Wednesday, January 31, 2024

01/31 Links Pt2: Bibi: UNRWA gave ICJ false information against Israel; BMG dumps anti-Israel musician Roger Waters; Ben Shapiro and Elon Musk Discuss DEI, Anti-Semitism

From Ian:

Netanyahu: UNRWA gave ICJ false information against Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency of providing false information against Israel to the International Court of Justice at The Hague during a conversation he held with a delegation of visiting ambassadors on Wednesday night.

“Many of the charges, false and unfounded, that were leveled against us in The Hague were brought by UNRWA officials,” Netanyahu charged.

He spoke close to one week after the ICJ issued a provisional order against Israel in which it asked it to refrain from acts that could lead to genocide against the Palestinians but fell short of asking it to stop its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

It listed UNRWA as one of the organizations that provided it with information, on which it based its ruling.

Israel has rejected all genocide accusations and has argued that it is Hamas that seeks to annihilate the Jewish people. It has been said that the Hamas-led October 7 attack against Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and another 253 were seized as hostage, is proof of those genocidal intentions.

“The only time that we've seen anything like that directed against the Jewish people was in the Holocaust,” Netanyahu told the delegation of ambassadors from different countries stationed at the UN headquarters in New York.

Netanyahu: "UNRWA is totally infiltrated with Hamas"
On the same day as the ICJ issued its order, Israel provided UNRWA with information that 12 of its staff members had participated in the October 7 attack. UNRWA summarily fired nine of those staff members.

In the wake of the accusations 18 countries, including the US, have suspended funding to UNRWA. The agency has warned that unless the suspensions are rescinded it would not be able to provide vital humanitarian aid to the 5.9 million Palestinians it services in Gaza, the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Netanyahu has persistently called for the agency to be replaced.

He told the ambassadors that “UNRWA is totally infiltrated with Hamas. It has been in the service of Hamas and its schools, and in many other things.

“I say this with great regret because we hoped that there would be an objective and constructive body to offer aid. We need such a body today in Gaza. But UNRWA is not that body. It has to be replaced by some organization or organizations that will do that job.”
‘UNRWA Is a Front for Hamas,’ Israel Says. Read the Full Intelligence Dossier.
Israel this week shared with the Washington Free Beacon and other news outlets a declassified intelligence dossier detailing how the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency has allegedly been compromised by Hamas. About 10 percent of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's some 12,000 workers in Gaza are Hamas or Islamic Jihad "operatives," according to the document, and at least 13 participated in Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attack in southern Israel.

"UNRWA is a front for Hamas," Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said during a briefing on Tuesday that marked the 116th day of the war in Gaza.

The dossier—based on signals intelligence, interrogations of Hamas terrorists, and documents recovered in Gaza—was part of an Israeli briefing of U.S. officials that convinced Washington and others to suspend funding to UNRWA. U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken on Monday called the findings "highly, highly credible." Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on Tuesday welcomed the world body's announced investigation of UNRWA. She said the United States would need to see "fundamental changes" to the agency before any resumption of funding.


Ben Shapiro and Elon Musk Discuss DEI, Anti-Semitism and X

NGO Monitor: The UNRWA Constellation: Partnerships with UN Agencies and Terror-Linked NGOs
Lawfare and partnerships with terror-linked NGOs

UNRWA activities under the heading of “Monitoring and documentation” and “targeting external actors and duty bearers” are central to the NGO-led “lawfare” campaign against Israel.

UNRWA partners with the main NGOs behind anti-Israel lawfare, Al-Haq, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), and Al Mezan. For instance, UNRWA was listed as an implementing partner on their joint project titled “Advocacy, monitoring and documentation of HR and IHL violations and related trends (with focus on grave violations against children across the oPt; IHL violations in Gaza; and settler violence and excessive use of force in the West Bank).”

The three NGOs have ties to the PFLP terror group:

Al-Haq
On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Al-Haq a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”
Al-Haq’s General Director Shawan Jabarin has been linked to the PFLP.
On October 8, Al-Haq signed a joint statement describing the October 7 massacre as: “Palestinian armed groups engaged in an operation in response to escalating Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.”
On October 12, Al-Haq Legal Researcher and Advocacy Officer Aseel Al-Bajeh tweeted, “We don’t need to speak of our right to resist, for it is not a right, but a way of being & survival for Palestinians. We don’t demand our right to narrate. Our ability to narrate was never out of our hands & resistance doesn’t need the pre- approval of static int’l law codes. Its not ‘our duty to expose the bloody barbarism of zionism, their actions as a fascist state & a ruthless army are more than sufficient to undertake this task. We remain attached to our land & in our humanity, as Pal Arabs no need to prove our humanity to those who have lost it.”

Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)
PCHR has multiple links to the PFLP terror organization. For details, see NGO Monitor’s report “Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
Founderand director Raji Sourani served “a three-year sentence [1979-1982] imposed by an Israeli court which convicted him of membership in the illegal Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine…” He was also denied a US entry visa in 2012.
In February 2014, the PFLP organized a ceremonyin Gaza honoring Sourani. Rabah Muhana, a member of the PFLP Political Bureau, delivered a speech at the prize ceremony. During the ceremony Sourani stated that “I was in the ranks of the Popular Front, and there were comrades who taught us with their own hands. This organization has given us much more. We hope that the direction and the sense of belonging that were planted inside us will remain in our minds. We don’t apologize and don’t regret our past, we are proud that once we were members of this organization and we fought in its ranks”.

