Wednesday, May 03, 2017
Amb. Alan Baker: UNESCO’s Latest Resolution on Jerusalem: Much of the Same
A Non-Binding Resolution with No Legal StatusPMW: Fatah: Paying terrorists promotes peace
Nobody should take this resolution seriously. It is nothing more than a non-binding, politicized expression of the political opinion of the extremist, anti-Israel states voting for it. It has no legal status whatsoever.
In a highly transparent and obvious attempt by the Palestinian Authority to “camouflage” in UNESCO language, the motion is nothing other than one more blatantly hostile, Israel-bashing resolution. The Palestinian leadership has, once again, devoted its international efforts at abusing an international organization in order to delegitimize Israel, rather than to instill mutual good faith and seek peace.
Such hysteria and concentrated activity by the Palestinian leadership aimed at delegitimizing Israel, on the eve of the projected visit meeting by Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, with U.S. President Donald Trump, represents a distinct “poke in the eye” of the new U.S. administration. It is a telling sign of the disdain by the Palestinian leadership for any serious attempt to restore a peace-negotiation process.
Hiding behind accepted UN and UNESCO terminology of “safeguarding the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem,” the Palestinian leadership is once again dragging UNESCO – once a credible and reputable professional organization – into the pit of politicization.
Ostensibly, in order to deceive and to recruit the support of the European countries and others for what they claim is a “watered down” text, the Palestinians and their Arab colleagues have devised curious terminology that is tantamount to political and legal acrobatics.
Fatah: "If we do not do this [pay salaries to prisoners], what will be their fate? They are liable to turn to ISIS... [We] say to the donor states [whose money goes to terrorists] that your donations help the PA bring peace to the Middle East."Convergence of US-Israel National Security Interests
"There is a drop in support and funding [of 70%] from all [countries]... [Donor countries are told]: Why are you providing aid to those [the PA] who are paying the prisoners and the Martyrs' (Shahids') families?"
As PA leader Mahmoud Abbas prepares to meet US President Trump today, many are hoping that Trump will condition US aid to the Palestinian Authority on the cessation of the PA payments to terrorists and their families.
Clearly concerned about this, PA leaders have published many statements this month defending their practice of financially rewarding terror. In a strange twist of logic, Fatah is now arguing that donor countries should welcome the PA's paying salaries to terrorists with their money, since this practice promotes peace by keeping the Palestinian terrorists from joining "ISIS or any other extremist party... [We] say to the donor states [whose money goes to terrorists] that your donations help the PA bring peace to the Middle East."
In 2017, the national security interests of the US and Israel have converged in an unprecedented manner, in response to the anti-US Arab Tsunami; anti-US Islamic terrorism; the declining European posture of deterrence; drastic cuts in the US defense budget; an increasingly unpredictable, dangerous global situation; Israel’s surge of military and commercial capabilities; and US-Israel shared values.
Contrary to conventional wisdom — and traditional State Department policy — US-Israel and US-Arab relations are not a case of zero-sum-game. This is currently demonstrated by enhanced US-Israel strategic cooperation, concurrently with expanded security cooperation between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other pro-US Arab countries, as well as stronger cooperation between the US and those same Arab countries. Unlike the simplistic view of the Middle East, Arab policy-makers are well aware of their priorities, especially when the radical Islamic machete is at their throats. They are consumed by internal and external intra-Muslim, intra-Arab violence, which have bled and dominated the Arab agenda, prior to and irrespective of the Palestinian issue, which has never been a core cause of regional turbulence, a crown-jewel of Arab policy-making, nor the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Israel’s posture as a unique ally of the US — in the Middle East and beyond — has surged since the 1991 demise of the USSR, which transformed the bi-polar globe, into a multi-polar arena of conflicts, replete with highly unpredictable, less controllable and more dangerous tactical threats. Israel possesses proven tactical capabilities in face of such threats.
Thus, Israel provides tailwind to the US in the pursuit of three critical challenges, which impact the national and homeland security of the US, significantly transcending the scope of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian issue:
David Singer: United Nations' Fabricated Arab Narrative Deceives Academics
The United Nations publication “The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem 1917-1988” (“Study”) has deliberately misrepresented the actual wording of General Assembly Resolution 181 passed on 29 November 1947 – deceiving many academics who have disseminated the Study's false message.Senators to Trump: Tell Abbas, Palestinians Payments to Terrorists Must Stop
The Study has been published by the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat for, and under the guidance of, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
The offending statement in the Study misleadingly declares:
"After investigating various alternatives the United Nations proposed the partitioning of Palestine into two independent States, one Palestinian Arab and the other Jewish, with Jerusalem internationalized."
