GOEBBELS: “Accuse the other of that you are guilty”

If they do not repent, will they not be redeemed at all? Rather, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will establish a king for them whose decrees are as harsh as those issued by Haman, and the Jewish people will have no choice but to repent.....Sanhedrin 97b  

The United Nations’ Goebbels Maneuver

Joseph Goebbels, who from 1933 to 1945 served first as the chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, then as Reich Minister of Propaganda, was undeniably an evil man. Yet it's equally undeniable that he was good at his job. Running the Nazi propaganda machine was a task that required a detailed understanding of the nuances of human behavior. Specifically, he knew, and put to deadly purposes the psychological power of blame shifting. He is quoted as summarizing his theory by saying that the goal was to “Accuse the other of that you are guilty.”

nazi icj un

Blame shifting is defined in psychological terms as a manipulation technique wherein, to discredit a victim an abuser will often blame the victim for abuser’s actions, even going so far as to say the victim is really the one who committed the abuse. This may cause the victim to feel defeated or that they are losing their mind.

Anyone looking for a real-world example of this has only to look at the recent Hague ruling.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague recently handed down its first judgment in a case brought by South Africa against Israel. While it did not go so far as calling for a ceasefire, the ICJ ruling stated that at least some of Israel’s responses during the current war against Hamas appear to fall within the terms of the Genocide Convention. In a 15-2 ruling, the court supported the “plausibility” of South Africa’s claim of Israeli genocide.

The irony is overwhelming, and not just because taking lessons in morality from South Africa is like taking lessons in cooking from Jeffrey Dahmer. The ICJ is the legal arm of the United Nations. And the UN daring to accuse Israel of genocide given the revelations that have come out about the organization would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous.

The same day the court ruling came down. Israel turned over intelligence incriminating 12 employees of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian Arab "refugees" of actively participating in the October 7th massacre. It also revealed the use of the organization’s vehicles and facilities during horrifying attacks. Already The UN agency has fired several of the employees involved and the evidence presented was strong enough to encourage the US to halt all funding to the agency. So far, 14 other countries have quickly followed the US' lead.

According to spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN chief Antonio Guterres “is horrified” by the accusations and has ordered that an “urgent and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA will be conducted.”

Information that has come to light detailing of the actions of UNRWA employees in support of Hamas are chilling. According to report in the New York Times, one was accused of kidnapping a woman, another of distributing ammunition, and a third was described as having participated in the Be’eri massacre, in which 97 Israelis were murdered.

Days later a report in the Wall Street Journal uncovered that 10% of all UNRWA employees in Gaza have ties to terror organizations. In real numbers, this means that 1,200 out of 12,000 employees have ties to either Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Besides direct involvement in terror groups, the report found that an astonishing 50% of the UN agency’s employees in Gaza have at least one close relative that has ties to these groups.

This development is the latest in a string of revelations exposing the corruption at the core of the UNRWA. A released hostage revealed that he was held for 50 days in the attic of a UNRWA teacher. UN Watch uncovered those thousands of UNRWA teachers celebrated Hamas' rape and murder of civilians, praised the attackers as "heroes," celebrated their role in the "education" that the terrorists received, "gleefully" share photos of dead and kidnapped Israelis, and urged the execution of those Israelis taken hostage.

Unsurprisingly, UNRWA schools proven hotbeds of antisemitism, Holocaust denial, teaching hate, violence, and extremism. Textbooks used in schools glorify the intifada and encourage children to become martyrs. Generations of Palestinian Arab children have been subject to jihadist indoctrination, paid for with Western tax dollars.

Meanwhile, this same UNRWA has created the very refugee problem that they now blame Israel for. No other group or people has continued to be classified as refugees three and even four generations later. While insisting that the description be applied solely to the Palestinian Arabs, UNRWA is keeping them in a state of continuous victimhood. It is this fictional starting point and its subsequent demand for the 'right of return' that has been a major obstacle in the history of the peace process.

By refusing to allow Gazans the opportunity to leave and resettle in new host countries the UNRWA is keeping them in a state of perpetual refugees, just have it have done since its inception. Moreover, by trapping them in Gaza they are directly and intentionally putting them in harm’s way. Israel can tell Gazans to flee but it doesn’t do any good if the UNRWA refuses to let them go. The agency has created an entire population trapped under the control of Hamas, forced to be human shields in the hopes that their deaths can be used to as an incitement against Israel. What they should have been doing is arranging emigration for those who wish to leave.

The UN either willfully turned a blind eye to the corruption in its ranks or is so grossly incompetent that it did even see what was happening until it was too later. What is clear now is that the UN is using one of its arms to not only cover the crimes of another but to turn the actual victims into international war criminals.

By resorting to such a psychological defense mechanism, the UN has made clear that their main goal is not peace but their own self-preservation, no matter what the cost. It would seem that the word “justice” in “International Court of Justice” is simply another irony. Goebbels would be pleased.

Ilan Goodmanis a museum collections professional and exhibition curator. He also serves as a rabbi and educator. He made Aliyah to Israel in 2011 and lives with his wife and children in Beit Shemesh.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/384733

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