Al Mezan
A number of Al Mezan board members, officials, and employees appear to have direct affiliations with Hamas and the PFLP.
Additionally, Al Mezan officials and board members speak at PFLP events, and many have posted material on their social media accounts promoting terror groups or utilizing antisemitic imagery and rhetoric.
For details, see “Al Mezan Center for Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”

Two of the other implementing partners, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) and Addameer, also have established links to the PFLP. See NGO Monitor reports, “Defense for Children International – Palestine’s Ties to the PFLP Terror Group” and “Addameer’s Ties to the PFLP Terrorist Group,” for more details.1 Islamic Relief Worldwide

According to UNRWA, “Partnering with Islamic Relief’s chapter in the US has opened opportunities for UNRWA to engage with Islamic Relief chapters in the UK and France, and with the umbrella organization Islamic Relief Worldwide.”

On June 19, 2014, Israel’s Defense Minister declared IRW to be illegal, based on its alleged role in funneling money to Hamas, and banned it from operating in Israel and the West Bank. According to news reports, the decision was made after “the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the coordinator for government activities in the territories, and legal authorities provided incriminating information against IRW.”
In January 2021, the US State Department cut ties with IRW due to “anti-Semitism exhibited repeatedly by IRW’s leadership.”
Since 2006, Islamic Relief Palestine (IRPAL) has cooperated with the Al-Falah Society. According to the Meir Amit Institute, the Al-Falah Society Charitable is one of “Hamas’s charitable societies.” Al-Falah is run by Ramadan Tanboura – according to Haaretz, a “well-known Hamas figure.” According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Hamas held a reception for Tanboura “on his return from an eight-month fund-raising trip to the Gulf States. Senior Hamas figures also participated.”
IRPAL partners with the Gaza Zakat Committee (GZC), also known as the Islamic Zakat Society (IZS). IZS works closely with the Hamas government and is managed by Hamas preacher Hazem Al-Sirraj. According to Dr. Emanuel Schaeublin, a lecturer at the University of Zurich, GZC has ties to Fatah, the PFLP, and Hamas. Islamic Relief UK and Islamic Relief Canada are both named by IZS as its patrons.
Hillel Neuer on CNN with Jake Tapper: UNRWA must go, now is the time to find alternatives
Hillel Neuer appeared on The Lead with Jake Tapper to discuss the growing case against UNRWA which has led its biggest donor states to cut funding.




MEMRI: Palestinian Authority, Hamas Condemn Suspension Of Funds To UNRWA Over Involvement Of Its Staffers In October 7 Attack: UNRWA Is Vital To Implementing Right Of Return
Hamas and officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA) reacted with fury and condemnation to the decision of the U.S. and some 15 other countries to suspend funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) over the involvement of several of its employees in the October 7 attack against Israel. The numerous condemnations reflected the Palestinian leadership's perception that UNRWA's role is to perpetuate the Palestinians' refugee status until all the refugees can return to their original homes inside Israel.

Accordingly, Palestinian officials claimed that the terror allegations against UNRWA staffers were part of an Israeli "incitement campaign" aimed at undermining this agency, which embodies "the accumulating memory of the suffering of the Palestinian refugees" and is "a source of the Palestinian refugees' hope for aid and for returning to their homes." Hamas claimed that UNRWA's role is to defend not only the refugees' right to return to their homes but also their right to resist the occupation.

The following are some of the reactions by Hamas, the PA and Fatah to the decision of several countries to suspend funding for UNRWA.

Hamas: UNRWA's Role Is To Support The Palestinians' Right To Resist Occupation
In a January 27, 2024 statement, Hamas condemned UNRWA's decision to terminate the contracts of several of its staffers in Gaza over allegations of their involvement in the October 7 attacks, and added that one of UNRWA's roles is to support the Palestinian resistance. The statement said: "We strongly condemn the description of our people's resistance as terror or as horrific acts, as [claimed in UNRWA's] statement… Furthermore, the political position that UNRWA must adopt, based on its mandate, is one that defends the rights of the refugees it represents – first and foremost their right to protection and to resist the occupation by all legitimate means, as well as their right to return to the homes from which they were forcible expelled."[1]

PA Presidency: The Terror Allegations Against UNRWA Employees Are Part Of An Israeli Campaign To Eliminate The Issue Of The Palestinian Refugees
A statement issued by the PA presidency condemned Israel's "oppressive campaign" against UNRWA, "whose aim is to eliminate the issue of the Palestinian refugees, which is contrary to [UN] Resolution 302 that established UNRWA… and to all the other international resolutions relevant to the refugee issue… The Palestinian issue will not be resolved without the return of the refugees, in accordance with UN Resolution 194."[2]

PA Prime Minister: UNRWA Is Source Of Palestinian Refugees' Hope To Return To Their Homes
PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shatayyeh said in a press conference that "UNRWA embodies the accumulating memory of the suffering of the Palestinian refugees wherever they are, in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank." He added that, "throughout its years of activity, UNRWA has been a source of hope for the Palestinian refugees – [hope] for aid and for returning to their homes, in accordance with the UN resolutions, and especially Resolution 194."[3]
The UNRWA teachers who slaughtered Jews and the Canadian profs who admire them
The Israel-Hamas war has exposed an education system that promotes hate and glorifies violence — not only in the Palestinian territories, but right here in Canada.

On Friday, UNRWA, the United Nations agency responsible for ensuring Palestinians remain in a perpetual state of refugeehood, announced that it had fired several staff members after Israel provided credible evidence that they had participated in the Oct. 7 massacre. This prompted numerous countries, including Canada, to pause funding to the agency.

Subsequent reporting revealed that 12 staff members are under investigation, nine of whom work for UNRWA schools, including seven teachers. Unfortunately, this should not come as a surprise.

