Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Palestinian Authority

Showing posts with label Palestinian Authority. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

The Palestinian Authority has its own law to severely restrict all NGOs - and no one reports about it

Cover of PCHR's "Annual Reprot" [sic]

Remember the huge amount of outrage last year when Israel shut down the offices of seven PFLP-linked NGOs? It was condemned by the UN, political leaders and human rights groups.

Well, buried in the Palestinian Center of Human Rights 2022 annual report we see something that didn't generate a single headline in the West.

This year witnessed further restrictions, including the amendment to the non-profit companies’ regulation upon a decision issued by the Palestinian Cabinet, which imposed excessive restrictions on the work and funding of non-profit companies, under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

Issuance of the Non-Profit Companies Regulation No. (20) of 2022

The Palestinian Cabinet issued a new regulation on non-profit companies, which includes many restrictions on the work and funding of these companies, which is one of the forms of the right to freedom of association in Palestine. This regulation, which was published in the issue 194 of the Palestinian Gazette on 25 September 2022, included serious restrictions that threaten the existence of CSOs registered as non-profit companies.

The new regulation, which has replaced the old one in force since 2010 and the cabinet’s decision attached to it in 2016 concerning the funding of non-profit companies, came to add more restrictions on the right to form non-profit companies, as the old regulation included many restrictions. The regulation was issued under the pretext of fighting terrorism and money laundering.

More arbitrary measures were imposed by the authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on associations, threatening the associations’ right to exist, practice its activities freely, and obtain funding. Most of them fully violate the fundamental rights relevant to the freedom of association, including their right to existence, free performance of activities, receipt of funds and the right to privacy and independence. Also, increased restrictive measures are imposed on the associations in the Gaza Strip due to the double restrictions imposed by the two authorities in Gaza and the West Bank.

So the PA and Hamas are also restricting NGO activity. They are also claiming that they are doing this to fight "terrorism" which is as ironic as it gets.

The Palestinian law includes a provision that the NGOs must operate in line with the plan of action of the relevant Palestinian government ministries, meaning that the takes away all independence for the NGOs. There are many other onerous provisions.

But no one has a problem with this. I couldn't find any article in Western news media that discussed this topic exclusively.

Palestinian human rights violations are simply not reported. Because if they would be, then the entire lucrative industry of anti-Israel reporting would collapse.

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JNS reports:

Residents of the Gaza Strip may soon be able to fly to Turkey via Israel’s Ramon Airport near Eilat.

The pilot program could start as early as July when two flights are anticipated, Channel 12 reported. The final decision is subject to approval by the security and political echelons.

Gaza sources say the flights will be available to residents ages 35 and older. They will be shuttled to the airport from the Erez crossing to the northern Gaza Strip.

At present, Gazans travel via the Erez crossing by land to Jordan and fly abroad from there.

The announcement follows a similar one from the Israel Airports Authority in August 2022 that Palestinians from Judea and Samaria would be able to take charter flights from Ramon Airport to Turkey.

The first flight from the airport with Palestinian Arabs on board departed on August 22. Its destination was not Turkey but rather Cyprus.

While the announcement is not official, Palestinian travel agencies are already advertising the trips.

Right now, for Gazans to travel anywhere, they need to get permission to enter Egypt, which is difficult to get to begin with, and then travel by bus directly to Cairo's airport - a six hour trip - and then wait hours more for their flights.

The trip from the Gaza crossings to Ramon is about three hours.

The Palestinian Authority announced that it opposes this and will do whatever it can to block Palestinians from traveling to Ramon Airport, saying that this will hurt relations with Jordan and Egypt, which would lose out on revenues from Palestinians traveling through those countries to get to Amman and Cairo, respectively.

The leftist terror groups Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which are closely linked with many "human rights" NGOs, issued condemnations for allowing Gazans to fly to Turkey through Ramon Airport.

Their reasons are a perfect example of the blind hatred that Palestinian leaders have for Israel - so much so that they are eager to make their own people miserable for nebulous political gain.

They called on Palestinians to boycott Ramon airport, saying that Israel is using this as a means to reduce terror from Gaza.

PFLP political analyst Zulfiqar Swergo said in an interview with Al-Hadaf News Portal, "This step is meant to 'neutralize' the Gaza Strip through offering political bribes to [Hamas] in order to ensure calm and not create a state of inconvenience to the occupying state."

He continued, "The Gaza government must carefully consider the strategic interests of the Palestinian people, and not forget that it is a government of resistance, and that this step will harm the idea of resistance that our people are now strongly adopting in the West Bank, and it must be aware that the 'neutralization' of the Gaza Strip It is a major blow to the escalation of resistance in the West Bank."

