The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office “is investigating possible willful killing and aircraft destruction in its probe of the crash of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran.”
First Iran insisted that the jetliner crash was due to mechanical failure, but when Iranian authorities refused to turn over the black box, the Iranian government’s back was against the wall; it admitted to attacking the jet by “mistake.” Given the tensions that were sparked by the Iranian attack on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, followed by swift retaliation that saw General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, killed in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport, here is a question to consider: why would Iran allow flight departures, given its own stated nervousness? “Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blamed the U.S. for Iran’s mistaken decision to shoot down the plane, tweeting: ‘Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster.’”
The Iranian military offered up another desperate excuse to exonerate itself, insisting that “the jet turned towards a sensitive site belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and was then mistaken for a cruise missile.” Any plane could have been thus mistaken. How many passenger planes were destined to fly out of Imam Khomeini International Airport that day?
The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office is now investigating the possibility of willful killing and aircraft destruction in its probe into the crash. As news continues to emerge, with the latest announcement of “possibly willful killing and aircraft destruction,” it is worth noting that something significant happened the day before the crash, which may or may not have been involved in the shooting-down of the airliner. In any case, it is significant of itself in the midst of conflict in the Middle East.
A day before the downing of the Ukraine passenger jet by Iran, Ukraine abandoned the “UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.”
The 25-country committee is the source of many resolutions criticizing Israel, which are often adopted by the UN General Assembly. It was established in 1975 “to enable Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination… the right to national independence and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad has been recently escalating tensions with Israel, while Hamas has supposedly continued to work with a Cairo-brokered ceasefire plan. In November, Islamic Jihad launched two projectiles against Israel in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes in Syria that struck Iranian targets. The airstrike also killed a senior Islamic Jihad leader.
Hamas is an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood school of thought, Islamic Jihad embraces the Islamic revolution of Iran.
Islamic Jihad is in effect an “Iranian proxy, operated by an on/off switch by Tehran.” Since Soleimani’s death, spokeman Abu Hamzeh for Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al Quds Brigades, stated in a tweet: “Today, Al-Quds Brigades bids farewell to a jihadi leader who had always instilled terror in the heart of America and the Zionist entity.” This Quran-inspired threat (8:12) has “always” guided jihadists, although is consistently downplayed by most Western analysts.
When Ukraine decided to leave the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Israeli Foreign Ministry tweeted its congratulations to Ukraine for quitting the “anachronistic anti-Israeli” committee. The tweet went on: “We urge other committee members to follow suit. What are you still doing there???”
The Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine, Joel Lion, also stated that Israel had been “constantly” asking “all of the friendly countries on the committee to leave it.” The president of NGO Monitor, Gerald Steinberg, referred to the committee as a “hate group” that “should have gone years ago.” And what has been Palestinian and UN reaction? Unusual silence.
One cannot affirmatively connect the downing of the Ukraine jetliner to Ukrainian matters at the UN without solid evidence, but there are unquestionable facts about Iran, including its historic hostility to Israel, its woeful disregard for human life, and its incendiary proxies in the jihad against Israel. Iran is currently trying to save face while continuing its jihad war against “great Satan” America, the “little Satan” Israel, and any country or individual opposed to its ambitions.
“Ukraine pulls out of ‘anti-Israeli’ UN committee on Palestinians,” by Lahav Harkov, Jerusalem Post, January 6, 2020:
Ukraine has left the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The decision was approved by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The 25-country committee is the source of many resolutions criticizing Israel, which are often adopted by the UN General Assembly. It was established in 1975 “to enable Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination… the right to national independence and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced.”
The Foreign Ministry tweeted congratulations to Ukraine for quitting the “anachronistic anti-Israeli” committee. “We urge other committee members to follow suit. What are you still doing there???” the tweet reads.
Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Joel Lion said Israel “constantly” asked all of the friendly countries on the committee to leave it.
“There’s no need for such a committee. It’s the example of singling out” Israel at the UN, he said. “It’s the committee that always makes decisions against Israel… I feel that people understand that [the committee’s] time has passed.”
In Ukraine, the decision would have to be approved by the president, and with Zelensky’s election to the presidency, the government became more open to the idea, Lion said. Zelensky’s office weighed the proposal positively ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Kiev in September….