The actual wording of Resolution 181 stated:
"Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem, set forth in Part III of this Plan, shall come into existence in Palestine...."
The Study omits to mention that 78 per cent of Palestine had already become an independent Arab State in 1946 and been renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan.
The Study's claim that Resolution 181 called for an "independent Palestinian Arab State" was not accidental but deliberately done to deceive and mislead.
Resolution 181 had denied the existence of any distinctly identifiable Palestinian people in 1947.
A delegation of leading Republican senators is urging President Donald Trump to demand that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas end his government's longtime practice of paying terrorists and their families for attacks committed against Israel, according to a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon and sent Tuesday to the White House.White House source: Trump to press Abbas to halt payments to terrorists
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), and Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) are urging Trump to lay down a marker when he hosts Abbas later this week for a round of meetings on the Middle East peace process.
The lawmakers are pushing Trump to reverse a years-long policy under the former Obama administration that sought to downplay the Palestinian Authority's support for terrorism and put the onus for peace directly on Israel.
"One of the most troubling aspects of the Obama administration's handling of this issue was the double standard applied to the two parties," the lawmakers write to Trump. "This double standard saw Israel criticized and condemned regularly, while the Palestinian Authority and its leadership were rarely, if ever, held accountable."
"This unwillingness to speak out when the PA rewarded and glorified terrorism left many with the mistaken impression that the PA was earnestly seeking peace—and that Israel was the impediment," the lawmakers write.
Donald Trump’s national security adviser described his boss’s foreign policy approach as "disruptive" on the eve of the US president’s first White House meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying his unconventional ways could create an opportunity to ultimately help stabilize the Middle East.Rabbi Shmuley: President Trump, Confront Abbas on Official Funding of Terror
Trump faces deep skepticism at home and abroad over his chances for a breakthrough with Abbas, not least because the new US administration has yet to articulate a cohesive strategy for restarting long-stalled peace talks.
Seeming to brush aside such concerns, national security adviser H.R. McMaster told an Israel Independence Day celebration in Washington on Tuesday night that Trump “does not have time to debate over doctrine” and instead seeks to challenge failed policies of the past with a businessman’s results-oriented approach.
Trump’s unpredictability has rattled friends and foes alike around the world. Some analysts doubt Trump can succeed where experienced Middle East hands failed for decades, especially when trust between Israelis and Palestinians is at a low point.
When he ran for office, the President promised to make America more discerning in its dispersal of foreign aid. Well, now he’s got somewhere to start.Hamas leader to Trump Reject 'wrong approaches' to Mideast conflict
Every year, the United States gives the Palestinian Authority (PA) a fluctuating mega-sum of money hovering somewhere around the amount of four hundred million dollars. As it turns out, the PA spends more than three-quarters as much directly funding terrorists and their families.
That the PA would do this should come as no surprise. There are few governments on earth as proud and excited about terror as is the Palestinian regime under Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas and his government both celebrate terror and lionize those who perpetrate it. One need only look at the heroic homecoming offered by PA President Abbas to freed Palestinian terrorists in 2013, in which he triumphantly held up the hands of brutal-thugs such as Abu-Musa Atia, who axed a sixty-seven year old survivor of the Sobibor Death Camp to death as he walked through a construction site.
The exiled leader of the Palestinian terror organization Hamas issued a "plea" on Wednesday to US President Donald Trump to reject the "wrong approaches of the past" concerning Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.Sen. Chris Coons & Marco Rubio: Every Senator Agrees the U.N. Must Change
Khaled Meshaal, speaking to CNN from a secure location in Doha, Qatar, said that the White House has a "historic opportunity" to arrive at an "equitable solution" for the Palestinian people, adding that America can "stop the darkness that [Palestinians] have been suffering from for many years."
"This is a plea from me to the Trump administration, the new American administration: Break out from the wrong approaches of the past and which did not arrive at a result. And perhaps to grab the opportunity presented by Hamas's document," Meshaal said.
In an effort to improve its regional and international relations, the Gaza Strip’s ruling party on Monday released a policy document that nominally softens its official position on Israel while still calling for “the complete liberation of Palestine.”
