'
assurances to
the United
Nations. The
Secretary-General
demands the
immediate and
unconditional
release of the
captured
soldier."
Later on
August 1, a
range of UN
official
described to
Inner City
Press the
pressure put
on Ban to rule
that Hamas
broke the
ceasefire and
held captive
an IDF
soldier.
"How does he
know?" one UN
official
demanded.
Now on August
3, the IDF
says that the
soldier, Hadar
Goldin, "was
killed in
action."
So will there
be a second
Ban Ki-moon
statement?
What will the
pressure be
this time?
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