From Ian:
Letter to Ban Ki-moon on Terrorism & “Human Nature”
Letter to Ban Ki-moon on Terrorism & “Human Nature”
Dear Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,Poll: Palestinian support for 'intifada' is falling
Tomorrow when you attend synagogue to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day—after two weeks when you singled out Israel at the Security Council and in the New York Times—I hope you will pay heed to the following verses of Exodus in the weekly Bible portion that will be read out before the congregation:
“Do not spread a false report… Do not follow the crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in a dispute by siding with the multitude to pervert justice.” (Exodus XXIII)
As you begin your 10th year as Secretary-General of the United Nations, I hope you reflect upon these words, and on how your conduct has changed over time.
Because I remember when, during your first year in office, in 2007, you admirably criticized the Human Rights Council after it decided to permanently single out Israel under a special agenda item at every one of its meetings. You were sharply rebuked for this by the 56-strong Islamic group.
Today, perhaps because you have been stung by such rebukes from the multitude that dominates your organization—including the 120-strong Non-Aligned Movement, now chaired by Iran—too often your own actions, and those carried out by U.N. officials under your command, spread false reports, follow the crowd to do evil, and deliver testimony that perverts justice.
Mr. Secretary-General, your op-ed was entitled “Don’t shoot the messenger, Israel.” Perhaps you ought to consider that the U.N. is not a messenger here, but a key actor; and that, too often, your organization’s actions encourage, enable and legitimize terrorism.
If you unequivocally condemn terrorism that strikes French, American, and Nigerian victims, without expressing sympathy and understanding with the alleged grievances of the murderers, you should do no different when the victims are Israelis.
I conclude again with the words of the Bible:
“Do not spread a false report… Do not follow the crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in a dispute by siding with the multitude to pervert justice.”
During a similar poll that was conducted in November, 63 percent of the people asked responded that they were in favor of another intifada breaking out. In the recent poll that number diminished to only 42 percent. A majority of Palestinians who answered, some 54 percent, said that they were against another intifada breaking out. 50 percent believe that such an intifada would delay the establishment of a Palestinian state.Senior PA official: 'Do we have to hijack planes for you to care about our cause?'
Other statistics that were published in the poll included results from questions about Palestinian governance and hypothetical election results. Through the responses it was revealed that 79 percent of Palestinians are against the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority and returning full control of area "A" to Israel, whereas 14 percent of Palestinians support the move.
Questions regarding the Palestinian leadership to follow President Mahmoud Abbas were asked, and based upon the answers Fatah would gain a minority government in both the PA and Gaza. However an overwhelming majority felt that open elections were the best method to select their next leader.
A senior Palestinian Authority official has suggested that the West ignores the Palestinians when they maintain security, rhetorically asking if they have to resort to "hijacking planes" and "destroying airports" to garner Western support for the Palestinian cause.Nabil Shaath on International Peace Conference: Anything Is Better than U.S.-Led Negotiations
In an interview translated by MEMRI on the PA-backed station Awdha TV last week, Nabil Sha'ath asserted that being moderate does not turn heads.
He sought to substantiate his claim by drawing attention to the ongoing refugee situation in Europe: "If the Syrian problem had not been exported to Europe - through refugees, on the one hand, and terrorism, on the other - the Europeans would not have cared even if the entire Syrian people had died."
Sha'ath stated that the European decision to finally deal with the Syrian crisis was not motivated by good-willed humanitarianism, but rather by a fear that the massive influx of "non-Anglo-Saxon" refugees would alter the composition of the population.
"But when all of a sudden there were four million Syrian refugees in Europe, and when this was accompanied by ISIS operations in France and elsewhere...it started a debate about racial transformation, the entrance of non-white, non-European races," he said in the interview.






























