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Jeff Dunetz is a 20-year marketing veteran, and a freelance writer. He has been active in Jewish organizations since his USY days. Presently he is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Dix Hills (Long Island) Jewish Center. His articles can be found on his .
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By Jeff Dunetz
March 7, 2004
Originally published by Jewish World Review.
Sometimes my wife makes fun of me, she says that I am such a worrier. Usually my concern surrounds my kids, family, close friends or my job, but never a public figure. Lately my worry is causing me to lose sleep and it's not even someone I know personally. I am very concerned about Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Annan is a great moral man; he even won the Nobel Peace Prize. He is always the first to speak out when there is even the slightest perception of a nation doing wrong. Remember how he took a stand io the Mideast, saying how can Israel be right and the whole world wrong? Remember how quick he was to raise awareness and condemn Israel about Jenin even before the evidence showed that there was no massacre. This guy really cares. He's a peacemaker with very high moral standards.
Over the last few years the Palestinian government has been refusing to fight terror, Palestinian terrorists have been targeting Israeli children, and other civilians; they have been using their own people as human shields leading to the death of their own children (which is against the Geneva Convention). Yet, throughout all this, Kofi has been strangely silent. And the longer he is silent, the more I am concerned for his well-being.
About two years ago when Israel captured all those documents directly linking Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to terrorist acts, I just knew that Kofi would indignantly challenge Arafat to clean up his act. Yet this man, who is a fighter for world morality, was strangely silent. That's when I began to suspect that something was up. I scanned the newspapers every day looking for his comments - nothing. First I thought he must be ill so I called all the hospitals near the United Nations building in New York, but thank goodness he wasn't there.
My worrying about Kofi's safety increased this past September when a Palestinian terrorist blew apart Dr. David Appelbaum, and his daughter Nava. They were at Cafe Hillel having a father-daughter talk, the night before her wedding. Being such a man of peace, I am sure that the Secretary General would be affected by this tragedy and speak out. I raced to the newspapers to read our great Nobel Peace Prize winner vent his outrage, but I couldn't find his comments anywhere. At first I thought that he may be buying school supplies for his kids, after all it was September, and Mr. Annan is a regular guy.
Like the rest of us he must searching for the right number two pencils or the Spiderman notebook. He could be stuck in line at a Wal-Mart somewhere. That thought calmed my fears a little.
A month later, when twenty-one people were killed in Maxim restaurant in Haifa after a female terrorist blew herself up, I scanned the news channels, but nowhere could I find our UN leader speaking out against it. That's when I became convinced Kofi Annan had disappeared. Any man who is such a fighter against immorality would have been totally outraged at this horrible act of terror. Then I thought maybe he was away on vacation - that had to be it! Kofi works hard - he deserves a vacation. "I am doing all this worrying for nothing", I thought. Who knows, he may be up at Kutcher's for a long Columbus Day Weekend. Who likes to work when they are on vacation with the kids? That's why he can't speak out against these senseless murders.
In November, Israel introduced a UN Resolution designed to protect Israeli children; it had the same wording of one introduced to by Arab nations to protect Palestinian children. While the Palestinian one passed, the Israeli one was blocked, This time I knew that Kofi would speak out. After all Mr. Annan, is not only a great neutral peacemaker, but he is a big shot in the UN. This is his turf. He would not stand idly by and let bias overtake the organization he runs. But there was nothing - no comment, no outrage. Why wouldn't he speak out about the unfair way Israel is treated in the UN?
Then in a serendipitous moment it came to me - Lord of the Rings! The third installment was coming out - Kofi Annan was with thousands of other people waiting in line to be one of the first people to see the new movie. I bet he is even wearing the costume of his favorite character (Gimley, I reckon). That's why he hasn't spoken out, he doesn't want to lose his place on line.
A few weeks ago, a Palestinian policeman blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem, killing ten and injuring another fifty. Mr. Annan's office released a tepid statement about the bombing - no moral indignation... nothing.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Gillerman criticized that note, saying, "No mention is made of the Israeli victims slaughtered in the bombing. In fact, no specific reference is made to the attack at all, or to a condemnation, in any terms of the terrorist perpetrators."
To be honest, I think that the Ambassador is out of line. Lets face it - Kofi is a man of justice. He is a Nobel Prize winner. His office must have issued the statement without his knowledge. If he was aware it was going out, it would be stronger, condemning the killing of innocents.
That's it! Of course why didn't I think of it before, Kofi Annan is a man of justice. He must be working with O.J. Simpson to help find the real killer of his ex-wife. I knew that the O.J. search had moved to the South Florida golf courses, so I began to call them. "Have you seen O.J.? Is Kofi with him?"
I turned up nothing. One guy I spoke with named Manny, who works on a golf course in Del Rey Beach, Florida, told me that I was crazy. "Don't you get it?" He said to me, "It's just like the 1940s. Some people are killing Jews, others are just watching and doing nothing. Kofi Annan just doesn't care about Jewish blood. Remember those three kidnapped soldiers whose bodies were returned to Israel last week? They were taken by Hizbullah right in front of UN Observers. The UN guys even had it on tape. Not only did they not turn the tape over, they denied having it until it was way too late."
Manny can't be right. Kofi is a man who has won the Nobel Peace Prize. He must have been kidnapped or something.
Last Friday, Eitan Kukoi and Rima Novikov were driving to a birthday party when they were ambushed and shot in cold blood by a member of Arafat's Fatah terrorist group. Michelle Kukoi their two-year-old daughter is now an orphan.
Yet no indignation from the Secretary General of the United Nations the great man of peace. He must be missing. I am running out of ideas for places to look. As you go about your day, please keep an eye out for him. Let me know if you see him. Tell him to call me (or his mother). We are so worried.
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