From Ian:
Catch Tuvia Tenenbom!
Ripe for Exploitation: HRW’s Israel Obsession and Allegations of Child Labor
Catch Tuvia Tenenbom!
He brought up Jibril Rajoub, the senior Palestinian Authority official who was the former head of the Preventative Security Services.Generations of Palestinian refugees are in Iraq
“He’s charismatic, a genius, he’s amazing,” said Tenenbom. “He could have put my image [as Tobi the German] in Google and he’d know who I am. He didn’t do that because we matched and clicked.”
There were some people whom he found more difficult to appreciate, such as Israeli peace activists and European foundation employees. During an interview with an employee of a German foundation, Tenenbom, who felt the group was only pretending to be seeking peace in Israel, said, “Listen to me, why are you doing this? We all know the story, Germany and Israel. Why can’t you be a little more sensitive?”
The book, first released in Hebrew, and later in English, has done well, with many but not all reviewers praising it for its humor and sass, as well as for what Tenenbom sees as its major accomplishment: shedding light on what he considers the true nature of European foundations and their presence in Israel.
“There’s a facade of peace and love but it’s all hate and hate,” he said. “The Europeans hate the Jews, they don’t even know how much they hate the Jews. It’s so embedded in their culture, so ingrained in them and that’s what everybody sees but nobody sees.”
Palestinians sought refuge in Iraq after the creation of Israel in 1948. At best they were second-class citizens. And since the 2003 US-led invasion, they've been caught in the crossfire of a brutal conflict not of their own making.Palestinian refugee condemns 'life of humiliation'
Awad's father, Khaled Hamad, would like to return to his native land.
"If Israel said come, I'd throw away my Palestinian nationality and become an Israeli," Khaled Hamad said. "I'm serious."
Salma Mohammad, 21, echoes Awad's sentiments.
"All our lives, from our grandparent to our parents to our children, we've been moving from one place to another," Mohammad said. "We want a future for our children, but there's no future in Iraq." (h/t Yoel)
Ripe for Exploitation: HRW’s Israel Obsession and Allegations of Child Labor
On April 13, 2015, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a 74-page publication under the heading of “Ripe for Abuse: Palestinian Child Labor in Israeli Agricultural Settlements in the West Bank.” According to the press statement, which was copied widely in international media platforms, “Settlement Agriculture Harms Palestinian Children” through allegedly “low wages and ...dangerous working conditions in violation of international standards.”
As with many other HRW accusations and publications on Israel, as documented by NGO Monitor, the claims in this publication are entirely unverifiable and based solely on interviews. HRW provides no evidence that it even attempted to confirm any of the claims, many of which quote children, independently. Furthermore, in this instance, the allegations are inherently unverifiable, since there are no permits, pay slips, paperwork, or other documentation for the supposed child workers. Indeed, according to an Israeli official interviewed in in response to HRW’s allegations, “It is a horrific lie. There is no justification for employing children, not just morally and legally but financially as well.”
As the publication’s methodology section makes clear, HRW’s researcher (Bill van Esveld) began with a conclusion condemning Israel, and then sought evidence to persuade the intended audiences, particularly journalists readily influenced by NGO allegations






