The document labels as “a national consensus” the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state along pre-1967 lines with the return of refugees to their homes in Israel. However, it also “rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
Israel almost immediately rejected the document, calling it an effort to "dupe" the international community.
"It's rare, especially these days, for all 100 U.S. Senators-from Bernie Sanders to Ted Cruz, from Elizabeth Warren to Mitch McConnell -to agree on something. But the scourge of anti-Israel bias at the United Nations is such an issue. Last week, every senator signed our letter to Secretary-General António Guterres, urging him to improve the U.N.'s treatment of Israel and eliminate anti-Semitism in all its forms.The United Nations' Campaign Against Business in Israel Makes No Sense
While the U.N. has achieved some important successes since its founding 70 years ago, too many of its member states and agencies use the world body as a vehicle for targeting Israel rather than as a forum committed to advancing peace and human rights. This encourages and supports the broader scourge of anti-Semitism, and distracts key U.N. entities from their original missions.
As both the U.N.'s principal founding member and its largest financial contributor, the U.S. must insist on real reforms. We in Congress have a responsibility to conduct rigorous oversight of U.S. engagement at the U.N. and its use of our citizens' tax dollars...
Still, the U.N. continues to fund and maintain many standing committees that serve no purpose other than to attack Israel and inspire the anti-Israel boycott, sanctions and divestment movement. These committees must be eliminated or reformed.
"There is increasing political tumult over the treatment of Israel at the United Nations. Last week, all 100 U.S. senators - Republicans and Democrats alike - admonished the organization for anti-Israel bias, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) recently sponsored a bill to withhold U.N. funding because of 'anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic rhetoric or propaganda.'Time to Declare Independence From United Nations
Add to that an important related bill now percolating through Congress that takes aim at a widely unknown initiative at the U.N. Human Rights Council: an effort to create a database designed to shame companies simply for doing business in the West Bank.
The blacklist effort targeted by the bill - known as the Israel Anti-Boycott Act - is procedurally flawed and substantively misguided and violates core principles of international trade.
Procedurally, companies would be added to the U.N. database without any form of due process. Listing criteria do not exist. Businesses would not be able to contest their inclusion before it was made public, and once designated, they would not have access to review or delisting mechanisms.
Substantively, the list abuses well-established principles that encourage multinationals to instill ethical norms into their worldwide business conduct. This is because companies would be branded wrongdoers simply based on their presence in a politically contentious region, without consideration of their conduct with regard to human rights, the environment and social governance.
It seems like we Israelis are always complain about the treatment we get from the United Nations and its various bodies/groups/organizations such as the Security Council, UNESCO, etc. Nu, why does anyone in their right mind expect an improvement?Pence: Trump giving ‘serious consideration‘ to embassy move
The world is antisemitic.
The only Jewish establishments/foundations/museums that can get lots of funding are Holocaust "memorials," because they celebrate the murder and legalized discrimination of Jews.
So, the latest insult is that UNESCO doesn't recognize Israeli sovereignty of Jerusalem. The United States State Department's defacto policy is the same. That's the key to why every single country that has diplomatic relations with Israel unabashedly insults us by placing their embassies anyplace but Jerusalem.
The State of Israel and the Jewish People must take a strong stand and stop pretending to be insulted.
We should move all of our embassies to cities of our choice, as long as they're not the stated capitals.
We should take rename all the 29th of November streets which honor the date the United Nations "approved" the establishment of the State of Israel, because celebrating that vote only gives the United Nations and world power over us.
Jerusalem is the Holiest City only for the Jewish People, and only we care enough to make it the wonderful modern city it is today!
US Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that the White House was continuing to give “serious consideration” to moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.Did Bannon reveal plan to move US Embassy to Jerusalem?
Speaking at an Israeli Independence Day event at the Indian Tea Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the US capital, Pence said the White House “as we speak, is giving serious consideration to moving the American embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” a statement he did not elaborate on but which garnered sustained applause from the several dozen guests.
Trump pledged during his campaign to move the embassy to Jerusalem, but as president he’s distanced himself away from the vow while saying it’s still under discussion. Like most countries, the US maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv because Israelis and Palestinians have competing claims to Jerusalem. Israel considers Jerusalem its undivided capital but Palestinians seek East Jerusalem for the capital of a future state.
