Mr. António Guterres
United Nations Secretary-General
United Nations Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017, USA
Dear Secretary-General Guterres,
The world is facing a grave crisis in the Middle East, which urgently requires a drastic change of course and more decisive action by the United Nations. As leading members of the American Christian community who seek and value peace among all peoples, we are greatly concerned with the failures of your office to confront this crisis with moral clarity and resolve.
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, as the Jewish people were quietly observing the fall holy day of Simchat Torah, Hamas launched thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel, while over 2,000 heavily armed Hamas terrorists broke through the Gaza border fence and attacked some 25 Israeli communities and an outdoor music festival. In the ensuing carnage, more than 1,000 innocent men, women, and children were murdered in cold blood, scores more were wounded, and approximately 150 others were taken hostage to Gaza. Most victims of this unprovoked attack were Israelis, but dozens of foreign nationals from at least 40 countries also fell prey to the Hamas onslaught as casualties or captives.
The brutal atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians was the worst pogrom against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Mere infants were cruelly stabbed and beheaded. The elderly, including Holocaust survivors, were executed at gunpoint. Parents were made to watch their children being killed, and children their parents. Entire families were burned alive in their homes. Surely, you were appalled by these actions, just as every human with a heart and conscience should be. Many times, the United Nations and its member states have vowed “Never Again,” yet the international community has failed the Jewish people once again.
The resulting conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is the greatest challenge to the Jewish State and people in more than a generation. Iran and its many proxy terror militias are now threatening to rain down missiles across Israel and calling for the slaughter of more Jews around the globe. Iran’s ambitions of regional hegemony are a serious threat to all nations in the region and beyond.
The accepted solutions for bringing peace to this region have been left in tatters by Hamas and its regional patrons and allies. They are bent on a genocidal campaign to annihilate the Jews and their revived State and do not care how much the civilians of Gaza will suffer as a consequence.
With this in mind, we urge you to lead the United Nations and its organs to condemn these atrocities and every government or terrorist network responsible for them and apply the full weight of the United Nations to deter any further acts of aggression by these evil entities by taking the following actions.
First, we admonish you to forcefully and unequivocally condemn Hamas’s atrocities and the radical ideology that inspired its actions.
Second, we urge you to fully support Israel’s right to defend itself and its efforts to free both the Jewish nation and the Gazan people from the ruthless, oppressive rule of Hamas. Similarly, you must refrain from inappropriate calls for Israeli restraint in the face of the Hamas butchery of Jews and callous abuse of its own people.
Third, the United Nations must make every effort to secure the safe return of every hostage seized by Hamas, regardless of nationality.
Fourth, the United Nations must press for stronger, more effective international sanctions on the Iranian regime. Effective action must be taken to end their renegade nuclear program, support of global terrorism, and export of weapons intended to destabilize the Middle East and achieve hegemony over the region.
Fifth, the United Nations must hold Qatar responsible for its complicity in Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians. Over the past decade, Qatar has been funding the Hamas military build-up under the guise of “rebuilding Gaza.” It also has given refuge to Ismail Haniyeh and other senior Hamas leaders in Doha and has deliberately fueled incitement against Israel through its official TV channel, Al-Jazeera. Qatar’s emir and senior leadership should be investigated by an international tribunal for aiding and abetting the recent Hamas war crimes.
We thank you for your attention to this most pressing matter. If handled incorrectly, the United Nations could lose all credibility.
Most respectfully,
American Christian Leaders for Israel