That's the logic. Terror is the top priority of the Palestinian people, and anything that makes their lives easier and reduces their continuous anger towards Jews is something that must be fought.

To the PFLP, it is better for Gaza to be what their NGO partners call an "open air prison" than to give travel options for residents of Gaza.

The DFLP had a different objection: using the Ramon Airport helps Israel economically, so therefore it must be boycotted, even if it costs Palestinians far more time and money.

DFLP political analyst Mahmoud Mardawi complained that “there is an economic goal for the occupation behind this matter, especially since none of the Zionists went to use Ramon Airport when it opened."

He warned about "the political motives and the affirmation of the apartheid policy that the occupation practices day and night against our people" and called for all Palestinian institutions to "thwart this racist project."

So Israel helping Palestinians travel is an apartheid, racist project.

Cutting through the doubletalk, it is clear that the Palestinian leaders want Palestinians to suffer for their own political gain - they cannot recruit more terrorists from people who aren't angry.

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Finally, an Arabic article that describes the anti-Palestinian racism in Lebanon

Israeli Arab news site Arab48 has an article that discusses the plight of Palestinians in Lebanon and why they risk their lives to take dangerous boat trips to Europe.

Outside of rare NGO articles and articles by Palestinians in some maverick Lebanese outlets, it is the first Arabic article I've seen that calls out Lebanon's bigotry against Palestinians instead of pretending that they are friends.

The Palestinian camps in Lebanon have been witnessing a continuous and silent migration for decades, which intensified in the last decade.

Since 1948, the Palestinians of the camps in Lebanon have been suffering from a policy of isolation and deprivation, due to the racism of the sectarian political system, whose refusal to “settle” the Palestinians ...means keeping them in isolation and deprivation, blocking them from practicing any profession or activity in the country, until the Palestinians find another place to turn to other than Lebanon. In other words, the refusal to settle the Palestinians in Lebanon does not correspond to their right of return to Palestine, but rather a lack of welcome.

It is true that the position on the issue of Palestine and the Palestinians is divergent and contradictory between the Lebanese political forces. The position of Hezbollah and the left cannot be compared to the position of the Lebanese Forces and the right, for example. However, both of them are partners in producing the same system, and the same "sectarian political" system, which sees any attempt to integrate the Palestinians into Lebanese public affairs as a breach of what Lebanon ridiculously calls its "delicate balance." Considering that the settlement of the Palestinians may make a certain Lebanese sect prevail over the rest of the other sects in terms of influence and number. Lebanon settled some Palestinians immediately after they fled to it in 1948, but it was a limited settlement, limited to Christian Palestinians, mostly because of their wealth, while the vast majority of refugees succumbed to isolation and deprivation.

Lebanon did not ratify the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees, nor its 1967 Protocol, which explains its refusal to grant refugee status or permanent residency to refugees. Although this does not apply to Palestinian refugees due to the specificity of their status, the Lebanese state has accepted Palestinian refugees and called them "displaced", in order to evade its responsibilities towards them.

In general, the conditions of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon has remained dire, even in light of the periods of Lebanon's stability and prosperity. Emigration was taking place in full swing, since after the Nakba. This is not to mention the periods of civil-sectarian strife in Lebanon, and the Israeli invasion of it in 1982, during which the Palestinians paid a heavy price in terms of massacres, displacement, deportation and uprooting. What do we think of Lebanon today, as a collapsed and plundered country at the level of the state and the regime? Who cares about the Palestinians and their tragedy, if Lebanon does not care about the Lebanese themselves?

So, the catastrophe of asylum in itself, and then the tragedy of the Palestinian camp with the sectarianism of the Lebanese regime, and the racism of its society, with its decades of isolation and deprivation, is from the Lebanese side. On the other hand, the Palestinian leadership and the PLO abandoned the refugees, for whom the Palestinian cause is no longer concerned or intended, even though the refugees are the first line of definition of the Palestinian cause. In addition to this, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees UNRWA has gradually retreated in the last two decades from providing support, aid, and funding to refugee camps.

The overwhelming majority of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon possess only a Lebanese travel document, and only a few of them obtained a passport issued by the Palestinian Authority. This closes the doors of regular immigration to refugees, leaving their only hope at sea! Is there hope in the sea?

The rest of the article describes the dangers of taking a sea voyage, and how even landing in Cyprus or Greece doesn't mean their asylum would be accepted - because Lebanon is considered a "safe 'country and Palestinians are not officially persecuted there.

Notice also that the article blames the Palestinian leadership for abandoning Lebanon. They could provide passports to ease their exodus. But they refuse to.

Such an honest Arabic article could only be written in Israel. Arab media outlets would never want to antagonize a fellow Arab state and upset the narrative of eventual Palestinian "return" from Lebanon. Palestinians in Europe or North America are too invested in ensuring that everything they publish blames Israel exclusively for all their problems.

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The world says no to UNRWA's demanding money, yet no one is discussing the obvious solutions

Last Friday, UNRWA held a donor's conference at the UN headquarters in New York. The agency's head laid out its financial problems in his opening remarks.

Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) sounded the alarm about the Agency’s deepening funding crisis. Addressing this year’s Pledging Conference for UNRWA convened by the President of the General Assembly, Commissioner-General Lazzarini warned of the risk of the Agency’s collapse.

“While we are grateful for the pledges announced, they are below the funds that the Agency needs to keep over 700 UNRWA schools and 140 clinics open from September onwards,” said Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

Some of the Agency’s most committed donors have indicated they will substantially decrease their contributions in 2023.

Today, according to reports, UNRWA announced how many new pledges it received.

The answer is - close to zero.

Sama News reports:

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees UNRWA announced shocking data today, noting that it received $13 million in new pledges during the donors' conference held in New York last Friday.

UNRWA said in a statement today, "Most of the pledges referred to in the conference were merely confirmation of the amounts already received and spent in the first five months of 2023. As expected, donors are using the pledging conference to publicly confirm the support they have already provided to UNRWA this year."

Some of the announced donations, according to the UNRWA statement, were "a public confirmation of the amounts previously discussed and agreed upon with UNRWA. This money has not yet been received, but will be transferred to the agency in the coming months. We've already factored these funds into our financial projections for the rest of the year. This money has already been calculated, and the issue of receiving it will not change our financial situation, as some of the financing pledges referred to are for the year 2024 and beyond. "

UNRWA stressed, "In short, and unfortunately, only about 13 million US dollars have been announced...This funding will help reduce the expected deficit this year. Since we need about 70 million US dollars per month to cover our basic costs, this amount will not be enough to sustain the services after September.”

I could not find this announcement on the UNRWA platforms as of this writing, but it rings true. Donors have been getting tired of forever increasing demands by UNRWA - and since UNRWA has no mechanism to take people off of their rolls, it will keep increasing forever.

We've discussed before what must be done. Some 2 million "refugees" live in Jordan as Jordanian citizens. They should not be getting a dime. Jordan is a sovereign nation and provides education and health care to its citizens; nearly all of the UNRWA recipients there are full citizens, and there is no reason for the world to pay for their shelter, doctors and schooling.

Jordan instead keeps the Palestinian and non-Palestinian citizens in separate schools, separate medical facilities and to an extent separate living areas.

Sounds like apartheid, doesn't it? But this apartheid is funded by the entire world!

There is similarly little reason for UNRWA in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority has its own schools and fairly good medical facilities, Palestinian "refugees" should be allowed to use them like every Palestinian. UNRWA funds could be redirected to the PA for a couple of years to take care of the logistics of combining the two systems, but there is no reason for the world to fund Palestinian "refugees" who live within the borders of British Mandate Palestine - they are not refugees under any reasonable definition.

Of course, nearly all UNRWA aid recipients are not refugees. But before dismantling UNRWA altogether, lets solve its financial problems in a reasonable way without causing undue hardship on those who really are dependent on UNRWA services, in Lebanon, parts of Syria and Gaza.

No one is asking these questions, at least not out loud. But without asking these questions and making the decisions to treat Palestinians just like anyone else in need, using the same criteria and the same eligibility, then things would become far worse for the Palestinians that UNRWA is supposed to be supporting.

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Palestinians demand EU pressure Israel to cede Jerusalem. As they always do.

Ma'an reports:

Prime minister Muhammad Shtayyeh called on Germany to put pressure on Israel to abide by its agreements, to fulfill our right to hold elections in all Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem, and to stop all measures and violations by the occupation and its settlers.

This came during his meeting with the President of the German Federal Council (Bundesrat) Peter Tschentscher, today, Thursday, in Ramallah, in the presence of the Head of the Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the State of Palestine, Ambassador Oliver Ovcha.

The "elections" demand is interesting, because there are no elections scheduled nor is there any prospect for elections in the future. The last scheduled elections were "postponed" indefinitely because polls showed that Fatah would lose, so Abbas blamed Israel - for not allowing voting in Jerusalem.

The only reason that the Palestinian Authority officials talk to the EU about elections is because they want to use that issue to gain control over "east Jerusalem."

Up until now, Israel allowed Jerusalem Arabs to use ballot boxes in Jerusalem post offices. The boxes then get transported to PA-controlled areas where they are unsealed and votes counted. This way, from Israel's perspective, they are absentee ballots being "mailed" in, and from the PA perspective the ballots are being cast in Jerusalem. It is a convenient fiction for both sides.

