JPost Editorial: The mouse that roars
As suspense builds over whether US President Donald Trump will fulfill his campaign promise to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, the Palestinian leadership is pressing panic buttons daily, appealing to the world community to agree with its absurd policy that the Jewish people’s capital for 3,000 years is in occupied Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian Authority’s escalating campaign to delegitimize Israel accompanies its ongoing incitement of terrorism. But the PA last week exceeded previous attempts at bullying the world community with delusional threats of the consequences of the embassy move.
This was achieved by Fatah Central Committee member Nasser al-Kidwa, who threatened to downgrade the PA’s ties with the US if Trump moves the embassy to Jerusalem.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas added that the Palestinian leadership would also declare that the US is no longer a broker in the Middle East peace process and “turn to the UN” – as if the Palestinian tail has not been wagging the UN dog for years.
“If that [the relocation of the embassy] takes place, the Palestinian side would have to sever its ties with the official staff of the illegal US Embassy in Jerusalem. In addition to that, there is the issue of the Palestinian political representative’s office in Washington; it would also be necessary to close [it],” Kidwa told the Palestinian daily Al-Quds, adding that the Palestinians would have “no other choice.”
No other choice? How about continuing to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the US? More to the point, how about admitting that the Arab refusal of the UN’s original two-state solution in 1947 has resulted in decades of war and suffering by both peoples? Abbas’s continued refusal of Israeli offers to negotiate the establishment of a Palestinian state has made it clear that he is incapable of making a sincere effort to rectify that historic mistake.
PMW: Fatah proud of suicide terrorist: Her pure body exploded into pieces in the Zionists’ faces
Referring to suicide terrorist Wafa Idris - who murdered 1 and wounded over 100 Israelis in 2002 - as "a daughter of the Fatah Movement," Mahmoud Abbas' party praised her and her "operation" on Facebook. Fatah's post highlighted the fact that her suicide bombing was carried out "so that her pure body would explode into pieces in the Zionists' faces":Sheri Oz: Punctuating History And Narratives In The Middle East
Posted text: "Today [Jan. 27, 2017] is the 15th anniversary of the first Martyrdom-seeking operation of the Al-Aqsa Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005), which was carried out by Martyrdom-seeker Wafa Idris, a daughter of the Fatah Movement. She planted an explosive belt on her body on Jaffa Street in occupied Jerusalem, so that her pure body would explode into pieces in the Zionists' faces. One Israeli was killed in the operation and an additional 90 were wounded (sic., over 100), and it came in response to the assassination operation against commander Raed Al-Karmi (i.e., terrorist, responsible for murder of 9)."
Text on image: "First female Martyrdom-seeker
Martyr (Shahida) Wafa Idris
Jan. 28 (sic., 27), 2002"
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 27, 2017]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented Fatah's policy of honoring suicide bomber Wafa Idris on the day of her attack.
Fatah justified Idris' suicide bombing as a "response" to Israel's killing of another of Fatah's "heroes" - terrorist Raed Al-Karmi - a week earlier. Al-Karmi murdered 3 Israelis and planned the murder of 6 additional Israelis in 2001 and 2002.
Below is a list of possible punctuation marks in history. I think it becomes obvious how that changes the entire narrative.
If you only started paying attention to the story beginning in the late 1980s, when everyone really starting going on about Israeli occupation of Gaza, The West Bank, and East Jerusalem, then you believe that Middle East peace requires Israel to end an occupation. You may think that Judea and Samaria was always called The West Bank. You also think that there was once an Arab country named Palestine and an Arab people who were always called Palestinians and that they are indigenous to that country that you think once existed.
If you only started paying attention to the story, or believe it began shortly after the 6-Day War in June 1967 that saw Israel regaining control over Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, when the stage was set to invent the phrase “land for peace”, then you believe that if Israel would just relinquish land recaptured in that war, there would be peace in the Middle East. You might know there was never an Arab country called Palestine and that most Arabs would never countenance being called Palestinians before the mid-1980s. Then again, you might have known it once and since forgotten that fact.
If you think the story began in 1948, with Israel’s declaration of independence and recognition by the UN, then you believe that the UN created the State of Israel, and that Israel was created because of the Holocaust. You may believe that peace requires that the Arab world simply accept the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.
