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Something doesn't quite add up here.

"These attacks by Israeli military forces, which endanger U.N. facilities acting as places of refuge are totally unacceptable and must not be repeated." -Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General

"Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp." -Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace

"The Holocaust, that is what is happening right now in Gaza." -Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

"Be prepared for a unique surprise, you will be either killed or kidnapped and will suffer mental illness from the horrors we will show you." -Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades

5.4 million.

400,000.

65,000.

3,400.

900.

The first number, 5.4 million, was the number of people killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo since a 1998 civil war began. That war continues today despite numerous peace treaties.

The second number, 400,000, is the number of people killed in the Darfur region of the Sudan since a 2003 outbreak of violence between the government-backed Janjaweed militias and the secular "rebels" of the region. Approximately 100 additional people were killed there a couple of weeks ago. Fighting continues in Darfur today.

The third number, 65,000, is the number of Sri Lankans killed since the late 1980s, most of which have been civilians. During the war in Gaza, the Sri Lankan government forces overran the last stronghold of the Tamil Tigers -- a group considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government -- at the expense of dozens of civilians. Approximately 50,000 government troops are currently advancing through the jungle, taking aim at the rebels.

The fourth number, 3,400 is a conservative estimate of the number of Palestinians killed by the Jordanian government in the span of 11 days during the Black September Jordanian civil war of 1970. Palestinian estimates claimed more than 20,000 dead.

The final number, 900 is the number of Palestinians killed as of Jan. 13 in Israel's current war of self-defense against Hamas, the vast majority of which have been terrorists.

Yet it is Israel that is condemned by the U.N., the Vatican, and the rest of the world. It is Jews that are attacked all over Europe and Israeli sports stars that are demonized for the defensive actions of their homeland.

Why is this? How can this be? How can 900 dead Palestinians cause so much international commotion while more than five million dead Africans cause nothing? Where are these sweeping quotes from all over the world when every day more innocent people die in these conflicts than have died during the entire span of the Israeli operation against Hamas? Where are the protests? Where are the calls for action, the Holocaust imagery, the demands for immediate ceasefires? Where are the rushed Security Council meetings?

The numbers just do not add up.

Interestingly, the answer lies not in the hate-filled comments from buffoons like Hugo Chavez.

Rather it is statements like Ban Ki-Moon's that provide a glimpse into how the U.N. and the rest of the "peace camp" view this conflict. Here is that quote again: "These attacks by Israeli military forces, which endanger U.N. facilities acting as places of refuge are totally unacceptable and must not be repeated. Equally unacceptable are any actions by militants, which endanger the Palestinian civilian population."

Let's break this down for a minute. At first glance this quote is standard, even-handed political double-talk. We condemn one side, but we condemn the other side also. Neither side is right; they're both wrong. When you're trying to be an umpire, you have to be impartial, right?

But that's not what's going on here.

The secretary-general is saying that Israel attacking places of refuge is unacceptable. Then he says Hamas using those same places of refuge is equally unacceptable. However, this is a huge logical fallacy; because if Hamas did not use schools as bases to bomb Israelis in the first place, the IDF would not have to attack the school. In Ban Ki-Moon's version of reality, Hamas did not start this fight -- even though they threw the first thousand punches. Both parties are equally liable for it.

And if Hamas has an equal right to put civilians in harm's way as Israel does to defend their civilians from being put in harms way, what you are actually saying is that Israel does not have a right to defend its own civilians from Hamas rockets, but it does have an obligation to protect Palestinian civilians from the actions of Hamas. Therefore, there is no moral equivalency. Hamas is right and Israel is wrong.

And there it is. That's the difference between all those other conflicts and this one. This is why the U.N. has acted like it regretted passing the Partition Plan ever since 1947. Unlike the Congolese or Sri Lankan conflicts, there is no ambiguity here in the eyes of the U.N. The Palestinians are right and the Israelis are wrong. Why else would the Palestinians be the only ethnic group on the planet to even have a "Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise" of their "Inalienable Rights"? In the eyes of the U.N., the Palestinians are treated more unjustly than the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka and the secular Africans of Darfur and Congo.

Using this warped logic, numbers like 5.4 million, 400,000, and 65,000 are somehow less than 900 and deserve less worldwide moral outrage. The numbers, in the end, do add up.

But to any rational person, this line of thinking just does not compute.

Liran Kapoano grew up in Edison and is a graduate of Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School. His commentary can be read on his Web site, ronmossad.com.