Rachel Frenkel, mother of one of three Israeli teens kidnapped by Arab terrorists on June 12, appealed for international assistance on Tuesday, speaking directly to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Switzerland.

Frenkel, who is a U.S. citizen and whose son Naftali, 16, was kidnapped June 12 as he hitchhiked home from Gush Etzion, was flown from Israel by ‘UN Watch’ to testify in Geneva before the agency.

The UN Watch nonprofit organization monitors United Nations activity.

Frenkel’s son was kidnapped together with another 16 year old, Gilad Sha’ar, and 19 year old Eyal Yifrach. The mothers of all three boys appeared before the committee, although only Frenkel spoke.

Frenkel thanked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for last week condemning the abduction of her son and his friends. She also thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross for stating publicly that it is against international law to take hostages.

She described her son for the committee members as a boy who “loves to play guitar and basketball,” and told them that he had texted her to say that he was “on his way home, and then he was gone. It is every mother’s nightmare.

“Much more could be done,” she added. “That is why we three mothers have come today, to make sure the world is doing everything it can to bring back our boys.”

She noted that it is “wrong to take innocent children, and use them as instruments in a struggle.

“Doesn’t every child have the right to come home from school safely?” she asked.

“We just want them back home in their beds… we just want to hug them again.”

Jordan managed to prevent the United Nations Security Council from condemning the kidnapping of three Israeli teens by Arab terrorists on June 12, after repeated attempts to force a statement condemning Israel along with the terrorists.

Jordan attempted to sneak in the condemnation of Israel in the Council’s resolution aginst the kidnapping Monday at a session of the U.N. Security Council, but the United States blocked it. The move came in maneuvers to work out wording of a statement to media condemning the kidnapping.

Jordan wanted to include wording to condemn Israel for “collective punishment” of the Palestinian Authority population … and a call for “both sides to exercise restraint,” according to a Council diplomat. In the end, the Hashemite Kingdom succeeded in preventing the Security Council from issuing any statement condemning the kidnapping at all.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters, “Unfortunately, members of the Security Council were not able to find common ground. Some delegates want to have very strong language condemning Israel, another delegation did not want to have any reference to Israel at all.”

Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor said in a statement following the meeting, “Some nations behave as if Israel should roll out the welcome mat for Hamas. Israel will not allow this terrorist group to trample on its citizens. Israelis are acting in self-defense.”

As Operation Brother’s Keeper approaches the end of its second week, IDF troops are making fewer arrests and widening their search.

Just four fugitives were arrested Monday night as IDF soldiers meticulously searched for the teens. But more than 120 sites – most of them private homes – were raided in Hevron and its surrounds. On Sunday night, at least 37 arrests were made.

Meanwhile, United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman weighed in on Monday, warning Israel to “exercise restraint” in its search.

“As the search for the missing youths continues, we call for restraint in carrying out the security operations in strict compliance with international law, and avoiding punishing individuals for offenses they have not personally committed,” he said. “The rising death toll as a result of Israeli security operations in the West Bank is alarming,” he told the U.N. Security Council at its monthly meeting on the Middle East. Feltman expressed concerns over the possibility of a third intifada starting against Israel by PA Arabs.

So far, the troops have searched 1,800 buildings for 19 year old Eyal Yifrach, and 16 year old Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Sha’ar. In the process, they came up with the accused murderer of Judea and Samaria Police Commissioner Baruch Mizrachi. The accused is a terrorist who was released early from prison as part of the prisoner exchange deal that returned former IDF soldier Gilad Shalit to his family two and a half years ago. Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in a cross border raider near the Kerem Shalom crossing, and held captive for more than five years. Israel freed more than 1,000 Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists, including hundreds of murderers with Jewish blood on their hands, in order to rescue him.

But the troops have yet to find the three kidnapped boys they are now searching for. Their second goal – neutralizing Hamas in Judea and Samaria – is also part of the continuing operation. More than 360 Hamas terrorists have been arrested in the past 12 days, including at least 60 who were released in the Shalit prisoner exchange deal. Those will be remanded for separate court hearings to determine whether they have violated the terms of the pledges they signed upon their release — and if so, each will return to prison resume serving the remainder of their sentences.

A third goal has also been added to the operation: beefing up defenses for Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria so their daily routine will no longer be disrupted by security issues.

The upcoming Islamic holiday of Ramadan, a month-long daytime fast observed by religious Muslims, is one the IDF is taking into consideration as well. “It is important for us to maintain routine relations with the Palestinians in whose communities we are carrying out our searches,” said a security source. “Ramadan is no obstacle, and we will continue to do whatever is necessary to track down the boys, with due consideration for the local population.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appears to be retracting his condemnation on Saturday of last week’s kidnapping of three Israeli teens by Arab terrorists.

In his statement at the time, Ban had spoken of his “deep concern over the trend towards violence on the ground and its attendant loss of life, including today of a child in Gaza as a result of a recent Israeli air strike.” The reference to an IAF bombing that following four missiles fired from Gaza at Israeli civilian population centers, ended with Ban’s plea that Israel and Gaza terrorists both “exercise restraint and lend urgent support for the release and safe return of the three youths.”