Among the attendees at Tuesday’s event were US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), and White House aide Sebastian Gorka, who is said to be leaving the White House amid controversy surrounding his alleged ties to a Hungarian anti-Semitic group.
While no official confirmation on the trip has been given, officials close to the Prime Minister say the president is expected just ahead of Jerusalem Day, which begins the evening of May 23rd.After UNESCO vote, Israel cuts another $1m from UN budget
Though President Trump’s intentions vis-à-vis the embassy move have remained a mystery, an innocuous photograph taken by Rabbi Shmuel “Shmuley” Boteach during a visit with White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon may have let the cat out of the bag.
The joint selfie, taken during a visit in Bannon’s office on Israeli Independence Day, shows the former Breitbart News chief in front of a white board featuring a list of campaign promises, some with check marks, others without.
On the list, in the lower right-hand corner of the picture, the words “Tel Aviv to Jerusalem” can be seen, likely referring to the planned embassy move.
Israel said Wednesday it would further reduce the amount it pays annually to the United Nations in retaliation for the latest resolution critical of its policies.Israeli minister calls to oust UN from Jerusalem headquarters
One day after the UN’s cultural agency passed a resolution disputing Israel’s claim to Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would cut another $1 million from its payments to the UN, bringing the total cuts since December 2016 to $9 million.
“This systematic harassment has a price,” Netanyahu said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, referring to the UNESCO resolution, which calls Israel an “occupying power” in Jerusalem and criticizes the government for archaeological projects in the capital and in Hebron and lambasts its naval blockade of the Gaza strip.
“In the wake of the resolution, I have instructed Foreign Ministry Director-General Yuval Rotem to deduct $1 million from the funds that Israel transfers to the UN. Israel will not sit by while the organization calls for the denial of our sovereignty in Jerusalem,” he said.
Netanyahu’s statement marks the third time in less than a year that Israel has reacted to UN resolutions it deems biased against it by announcing the slashing of its payments to the body.
Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev (Likud) called on the government to oust the United Nations from its Jerusalem headquarters in the Armon HaNatziv neighborhood.UNESCO vote denying Israeli ties to Jerusalem 'meaningless,' says minister
She spoke in reaction to the UNESCO Executive Board’s vote in Paris on Tuesday disavowing Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.
The UN compound’s was originally placed on what is known as the Hill of Evil Counsel, because the site in 1948 was strategically located between the eastern and western parts of the city.
From that demilitarized location, the UN could monitor the truce between Jordan and Israel.
In a statement to Channel 2, Regev said that clearly there was no longer any logic to the UN remaining at that location.
“We’ve been sovereign in the city for 50 years, so there is no need for UN monitors. They were given use of the compound to oversee the cease-fire agreement from the Six-Day war, it’s an agreement that is no longer relevant. This saga has to end,” she said.
UNESCO doesn’t have a say on the Jewish People’s connection to Israel, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Wednesday morning of the UN cultural organization’s decision to disavow Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.Turning tide in UNESCO
“This is an empty decision that joins a pile of empty decisions. UNESCO can’t decide if we’re the sovereign or not. It’s like they decided there’s no gravity,” Bennett told Army Radio. “It’s meaningless.”
Bennett pointed out that in Jewish weddings, the bride and groom say “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning,” showing the strong bond between the Jewish People and Jerusalem.
President Reuven Rivlin, a native Jerusalemite, came out against the UNESCO decision and called on nations of the world to move their embassies to the capital during an Independence Day event with foreign diplomats.
“Israel is an existing fact, in large part because of international recognition of the right of the Jewish People to return to its historic homeland and build in it a national home – a home with Jerusalem in its heart,” Rivlin said.
Those who despise and envy Israel for its successes chose Independence Day and the 50th anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem to continue the delegitimization of the Jewish state. But this campaign has increasingly come to be recognized for what it is: a surreal and risible hatefest motivated by a powerful anti-Israel bias, as well as antisemitism.Five Outrages Inside UNESCO Resolution Denying Israeli Ties to Jerusalem, Judaism’s Holiest Sites
Countries that in the past automatically supported such anti-Israel resolutions have come around to acknowledging the irrationality of singling out Israel for castigation. If a year ago 33 countries supported an even more outrageous version of a resolution denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, six months ago it dropped to 24 and is now down to 22 countries.
