Monday, December 11, 2023

12/11 Links Pt1: Jerusalem: ‘No UN chief has done more to secure the survival of a terrorist organization’; Spielberg to document Hamas massacre survivors’ stories

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: The UN and Israel have never gotten along
There’s an old joke about the United Nations having a soccer team. “But who would they play?” it goes. “Why, Israel of course.”

There may not be much humor in it, but there’s plenty of truth. Despite Israel being set up by UN vote, it has been the world’s premier forum for Israel-bashing, particularly since the country won wars of self-defense in 1967 and 1973.

Perhaps the most notorious moment was the “Zionism is racism” resolution in 1975, when the foundations of the Jewish state were suddenly under assault. On that occasion the late great Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the former Democratic senator from New York, gave one of the best counter-blast speeches ever given on the floor of the UN. As did Chaim Herzog, the father of Israel’s current president. But at that point, as at so many other times, Israel’s enemies were greater in number than its friends by a significant margin. The victorious majority was led by that great campaigner for social justice Idi Amin. A party for the anti-Israel delegates was thrown by Kurt Waldheim of Austria, who turned out to have spent his war years serving in a Nazi unit.

In any case, ever since then Israel has been the main source of international ire at the UN, from non-aligned countries as well as much of the Muslim world. The farcical UN Human Rights Council in Geneva does little else but knock Israel around. I’ve known some people who spent their lives in that Alice in Wonderland world in Geneva and noticed it isn’t good for their long-term health. How can you sit there day after day and listen to, for instance, the representative from North Korea claiming human rights abuses in western democracies? Only last month Iran was given the chairmanship of a UN human rights forum. And although it is true that the regime managed to refrain from bludgeoning any woman to death for not wearing a headscarf during the meeting itself, there was again that sense that something might not be right.

A month earlier, the United Nations General Assembly in New York had an opportunity to vote to condemn the Hamas massacre of October 7 and demand the release of all Israeli hostages. But even that simple assertion of decency was too much for the UN. The proposition was voted down and when that was announced the General Assembly broke out into applause.
Amb. Tzipi Hotovely: The UN's Anti-Israel Bias Must Be Addressed
This year, the UN General Assembly has adopted 15 resolutions singling out Israel for criticism. All other countries in the world combined have had six resolutions passed against them, with just one resolution each condemning Iran, North Korea and Syria.

The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter to call for a ceasefire at a time when Hamas still has significant military capabilities. Making any such call is like saying to Israelis that you do not mind if Oct. 7 happens again. Israel has no other choice than to take this threat seriously. Indeed, we are obligated to, under international law, in order to protect our citizens.

The current war between Israel and Hamas is tragic. It is a war that we did not want, and a war we did not start. Hamas made the choice to murder, rape, behead, torture and mutilate over 1,200 innocent people on Oct. 7. We are fighting a war of self-defense.

Yet on Oct. 27, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that did not even mention the atrocities committed by Hamas nor the legal right that Israel has to defend itself. Widespread torture and abuse of Israelis continues in Gaza. There are still 137 hostages - men, women, children, and pensioners - being held illegally inside Gaza, each constituting a war crime committed by Hamas. The thought of what they are going through should frighten us all. Every second counts while our 137 hostages remain in Hamas captivity.

UN-funded schools, meanwhile, have allowed anti-Semitism to flourish. Their textbooks teach Palestinians to hate Jews, glorifying jihad and martyrdom. These same buildings are also used by Hamas terrorists for military purposes.

Sadly, the UN long ago abandoned its commitment to the universal application of human rights, evidenced by its glaring double standards applied to Israel.
Qanta A. Ahmed: Hamas Crimes Against Humanity Cannot Be Allowed to Fade
Hamas committed crimes against humanity in Israel on Oct. 7. That much should be obvious from the terrorists' own mass-murder video recordings, but it is indisputable for anyone who has visited the ravaged sites of their attack, as I have.

At Israel's National Center of Forensic Medicine, I inspected the body of an older man. His decaying body was now a quilt of stab wounds and gunshot entries and exits. His wrists remained encircled in plastic zip ties. A CT scanner was required to reveal that a charred mass was actually two humans. Cables bound the bodies together. The orientation of two spinal columns showed one adult and one child had died while locked in an embrace.

Now, two months later, much of the discussion has moved on to considering how to achieve peace between Israel and Palestinians. But what happened on Oct. 7 meets the internationally recognized definition of genocide. The world has an obligation to recognize what was done - and to punish the perpetrators.
Spielberg to document Hamas massacre survivors’ stories
The Shoah Foundation of the University of Southern California, founded by Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg, has begun collecting the testimonies of Israeli survivors of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

The foundation is best known for its work documenting the stories of more than 56,000 Holocaust survivors since its founding in 1994.

“I never imagined I would see such unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime,” Spielberg said in an announcement issued by the foundation on Friday.