Netanyahu reaffirms support for US embassy move after claim he sought delay
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified on Sunday that the Israeli government holds the position that the US embassy in the country should be located in Jerusalem.Jews Who Fled Nazi Germany/Europe weren't The Same as Today's Fleeing Arabs
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, the premier's remarks came amid accusations that Israel had urged new US President Donald Trump to delay fulfilling his pledge to move the American mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to the capital.
"I would like to clarify unequivocally that our position - now and at all times - has always been that the US embassy should be here in Jerusalem," he stated.
"Jerusalem is Israel's capital, and not only should the American embassy be in Jerusalem, but all embassies should be moved here, and I believe that in due time they will all reach Jerusalem," Netanyahu added.
The primer minister's remarks came after Marc Zell, the co-chairman of the Republicans Overseas Israel group, indicated that Netanyahu had urged Trump to delay the process of moving the embassy.
"Before the election he [Trump] said that he would move the embassy to Jerusalem. Then he spoke to Bibi [Netanyahu]. I don't know what happened, but suddenly the White House said 'we'll think about it' and that same week Israel announced the construction of 2,500 new settlement units and the response from Washington was extraordinary - quiet," Zell told Army Radio on Sunday morning.
Remember that until the immoral shocking brutality of the Nazis was revealed to the world, Germany was considered a cultured, sophisticated and highly moral country. Many of those Jews fleeing were professionals, doctors, professors and successful businessmen along with their families. Some weren't even Jewish, because the Nazi law considered anyone with a Jewish grandparent to be a Jew.Watch: 'From Palestine to Mexico, all the borders got to go!'
Quite a number of countries around the world stepped in to accept the Jews who fled Germany and the rest of Europe. Canada, various South American countries, South Africa, the Dominican Republic and even China. There are no stories of increased crime, rape etc the way we're hearing about those trying to flee Arab countries and Africa, too.
Except for some Christian Arabs trying to get away from Moslem rule, those leaving aren't fleeing religious persecution and/or death camps. They just want out. None of those countries are pleasant places to live, except maybe for those on the take. As Americans should know after years of trying to turn some, like Iraq and Afghanistan into western style democratic states, their concepts of justice, good citizenship etc. aren't quite like the "western model." So to expect a quick and easy transition and absorption/assimilation into law abiding citizens is unrealistic at best. The new restrictions by American President Trump is to better investigate the potential immigrants to keep out those who could endanger American society.
David French: Trump’s Executive Order on Refugees — Separating Fact from Hysteria
Let’s analyze the key provisions, separate the fact from the hysteria, and introduce just a bit of historical perspective. First, the order temporarily halts refugee admissions for 120 days to improve the vetting process, then caps refugee admissions at 50,000 per year. Outrageous, right? Not so fast. Before 2016, when Obama dramatically ramped up refugee admissions, Trump’s 50,000 stands roughly in between a typical year of refugee admissions in George W. Bush’s two terms and a typical year in Obama’s two terms.
Most Americans have no idea how hard it is for an Israeli just to get a tourist visa to visit. It should be much more difficult to enter as a refugee.
Roughly 1,000 anti-Trump demonstrators converged on the San Francisco International Airport on Saturday to protest an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday temporarily banning asylum seekers from entering the United States and placing restrictions on other entrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.Amid US travel ban, Israel set to bar entry to boycott activists
Similar demonstrations took place across the country following the signing of the order, and news Friday evening that two Iraqis carrying US visas had been denied entry into the United States.
Along with anti-Trump rhetoric and criticism of the executive order itself, protesters also criticized plans by the president to expand the barrier along America’s southern border. Walls and fences currently span some 600 miles of the 2,000 mile US-Mexico border, and Donald Trump has pledged to expand those barriers to cover the remaining 1,400 miles.
Protesters also lashed out at the State of Israel, comparing its security barrier, built following a wave of massive suicide bombing attacks, to the wall Trump has proposed for America’s southern border, with chants of "From Palestine to Mexico all the borders got to go!"