Ten countries voted against the resolution: the US, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Greece, Paraguay, Ukraine, Togo and Germany. Support for Israel has nearly doubled and spread to Africa, South America and Eastern Europe, noted Carmel Shama-Hacohen, Israel’s envoy to UNESCO. The days when the US was Israel’s lone ally in the UN are over.
More and more nations are unwilling to lend a hand to subverting international institutions in order to vilify Israel. They have realized that aiding and abetting historical revisionism, which has as its goal the demonization of Israel, does nothing to further the Palestinian cause. The strength of the Palestinian national movement is not built up by spreading lies about Israel.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, one of the figures leading the campaign to delegitimize Israel is slated to meet Wednesday with US President Donald Trump. The US president has a unique opportunity now, while the absurd UNESCO vote is still fresh, to point out to Abbas the futility of disseminating lies about Israel and the Jews. Abbas would better serve his people by providing direction and vision, not engaging in deceit that is ultimately self-defeating for a people that should base its own national ethos on positive values and goals, not lies and fabrications.
While Israelis here are celebrating the country’s Independence Day today, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed a resolution disavowing Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and ignoring Jewish ties to the religion’s holiest sites.IsraellyCool: Know Your History: Past UNESCO Shenanigans
In no particular order, here are five outrages within the text of the nonbinding UNESCO resolution, which was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan and passed in a 22-10 UNESCO vote:
1 – The resolution designates Judaism’s second holiest site, the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, and Judaism’s third holiest site, Rachel’s Tomb, as “an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
2 – The resolution claims it is “safeguarding” the “cultural heritage of Palestine,” despite the fact that no such country exists.
Palestine previously referred to territories that encompass present day Israel and Jordan. It was utilized in the 1917 Balfour Declaration to call for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” In the case of the resolution, UNESCO clearly intended “Palestine” to connote a Palestinian state within Israel even though there is no such state.
This follows their disgraceful ratification of the resolution ignoring Jewish ties to the Temple Mount last year.American UN Mission Blasts Anti-Israel UNESCO Resolution for Denying ‘Historic Connections’ Between Jewish People and Jerusalem
But we can go back even further to see other disgraceful attempts by UNESCO members to deny Jewish history, prevent us from unearthing it, or otherwise claim it as their own.
In October 1969, Jordan tried to claim one of the Dead Sea Scrolls as their property, even though Israel legally obtained it. Note what the scroll talks about – the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, which these more recent resolutions would have us believe never existed.
Note also who we bought it from – a “Jordanian” antique dealer in Bethlehem. He is not referred to as a palestinian. Imagine that – this is from the New York Times less than 50 years ago!
A spokesperson for the American UN mission has roundly condemned the anti-Israel resolution that was passed by the global intergovernmental body’s cultural agency at a meeting in Paris on Tuesday.Israel reprimands Swedish envoy over ‘nasty propaganda’ at UNESCO
“Once again, the United States rejects the adoption of these anti-Israel resolutions at UNESCO,” the spokesperson told The Algemeiner. “Like other parts of the UN system, UNESCO is too often used as a vehicle by member states inclined to deride and delegitimize the State of Israel. Although several of these anti-Israel resolutions are typically adopted biannually at UNESCO, over time they have become increasingly political in nature, and now attempt to deny the historic connections of the Jewish people to the holy sites of Jerusalem.”
The spokesperson continued: “These biased resolutions are counterproductive to the core work of UNESCO, discredit the organization, and do nothing to advance Israeli-Palestinian issues. There is no place for them in an organization that is meant to be impartial. The United States will continue to object to efforts to politicize the organization and its important function on world heritage issues.”
“Such politicized efforts distract from the important work of UNESCO on initiatives like Holocaust education, countering violent extremism and protection of journalists. We are disappointed these kind of resolutions continue to receive attention in UNESCO, and we will continue to advocate for the fair treatment of Israel in all international fora. That said, we are encouraged by the diminishing levels of support for these resolutions, and we are grateful for those member nations who today voted against the resolution,” the spokesperson concluded.
Sweden’s ambassador to Israel was summoned Wednesday to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, where he was dressed down over Stockholm’s support for an anti-Israel resolution that was passed at the United Nations’ cultural agency the day before.Palestinians applaud UNESCO vote denying Israeli claims to Jerusalem
Ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser was reprimanded by Rodica Radian-Gordon, the ministry’s deputy director-general for Europe, and Alon Bar, who oversees the ministry’s international organizations department.