“Both initiatives—recording interviews with survivors of the October 7 attacks and the ongoing collection of Holocaust testimony—seek to fulfill our promise to survivors: that their stories would be recorded and shared in the effort to preserve history and to work toward a world without antisemitism or hate of any kind. We must remain united and steadfast in these efforts,” said Spielberg.

The foundation has already posted on its site videos of 68 Oct. 7 survivors sharing their stories. Videos range in length from nine minutes to just over one hour. Many of the videos were in Hebrew with English subtitles.

At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. Hamas currently holds 135 men, women and children captive in Gaza. Some people remain unaccounted for as Israeli authorities continue to identify bodies and search for human remains.
Koen Metsu (Belgian MP): Why Did the Hamas Murderers Shout "Allahu Akbar" - "God Is Great"?
In 1980, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini began planting the seeds of a genocidal movement to destroy Israel. Iran's goal is to bring the entire Middle East under Islamist control, and Hamas is only one part of this strategy. Iran is helped by the fact that Hamas and the people of Gaza have never supported a "two-state solution." They believe that Muslims must control all the land "from the river to the sea." It must be purged of Jews and any semblance of democratic governance.

On my trip to Israel in November, I made myself watch a 46-minute film of the horrors of Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre. I would rather not have seen it, but I felt it was my duty to do so. I will never be able to erase the images from my mind. I sincerely did not think any human could commit such atrocities. Most hideous of all, perhaps, was that throughout those 46 minutes, terrorists were shouting "Allahu Akbar" - "God is great" - again and again. What God, one wonders, would condone such violence?

During my visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, I met Yula and her son. Yula survived by hiding with her children in a drawer under the bed while Hamas terrorists entered her home and set it on fire. Yula's family tried to flee the fire, only to be met with terrorists outside their home, so they instinctively ran back into the inferno to escape via a back room. For seven hours they hid in a warehouse until the IDF rescued them.

I am in the peace camp. I support democracy and coexistence. But anyone who disparages Israel after Oct. 7 opens the door for another Oct. 7 anywhere in the world.


Jerusalem: ‘No UN chief has done more to secure the survival of a terrorist organization’
Israel’s government sharply criticized U.N. chief António Guterres on Monday, with a Prime Minister’s Office spokesman telling the press, “I don’t think any U.N. secretary-general in history has gone so far to secure the survival of a terrorist organization.”

Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Eylon Levy spoke in reference to Guterres’s Dec. 6 invocation of Article 99 of the U.N. Charter, which allows the secretary-general to bring to the Security Council’s attention issues he perceives as a threat to international security.

Guterres called for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in a letter to the council, saying conditions in Gaza were “fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole.”

“The international community has a responsibility to use all its influence to prevent further escalation and end this crisis,” he said.

A ceasefire, Israel argues, would disrupt its war aim of eradicating Hamas from the Gaza Strip, leaving the terrorist group wounded but likely to recover and resume control of the enclave.

Thirteen of the 15 Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution. The U.S. vetoed it while Britain abstained.

“This war will end when it is safe for the children of [the communities of] Be’eri and Nir Oz to sleep in their beds again,” Levy said. “This war will end when the diplomats who voted to save Hamas’s skin at the United Nations would feel safe babysitting little [4-year-old rescued hostage] Abigail Edan in Kfar Aza. Let’s call it the ‘diplomat babysitter test’ for ending this war.”
Netanyahu makes it clear: Post-war, PA won’t gain control of Gaza Strip’

UN General Assembly may vote on ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza

Seth J. Frantzman: From Pause Back to Fighting: Report from the Gaza Front

IDF slays dozens of terrorists in Gaza Strip

Will the war end without hostage rescue or Hamas takedown? Ex-Hamas minister rips into terror group: 'It's a bunch of madmen led by Sinwar' Israel-Hamas War: IDF troops thwart Hamas ambush, destroy tunnel shaft

IDF hits terror sites in Lebanon after rocket fire

Israeli injured in rocket barrage targeting center

1,300-plus terror attacks in Judea and Samaria since Oct. 7

Egypt Mulls Plans for Global Resettlement of Gazans
The Arab newspaper Al-Akhbar quoted sources on Saturday claiming that Egypt is exploring the possibility that other countries will agree to host Gazans who will be allowed to leave via the Rafah border crossing. According to this scenario, Egypt will accept hundreds of thousands of Gazans based on medical and humanitarian conditions, or those with immigration visas and foreign student visas. These individuals will stay in Egypt for a limited period at the beginning before moving to other countries.

Egypt has started examining whether Arab countries in North Africa and the Gulf States will agree to receive immigration quotas. Egypt is also interested in promoting scholarships for Gazan students in the West and Turkey, allowing them to move there with their families.