The Knesset on Monday is scheduled to pass into law a bill that would bar advocates of boycotting Israel from the country.White House: ‘No regret’ over omitting Jews from Holocaust Day statement
The proposed legislation, advanced by right-wing and centrist coalition lawmakers, would see Israel prevent foreign nationals who have publicly called for a boycott of the Jewish state or work on behalf of an organization that advocates these measures from entering Israel.
The law also extends to supporters of boycotts of West Bank settlement products, resting on a legal definition of an Israel boycott in a 2011 law that includes all “areas under its control.”
It would not apply to foreign nationals who have a residency permit and gives the interior minister leeway to make exceptions. Under the existing law, the interior minister already has the right to bar individuals from entering Israel.
The bill was approved in its first reading in November, with 42 lawmakers in favor, 15 opposed, and seven abstentions.
President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus said Sunday there is “no regret” in the administration over omitting Jews from its International Holocaust Remembrance statement.John Podhoretz: The White House Holocaust Horror
“I don’t know about regret, no there’s no regret,” Priebus told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.” “We acknowledge the horrible time of the Holocaust and what it meant for history.”
When Todd pressed the former Republican National Committee chair on whether the White House made a mistake by leaving out any reference to Jewish suffering in the Holocaust, Priebus cited Trump’s Jewish ties and reiterated that the administration had no contrition over the statement’s language.
“Certainly we don’t mean any ill will to anybody,” he said. “You know that President Trump has dear family members that are Jewish and there was no harm or ill will or offense intended by any of that.”
He added: “I don’t regret the words, Chuck. I’m trying to clear it up for you. I mean, everyone’s suffering in the Holocaust, including obviously all of the Jewish people affected and the miserable genocide that occurred is something we consider to be extraordinarily sad, and something that can never be forgotten, and something that, if we could wipe it off of the history books, we could, but we can’t.”
“It’s terrible,” Priebus said. “But I don’t know what more to tell you.”
So much for giving people the benefit of the doubt who offer no sign they deserve it. The Trump White House issued a statement on Friday commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the statement didn’t make specific mention of the Jewish people—who were the target of the Holocaust, or Shoah, which is a term devised after World War II to describe the effort by Nazi Germany to eradicate Jews from the face of the earth. After reading it, I thought to myself, “The Trump White House is an amateur operation, understaffed and without much executive-branch experience, and whoever wrote the statement and issued it blew it out of ignorance and sloppiness.”IsraellyCool: 5 Common Myths About “The Settlements”
I won’t be making that mistake again.
Jake Tapper of CNN reported Saturday night that Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks defended and even celebrated the White House statement. The decision not to mention the Jews was deliberate, Hicks said, a way of demonstrating the inclusive approach of the Trump administration: “Despite what the media reports, we are an incredibly inclusive group and we took into account all of those who suffered…it was our honor to issue a statement in remembrance of this important day.”
No, Hope Hicks, and no to whomever you are serving as a mouthpiece. The Nazis killed an astonishing number of people in monstrous ways and targeted certain groups—Gypsies, the mentally challenged, and open homosexuals, among others. But the Final Solution was aimed solely at the Jews. The Holocaust was about the Jews. There is no “proud” way to offer a remembrance of the Holocaust that does not reflect that simple, awful, world-historical fact. To universalize it to “all those who suffered” is to scrub the Holocaust of its meaning.
I used to be “anti-settlement” until I visited one by accident. Since then, I’ve learned a lot about how the settlement issue is misunderstood and often twisted.IDF fires on Palestinians throwing pipe bombs near Jenin; one reportedly killed
Myth 1: They’re on stolen Palestinian land
Most of the land that the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria were built on was Jewish-owned. In 1948, thousands of Jews who lived over the Green Line on land they had bought were forcibly removed from their homes when the Land became an Arab state – Jordan. Between 1948 and 1967, the Jordanians were desperate to fill that land with Arabs so that if the Jews got it back, they wouldn’t be able to live there because of all the land that was literally “given away” to Arabs. However, the “settlements” that are legal under Israeli law were not built on such land, even though it was literally handed out by Jordan to prevent future Jewish settlement. Amona is an example of a town that was evacuated by the Israeli government when it was determined that the land belonged to an Arab (who was an absentee land owner who didn’t care about it until leftist NGOs told him he should). It was an “illegal settlement” because part of it was on Arab-owned land. The current legal settlements under Israeli law are all built on Jewish-owned land, or within Area C as designated by Oslo.