“The senior officials expressed their bitter disappointment over Sweden’s vote at UNESCO. This is a vote against Israel, part of a systematic voting pattern,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon said.
Sweden was the only European country that voted in favor of the resolution, which disputed Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and harshly criticized the Jewish state for several projects in the capital and Hebron and condemned its naval blockade of Gaza.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday welcomed a resolution passed by the UN’s cultural body denying Israeli claims to any part of Jerusalem, while alleging that Israel poses a threat to the city’s heritage sites.Jewish Human Rights Group Warns of Potential UNESCO ‘Catastrophe’ as Saudi Arabia, Iran Join Qatar as Frontrunners for Leading Posts
Submitted to UNESCO’s Executive Board by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, the resolution on “Occupied Palestine” indicated that Israel has no legal or historical rights anywhere in Jerusalem. It passed with 22 votes in favor, 23 abstentions, 10 opposed, and representatives of three countries absent.
Throughout the resolution text Israel is referred to as the “occupying power” in Jerusalem, indicating that it has no legal or historical ties to any part of the city.
In a statement, the Palestinian ministry thanked UNESCO for “reaffirming the centrality of Jerusalem to world heritage as well as the need to confront the dangers posed by the illegal practices of Israel, the occupying power.”
Countries that supported the vote have “honored their commitments in relation to the resolution and the principles enshrined therein, including affording international heritage sites due protection without prejudice and political considerations,” it said.
Israel could face a trio of hostile nations leading UNESCO — the UN’s cultural agency — following elections to be held at the group’s 39th General Conference in Paris this coming November, according to an official with a Jewish human rights organization.Liberals don't denounce Saudi seat on UN Women’s Council
As The Algemeiner reported last week, the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) — which has observer status at UNESCO — has already expressed concern that the former Qatari culture minister Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari could become UNESCO’s next director-general (replacing Bulgaria’s Irina Bokova).
The gravity of that potential outcome for Israel, the SWC’s Dr. Shimon Samuels said, has been exacerbated by reports that Saudi Arabia and Iran are front-runners to be elected as the next chairs of the UNESCO General Conference and Executive Board, respectively, in November.
Along with the Director-General and the Secretariat, the General Conference and the Executive Board make up the three constitutional organs of UNESCO. Should the SWC’s fears about the November elections pan out, all three of UNESCO’s constitutional organs will be controlled by countries — Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran — that have no diplomatic relations with Israel and which have regularly backed anti-Israel UNESCO resolutions.
“Imagine if the Iranian ambassador, in his role as the chair of the Executive Board, refuses to meet with the Israeli ambassador,” Samuels told The Algemeiner. “That would be a catastrophe.”
The fake feminism of Trudeau and his Liberals was on display once again as they refused to denounce Saudi Arabia taking a seat on the UN's council on the status of women.
But don't worry, Trudeau's cabinet stalwart Chrystia Freeland did define what she really thinks feminism is all about and it might shock you.
EXCLUSIVE - PLO Official on Trump-Abbas Meeting: ‘We Can Stand Up to American Pressure’
Ahead of President Donald Trump’s White House meeting today with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Wassel Abou Youssef, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, told Breitbart Jerusalem in an interview that the Palestinians are expecting to be pressured by the U.S. administration on multiple fronts.Hezbollah slams Hamas for accepting Palestinian state in ’67 lines
Youssef recommended that Abbas should not “say yes to everything America asks of us,” and proclaimed that the Palestinians throughout history “proved that we can stand up against American pressure.”
Youssef claimed the Trump administration “continues to give all its support to Israel and is committed to protecting Israel’s interests. The administration backs Israel in all the international institutions and we aren’t hoping that this administration will change its policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after Trump’s meeting with Abbas.”
Nonetheless, Youssef opined that “the dialogue with the American administration is important and it’s essential it be based on the UN resolutions on the Palestinian issue, primarily a solution to the refugee problem and an end to the occupation.”
The Palestinians traditionally consider the entire State of Israel to be occupied territory. Here, Youssef was referring to the pre-1967 borders, meaning an Israeli withdrawal from the entire West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.
The Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group on Tuesday slammed a new policy blueprint issued Monday by the Gaza-based terror organization Hamas, rejecting the paper’s acceptance of a Palestinian state in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.PreOccupiedTerritory: Child Psychologists Unable To Distinguish Palestinian And Toddler Responses (satire)
During a meeting with a Palestinian delegation in Lebanon, Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy to Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese terror group’s head, also stressed that the terror group must “liberate” all of the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, which today includes the Jewish state and the West Bank, according to a report by Israel Radio.