The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) — a non-profit with offices in Israel and the United Kingdom that analyzes textbooks and curricula from around to world to judge their adherence to values expressed by the United Nations — has been exposing the hateful content taught in UNRWA schools for over 20 years.

Part of the problem is that UNRWA teaches the Palestinian Authority’s hate-filled curriculum in the West Bank and Gaza. But UNRWA teachers and staff do produce their own supplementary teaching and study materials, which IMPACT-se found to be rife with antisemitism, along with “calls for martyrdom, violence and jihad.”

Examples include an Arabic reading assignment for Grade 9 students that references a bus bombing, calling it a “barbecue party … with firebombs on one of the buses of the colonial settlement,” and a Grade 5 Arabic language summary that venerates terrorists as “heroes.”

In a March 2023 report, IMPACT-se documented 133 UNRWA staff who had posted antisemitic statements and incitements to violence on social media.

Its latest report on UNRWA schools, released in the wake of Hamas’s terror attack, details how “13 UNRWA staff members have publicly praised, celebrated or expressed their support for the unprecedented deadly assaults on civilians on 7 October.”

The results speak for themselves. “By Hamas’ own admission,” writes IMPACT-se, “more than 100 UNRWA graduates have become active Hamas terrorists.”
Jonathan Tobin: How intersectional myths killed the black-Jewish alliance
For the 1,000 black pastors who have joined a movement to pressure President Joe Biden to force a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, the issue is solidarity with the “oppressed.” This can be seen as part of a general revolt within the activist base of the Democratic Party against the administration’s policy in the Middle East. Much like the petitions signed by lower-level officials throughout the government, Democratic congressional staffers and even the president’s campaign staff. But as reports in The New York Times, NPR and other publications have made clear, the opposition of black churches, which have long been key to get-out-the-vote campaigns to elect Democrats, to Biden on an issue they say “isn’t marginal” poses a potentially lethal threat to his hopes for re-election.

But the key question to be asked about this effort is not so much about its political impact, significant though it may be. It’s why so many African-Americans, especially church leaders who have real influence among their congregants as well as the general black community, could come to believe that the cause of the Palestinians is somehow linked to their own interests and beliefs.

The answer to this puzzle is clear. Intersectional myths in which the Palestinian war to destroy the one Jewish state on the planet is somehow analogous to the struggle for civil rights in the United States are no longer merely a talking point of academic fashion. These toxic ideas have now been embraced by the African-American community. The teaching of critical race theory and the woke catechism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) divides the world into two immutable groups locked in a never-ending struggle: white oppressors and people of color, who are always the victims. Black pastors have swallowed the neo-Marxist lies that Jews are “white” oppressors and that Palestinian Arabs are victimized people of color—and are sharing that with their congregants.

Racial myths about the Middle East
That the conflict in the Middle East isn’t about race—Jews and Arabs are the same ethnicity—and that about half of Israeli Jews are themselves people of color because they trace their origins to the Middle East and North Africa, is left out of the discussion about American blacks’ opposition to Israel. They seem equally ignorant or disinterested in the Palestinians’ consistent rejection of every compromise offer, including those that would have granted them independence and statehood provided they were willing to live peacefully alongside a Jewish state. That a ceasefire existed before Oct. 7 and that Gaza hadn’t been occupied since 2005—or that Jews are the indigenous people in the place Americans call “the holy land”—is also omitted from these discussions.

The facts about the Palestinian Arabs’ century-long war against Zionism don’t matter if you believe that any struggle can be reduced to an intersectional equation of good people of color versus evil whites, with the “whites” always in the wrong no matter what either group does.

The language used by pastors in describing their campaign to bludgeon Biden, who knows all too well that he only won his party’s presidential nomination in 2020 and then the general election that year because of black support, is not so much a reflection of political calculations as an attempt to frame their stand as an extension of civil-rights advocacy.
U.S. Students Have a History of Taking the Wrong Side
A recent poll showed only 27% of Americans aged 18 to 29 as more sympathetic to Israel than to the Palestinian Arabs, as compared to 63% of Americans 65 or older.

The reason for their hostility is their ignorance of the history and facts of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Ignorance among the younger generation about foreign affairs is not a new problem in America.

In the 1930s, polls found 63% of college students favored unilateral American disarmament.

In 1934, 25,000 American college students took part in a one-hour walkout from classes to demonstrate their opposition to U.S. involvement in any war.

The strike mushroomed to 175,000 participants in 1935, then 500,000 in 1936 - nearly half the national college student population.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt told the American Youth Congress that their positions were "based perhaps on sincerity, but, at the same time, on 90% ignorance" of the subject matter.

"There is room for improvement in common-sense thinking and definite room for improvement in the art of not passing resolutions concerning things one doesn't know anything about."
U.S. Colleges Teaching Hate: American Miseducation (Documentary)
In October last year, when Hamas attacked Israel, a new form of violent antisemitism instantly exploded onto American streets.

This newest strain of the oldest hatred comes not from far-right extremists, but from students and faculty at America’s most vaunted centers of learning.

In American Miseducation, Free Press correspondent Olivia Reingold travels to America’s most elite colleges—from UPenn to Columbia—to find the origins of campus antisemitism and to ask how the smartest people in the country became the source of so much hate.

American Miseducation was made possible through our partnership with the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History—a nonprofit organization building a movement of civic educators to reach the next generation with the principles of freedom, tolerance, and human dignity that lie at the heart of the American political tradition.

To get involved and learn more, visit JackMillerCenter.org.