Thus it makes no sense that Ban’s spokesperson would follow such a statement on Tuesday night by telling journalists the U.N. has “no concrete evidence” that 19 year old Eyal Yifrach, and 16 year old Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Sha’ar were “actually” kidnapped by terrorists last Thursday as they hitchhiked home for the Sabbath from Gush Etzion.

Israeli public radio quoted Farhan Haq, the spokesperson, as saying the United Nations also does not have an independent investigative unit that could even confirm the incident.

Perhaps, however, Haq’s statement had something to do with a letter sent to the United Nations by Yisrael Beytenu MK Orly Levi-Abekasis.

“Last Thursday evening, June 12, 2014, three Israeli youths were abducted, two of them only 16 years old,” the MK wrote. “The kidnapping highlights, among other things, the breaking of all humanitarian boundaries and is a blatant violation of the rights of Israeli children to live their lives safely and without fearing for their lives.”

Since the Palestinian Authority unity government is now a member of the U.N. International Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), which states “member states shall take all appropriate measures at the national level … in order to prevent the abduction, sale or trafficking of children for any purpose or in any form,” – and since the PUG has been celebrating the kidnapping on its television programs and its population has been passing out sweets in the street to encourage children to perpetrate similar acts in the future – this places the U.N. in an awkward position.

“The CRC provides that ‘member states must undertake to respect and to ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law relating to the child, applying them in situations of armed conflict,” the MK pointed out in the letter.

Since Ban had already acknowledged his awareness of the teens’ abduction last Saturday, his spokesperson appears to now be doing his best to help his boss climb down from the tree. They may even be trying to pretend the incident may never have happened – because if it did, what action will have to be taken against the United Nation’s newest non-sovereign member?

The United Nations is considering the possibility that Iran just might have figured out how to avoid international sanctions in order to continue that country’s drive to develop nuclear weapons.

According to a confidential new report by a U.N. panel that compliance with international sanctions, Tehran appears to be using its petrochemical industry as a cover to smuggle forbidden items into the Islamic Republic for use in the nuclear program, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

According to Reuters, Iran has apparently slowed import of forbidden substances in recent months, but added that there might be a possibility of subterfuge, “rang(ing) from concealing titanium tubes inside steel pipes to using its petrochemical industry as a cover to obtain items for a heavy-water nuclear reactor.”

The report comes as the international community is preparing for a new round of talks aimed at politely asking Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has warned for nearly 20 years that Iran was marching towards nuclear weapons capabilities, but the international community has been slow to respond.

According to Reuters, Iranian duplicity includes a set of titanium tubes hidden inside a shipment of stainless steel pipes manufactured in and shipped from China.

The report recommends that governments exercise greater vigilance over freight-forwarding firms, which often appear as the ordering party on shipments of items destined for Iran. While such practices are not necessarily illegal, the panel says Tehran could use them to conceal final destinations or uses.

“In three cases inspected under the current mandate, names of freight forwarders were recorded on shipping documentation in the place of consignors or consignees,” the report said.

“The Panel notes that the International Freight Forwarders Association (FIATA) has issued a notice to its members warning about the increased use of counterfeit Bills of Lading in connection with shipments to and from Iran,” it added.

PETROCHEMICAL COVER

Another example of Iranian deception is efforts the Ayatollahs have made for the past two years to obtain German and Indian valves for the heavy-water reactor at Arak, a plant that has proven to be a major sticking point in Tehran’s nuclear negotiations. Reuters notes that one investigation refers to Iran’s  procurement of 1,767 valves for Modern Industries Technique Company (MITEC) from 2007 through 2011. According to the experts’ 2013 report, 1,163 valves appear to have reached the company.

If the Arak reactor goes online in its current form, it will yield significant amounts of weapons-grade plutonium, but the document merely explains how it would produce radioisotopes that could be used in “radiation processing, radiation therapy, radiography, scanning and tracer purposes and other peaceful applications of nuclear energy”.

Iran has warned for years that the Islamic Republic views “wiping Israel off the map” as s a strategic goal for the country. To that end, Iran has financed years of terror attacks against Israeli civilians via its financing of the Hamas terror gang. In addition, Iran is suspected in a string of terror attacks against Jews around the world, most notably the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina that killed 85 people and wounded over 300.

In addition, Prime Minister Netanyahu has warned Western leaders that it is a mistake to pretend that Iran would refrain from attacking Western targets in Europe and North America if given the opportunity.

However, much of the international community has rejected Israel’s warnings. President Barack Obama has pledged repeatedly not to allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons “on (my) watch,” but also refused to respond to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s question about what his administration would consider a “red line” that would prompt an American military strike.

Mahmoud Abbas directly threatened Israel on Tuesday that it cannot have peace with the Palestinian Authority “without first defining the borders of a future Palestinian state.”

In remarks reported by the French news agency AFP, Abbas added, “Since the creation of Israel, nobody knows what the borders are. We are determined to know our borders and theirs, without that there will be no peace.”

