UN officials are investigating a video showing Palestinians loading suspicious, elongated objects into UN ambulances after Israel released the images and accused UN personnel of collaborating with the terrorists:

UN officials said Saturday they are investigating a claim by the Israeli military that Palestinian terrorists transported a rocket in a vehicle with UN markings, but accused Israel of having made false allegations in the past.

On Friday, the IDF released video footage taken from an unmanned aircraft, or drone, flying over the Jebalya refugee camp. The blurred black-and-white video showed three men walking toward the U.N. vehicle, including one who carried an elongated object. The army said the object was a rocket.

Don't expect too much from this investigation, however. As the above indicates, the UN "investigator" assigned to the case has started out his probe by assuming the Israelis are a bunch of liars:

"This won't be the first time false allegations have been made against us. Everyone who has seen the footage has told me the object looks more like a folded-up stretcher than anything else. Especially since it was being carried with one hand. A Kassam rocket would be too heavy for a man to carry with one hand.

"Unless we are talking about Goliath, (he) could hardly carry a Kassam rocket as a light object in one hand," Hansen told The Associated Press.

According to the IDF website, the Kassam rocket is about 2 meters long and weighs on average 5.5 KG (about 12 pounds).

"This is not the first time that we have allegations that turn out to be false or rather (are) based on very, very insufficient evidence," he said.

Twelve pounds is too heavy for one man to carry with one hand? No wonder the UN is so useless; nobody does any heavy lifting. I've seen and held gurneys, and I'd venture a guess that a typical model would be at least the same weight as a Kassam rocket. You would expect the UN to know that, but then, you'd also expect an investigator to investigate rather than demagogue.

It hardly speaks to the UN's supposed impartiality that after being presented with video evidence that Palestinians are using UN vehicles to transport weaponry, or at least appear to be doing something illegal with their ambulances, the first statement from the person they assign to the investigation blames the messenger for bringing it to their attention.

My attempts to view the video have not been very successful, but I've linked it anyway, in case the server response improves later on. (hat tip: CQ reader Amelia)

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