BMG dumps anti-Israel musician Roger Waters
Former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, an antisemite and a harsh critic of Israel, has been dropped as a client by Berlin-based music company BMG, Variety reported on Tuesday.

Sources told the entertainment trade magazine that the music publisher and record label decided to completely separate from the artist, who has made inflammatory remarks about Israel, Ukraine and the United States.

Waters and BMG signed a publishing agreement in 2016 and were scheduled to release a newly recorded version of the classic 1973 Pink Floyd album “Dark Side of the Moon.” However, CEO Thomas Coesfeld canceled the deal.

BMG declined to comment for the article.

The aging English rocker has posted anti-Israel videos to his X account many times since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 people in the northwestern Negev, including a rant on Jan. 21 in which he distorts the historical record, calling the Jewish founders of Israel in 1948 “terrorist Zionist gangs” who forcibly drove the Palestinians from their homes, committing “murder, execution, rape.”

Two hotels in Buenos Aires canceled the reservations of Waters and his band in November over his anti-Israel comments related to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.

Waters, who was in South America as part of a global tour, blamed the “Israel lobby” for the cancellations.

On the Nov. 1 episode of journalist Glenn Greenwald’s Rumble podcast, “System Update,” Waters suggested that the Hamas attack was an Israeli “false flag operation” and that there was “something fishy” about the Israelis not knowing an attack was being planned.

The 80-year-old musician, who described himself as “an opponent of the whole Zionist exercise” also said Hamas was “absolutely legally and morally bound to resist.”


Why the International Court of Justice Ruling Is Unsatisfactory
Provoking Israel by their despicable depravity of Oct. 7, the butchers in Gaza have reaped a whirlwind whose calamitous consequences will endure for decades.

It is extraordinary that the judges fail to acknowledge the critical fact that Israel is fighting an enemy that is demonstrably committed to the Jewish state's annihilation. They surprisingly overlooked the terrible reality that Israel's cold-blooded foe hides its fighters, weapons, and hostages in a subterranean city, and operates among civilians in schools, mosques, and hospitals. It also continues to fire rockets into Israel.

The court uncritically concurs that various bellicose statements, uttered in the aftermath of the gruesome Oct. 7 attacks, demonstrate the requisite intention by Israel to commit genocide. A moment's thought would explain why, following the barbaric, sadistic onslaught, which left at least 1,200 dead, many wounded, and 250 taken hostage, certain Israeli political and military leaders promised vengeance and retaliation for the unspeakable suffering that befell so many innocent citizens and foreign visitors.

The writer is Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Theory at the University of Hong Kong, and was previously Professor of Public Law at the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa.
Israel Is the Frontline in the Battle for Freedom
On Oct. 7, Israel did not only suffer the deadliest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust, but Jews worldwide must now contend with an army of genocidal lies, ignorance, defamation and denial. The peak of this horrific eruption of racism was the blood libel that the once-noble South Africa brought before the International Court of Justice, falsely accusing Israel of genocide.

It was a bitter irony to see Israel in the dock rather than Hamas, which committed a genuinely genocidal assault that it documented with bloodthirsty pride. Those who target the Jewish people always have the ultimate ambition of destroying liberal democracy and the Judeo-Christian values on which it is built.

The legacy inherited from Nazism has now been witnessed by some who themselves survived the Nazis' crimes. Gina Semetrich was 91. Originally from Czechoslovakia, she emerged from the Holocaust to rebuild her life and family in Kissufim, a kibbutz near the border with Gaza. On Oct. 7, she was beaten and murdered by Hamas Nazis.

Sara Jackson, 88, another survivor of the Holocaust, barricaded herself in her home at Kibbutz Sa'ad, just as she had done during a pogrom in Poland decades ago. She helped shelter three boys who had managed to escape the Nova Festival, where 360 innocents were massacred.

We must courageously face what is happening. We must accept that Israel has no choice but to end this war by destroying the new ISIS on its border with a victory on the most difficult battlefield imaginable. "Never again" means understanding that Israel is now the frontline in the battle for freedom and for life itself. And it is fighting for all of us.
South Africa calls on other countries to halt any funding to the IDF
South Africa proclaimed on Wednesday that all states have an obligation to stop funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions in Gaza, after it said the World Court made clear those actions could be genocidal.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide and take steps to improve the humanitarian situation of Palestinians in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa.

It stopped short of demanding a ceasefire and has not yet ruled on the core of South Africa’s case, whether genocide has occurred in Gaza. That ruling could take years.

South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor claimed that the ICJ ruling “makes it clear that it is plausible that genocide is taking place against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This necessarily imposes an obligation on all states to cease funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions.”

While the court denied Israel’s request to throw out the charge of genocide, saying there was “plausibility” to the claim, it also refused South Africa’s call for it to issue an immediate ceasefire order, and called on Israel to “prevent” rather to “desist” from committing any such activity in Gaza.

South Africa has for decades been an advocate for the Palestinian cause, comparing the plight of Palestinians to that of Black South Africans under apartheid. Israel has denied allegations of genocide and rejects the comparison to the apartheid era.
‘There is No Antisemitism Here,’ South African Justice Minister Claims, Despite 631 Percent Increase in Attacks on Jews
The claim of South Africa’s Justice Minister that there is no antisemitism targeting the country’s Jewish community drew a forthright response from Jewish leaders on Wednesday, who also accused the South African government of “creating an environment that emboldens antisemites.”

In an interview with the BBC’s “Hard Talk” program on Monday, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola flatly denied that antisemitism — which has soared in South Africa in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel and the Israeli government’s military response — was a problem.