In two short sentences, he managed to squeeze in three lies, one and a half per sentence, which is 50 percent above par for the course.

“Since the creation of Israel”? If history is correct, at least before the Palestinian Authority started re-writing it, Arabs moved from the pogrom mode to the war mode in 1948 to exterminate the idea of a Jewish state of Israel.

The United Nations suggested that the Arabs enjoy a brand new country to be called Trans-Jordan, leaving Israel with a tiny swath of land on the Mediterranean Coast and a couple of fingers towards the center.

The following year, the Arabs accepted “Temporary Armistice lines” until 1967, when they decided not to accept them and continue their effort to wipe the name of Israel off the map. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really wasn’t so original with that idea, but that’s another story.

Back to Abbas’ lies. First of all, Israel was not created in 1948. The concept of Israel was recognized by Pharaoh around 1,500 BCE. Consult the Book of Exodus, Chapter 1, Verse 9.

The kingdom of Israel was established when the Prophet Samuel – let’s call him “Shmuel,” please – anointed Saul as king a little more than 3,000 year ago. Please consult the first book of Shmuel, Chapter 10.

Israel was not “created” in 1948. It was “re-established,” and that is not a minor point because the lie is part of the Palestinian Authority tactic to change history, a bit here and a bit there, under the over-stuffed noses of the media establishment and world leaders whose knowledge of Middle East history equals their knowledge of modern day life in the Middle East.

The second lie is the implication that some kind of entity of “Palestinians” existed in 1948. That claim is crucial to promote other lies, such as the “right of return” of the third, fourth and fifth generations of Arabs who fled Israel, now called “ancient Palestine” in Arab “history books.”

In the Palestinian Authority re-write of bistro, Israel “took” Judea and Samaria, which was occupied by Jordan, most of it without authorization by the United Nations. The Arab armies, particularly forces from Jordan, fled areas of Jerusalem that they had occupied.

Lie three is Abbas’ demand that “we are determined to know our borders and theirs.”

Is he all of a sudden implying that he will finally actually negotiate and let Israel suggest what the borders are?

This is the same Mahmoud Abbas who has been holding his ground for years that the borders of the Palestinian Authority will be the Temporary Armistice Lines, with the emphasis on “Temporary.” This is the same Abbas for whom “negotiate” means “sign here and get lost.”

Abbas knows his would-be borders very well, so who is he trying to fool? He is trying to fool everyone except you and me.

Here we go again, with another round of dealing with set of sour grapes topped off by the “A” word delivered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

It’s getting really tiresome when every time the Palestinian Authority reverts to form – and Israel refuses to lay itself on the sacrificial altar – the U.S. responds by waving international threats at us both. Especially when one of the flags waved at Israel is the silly “A” word.

It’s a plain fact that 99.9 percent of American diplomats and political leaders simply don’t “get” the reality of the Middle East.

The diplomats who are sent into the fray to “develop” or impose the latest solution to the complex problems existing between Israel and her neighbors are simply not equipped.

So they fail. It’s not their fault. It’s just not their ‘hood.

John Kerry is having a problem with this. Instead of accepting this reality gracefully, has collected his marbles and gone home to his boss with sour grapes.

But for the second time in less than a year, he has turned around and decided to fling the “A” word (apartheid) back at Israel. At least this time he included the Palestinian Authority in some of his recriminations.

Kerry told the Trilateral Commission in a closed-door meeting on Friday that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become an “apartheid state” like South Africa once was. A recording of the remark was obtained by The Daily Beast.

He also warned that a failure of talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority — which basically were dead on arrival in any case — could lead to a ‘resumption’ of PA Arab violence against Israeli citizens. He then went further and hinted that only a change of leadership on both sides could make a peace deal more likely.

The latter reveals his total ignorance of the region — since succeeding leaders on the Arab side generally just brush away the decisions of predecessors — or their own if the prevailing mood of the people doesn’t suit — in any case. Arab promises are rarely kept beyond a generation, if that long. Witness the numerous attempts at maintaining a unity government between Fatah and Hamas in the Palestinian Authority over the past seven years.

With regard towards the risk of ‘resuming’ PA Arab violence against Israelis, the man is living in a bubble because that violence never ended. Ask anyone who lives in Jerusalem, Judea or Samaria or drives on roads in any of the areas. I personally know people who were unable to make it to the Mount of Olives to visit the graves of loved ones this year due to the the violence — and that, while talks were supposedly in place. I know tour guides who could not take friends to certain market places in the Old City — a place we all agree is supposed to be an open tourist safe place — because of the risk to their safety.

As for apartheid, he is wrong on all counts, and even his own boss knows it. In 2008 then-Senator Barack Obama bluntly stated in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, “There’s no doubt that Israel and the Palestinians have tough issues to work out to get to the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security, but injecting a term like apartheid into the discussion does not advance that goal. It’s emotionally loaded, historically inaccurate and it’s not what I believe.”

Of course, Obama may have changed his mind since then, but personally I doubt it. If anything, there are more examples today than ever before of integration between Arabs and Jews, on both sides of the 1949 Armistice Line.