He emphasized that Palestinians should be allowed to return to their former homes in Israel, the radio report said.
The new Hamas policy presents softened language on Israel while still calling for its destruction. While accepting the idea of a Palestinian state in areas captured by Israel in 1967, it dismisses the establishment of the State of Israel as “illegal,” asserting a Palestinian claim to the entire land of Israel and a right of return for all descendants of refugees.
University of Florida researchers have published a study in child psychology that shows professional diagnosticians lack the skills to tell the difference between the behavior of toddlers and that of the Palestinian leadership.IsraellyCool: WATCH: The Arabs Celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day)
The study, printed in this month’s edition of the journal Child Psychology Today, describes how even the most experienced child psychologists, therapists, and social workers uniformly confused the documented behavior of the Palestinian political leadership with that of children between the ages of one and three. Most of the Palestinian leaders whose behavior was reflected in the study are over the age of forty.
University faculty and graduate students presented eight dozen child psychology professionals around the country with written descriptions of reactions to adversity and of approaches to attaining a goal. Two parallel descriptions of behaviors were presented at a time, with the child psychology specialist asked to identify which of the two represented a toddler’s actions and which to Palestinian leadership. Only one of the nearly one hundred professionals fared better than random chance, meaning that few, if any, of today’s child psychology professionals are equipped or trained to distinguish between toddlers and Palestinians in any meaningful way.
“I think it’s a wake-up call for the entire field of endeavor,” asserted Annie Brogez, who led the team of researchers. Brogez runs a private child psychology practice and teaches at the University of Florida.
“What you have here are behaviors typical of children who may have learned to talk, but are not able to handle failure or complex situations,” she explained. “But it turns out there’s no way to describe those behaviors coherently in any way that distinguishes them from the way Palestinian leaders – and to some extent the Arab world in general – have behaved for decades, if not more than a century.”
The haters will find this video extremely inconvenient. The rest of you will love it.
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With Our Hands - Independence Day 2017
Israeli counter-terror bureau: Don't spend Lag Ba'Omer in Tunisia
Tunisia is not the place to go to celebrate Lag Ba'Omer, the Counter-Terrorism Bureau made clear on Wednesday, issuing an advisory for the third year in a row against making a pilgrimage to an ancient synagogue on Djerba to mark the holiday.Stabbing attack in Jerusalem foiled
According to the advisory, terrorist groups – especially global Jihadist terror organizations – continue to try to carry out attacks against a wide variety of targets in Tunisia. “In light of this, and in advance of the Lag Ba'Omer pilgrimage expect to take place to Djerba (May 14-15), there is a danger of attacks, including against Jewish targets.”
Because of the “gravity of the threats,” the statement read, the Counter-Terrorism Bureau recommends that Israelis refrain from visiting the country, and calls on those already there to leave immediately.
In the past, Lag Ba’Omer processions near the El Ghriba synagogue on the island – a synagogue restored in the 19th century that dates back to the First Temple period – have attracted thousands of people from around the world, including France, Britain, the US and Israel.
An attempted stabbing attack in northern Jerusalem was foiled Wednesday afternoon.Israel refuses to extend visa of critical Dutch journalist
The incident occurred just outside the Shuafat neighborhood in northeastern Jerusalem when a man stepped off of a bus at the entrance to Shuafat and approached a security checkpoint, where those entering the area via public transportation are required to verify they hold Israeli ID cards or valid entry permits.
As the terrorist approached the checkpoint he drew a knife he had been concealing and charged officers manning the checkpoint.
Security forces at the scene drew their weapons and demanded the terrorist lay down his knife. The terrorist complied with the order and was arrested.
Citing an administrative technicality, Israeli authorities refused to extend the work visa of the Jerusalem-based reporter of a Dutch daily that is highly critical of the Jewish state.PreOccupiedTerritory: Come Join Labor This Summer At Our Labor Camps By Isaac Herzog (satire)
Derk Walters, who has been the main correspondent of the NRC Handelsblad daily in Israel and the Palestinian Authorities since 2014, has exhausted the procedure to have his visa extended and must leave the country in July, the daily reported Tuesday.