When presenter Stephen Sackur quoted South African Jewish leader Howard Sackstein saying that he was “staring at my suitcase contemplating whether it’s time to leave the only home I’ve ever known,” underlining as well his fear that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government had been “captured by radical Islamists,” Lamola dismissed these concerns outright, going on to attack the “Zionist state.”

“It’s a very unfortunate statement not backed by any facts, it’s a figment of his own imagination,” Lamola said.

Lamola added that the case charging Israel with “genocide” brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by South Africa was “not against the Jews as a people, it’s against the Zionist State of Israel,” which was “maiming and killing the Palestinians as a group in Gaza,” he said.
Unpacked: Does the Palestinian Authority Support Terrorism? | Explained
The Palestinian Authority’s “Martyr’s Fund,” also known as “Pay to Slay,” pays the families of Palestinian terrorists who are imprisoned or killed for acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians. Despite attempts by Israel and other countries to both deter terrorism and incentivize the PA to end its “pay to slay” policy, the PA continues to find creative ways to successfully financially incentivize terrorism.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:36 Terrorist payments from the PLO
03:03 Financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority
03:55 The PA's Martyr's Fund
05:01 The Second Intifada
05:39 The Prisoners and Released Prisoners Law
06:35 Israeli attempts to disincentivize terrorists
07:08 Western countries cut off PA funding
08:23 Israeli withholds tax revenue from the PA
08:58 Failure to end Pay to Slay
10:00 U.S. resumes payments
10:44 Palestinian support for Pay to Slay
11:09 PA exploitation of Palestinians
11:44 Palestinian resistance and martyrdom


Lapid ready to enter government instead of Ben Gvir, Smotrich, to ensure hostage deal
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said Wednesday that his Yesh Atid party is prepared to enter the government to replace the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties if that is what is needed to secure the release of the hostages from Gaza.

Lapid told Channel 12 news that his party would provide “a safety net for the government,” after the far right-wing parties, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich respectively, sharply criticized the reported deals of a possible hostage deal being examined by Israel and Hamas.

Ben Gvir threatened to bring down the government if the “reckless” deal was reached, while Netanyahu’s office insisted Tuesday that the reports were incorrect, stressing that the premier’s position was that there would be no withdrawal from the Strip and that thousands of terrorists would not be released.

A potential deal, reported in The Washington Post on Wednesday, would see all civilian hostages held by the Palestinian terror group in Gaza freed over a six-week pause in fighting, in exchange for three times as many Palestinian security prisoners released from Israeli jails. Other outlets reported different details of a potential deal.

“I am not prepared for the hostages to not be released over politics. We will do what is needed. If we need to enter the government in the place of Ben Gvir and Smotrich, we will enter the government,” Lapid said, adding that “extremists” should not be able to prevent a deal.

“I am not here to save Netanyahu, but I am here to save the hostages,” he said.
US could recognize Palestinian state after Israel's war in Gaza
The United States is engaged in ongoing “planning processes” on how best to advance the establishment of a Palestinian state, US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said, but stressed that this was not a policy change.

“Yes, we are actively pursuing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with real security guarantees for Israel,” Miller told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

‘We support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and we do a lot of work in the government to think about how to bring it about,” Miller said.

“The vast majority of options never usually get implemented,” he stated.

He spoke about those efforts when quizzed by journalists about a report on the Hebrew website Walla about such efforts.


State Department downplays report US weighing recognition of Palestinian state
The US State Department is reportedly exploring the possibility of recognizing a Palestinian state following the end of the Gaza war, which would be a major shift in American policy, although its spokesman downplayed the significance of any such discussion on Wednesday.

According to the report in Axios, which cites two US officials, Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked the State Department to review the policy options available to the US on the issue and present them for discussion.

Asked about the report during a press briefing on Wednesday, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the administration has not shifted its policy on the matter.

“We have been quite clear publicly that we support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state… with security guarantees for Israel,” Miller said. “That’s been the policy of the United States for some time. That has been the policy of this administration.”

But he went on to dampen the report, suggesting that recognizing a Palestinian state has long been among the options weighed by successive administrations, even though none of them has taken that step.

“We look at any number of options. That’s part of the normal planning process. The vast majority of options never usually get implemented,” Miller said.
David Cameron did not clear Palestinian statehood speech with No 10
A speech by Lord Cameron in which he suggested the UK is considering recognising a Palestinian state was not approved in advance by Downing Street, i understands.

The Foreign Secretary sparked a backlash from some Conservative MPs when he told a reception on Monday evening “we should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state would look like”.

The comments appeared to mark a shift in language from senior levels of the UK government, which has long-argued for a two-state solution but has been cautious in expressing support for Palestinian statehood while Israel’s security is under threat from terrorist groups such as Hamas.

The Palestinian ambassador to the UK described the intervention as “the best shot in the arm for a two-state solution” between Israel and Palestinians.

Foreign Office sources insisted that Cameron’s remarks were no different from an article he wrote in the Mail on Sunday at the weekend, which had been approved in advance by No 10, and that there was no change in UK government policy.

But i understands that Monday night’s speech, at a reception of the Conservative Middle East Council, was not cleared with No 10.

Rishi Sunak does not want to change the existing policy on the Middle East peace process and has not authorised the Foreign Secretary to speed up the recognition of Palestine without a broader breakthrough in the peace process, according to a source close to the Prime Minister.

Cameron has embarked on his latest round of diplomacy in the region, amid hopes that both sides in the conflict could be close to agreeing a pause in fighting in Gaza.

