PRESS RELEASE
Geneva, August 28, 2006 — UN Watch today demanded that the U.N. investigate new allegations that its UNIFIL mission in Lebanon was providing intelligence that helped shield Hezbollah forces as they fired more than 4,000 deadly rockets at Israeli civilians. Following is the full text of the UN Watch letter, sent today to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and UNIFIL Commander Major-General Alain Pellegrini:
His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan
The Secretary-General
The United Nations
New York, NY 10017
Via fax
28 August 2006
Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
We are deeply troubled by new evidence that the supposedly neutral United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (“UNIFIL”) assisted Hezbollah terrorists by publishing detailed, sensitive information on Israeli troop movements on its website during the recent Israel/Hezbollah conflict. (See Lori Lowenthal Marcus, “What did you do in the war, UNIFIL?”, The Weekly Standard , Volume 11, Issue 47, 4 September 2006 (copy attached )). No similar information was published about Hezbollah forces, who fired more than 4,000 missiles aimed deliberately at Israeli civilians.
If true, such conduct is unconscionable—although not entirely surprising, given UNIFIL’s sad history of both tacit and active bias towards Hezbollah and against Israel—and raises troubling questions as to whether UN forces can be trusted to even-handedly police this area, just as more are being readied to deploy.
We urge you to initiate an immediate investigation into this matter.
With great respect, we remain,
Sincerely yours,
Ambassador Alfred H. Moses
Chairman
Hillel C. Neuer
Executive Director
cc: Major-General Alain Pellegrini, UNIFIL Force Commander
