Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Mohammed Assaf

Showing posts with label Mohammed Assaf. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

.@UNRWA's Youth Ambassador: "I spit on Israel"

In 2013, UNRWA declared "Arab Idol" winner Mohammed Assaf to be its "Youth Ambassador" where he would "promote peace, security and other universal values."

Since then he has released music videos and sent out messages on social media that extolled Palestinian terror and violence.

UNRWA, which claims that it is dedicated to neutrality and peace, responded to Assaf's support of violence and widespread criticism of Assaf with a strong statement: it extended his contract as Youth Ambassador so he can continue to spout his hate.

Assaf is doing exactly that:

Mohammed Assaf, the Palestinian winner of Arab Idol was answering questions from fans in a skype phone-in when he received comment from an Israeli caller.

"You should come to Israel...you have Israeli blood," the fan said.

Assaf did not hold back in his response.

"I spit on you and Israel," the singer replied, before returning to answer other fans' questions.

"I don't want to talk about this issue too much. The person who said that wanted to provoke me and it's known that the issue of Palestine and the Palestinian people is one of my top priorities," Assaf told The New Arab.

"At the end of the day, any artist could be subject to a similar incident, however what happened with me is a isolated incident that will no affect my relationship with my fans."

Here's video of the incident:

Well, asking Assaf to visit Israel and saying that he has Israeli blood is obviously a huge insult to any self-respecting UN representative. How can anyone fault him for responding to such a provocation?

Certainly UNRWA doesn't.

Assaf also recently addressed the incitement in his videos, saying "Israeli journalists write about me in the media and accuse me of inciting, they tried to ban my song on YouTube, but I consider this the price we pay because we sing for the homeland and believe the Palestinian National mission."

By the way, before Assaf became famous, he was harassed and arrested by Hamas over 20 times in Gaza in order to discourage his singing career. Apparently, Assaf and Hamas have reached a tacit agreement that what he is doing now is quite acceptable to the terror group.

It certainly is to UNRWA.

(h/t Bob Knot)

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Hypocritical @UNRWA extends contract of "youth ambassador" who sings of violence

UNRWA's "youth ambassador," the 2013 Arab Idol winner Mohammad Assaf, has released music videos and posted on Instagram about his support of rock throwing, firebombs and other violence against Israeli Jews.

This has been reported by me, UN Watch and Fox News.

UNRWA, of course, claims to take all reports of incitement and lack of neutrality very seriously. In August, Chris Gunness said "Where we find credible allegations of neutrality violations among our staff, we investigate and where it's appropriate we take disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. And that process is audited by our major donors."

Chris Gunness is full of crap.

Because UNRWA just extended Mohammed Assaf's contract to be its "youth ambassador" to incite more teens to stab, stone and firebomb Jews.

And yet the US just pledged another $123 million to this corrupt, lying and terror-supporting organization.

This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 11 years and over 22,000 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.

FOX News notes that @UNRWA still condones violence through "youth ambassador"

Fox News has a nice article about Palestinian songs that incite listeners to kill Jews, following up on a similar New York Times piece last month.

The NYT piece mentioned Mohammed Assaf, Palestinian Arab Idol winner, as joining the fray to support violence in his music. But they didn't mention that Assaf is UNRWA's "youth ambassador" and that UNRWA refuses to distance themselves from his message of hate.

Fox News, however, highlights it:

One of the poster boys of the disturbing craze is Muhammed Assaf, a resident of Gaza who won the 2013 "Arab Idol" TV talent show that attracts huge audiences across the Middle East. Soon after his victory, the 23-year-old, born and educated in a United Nations-sponsored refugee camp, was appointed regional youth ambassador by the UN organization, known as UNRWA.

The lyrics of one of his recent hits, Ya Yumma, are accompanied by images of rioting young men, the iconic Golden Dome in Jerusalem's Old City, and the shroud-wrapped body of a dead Palestinian. Assaf sings, “Salute the determined people who are resisting the occupiers, Fight back until you defeat the aggressor.”

Despite the fact that his songs often glorify violence, UNRWA has continued to endorse and promote Assaf as its example to Palestinian youth.

“As a "child of UNRWA," Mohammed Assaf is the ideal individual to be the first goodwill ambassador in the more than six decades of our history,” a current statement on UNRWA’s website reads. “His mother, too, was an UNRWA teacher… With the universal language of his music, he carries the message of UNRWA and young Palestine refugees to new audiences.”

UNRWA is wholly funded by the international community and has repeatedly been accused of turning a blind eye to Palestinian incitement against Israel. Its critics accuse the humanitarian organization of allowing Hamas to dictate a warped educational agenda at its schools in Gaza that is both anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic, something UNRWA strongly denies. However, despite conclusive evidence of Assaf's songs inciting Palestinian youth to violence, UNRWA apparently remains steadfast in its admiration for the singer nurtured in its system.

Fox even captioned this photo of Assaf with the fact that he celebrates "martyrs" who kill Jews.

UNRWA might be trying to silence the publicity about its tacit support for terror, but as long as they don't cut their ties with Assaf, it is all just lip service.

NYT notices incitement to violence - in "nationalistic" music

The New York Times has an interesting article that describes how Palestinian Arab youth are addicted to violent, inciting songs and music videos:

The Palestinian teenagers who came one after another into the True Love gift and music shop on a recent afternoon all had the same request: nationalistic songs — the new ones.

The proprietor quickly handed over the CDs that he had just started keeping at the checkout counter, like “Jerusalem Is Bleeding,” featuring the track “It’an, It’an” — “Stab, stab” — with its ominous backbeat.

“When I listen to these songs it makes me boil inside,” said one customer, Khader Abu Leil, 15, explaining that the thrumming score has helped pump him up for near-daily demonstrations where he hurls stones at Israeli soldiers.

Notice the euphemism used for songs like "Stab, stab" - that they are merely "nationalistic."

“Stab the Zionist and say God is great,” declares one, a reference to the spate of knife attacks since Oct. 1. “Let the knives stab your enemy,” says another. A third is called “Continue the Intifada” and comes with a YouTube warning — the video shows the Palestinian woman who pulled a knife at an Afula bus station surrounded by Israeli soldiers pointing guns.

“Resist and carry your guns,” the song urges. “Say hello to being a martyr.”

New tunes pop up online every day, many by little-known artists and with low production values — the YouTube video for “Intifada of Knives” is a crude collage showing the Dome of the Rock with fire underneath and a man with a kaffiyeh covering his face holding a slingshot, then a dagger that eventually is stained with blood. Several simply lay spoken-word rants over Arabic percussion.

The NYT then mentions the song I reported on by Arab Idol winner Mohammad Assaf, but it downplays its message of violence and destroying Israel:

Popular stars have also joined the fray: Mohammed Assaf, the Gazan who became a United Nations good will ambassador after winning “Arab Idol” in 2013, released “Ya Yumma” on Saturday on YouTube, where by Thursday afternoon it had more than 365,000 views. Mr. Assaf’s contribution is more lyrical, less explicit, but also draws from recent events with lines like, “There is no perseverance like yours in Jerusalem and Afula.”

The day after UNRWA admits that some of its teachers indeed spew hatred on social media - and the NYT cannot point out that their very own "youth ambassador" is violating UN policy.

One songwriter lies to the newspaper without being called out on it:

Mr. Balaweneh of “Continue the Intifada” is a 37-year-old father of three whose day job is writing for a Palestinian Authority military-style music troupe. He, too, threw rocks in the first intifada. By the second, which started in 2000, he said he was active “with my poems and with my songs.” Now, he does weddings and political events with his trio, “The Storm,” which he said is based in the West Bank town of Nablus. He said they were “against violence.”

“Our songs are not telling people to go and carry out attacks, our songs are more concentrated on telling people to stand up for their rights, their country, their land,” said Mr. Balaweneh, who lives in Nablus. “Now, because of the current situation, our songs need to have a lot of action in them, in order to make the blood flow and boil.”

This is the song with the lyric "say hello to being a martyr."

Older political songs, Mr. Al Arayas said, mixed protests of Palestinian oppression with dreamy, more optimistic yearnings. He sees the new ones as more blunt.

“This music is made as a way to make the Palestinian people get up and resist,” he said. “The words of these songs, and the music involved with these songs, is a lot more powerful.”

He was interrupted by another young customer, asking, “Do you have any nationalistic songs?”

Mr. Al Arayas asked if he was looking for anything specific.

“I want something hard-core and new,” came the reply. The teenager handed over 20 shekels for two CDs and was gone.

For Palestinian Arabs, there is no distinction between "nationalism" and terrorism.

This article shows that to Palestinians, "nationalism" is simply a code word for eliminating Jews. Which is really what it has always been.

.@UNRWA "youth ambassador" releases new song glorifying violence as UN plays dumb

UNRWA's "youth ambassador" and former Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf has released a music video that shows that he supports violence.

The video includes romantic scenes of rock throwing and firebombs.

The lyrics also indicate that Nazareth is "occupied," meaning that Assaf is singing to destroy Israel, not just end the "occupation."

The headline in Palestine Press Agency about this video says that it shows that Assaf is involved with the "Al Quds uprising."

The UN, when asked about UNRWA employees spreading hate on social media, claims that "it remains to be seen" if the people posting this hate are really employees at UNRWA.

Because, you know, when people say they work at UNRWA, display UNRWA certificates that they received, show photos of their schools and classrooms, it could all be a big Zionist hoax.

UN Watch issued a statement about this:

"This is absurd — the UN is trying to stick its head in the sand,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization that monitors the world body.

“We have presented Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with new and unequivocal evidence of at least ten self-described UNRWA officials engaged in racist incitement, so it’s simply outrageous for the world body — which famously makes snap condemnations in situations when it has seen no evidence — to ignore what everyone can see with their own eyes,” said Neuer.

“UN Watch’s report includes archived screenshots as well as live links to antisemitic incitement by UNRWA officials, many of whom post pictures of themselves teaching in UNRWA classrooms,” added Neuer.

Official @UNRWA youth ambassador (and Arab Idol winner) glorifies violence

UNRWA's webpage proudly says:

Mohammed Assaf is UNRWA's first ever Regional Youth Ambassador

As a "child of UNRWA," Mohammed Assaf is the ideal individual to be the first goodwill ambassador in the more than six decades of our history. A Palestine refugee himself, he grew up in the Khan Younis camp in Gaza. Not long ago, he was one of the over 220,000 students attending the Agency's 245 schools in Gaza. For him, the connection continued at home: His mother, too, was an UNRWA teacher. Throughout his childhood – at school, at the doctor's, at community centres – he saw firsthand the work that UNRWA does for Palestine refugees.

Since his appointment in June 2013, by Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi, as the Agency's Regional Youth Ambassador for Palestine Refugees, the 23-year-old Arab Idol winner has used his voice and his talent to help UNRWA give other young people the same support it gave him. With the universal language of his music, he carries the message of UNRWA and young Palestine refugees to new audiences, including in the region – to Dubai and Kuwait – and even further. In November 2013, he took that message to the United States, bringing the voice of Palestine refugee youth to the United Nations in New York City.

This wonderful, shining example for UNRWA explicitly supports attacking Israelis.

This was his Instagram message yesterday:

I am not quite sure about the symbolism, but his image is supportive both of rock throwing and, apparently, of shooting (those are bullets sprouting from the flowers, right?)

This is also on his Twitter account.

Mohammed Assaf the perfect youth ambassador for UNRWA.

Remember - at UNRWA , "peace starts here."

And based on the extensive evidence I've collected, "peace" for UNRWA means no Jews left alive in the Middle East.

(h/t Craig, Bob K)

New Palestinian Arab Idol a "hero" - along with terrorists

A Ma'an op-ed celebrates the new Arab Idol, Palestinian Mohammed Assaf, who wore a keffiyeh as he won the prize.

The author, Firas Attieh Tirawi, refers to Assaf as a "hero" and compares him to other "Palestinian heroes," such as Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad and Abu Iyad and Abdul Qader Husseini, Faisal Husseini and Ahmed Shuqairi and Fathi Shikaki (founder of Islamic Jihad) and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Ahmed Yassin (co-founders of Hamas), Abu Ali Mustafa (PFLP), and George Habash (PFLP).

The article also refers to Assaf's singing of "returning" to Palestine from the river to the sea, expelling Jews from Haifa and Acre and Jaffa as well as Jerusalem.

Meanwhile UNRWA appointed Assaf - the singer who competed based on songs advocating the destruction of Israel - to be its first "Ambassador."

The first Palestinian to win Arab Idol, Assaf was born to Palestine refugee parents in Libya. He returned to the Gaza Strip with his family at age 4 and was raised largely in the refugee camp in Khan Younis. He has described himself as a “son of Palestine” and a “son of UNRWA”: his mother is an UNRWA teacher, and he himself was educated in UNRWA schools.

Which means that he has no reason to have refugee status - his family moved quite freely to the territory of "Palestine" which is where he grew up.

UNRWA, of course, agrees with Assaf that the Jewish state must be destroyed with the "return" of millions of fake refugees like Assaf's family. And the UNRWA schools of Gaza that Assaf grew up on have been documented to teach about the glories of jihad and martyrdom.