In his Mail on Sunday article, he wrote: “We must give the people of the West Bank and Gaza the political perspective of a credible route to a Palestinian state and a new future. And it needs to be irreversible. This is not entirely in our gift.
Tom Gross: UK proposes Palestinian state, but Saudis & UAE fear it might ally with Qatar & even Iran
As David Cameron makes his fourth visit to Mideast in two months, Tom Gross comments on i24 news, 31.1.24, interviewed by Yaakov Eilon.




Biden Campaign Chief Courts Pro-Hamas Activist To Boost Muslim Support
The Biden campaign, in a bid to shore up the president’s waning support among Arab and Muslim voters, dispatched campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez last week to meet with an Arab-American activist who has praised Hamas and refers to the president as "Genocide Joe."

Rodriguez met Friday with Arab-American News publisher Osama Siblani in Dearborn, Mich., one of the country’s largest Arab communities. Siblani, who carries significant influence in Michigan’s Arab community, has an extensive history of praising terrorist groups. In 2022, he urged Arabs at a rally with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) to fight Israel with "stones" and "guns" and praised the fedayeen, or Islamic militants. He has referred to Hamas and Hezbollah as "freedom fighters," according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The outreach comes as Siblani and other activists have called to boycott the Biden-Harris ticket over the administration’s opposition to a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Siblani told the Associated Press that his meeting with Rodriguez went "very well," and that the campaign manager said she would relay his concerns to Biden.

The meeting highlights Biden’s desperate bid to repair his standing with a reliably Democratic voting bloc. Arab-American support for Biden fell from 59 percent in 2020 to just 17 percent after the Hamas attack, according to one poll. That’s especially worrisome for Biden in a swing state like Michigan, which voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and went for Biden by just 3 percentage points in 2020. Michigan has more than 300,000 residents with Middle Eastern or North African ancestry, the largest concentration of any state.

After Hamas’s attack on Israel in October, Siblani organized an event in Dearborn where a local imam said Hamas’s invasion of Israel lit "a fire in [Muslims’] hearts that will burn that state until its demise." He cheered Houthi rebels as "the pride of Arabs" after the Yemen-based terrorist group called for war with Israel.

In 2017, Siblani organized a rally where an activist stated that "whether it's called Hamas, whether it's called Hezbollah, we stand with everybody who stands against the Israeli occupation."
Jamaal Bowman Penned Poem Promoting 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

Jewish organizers aim to boot Bowman out of New York seat

Calls Grow For Ilhan Omar To Be Expelled From Congress After She Says She’s Advocating For Her Homeland Of Somalia

JPost Editorial: West Bank could be new Gaza with terrorists using civilian infrastructure

Israel says Hamas tried to enlist Israelis as unsuspecting couriers for weapons

Why America’s Richest Universities Are Protecting Hate-Filled Foreign Students
Five weeks after Rutgers University suspended the New Brunswick campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on Dec. 11 for violating several university policies, the school reversed its decision and reinstated the pro-Hamas group. In celebration, SJP members filmed a video in the classic Palestinian terrorist style: faces covered in kaffiyehs, reading a communique which, following a diatribe against the Zionists, made a list of demands that the school must meet if it wished to wipe the stain of its complicity in genocide.

Since October, American cities and college campuses have been transformed into stages for this kind of Middle Eastern performance theater in support of Hamas and its murder, torture, and rape of Jews. Performances have ranged from vicarious partaking in the Oct. 7 pogrom, like the tearing down of posters of kidnapped Israelis, to calls for “globalizing” Palestinian terrorism “from New York to Gaza,” to outright expressions of support for Hamas and the extermination of Jews “from the river to the sea”—“by any means necessary,” lest there be any confusion. “There is nothing, nothing more honorable than dying for a noble cause, for justice,” a high-profile organizer of a rally at Columbia shouted into a bullhorn in a thick Arabic accent.

There’s also no confusion about the fact that these rallies feature Arab and Muslim students who eagerly support terrorism—often by denying that Hamas or its actions of Oct. 7 constitute “terrorism” at all. Equally evident is that many of the students leading, organizing, and participating in these protests and expressions of antisemitism and support for Hamas on college campuses are not Americans—meaning that they are not American citizens or even green card holders. Rather, they are foreign passport holders, including from Arab and Muslim countries, who have decided to avail themselves of U.S. educational infrastructure while importing the passions and prejudices of their home countries to American campuses.

Indeed, the universities have acknowledged the obvious fact that many of the campus protest leaders are foreign students, here on limited educational visas, in the manner with which they have chosen to handle the Gaza protests. Early on, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) cautioned students who occupied lecture halls, prevented other students from going to class, and otherwise violated school policies and guidelines, that they could face suspension for their behavior. But it quickly became clear there would be no serious consequences for noncompliance. When the students pressed on, MIT only suspended a handful of them “from non-academic campus activities.” The explanation MIT President Sally Kornbluth gave for her decision was unambiguous: “serious concerns about collateral consequences for the students, such as visa issues.”

Plainly put, what Kornbluth said is that foreign students have been violating school policy, but academic suspension or expulsion would terminate their ability to remain in the country. MIT therefore refrained from disciplining these students in order to keep them enrolled.
Harvard’s Derek Penslar Helps Make the World Safer for Antisemitism
On Jan. 19, Harvard University’s interim President Alan Garber appointed Derek Penslar, William Lee Frost professor of Jewish history, as co-chair of its Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism. (The other chair is Raffaella Sadun, a professor in the Harvard Business School.)

It took only a few hours for blood to appear in the water. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., quickly called Penslar an antisemite. “@Harvard continues on the path of darkness,” key donor Bill Ackman tweeted, fresh off crushing the hapless plagiarist Claudine Gay.

