Hamas/Israel conflict: news and discussion

[frogwoman]

No you haven't

The site of the UN headquarters has extraterritoriality status.[130] This affects some law enforcement where UN rules override the laws of New York City, but it does not give immunity to those who commit crimes there. In addition, the United Nations headquarters remains under the jurisdiction and laws of the United States, although a few members of the UN staff have diplomatic immunity and so cannot be prosecuted by local courts unless the immunity is waived by the Secretary-General. In 2005, Secretary-General Kofi Annan waived the immunity of Benon Sevan, Aleksandr Yakovlev, and Vladimir Kuznetsov in relation to the Oil-for-Food Programme,[131] and all were charged in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Benon Sevan later fled the United States to Cyprus, while Aleksandr Yakovlev and Vladimir Kuznetsov decided to stand trial.[132]

United Nations Security officers are generally responsible for security within the UN Headquarters. They are equipped with weapons and handcuffs and are sometimes mistaken for New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers due to the agencies' similar uniforms.[133] The NYPD's 17th Precinct patrols the area around and near the complex, but may only formally enter the actual UN headquarters at the request of the Secretary-General.[134]

However it is of course surrounded entirely by the city of New York so it's impossible to get in or out without transiting via the US, when Yasser Arafat was invited to speak before the General Assembly it had to meet in Switzerland since he was not allowed to enter the US. There is no way that the UN is going to provoke the kind of confrontation with the US that arresting Netanyahu on US soil would do.

They wouldn't have to arrest him but could they refuse him entry (maybe on a technicality?) I mean I'm sure any other random criminal suspect wouldn't be granted an audience at the UN? They could say something about how he hasn't provided an updated security clearance or something like that?

 

[tim]

They wouldn't have to arrest him but could they refuse him entry (maybe on a technicality?) I mean I'm sure any other random criminal suspect wouldn't be granted an audience at the UN? They could say something about how he hasn't provided an updated security clearance or something like that?

He's the Head of Government of a UN member state, even if they were minded to it would be diplomatically unacceptable to deny him access. The USA even let the bloke below fly into JFK and give a speech, despite the fact that the real JFK had tried to murder him



As to the issue of criminality, there are plenty of other leaders who preside over torture and murder, you'd be left with San Marino and maybe Cape Verde if they banned them all.

 

[frogwoman]

He's the Head of Government of a UN member state, even if they were minded to it would be diplomatically unacceptable to deny him access. The USA even let the bloke below fly into JFK and give a speech, despite the fact that the real JFK had tried to murder him

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As to the issue of criminality, there are plenty of other leaders who preside over torture and murder, you'd be left with San Marino and maybe Cape Verde if they banned them all.

Sure but only a minority of world leaders have actual criminal proceedings going on though and in Bibi's case it includes a case pending in Israel itself.

 

[Duncan2]

Quite.Its not as though genocide isn't a big deal

 

[frogwoman]

There is a difference between a "country" and a "state". The state called Rhodesia no longer exists, and was replaced by a state called Zimbabwe.

Yeah, I just don't think that saying a state should be dismantled is helpful terminology though when it's what Netanyahu etc have been claiming will happen with Israel pretty much as long as I can remember. They always claim that things like BDS are aimed at 'delegitimising' Israel with the aim to get rid of it - like, to get rid of Israelis. In the case of the Israelis I know they have lived in the UK for a long time (one has lived here since she was a kid) and I think would agree something pretty fundamental has to change there, whether or not it would count as 'dismantling' it I don't know, they probably wouldn't describe it in those terms though.

 

[PTK]

No you haven't

The site of the UN headquarters has extraterritoriality status.[130] This affects some law enforcement where UN rules override the laws of New York City, but it does not give immunity to those who commit crimes there. In addition, the United Nations headquarters remains under the jurisdiction and laws of the United States, although a few members of the UN staff have diplomatic immunity and so cannot be prosecuted by local courts unless the immunity is waived by the Secretary-General. In 2005, Secretary-General Kofi Annan waived the immunity of Benon Sevan, Aleksandr Yakovlev, and Vladimir Kuznetsov in relation to the Oil-for-Food Programme,[131] and all were charged in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Benon Sevan later fled the United States to Cyprus, while Aleksandr Yakovlev and Vladimir Kuznetsov decided to stand trial.[132]

United Nations Security officers are generally responsible for security within the UN Headquarters. They are equipped with weapons and handcuffs and are sometimes mistaken for New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers due to the agencies' similar uniforms.[133] The NYPD's 17th Precinct patrols the area around and near the complex, but may only formally enter the actual UN headquarters at the request of the Secretary-General.[134]

However it is of course surrounded entirely by the city of New York so it's impossible to get in or out without transiting via the US, when Yasser Arafat was invited to speak before the General Assembly it had to meet in Switzerland since he was not allowed to enter the US. There is no way that the UN is going to provoke the kind of confrontation with the US that arresting Netanyahu on US soil would do.

I have a memory of seeing a photograph of Yasser Arafat addressing the UN General Assembly in New York. I checked, and found that my memory had not played me false. Arafat addressed the UN General Assembly in 1974. That would be when he made his famous "gun in one hand, olive branch in the other" statement, which was copied by Gerry Adams in the 1980s, in the form "gun in one hand, ballot box in the other" [or perhaps it was the other way round].