The Israeli army shot and killed a Palestinian after violent clashes broke out during an overnight raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on Sunday, according to Palestinian medical officials.Shin Bet, IDF nab suspects in highway shooting, find gun
According to the IDF, Palestinians threw pipe bombs and stones toward forces who responded by firing toward the main instigators.
No IDF soldiers were injured.
According to the official Palestinian Authority news outlet Wafa, Muhammed Mahmoud Abu Khalifa, 16, was killed and five others wounded in the Jenin refugee camp.
Palestinian sources to Wafa said that Khalifa and the wounded were transported to the Martyr Khalil Suleiman Hospital, but Khalifa could not be transported until after the Israeli forces left the camp.
Israeli security forces arrested two Palestinian men on Friday night in the central West Bank suspected of having carried out a shooting attack on a car in the area earlier that day, officials said.Massive manhunt underway for escaped Palestinian prisoner
The weapon used in the attack — a makeshift Carlo-style submachine gun — was also found in their possession, the Shin Bet security service said.
On Friday afternoon, one of the two men opened fire at an Israeli vehicle as it drove by the West Bank settlement of Nilli, west of Ramallah, the army said.
No injuries were reported in the attack, but multiple bullet holes were found on the car.
Israeli soldiers searched the area for the assailants, who fled the scene. Troops said they found several bullet casings at the location of the shooting.
A massive manhunt was underway Sunday for a Palestinian prisoner who escaped from a hospital in central Israel where he was undergoing a routine medical examination.Knife-carrying Palestinians arrested outside settlement
The 32-year-old prisoner from the West Bank village of Damon escaped IDF custody while receiving care at Emek Medical Center in Afula.
Large numbers of police have been deployed to the areas adjacent to the hospital.
Police circulated a photo of the escaped prisoner and appealed to the public for help in locating him.
The inmate was described as tall and thin, and was last seen wearing black pants and jacket.
Two Palestinians were arrested on Sunday after trying to enter the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron armed with knives, police said.Gaza’s infrastructure on the verge of collapse, report warns
A security coordinator for the settlement, west of Nablus, shot in the air as the two approached with their knives drawn, according to police.
Both were then subdued and disarmed, according to reports.
The two, a young man and young woman, were handed over to security forces for questioning.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Gaza’s energy, water and sewage systems are on the verge of collapse, a new report by an Israeli group said, placing the lion’s share of the blame on Israel.Source: Hamas Refuses to Turn Islamic State Loyalists Over to Egypt
The Gisha organization, which released its report, “Hand on the Switch: Who’s Responsible for Gaza’s Infrastructure Crisis?” on Tuesday, said the 1.8 million inhabitants of the Strip are plagued by frequent blackouts, undrinkable water and an outdated cellular network.
Israel says its blockade is essential to prevent terrorists from obtaining materials to fortify military positions, dig tunnels and build rockets to fire at the Jewish state. Gaza’s Hamas rulers seek the elimination of Israel.
The office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli agency that regulates the Israeli border with Gaza, did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
The grim state of the Palestinian enclave’s infrastructure led earlier this month to the largest demonstrations in years by Gaza residents against the Palestinian leadership. The protests were sparked by a fuel shortage that left Gaza’s single power station able to provide electricity for only a handful of hours each day.
Hamas has turned down Egypt’s request to extradite detained jihadists who have been involved in insurgency against the Egyptian army, a Hamas official told Breitbart Jerusalem.Meet the Pro-Israel Student Leader Who Fled UCLA After Feud With BDS ‘Bullies’
Hamas’ deputy diplomatic leader Mousa Abu Marzouk and former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met with Egyptian military officials this week.
“Extraditing jihadists to Egypt would send significant shockwaves across the Gaza Strip and will create a backlash among Hamas loyalists, most notably its military wing operatives,” a Hamas official told Breitbart Jerusalem.