Harvard’s ex-President Lawrence Summers also denounced Penslar’s appointment. There has since been a petition supporting Penslar signed by hundreds of Jewish studies scholars.

Derek Penslar is clearly not an antisemite. He is a conscientious, if eccentric, scholar of Jewish history who has no sympathy for Jew-erasing fantasies like Shlomo Sand’s crack-pated The Invention of the Jewish People, which Penslar eviscerated in a book review. He criticizes Israel, sometimes harshly, but so do many Israelis.

Yet Penslar is still clearly the wrong choice to co-chair Harvard’s antisemitism task force because he is an apologist for people who do in fact hate Jews and would like to make Israel disappear by violent means. Quoted by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Jan. 4, Penslar said that, although “the problems are real,” “outsiders” had “exaggerate[d]” the extent of antisemitism at Harvard.

That is how Penslar described a campus where: Students, harassed by constant chants advocating genocide, could barely study in Widener Library; the price of quiet study for Jewish students is sitting with large banners advocating the destruction of the Jewish state; within a day after the terrorist attack, dozens of student organizations blamed Israel rather than Hamas for Oct. 7; Jewish students were physically attacked and harassed, and hostage posters have continually been defaced; a photograph of 1-year-old infant Kfir Bibas had scrawled across it “Israel Did 9/11.” And all of that came before Claudine Gay testified that she needed “context” to determine if calls for the genocide of Jews were OK.


Billionaire Kenneth Griffin ‘not interested’ in supporting Harvard
“The real question is will America’s—and I’m gonna choose a word here carefully—America’s elite university get back to the roots of educating American children, young adults, to be the future leaders of our country, or are they going to maintain being lost in the wilderness of micro-aggressions, a DEI agenda that seems to have no real end game.”

So said billionaire Kenneth Griffin—founder, CEO and co-chief investment officer of Citadel—at the Managed Funds Association Network conference in Miami on Tuesday.

Griffin spoke about his alma mater Harvard University, which has been embroiled in scandal since its now ex-president testified before a House committee that it wouldn’t necessarily violate the Ivy League school’s policies to call for genocide against all Jews.

“Are we going to educate the future members of the House, the Senate and the leaders of IBM, or are we going to educate a group of young men and women who are just caught up in a rhetoric of oppressor and oppressee, and ‘This is not fair’ and frankly, just like whiny snowflakes,” Griffin added. “Where are we going with education at elite schools in America?”

He was asked whether he would still support Harvard. Griffin noted that he wouldn’t hire student signatories of an anti-Israel letter that blamed the Jewish state for being attacked on Oct. 7.

Of supporting Harvard, Griffin said, “No. And I’d like that to change.”

“I’ve made that clear to members of the corporate board, but until Harvard makes it very clear that they’re going to resume their role as educating young men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers, to take on difficult issues, I’m not interested in supporting the institution,” he added.

Billionaire Ken Griffin, who gave Harvard $300 million last year:

“I’m not interested in supporting the institution.”
Employee Union At Top Canadian University Calls on Teachers to Condemn Israel

FSU Suspends Pro-Hamas Group for Disrupting Board Meeting

Virginia high school teacher claims US is funding Gaza ‘genocide’ and ‘holocaust’ in classroom rant

GUARDIAN IGNORES INFO UNDERMINING UNRWA ‘FEW BAD APPLES’ NARRATIVE

BBC NEWS WEBSITE COVERAGE OF UNRWA FUNDING SUSPENSIONS

Apprentice star posts about ‘fascist Zionism’ after BBC sent him on diversity training
A former NHS doctor and contestant on The Apprentice has been sent on diversity and inclusion training after being accused of making antisemitic posts on X/Twitter.

Last year, following the October 7 massacre, he wrote that Zionists are “a godless, satanic cult” and said of his children: “I pray they are strong enough physically, spiritually and psychologically to overcome the trial of the Zionist antichrist.”

Dr Munaf, who quit the NHS and now runs his own wellness company, is one of the contestants in the 18th series of the BBC One show, which starts tomorrow night.

A spokesman for The Apprentice told the Telegraph: “After filming had taken place, we were made aware of concerns over social media posts that Asif had made after he had left the process.

“As soon as we were alerted, we took immediate action and spoke to Asif in detail on this. Asif took part in specialised training to understand why his posts may cause offence. We are committed to providing an inclusive environment on and off screen.”

A source told the paper: “Had this content been posted before filming took place, Asif would not have been included in the show.”

In a statement, Dr Munaf said: “I apologise for any offence caused by my online content/social media. It was not my intention to offend anyone, and I am of course open to all views. The beliefs I hold and have shared are based on the values that I was brought up with.”

However, as recently as Wednesday Dr Munaf was still tweeting about “Zionists.”

Just this week he tweeted: “The Zionist mask is falling, and the world is waking up.


MEMRI: Three Pro-Palestinian Rallies In Berlin Feature Chants For Israel's Elimination, Antisemitic Speeches; Organizing Body, 'Samidoun,' Is Banned

TABLOID JOURNALISM AT CNN: “PALESTINIANS ARE EATING GRASS” What to do if you’re scared to shop in Jewish areas
In the aftermath of the incident at Kay's supermarket, concerns about safety amongst shoppers and shopkeepers have risen. One Golders Green shopkeeper told the JC: “We’re really scared. We're worried. Our family in Israel didn’t sleep after they saw the news. They’re worried about us too.”

Dave Rich, Head of Policy at the Community Security Trust (CST), said there is no need to change daily habits, but shoppers and shopkeepers should be proactive and vigilant. Shops and restaurants face unique challenges compared to other community spaces like synagogues and schools, as they cannot restrict entry.

