I have to admit I’ve been trying hard to ignore the atrocities going on in Syria, especially in the last few weeks.  It’s extremely painful to look at pictures of, or even think about, the children who have been attacked by chemical weapons by their own government, and so it’s much easier to look away.  Unfortunately, as much as I’d like to, I can’t avoid the news, or reality, forever.  I finally had to take a look at the train wreck that has become the Middle East, especially since the vaunted “Arab Spring” that began in December of 2010 with protests and civil resistance to oppressive Arab governments.  Those protests led to violent attacks on their own citizens by the regimes running Arab countries.

In actuality, the trouble was foreshadowed during what became known as Iran’s Twitter Revolution by a cell phone video that captured the death of a young Iranian woman, Neda Agha-Soltan.  Neda was gunned down in the street in Tehran on June 20, 2009 during a protest of what was believed to be a rigged presidential election several weeks earlier.  Neda just happened to be an innocent bystander when she got out of a car to see what was going on.  Neda became a symbol of the yearning for democracy around the world, and her death became a battle cry against tyranny and oppression.

Like millions of others, I was so moved by her senseless and tragic death that I joined the Twitter Revolution and helped turn Twitter and Facebook “green” in solidarity with the Iranian people.

The fervor of Iran’s Green Movement has somewhat faded worldwide now, but the cry for democracy and human rights in the Middle East has only grown stronger.  Unfortunately, the people are no match for the vicious and evil Islamist regimes that will stop at nothing to control the population by any means necessary.

This time it’s happening in Syria and I’ve received my wake-up call.  If you haven’t already, you should, too.

Since the start of Syrian Civil War in March of 2011, human rights in Syria have deteriorated to the point that the government has resorted to using chemical weapons against its people.  It was reported as far back as May of 2011 in The Majalla, an online Arab magazine, that “between 600 and 800 people have been killed since the demonstrations began.”  Even more astounding, Syria has been bidding for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council since then.  As recently as last month, Syria was still campaigning for this appointment.

The United Nations has been well aware of the problem.  Over a year ago on July 27, 2012, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon claimed “he was ‘deeply’ concerned about the reports of possible use of chemical weapons in Syria,” according to the Jerusalem Post.  A lot of good that did.

I’m no fan of the United Nations, which issues condemnations against Israel practically on a weekly basis.  For the UN to even seriously consider giving Syria a seat would be unmitigated gall.  Even Iran had the sense to withdraw its petition.  Syria, however, presses on.

This is even more despicable in light of the recent news of Syria’s chemical warfare in Damascus.  As reported this morning by the Belfast Telegraph, even more children were gassed to death yesterday, and their pictures have been splashed across the front pages of newspapers globally.  And yet, the United Nations has remained mum.

The UN, however, has never had a problem condemning Israel.  According to the Jewish Virtual Library, “Despite being the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel routinely faces more criticism and condemnation at the United Nations than any other country, including those that systematically kill their citizens or deny them the most basic of human rights. Even today, both the General Assembly and Security Council continue to pass one-sided resolutions that single out and condemn the Jewish State.”

As a result of UN actions, Israel has been vilified more than any other country in the world.  It has become laughably fashionable to boycott Israel.  The irony is that Israel has done more to advance not only human rights, but medicine, agriculture and technology than almost all other countries combined.  Those who would boycott Israel have benefited the most from the most innovative nation on the planet.

When it comes to actual human rights, as opposed to the United Nations’ definition, no other country can light a candle to Israel.  As reported by The Times of Israel just this morning, an Arab Israeli family is asking the Israeli government to allow their injured Syrian relatives to be brought into Israel for treatment and to “die in the land of their birthplace.”  The article further states, “Since February, well over 100 Syrian civilians injured in the civil war have been admitted to Israeli hospitals for treatment. Many less serious cases have been treated by Israeli medical teams at an IDF field hospital in the Golan Heights. Israel has said it offers the care as an act of humanitarian assistance, while endeavoring to stay out of the Syrian war, in which an estimated 100,000 people have been killed since March 2011.”

Israel has absorbed a “cost of approximately $3 million” to treat the Syrian wounded, and yet the United Nations would have you believe she deserves condemnation, while Syria deserves a seat on the Human Rights Council.

This is nothing more than outrageous hypocrisy, which can only be attributed to anti-Semitism clothed in “anti-Israel” sentiment.

But the bigger issue here is that Syria has declared war on its own people.  Innocent men, women and children are painfully dying every day by chemical warfare, while the United States has done absolutely nothing to intervene.  As reported by the AP on Saturday, the White House was “still gathering information about the attack” even as “the most authoritative account so far, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said three hospitals near Damascus had reported 355 deaths in the space of three hours out of about 3,600 admissions with nerve gas-type symptoms.”

Despite the fact that yesterday Syria claimed it will allow UN inspectors into the country to investigate its alleged use of chemical weapons, The Washington Times just now reported that a UN vehicle was “deliberately shot at multiple times” by snipers.

In the biggest shocker of all to me, even France is gearing up for a “proportionate response.”

What is Obama waiting for?  Just asking.

For those of you who think the political nonsense in North Miami and North Miami Beach is all that matters, think again.  Hopefully, I’ve helped give you a perspective on what’s really important in the scheme of things.

I’ve been shaken out of my refusal to pay attention to the atrocities in Syria with the lame excuse that the news and images are too disturbing to think about.  I should have known that eventually I wouldn’t be able to look away.  I was right.

If I’ve ruined your day by forcing you to look, too, I’ve done my job.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”

Secretary of State John Kerry’s press conference today at 2:53 p.m.: