In three words, the sages of the Talmud defined, or rather condemned and denounced what has been going on in Israeli politics in recent weeks, the delusional reactions to the indictment against former US President Donald Trump that were heard and published by senior Republicans, some of whom Trump insulted and humiliated, in three words – “And let the truth be absent” (Babili, Tractate Sota, page MT9 page 2).
The sages of the Talmud were referring to the period they defined as “Aqbata Damascus”, a period of the signs of the Messiah’s age. But this definition, “And let the truth be absent” is so striking, so accurate and required to describe what is happening in Israel and the US, that it is permissible, proper and desirable to expand the practical meaning of the definition of the sages of the Talmud to the present day. Integrity and empty of any trace of morality, which confirm every time the sorrow of the Talmud sages for the missing truth.
A new record that reveals the absence of any shred of truth was recorded at the beginning of the week – not in local national development but in the global arena, in an international arena: Russia accepted the presidency of the Security Council and will manage the only body of the United Nations that has the authority to enforce its decisions by force.
Russia, whose president Vladimir Putin was declared a war criminal by the International House in The Hague, will decide the agenda of the Security Council, a country that invaded an independent foreign country, that bombards cities and villages, that launched and continues to launch missiles at civilian targets including hospitals and schools, which caused the killing of thousands innocent people.
As president of the Security Council, Russia will determine the priorities of regional crises and conflicts that the Council should discuss, it will formulate the decisions, including condemnations and warnings against acts of violence. The image that comes to mind is that a person who was convicted as a serial killer was entrusted and responsible for running a criminal court.
During the month of April, when Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, will act as president of the Security Council, the periodic discussion on the Middle East and the “Palestine question” will take place. The Russian ambassador, as in every periodic discussion on this topic, will attack Israel, condemn the “Israeli occupation” and denounce the Its “settlements policy”.
At the same time that he, the Russian senior official, is speaking at the Security Council hearing in New York, Russia is bombing civilian targets in Ukraine, launching modern missiles at densely populated areas and there is no sign or hint from Russia that it intends to slow down its attacks on targets in Ukraine.
This nonsensical absurdity that a leprous country like Russia serves as president of the Security Council came up in the questions that UN correspondents journalists asked the organization’s spokesman Stefan Juaric at the daily briefing that took place last Friday.
Juaric, the veteran and skilled spokesman for the UN, had a hard time hiding the discomfort he felt. He tried to explain that the Security Council is an independent body run by the member states. “The UN is a complicated and complex organization,” he said. He also clarified that the Secretary General of the United Nations will continue to “speak and declare his positions and views regardless of who runs the Security Council.”
The truth is that the Security Council has been caught and immersed in a process of decline and depreciation in its status and authority for two decades. Libya under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, Syria under the tyrannical rule of Bashar Assad, Iran under the control of a fanatical religious regime that supports terrorism, Lebanon with a government in which Hezbollah is a member, these countries served as non-permanent members of the Security Council and fulfilled the role of acting president of the Council.
The Security Council did nothing, it was exposed as powerless in its lack of response to the civil war in Syria. The council did not make a single decision that responded to the massacre of the hundreds of thousands of civilians in Syria.
The composition of the council is also archaic, arbitrary and does not represent the true balance of power in the world. The only and last change in the composition of the council was made in 1963, when the number of non-permanent members was increased from 11 to 15. But since then the number of UN member states has increased from 113 to 193. The Security Council has remained stuck in an archaic world that has nothing to do with the political reality and balance of power of the 21st century.
The current composition of the Council and the vesting of the right of veto exclusively in the hands of the USA, Russia, China, Great Britain and France, are an expression of an anachronistic situation that does not represent the transformations that have taken place in the world arena. Large, populated countries with strong economies such as Germany, Japan, India, Brazil, South Korea is not a member of the council.
Attempts were made to reform the composition of the Council and initiatives were discussed to expand its composition and to add central countries to members with the right of veto. All the initiatives discussed were rejected and thwarted. According to senior and veteran diplomats, the ones who stopped the initiatives are the powers that are not ready to give up their primacy status.
China strongly opposes the inclusion of Japan, Argentina is furious that Brazil is mentioned as a candidate of Latin America. Pakistan is angry that India sees itself as a natural candidate, while Italy claims that its right to a permanent seat in the council is no less than that of Germany.
The term of office of the Russian ambassador to the United Nations as president of the Security Council is limited to a period of duty lasting one month. But Russia takes care and bothers to point out and disclose the fact of its tenure at the head of the only authoritative body of the United Nations while its president was officially declared a war criminal.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is coming to New York this week and will serve twice, in two debates, as chairman of the Security Council. A defiant step and a political punch in the ribs of the world organization. This is what is called in undiplomatic language, “jump me”. We continue to bomb Ukraine, destroy villages, kill civilians and I am in New York, chairing the Security Council debate.