The CST advises shopkeepers to:
Develop and communicate a clear plan for both staff and customers in case of an attack. Have a plan for what to do with customers if an attacker enters the premises. Know the location of emergency exits and alternative doors.
Recognise behaviours that might indicate a potential threat, such as individuals lingering around the premises or taking photos of the building. Terrorists gather information by taking photos and watching buildings.
Encourage a culture of reporting amongst staff. If anything seems out of the ordinary, report it to the police and the CST. Keep important contact numbers, including the CST’s, readily available. Ensure that panic alarms, if available, are easily accessible.
Take advantage of the CST's free security training which will cover emergency planning and threat identification.
Join and interact with the CST’s WhatsApp groups for local high streets.
Report anything unusual promptly to the police, the CST and shopkeepers. Ensure the CST's contact number is readily available (0800 0323263) – save it on your phone.
Stop walking around with headphones and try not to look down at your phone.
Familiarise yourself with the locations of the emergency exits in the shops you visit frequently.
Focus on suspicious behaviours rather than specific appearances, as terrorists can have any kind of look. Report anyone taking photos of buildings or lingering in unusual places to the police and the CST.

Since October 7, CST has operated security patrols in Jewish areas, deploying private security experts during peak hours.
How Britain let butchers of the Holocaust to escape scot-free
Safe Haven: The United Kingdom’s Investigations into Nazi Collaborators and the Failure of Justice
by Jon Silverman and Robert Sherwood
Oxford University Press, £30

Thirty years ago, the late David Cesarani published Justice Delayed, which revealed that many Nazi collaborators were living peacefully in Britain. This followed on the heels of the War Crimes Act (1991), which promised a swift investigation into the alleged killers living among us. Harijs Svikeris lived in Milton Keynes, Konrad Kalejs was in a nursing home for elderly Latvians in the Midlands while the Lithuanian Anton Gecas resided in Edinburgh. Despite a working list of several hundred, only one trial had taken place and one conviction was secured when the process came to a close in 2000 — unlike similar investigations in Australia and Canada.

Anthony (Andrzej) Sawoniuk was given two life sentences at the Old Bailey in 1999 and died in Norwich prison in 2005. He was the sole collaborator who faced justice — the others lived out the rest of their lives in peace and quiet. Why then did the Crown Prosecution Service apparently fall down on the job?

The authors of this disturbing book, Jon Silverman, an emeritus professor and former BBC journalist, and Robert Sherwood, a retired Detective-Inspector with the Metropolitan Police, strip away the suppositions and narrow criteria to understand why this exercise ended in moral failure.

One restriction was to investigate only those who were in a position of command. Small fry were therefore not bothered, yet they had blood on their hands.

Many belonged to platoons in eastern Europe who saw it as their responsibility to eradicate Jews. Several came to the UK collectively through Operation Westward Ho in 1947 to provide labour during the post-war period. Fifty thousand Balts were living in the British Zone of post-war Germany. This included members of the Latvian Arajs Kommando who were responsible for the mass murder of the Jews of Riga.

This important book examines in considerable detail several trials in the aftermath of Nuremberg — and suggests that Britain was rapidly becoming disinterested after 1945. It preferred to let sleeping dogs lie. Perhaps this was a measure of the fact that the British mainland was not conquered by Nazi stormtroopers — and did not experience a brutal occupation.
‘Could use any optimism we can get,’ says Israel’s cyber sentinel Hillel Fuld
About 250,000 accounts follow Hillel Fuld across his social media, making him quite a sought-after figure. Nonetheless, the vocal Zionist and evangelist for the Israeli technology sector appears to have found a way to remain grounded. He often posts photos of himself—his tefillin peeking out from under the maroon atarah, or collar, of his tallis—noting that his first meeting of the day is with “the CEO.”

Since Oct. 7, Fuld has shifted gears dramatically. He previously consulted with major technology companies, including Google and Oracle. In 2016, Forbes called him “the man helping transform Startup Nation into Scale-up Nation.” Now he has a strong focus on fighting lies about Israel and Jews on social media.

“I’m not on anyone’s payroll,” Fuld told JNS, over the phone and on Zoom from his home in Israel, of his new job. “For the most part, it has sustained itself because people are very helpful. I’m all in on this. I’m not touching tech right now.”

Fuld told JNS that he has help—from people he declined to name—with his fact-checking of anti-Israel posts. When media outlets reported widely on Oct. 18 that Israel had struck Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, Fuld quickly dispelled the rumors, getting “millions of hits” and, he said, playing a part in countering Hamas’s narrative. Hillel Fuld and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer (along with the late Steve Jobs). Credit: Courtesy.

‘They need information’

Fuld told JNS that he sees part of his mission as spreading hope and optimism.

“We are all devastated and in mourning. We could use any optimism we can get,” he said. “Inspiring stories and things like that. Those are the things I’m focused on.” (Fuld and his family know about mourning; a terrorist murdered his older brother, Ari Fuld, at Gush Etzion Junction in 2018.)

Hillel Fuld has thought deliberately about whom he wants to reach—and whom he doesn’t—on social media.

He told JNS he isn’t too concerned by the “crazies”—the “Heil Hitler folks, as he quips—because “I’m not going to get through to them.” Those who are already pro-Israel are already convinced but “need reinforcement and strengthening and ammunition,” he said. “More accurate information [and] the ability to debunk lies and answer questions.”

He also knows that he has followers who are critics of the Jewish state but who have integrity, and “are willing to hear, listen and see the other side.”

“They need that information, and they need to know that the side that hates Israel is feeding them propaganda,” he said.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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