In explaining the refusal, Israel’s Government Press Office told NRC that it had learned that NRC’s editor-in-chief is also its managing director. This claim, which NRC denies, means that NRC does not meet the Government Press Office’s rules for accreditation, Nitzan Chen, the Government Press Office wrote to NRC in September.
In an article penned by Peter Vandermeersch, editor-in-chief of the daily, and published Tuesday, he claimed the Government Press Office made up a bureaucratic issue to silence Walters’ critical reporting on the Israeli government and security forces.
The youth are the key to keeping our party and our country vibrant. Any party that seeks to remain relevant must appeal to the emerging youth demographic. That is why I am pleased to announce that Labor will be running summer programs for children and teens this July and August. Come join Labor this summer at our Labor Camps!Rights group blasts Hamas for holding 2 ‘mentally ill’ Israelis
In the finest tradition of the Labor ethos, participants in our Labor Camps will learn through experience what belonging to this movement is about. For nearly a century, the ideological predecessors and allies of Labor have used this experiential model to produce real and lasting effects on their respective countries: railroads, highways, and other infrastructure; manufacturing military and consumer goods; collective agriculture. Those are just a few of the Labor Camp activities our campers can look forward to this summer, picking up where our socialist forebears left off.
For children less disposed to physical activity – from each according to his ability, after all – we have an intensive reeducation schedule to supplement the materials that have defined secular education here for several generations. Successive non-Labor Ministers of Education have since made it necessary to counter the exploitative economic model that our ideological and political rivals have put forth in the schools, making it doubly important for concerned parents to balance that material out with the right – which is to say, the left – perspective. You don’t want your child growing up to be a parasite, do you?
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday condemned the “illegal” detention of two Israeli citizens by Hamas, releasing new details about the men who are believed to be mentally ill.Abbas stops funding Gaza electricity to pressure Hamas
The Islamist terror group, which runs Gaza, is believed to have been holding Hisham al-Sayed and Avraham Mengistu since April 2015 and September 2014, respectively, after they sneaked into the blockaded Palestinian enclave.
Both men suffer from serious mental health issues, the HRW report said.
Hamas media has claimed the two were soldiers, but HRW said Mengistu was rejected by the Israel Defense Forces on medical grounds and Sayed was discharged after a few months of service.
The West Bank-based government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will stop paying for electricity in the power-starved Gaza Strip and “dry up” the flow of funds to the territory’s Hamas rulers, a senior PA official said Wednesday.Clock ticking on 24-hour Hamas ultimatum over hunger-strikers' demands
The Hamas terror group accused the Abbas government of irresponsible behavior and warned that the announced cuts would be disastrous for Gaza’s 2 million residents.
Abbas and Hamas have led rival governments since the Islamic terror group seized Gaza in 2007, driving out forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian president.
After several failed reconciliation attempts, Abbas recently said he would pressure Hamas financially to force it to cede ground. The Palestinian leader was to meet Wednesday with US President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss ways of restarting long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Steps against Hamas could bolster Abbas’s claims that he speaks for all Palestinians.
Israel has 24-hours to respond affirmatively to the demands of hunger-striking prisoners in Israeli jails, Abu Obeida, spokesman of Hamas' armed wing said on Tuesday.New Hamas Charter Just the Lyrics to “Imagine” (satire)
“We are setting a 24-hour deadline for the enemy’s leadership to comply with the prisoners’ demands,” Abu Obeida said in a video posted on Hamas-affiliated news outlets.
Abu Obeida said that Hamas' armed wing, known as the Izzadin Kassam Brigade, will increase the number of prisoners it is demanding Israel release in prisoner swaps talks for every day Israel does not comply.
Hamas and Israel are reportedly partaking in indirect prisoner swap talks. Israel would like Hamas to set free three Israelis and return the bodies of two deceased IDF soldiers, while Hamas would like Israel to release Palestinian prisoners.
A Hamas spokesman has confirmed that the organization’s latest policy document will consist solely of the lyrics of the 1971 John Lennon smash hit “Imagine.”
Fawzi Barhoum commented, “We recognize that our original 1988 Charter has put a lot of people off. For a long time, we thought it was just annoying to the Jews that we wanted to drive them all into the sea. But apparently, that kind of thinking was not ‘groovy’, and we accept that now.”
“And what better way to express our new attitude than in the words of the greatest Beatle; ‘Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for’. Pretty powerful stuff I think you’ll agree, and we really believe this can be the start of a new relationship between us and all our neighbors.”
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