The World's Sliding Scale of Moral Values

Imagine a world where destruction of historic and archeological sites is dismissed as unimportant and irrelevant by the World Community. Imagine a world where the murder of innocents gets a moment of silence but is otherwise ignored by that same World Community. Imagine again, that this is not a make-believe world, but truly the one we live in. The World Community seems to be quite a tolerant bunch depending on what group you belong to. Perhaps they'll even admit you into their little organizations - despite or perhaps because of past 'activities'.

Let's start with the UNESCO vote to allow the "Palestinians" into their agency. UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. I wonder if anyone could list what the "Palestinian" contributions have been to humanity at large up until this point? Anyone?

Aside from the fact that the "Palestinians" deny Jewish history - denying that the Jewish Temples in Jerusalem ever existed, denying that modern day Jews are the descendants of those Jews of 3000 years ago, denying 3000 years of Jewish existence in the Land of Israel, and even denying the Holocaust - is the fact that the "Palestinians" actively destroy Jewish historical artifacts and sites.

One would imagine that actively destroying anyone's historical artifacts and sites would be frowned upon by UNESCO - but I suppose that it depends on who is doing the destruction. The "Palestinians" seem to be exempt.

Here are just a few examples of important Jewish holy sites being attacked and destroyed:
* In Septemer 1996, Palestinian rioters destroyed a synagogue at Joseph's Tomb in Schem/Nablus.
* Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem has been repeatedly attacked since 1996.
* In October 2000, Joseph's Tomb was torched after the Israeli garrison guarding it was temporarily withdrawn. It was subsequently rebuilt as a mosque.
* Also in October 2000, the ancient synagogue in Jericho was destroyed by arson and a second historic synagogue was damaged.
* The Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism, home of the First and Second Temples, has also seen tremendous destruction of historical artifacts. From 1996-2001 historic parts of the Temple Mount were destroyed to make way for underground mosques.

In November 1999, the Islamic clerics opened what they called an "emergency exit" to the new mosque. Over three days and nights, the "exit" expanded into a gaping hole, 18,000 square feet in size, and up to 36 feet deep. Thousands of tons of ancient fill from the site, subsequently found by Israeli archeologists to contain artifacts dating as early as the First Temple period, were dumped into the Kidron Valley.

In February and March 2001, an ancient arched structure built against the eastern wall of the Temple Mount enclosure was razed by bulldozers in order to further enlarge the "emergency gate" of the new mosque at Solomon's Stables.

Furthermore, without any archeological supervision, approximately 6,000 square meters of the ancient surface level of the Temple Mount were dug up by tractors, paved, and declared to be open mosques. The previous director of the Antiquities Authority has called this "an archeological crime." No Israeli official has seen any plans or has set limits on the work being carried out.

One would imagine that the destruction of a 3000 year site would stop a world body from allowing these "people" from joining the ranks of those who care about history and the preservation of ancient artifacts. But again, I suppose it matters who is doing the destruction and whose property is being destroyed.

I also suppose that we shouldn't be surprised by any of this. World organizations seem to like to reward egregiously destructive behavior such as those demonstrated by the "Palestinians".

The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta saw the "Palestinians" participate in the Games for the first time. Only 24 years after the Munich Olympic Massacre of the Israeli athletes - unarmed civilians there to complete on the world stage, the "Palestinians" were welcomed to compete as well. Once again, it matters who is doing the murdering and who is being murdered. The "Palestinians", of course, again get a pass.

So which world organization is next to admit the "Palestinians"? Would it be the World Heath Organization (WHO)? Perhaps using ambulances (Red Crescent and UNRWA) to transport bombs and terrorists would be sanctioned by WHO. Is this scenario really so far fetched?

Everything seems to be morally relative when it comes to the "Palestinians". Destroy historic artifacts and sites, holy sites not withstanding, and get admitted to UNESCO. Murder innocent Jewish athletes at the Olympics, and be admitted to those same Games a few years later. All is forgiven. Moral relativity at it's best - all dependent on the parties at hand. The World at large seems to have a sliding scale of standards, but then again, no surprise there.