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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/04/05/trees-for-terror-palestinian-charity-holds-planting-ceremony-to-honor-martyrs.html

Don't get me wrong, both sides are guilty to a degree, but seriously? honoring those who kill civilians seems a bit low. Personally I believe the UN should look into this and if it is true they should stop all funding to that particular group.

Does the UN even have teeth to do anything?

 cincydooley wrote:
Does the UN even have teeth to do anything?

LOL true, but if nothing else they can defund the program.

The US has several yearly observances to honor those who served our country, or died in such service, which has involved killing civilians for over 200 years.

I'm sure Israel has similar events that honor its soldiers, who kill Palestinian civilians.

SemperMortis wrote:

 cincydooley wrote:
Does the UN even have teeth to do anything?

LOL true, but if nothing else they can defund the program.

It wouldn't do much, because the UN is just a small part of the funding.

The article does a good job trying to tell one story, and then clarifying it near the bottom. If you follow the article you quickly realize that the "UN-Funded Charity" actually is an NGO that receives funding from many sources, and isn't really a "UN-Funded Charity" at all.

From the NGO Monitor:

•Donors include the European Union, Australia (via AusAID), Spain (AECID), Norwegian People’s Aid, Netherlands, Italy, Japan, UNDP, UNRWA, Catholic Relief Services, NGO Development Center, World Vision, Action Against Hunger, International Orthodox Christian Charities, Grassroots International, and others.

A please explain from the UN, as well as Australia and everyone else, to the program in question would be nice. Development groups in Palestine are desperately needed, and there's a level of politicisation that's acceptable - groups that develop land and have a strong stance on borders are thing, groups directly honouring martyrs are something else.

 sebster wrote:
A please explain from the UN, as well as Australia and everyone else, to the program in question would be nice. Development groups in Palestine are desperately needed, and there's a level of politicisation that's acceptable - groups that develop land and have a strong stance on borders are thing, groups directly honouring martyrs are something else.

I do think that the story really doesn't tell us a lot about the actual memorial and event, and that it's really pretty thin evidence that something bad was done. The NGO itself seems legitimate enough in scope and purpose, and the event seems to have been to commemorate the anniversary of the beginning of the land dispute. I don't even think the trees themselves are enough to get worked up over based on what little information we have. The claim is that they were planted to "honor the martyrs" who knived Israelis, but personally I would take the source with a little bit of salt. Did the NGO plant the trees to honor martyrs, or did they plant trees to remember people that were killed in the fighting surrounding the land dispute? Did the NGO call them martyrs, or was there a speaker who turned a memorial to people killed in the conflict and decided to "go rogue" and elevate them to martyrs?

I know that for some there probably isn't much of a difference, but I do think that there is a difference between a memorial to people killed in conflict, and a memorial for martyrs. We have memorials in German cities for the soldiers from those cities that died in WW1 and WW2, not because they were "right" or "martyrs", but because families lost loved ones in the fighting. I am inclined to believe that this memorial is more along those lines, but I know others will likely lean the other way.

Fox News is a dubious source, as shown by the slant they impose right at the beginning of their coverage, by filing the story under terrorism. Planting trees is terrorism now?

We ought to get information about the story from more reputable sources before thinking about what should be done.

SemperMortis wrote:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/04/05/trees-for-terror-palestinian-charity-holds-planting-ceremony-to-honor-martyrs.html

Don't get me wrong, both sides are guilty to a degree, but seriously? honoring those who kill civilians seems a bit low. Personally I believe the UN should look into this and if it is true they should stop all funding to that particular group.

Why would they?

It's not the UN's business to "do things" about monuments that people on the other side of the planet are offended by. Yes, to most people in the West this is horrific. To people in other parts of the world, they don't see it any different than any other war memorial or the like as their views of warfare and the angles of the conflict may be different.

Ultimately, nobody is being actively harmed by this, it's relatively harmless in the grand scheme of things. People in the West may have issues with it, but ultimately that's not something the UN deals with.

Besides, it's not like there aren't tons of monuments/trees/roads/signs/statues/etc in the US, Europe, Russia, China, etc (all places with Veto power or other pull) and even Israel that are dedicated to people who provably killed civilians or prisoners (or directly commanded people who did)...so as long as those are there...