At the same time, Egypt is investing considerable efforts in trying to prevent mass migration from Gaza into the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt told the U.S. that the displacement of Gazans into its territory would threaten its security.
Israel says UN ‘must do better’ in delivering Gaza aid

UN envoys say 'enough' on trip to Gaza border

Freed hostage says three women told her they were sexually abused

After my grandmother’s ordeal, I have to speak out against sexual violence by Hamas on October 7

Hamas inflicted 'the ultimate violation' on Israeli women and girls

How Hamas Used Sexual Violence on October 7th

‘We know nothing’: Son of Israeli hostage speaks out
The son of an Israeli hostage has expressed concern over the health of his father held hostage by Hamas.

Yair Moses’ parents, Gadi and Margalit were taken by Hamas during the terrorist group’s horrific attack on October 7.

Margalit was freed during the ceasefire, but Gadi remains hostage in Gaza.

“Of course, I am afraid because it is a person that is almost 80 years old, we know nothing about the condition he’s held,” he told Sky News Australia.

“We don’t know what they are doing to him, we know nothing about him, Red Cross never saw him.”

Of the roughly 240 people taken hostage by Hamas, 137 remain in captivity as the Israeli ground assault to eliminate Hamas continues.

“As we know Hamas is so cruel so they can say anything and do anything so of course I am afraid and worried about him.”




HOW TERROR ORGANIZATIONS WEAPONIZE 'HUMAN RIGHTS' NGOs
In-Depth Special with Prof. Gerald Steinberg:
As has become abundantly clear on American campuses, and recently in the testimony of three university presidents in congress, anti-Semitism is being relegitimzed among Western elites. Its new disguise is a double standard masquerading under the banner of human rights and bent on delegitimizing the Jewish nation-state . Our guest in this special in-depth episode, Professor Gerald Steinberg, founder and president of NGO Monitor, an organization that tracks how NGOs with benign sounding names operate in the service of terror organizations and anti-Semitic agendas.




Call Me Back PodCast: The ‘Day After’ in Gaza – with Haviv Rettig Gur In today’s weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur of The Times of Israel, we discuss Israel’s current thinking about what a post-Hamas Gaza might look like — from a governance perspective, from a security perspective, and from an IDF presence perspective. It’s a topic we’ll return to from time to time as the planning is flud, but we are beginning to learn about early thinking from Israeli officials.



Hamas stands for the ‘liquidation of Israel’
The Australian’s Editor-at-Large Paul Kelly says Hamas stands for the “liquidation of Israel”.

Mr Kelly sat with Sky News host Sharri Markson to discuss the rise of pro-Palestinian protests.

“I think it is perfectly legitimate for the pro-Palestinian cause and the left to protest and campaign against Israel’s war, to campaign against the Israeli government,” he said.

“But this is a war between Israel and a terrorist organisation, Hamas, that stands for the liquidation of Israel, and for the liquidation of the Jewish people in the Middle East, so clearly there is a fundamental moral question here.

“I think if people are going to campaign on behalf of the Palestinian cause, then it’s incumbent on them to spell out precisely where they stand and in particular spell out whether they disagree and dissent from the agenda of Hamas.”


Hamas wants death of ‘a lot of Palestinians’ to ‘blacken the name’ of Israel: Greg Sheridan
The Australian’s Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan says Hamas wanted the death of “a lot of Palestinians” in order to “blacken the name” of Israel.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, 17,177 people – including 7,112 children – have been killed since the attacks on Israel on October 7.

“I think the Palestinian population in Gaza probably hate Hamas now for what they have done,” Mr Sheridan told Sky News contributor Steve Price.

“This is what Hamas wanted – it wanted the death of a lot of Palestinians to blacken the name of Israel.

“I would be surprised still if they ever formally surrendered, I don’t think that’s their style – they’re more likely to commit suicide than surrender.

“They would also calculate that Israel is coming under tremendous pressure and if Israel has to stop before the Hamas leaders are captured, then they will market this for future decades as a kind of victory.”


Anthony Albanese turning a ‘blind eye’ to racism ‘explosion’ in Australia
Sky News host Sharri Markson has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of turning a “blind eye” to the rise in racism happening under his watch.

Ms Markson warned the anti-Semitism “crisis” seems to be getting worse with each passing day as the Prime Minister avoids making the trip to Israel.

“Foreign Minister Penny Wong is finally making a trip to Israel soon, but she is practically tripping over herself to mention that she will be visiting the West Bank and neighbouring countries as well as part of a 'peace mission' to bring an end to the war,” she said.

The Sky News host also pointed to Mr Albanese’s column in The Australian which failed to mention how he would help protect Australian Jews.

“He's deliberately turning a blind eye to the explosion in racism that's happening under his watch.”




Israeli Defence Minister blasts 'Hamas propaganda' at universities and reveals Israel has helped thwart HUNDREDS of terror attacks in Britain and Europe in 'recent years' - as he declares his nation is 'fighting on the frontline of the free world'

Capitol Police arrest more than 40 pro-ceasefire protesters inside Senate office building



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