He said the fate of the jihadists detained by Hamas was a central part of the negotiation between the two parties and the main impediment to progress in an overall positive process of rapprochement with Egypt.
“Haniyeh and Marzouk gave all the information they had about Islamic State loyalists in the Gaza Strip, including some specific names that the Egyptians raised,” he said. “They also pledged that they’ll pass on any information their interrogation may yield. But extradition remains a bone of contention.”
Milan Chatterjee, the former president of the UCLA Graduate Students Association who’s been ensnared in an explosive controversy over the boycott movement of Israel, said he hadn’t thought too much about Mideast politics until last year.U Of #Toronto Prof @Rebeccacomay Leads The Effort To Force The Modern Language Association To Adopt BDS Resolution
In fact, he’d hoped to steer clear of it as a student leader. “This is the first time I’ve been thrust into it,” Chatterjee said.
“I’d never taken a stance on [the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement], knowing how tense a topic it is.”
But since last November, Chatterjee has found himself at the center of a familiar pattern of back-and forth between Israeli and Palestinian advocacy groups that plays out on campuses across the country. The uproar caused Chatterjee to leave California and finish up his law degree at New York University — and rethink stepping back into any position of power.
“I need to take a break from leadership positions, for now I need to take a break,” he said.
The problem started last year when Chatterjee threatened to deny funding for a student gathering if Palestinian advocacy groups used the event to promote BDS.
Chatterjee said that he had wanted the graduate body to “remain neutral” on the topic. The student body applying for funds agreed to the terms and the event was held. (A pro-BDS group, Students for Justice in Palestine, had a table at the event, which was dedicated to campus diversity.) But soon afterwards, free speech and Palestinian advocacy groups raised the question of whether Chatterjee’s terms had violated free speech.
Occupation: ProfessorTemple U Chapter of Notoriously Anti-Israel Group Pays Tribute to Late Founder of Deadly Palestinian Terrorist Organization on 8th Anniversary of His Death
University: U of T, EGS
Organization(s): BDS
Close Connection(s): Salah Hassan, David Lloyd, Saree Makdisi, David Palumbo-Liu, Bruce Robbins, Steven Salaita
Since 2014, Comay has been leading an effort, alongside anti-Israel professors David Lloyd, David Palumbo-Liu, and Bruce Robbins, to force the MLA to adopt a BDS resolution, which will come up for a vote in 2017. In 2014, those pushing for BDS failed to persuade even 10% of the MLA membership to vote in favor of the resolution. Comay is also a signatory to a BDS petition put forward by the MLA MJP.
The Temple University chapter of the anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) paid tribute Thursday to the late founder of a notorious terrorist group on the eighth anniversary of his death.IsraellyCool: Nick Cave May Not Be Such A Bad Seed After All
“Rest in power, George Habash,” the Philadelphia school’s SJP tweeted, in honor of the Palestinian Christian who created the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who died in 2008. “As long as you are still fighting in defense of your dignity and for your occupied land, all is well.”
Habash, described by Time magazine as the “godfather of Middle East terrorism,” was forced to resign as head of the PFLP in 2000, due to ill health.
Founded in the late 1960’s, the PFLP was behind a series of deadly attacks, such as the July 1968 hijacking of an El Al flight from Rome to Tel Aviv, in which 21 passengers and 11 crew members were held hostage for 39 days.
In 2014, the terror group claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem synagogue massacre, in which four Jewish worshipers and a Druze Israeli policeman were murdered — and seven others wounded — by two terrorists using knives, axes and guns to carry out the deed.
This is the latest example of SJP support for terrorism. As The Algemeiner reported on Thursday, the New York City chapter of the organization endorsed a global campaign demanding the release from prison of the former secretary general of the PFLP, Ahmad Saadat.
Another high profile musician is set to perform in Israel, with Aussie singer-songwriter Nick Cave announcing a summer tour.New York Times Ignores its Own Public Editor on Disclosure?
Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave has announced that he will be performing in Israel in the summer. Cave last performed in Israel in 1998 after successful performances in 1995 and in 1993, even recording the song Shivers with the Israeli rock band The Witches.
Cave has received a great deal of support from his Israeli fan base and was offered to return to perform multiple times since 1998, but those efforts fell through. That is, until now.
What will make this especially bitter for BDS-holes is I am pretty sure they assumed he was one of them – not just because efforts to secure him for a concert here have fallen through for close to 20 years, but because he has been critical of Israel.
The New York Times published an opinion piece profiling a “prominent Palestinian advocate of nonviolent resistance” in Hebron. The authors of the piece, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman are described in a short bio as authors and novelists.Polish TV director: Jews behind anti-government protests
If the names ring a bell, it’s possibly in relation to another New York Times opinion piece from December 2016 by the author Rachel Kushner. This piece was flagged by HonestReporting after the NY Times failed to disclose that Kushner had been writing about a Palestinian refugee camp as a direct result of a trip organized by Chabon and Kushner in association with the politicized Breaking the Silence organization.
The NY Times’s public editor Liz Spayd agreed with us and wrote in a subsequent column:
"I found Kushner’s magazine story to be an exceptional piece of reporting and writing, one that didn’t seem to be carrying anyone’s political agenda. That said, the wiser choice would have been to make clear the role of Breaking the Silence in the project. Disclosure ahead of time is better than questions afterward."
Irrespective of the contents of the latest opinion piece by Chabon and Waldman, shouldn’t the New York Times disclose the following information in the interests of transparency?
Europe
Marcin Wolski, the director of the Polish national television station TVP2, accused the local Jewish community of being behind recent protests by Polish citizens against the government during a live television interview.IsraellyCool: MUST WATCH: Jews and Antisemitism In Norway
Hundreds of thousands of Poles have taken to the streets to protest against the ruling Law and Justice political party since it came to power 15 months ago.
New legislation introduced by the Law and Justice party would allow the government to dismiss and replace the directors of state media and to appoint new justices to the Constitutional Court. Demonstrations have also been held in protest against legislation to limit abortions and to give preference to the Catholic Church.
Wolski believes that Jews are organizing the protests against the government. In an interview on the television program "Behind the Vision," Wolski stated: "Instead of taking part in the New Year's Eve Opłatek (wafers which Christians in Poland give to each other on Christmas Eve), they're giving matzot to each other at the protests."
He went on to recite a satirical poem which implied that Jews were behind the protests.
Jews in Norway
TV 2 Norway investigate Norwegian anti-Semitism. The word "Jew" is a common insult in many communities in Norway. What role does the neo-Nazis’, muslim immigrations and the - BDS (boycott Israel) movement play – if any? And: Can old prejudices be joked away?
IDF launches new smartphone to keep communication secure
The Israeli army has launched its first smartphone, developed in collaboration with Motorola and announced in a video on its Twitter feed on Sunday.Watch: Holocaust survivor & soldier grandson on UN stage
The new phone supports both 4G and military networks and enables soldiers to securely send classified visuals and footage from the field, the video said. No immediate additional information was released about the phone on Sunday.
The new phone was developed after Israel Defense Forces signed a $100 million contract with Motorola Solutions in January 2014 to produce new encrypted smartphones that would serve military personnel for the next 15 years.
The IDF said at the time that the smartphones would include a touchscreen, GPS and an eight-megapixel camera, and allow soldiers to send secure text messages, images and emails.
The UN General Assembly on Friday held its annual International Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in the presence of Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Noah Klieger, a survivor of Auschwitz, was the main speaker at the ceremony and addressed the General Assembly.
Addressing the General Assembly, Klieger recalled three dreams that he had in Auschwitz: "To survive this hell on earth, to tell as many people as possible what the Nazis did to the Jews and to help to regain the land from which we were driven into exile. My dream came true and our historic Jewish homeland has been restored."
He then went on to implore the world to continue to tell the story of the survivors and called on the UN to adopt a resolution encouraging member states to educate the next generations about the horrors of the Holocaust.
Klieger had met with a delegation of UN ambassadors at the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem last August when they visited as part of a delegation led Israel's Ambassador Danny Danon. Following that meeting, Ambassador Danon suggested that Klieger be invited to speak at this year's ceremony.
Klieger was accompanied to the podium in the General Assembly hall by Danon and his grandson, Yuval, an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, who was dressed in his uniform for the ceremony.