But the PA then started insisting that Israel allow campaigning in Jerusalem, which they won't do. So they have been requesting the EU pressure Israel to give in to their demands - which are congruent with official EU policy that Israel has no rights to any part of Jerusalem across the Green Line.

It isn't like the Palestinians care about Jerusalem in itself. Before 1967, under Arab rule, it was all but ignored by Jordan and by Palestinians. The 1964 PLO Charter didn't mention Jerusalem once. Neither did the 1968 version, which is the current version.

But they are keenly interested in taking Jerusalem away from Jews.

When the UN proposed that Jerusalem be an international city, as far as I can tell, there was no outcry from the Palestinian Arabs then against that idea, claiming it was theirs or that it was purely Muslim. All those narrative are said only in the context of taking it away from Israel.

That is their only goal. That is why insisting that Jerusalem be their capital is positioned as non-negotiatible - there is no logical, historic or legal reason Judaism's holiest city must be their capital for them to have a state. There are 193 other nations that manage to survive without their capitals being in Jerusalem.

But taking Jerusalem away from Jews would, they know, be the beginning of the end of Israel. It would be cutting the heart out of the Jewish people.

That is the overriding goal. And it always has been.

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Jordan's unemployment rate is much worse than in PA-controlled areas

Palestinians have it easy.

Whenever there is any statistic announced that shows that life for them isn't perfect, they have someone to blame: Israel.

So, for example, when there are some people in Gaza who are food insecure, it must be Israel's fault - even though it is much worse in neighboring Egypt, and even though Israel does not limit food into Gaza at all.

When the unemployment rate in the West Bank is at 14%, that sounds very high. It must be Israel's fault. Except that neighboring Jordan's is at nearly 22%.

Whose fault is that?

To the world, Palestinians have zero responsibility for their own problems. That is mostly because Palestinians insist that this is the case. This way they avoid doing any actual nation-building, and the EU keeps sending experts who do the work for them.

For three decades.

The fact that Palestinians choose to spend about 6% of their budget on terrorist "salaries" and family payments hundreds of millions of dollars that could go to help normal Palestinians - does not faze the rest of the world.

And the fact that Israel employs some 125,000 Palestinians, with salaries more than double their domestic worker counterparts, doesn't mean anything either.

The only narrative allowed - in the media and from NGOs - is that all Palestinian problems come from Israel.

And the world is happy - nay, eager - to believe it.

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Another unreported story: The Palestinian Authority gives essentially no legal protections against modern slavery

The Global Slavery Index for 2023 has been released, where it rates every country for how well they combat modern slavery, which includes all kinds of forced labor and forced marriage.

It details the horrors of the kafala system, where Arab employers import workers from poor African and Asian nations and then control their lives.

It does not rate the West Bank or Gaza Strip because they say the split between Hamas and the PA, as well as Israel's control of parts of the West Bank, make data collection difficult. However, it says,

Despite limited data, anecdotal evidence indicates that Palestinians experience various forms of modern slavery, including forced labour, worst forms of child labour, forced begging, and forced and child marriage. Palestinian men and boys employed in the Israeli construction sector are vulnerable to debt bondage, as discriminatory employers charge them high fees and commissions and sub-contract them to other employers illegally.[These are typically Palestinian brokers - EoZ.] Illegal workers without permits face greater risks of abuse and exploitation. Gender biases further embed women and girls’ risk of modern slavery, particularly forced commercial sexual exploitation and forced and child marriage, with risk heightened for Palestinian women and girls living in refugee camps. Palestinian government data estimates that more than 17,600 girls age 15 to 19 were married in the West Bank in 2018. In Gaza, an estimated 11 percent of women were married before the age of 18. There are also reports of women and girls being trafficked from the West Bank to the Al Naqab desert where they are forced to marry older men.

It also provides this table showing that the Palestinian Authority gives essentially no legal protection against modern forms of slavery.

This is horrific.

And even worse is that while there are hundreds of international reporters reporting about Palestinians in the West Bank, one never sees stories about how there are next to no protections under PA law against slavery.

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Kill the Jews: The Musical

MEMRI posted this clip from Palestinian TV, showing a musical number that glorifies killing Jews.

On March 27, 2023, Palestine TV (Palestinian Authority) aired a musical titled “The Journey of a Nation.” The musical was performed in Khan Yunis, Gaza and depicts the “struggle” of the Palestinians since the 1917 Balfour Declaration until the 2004 death of Yasser Arafat. In the musical, dancers dressed in military fatigues and carrying mock rifles sing about fighting the “enemy” with machine guns, RPGs, daggers, rifles, and bombs, everywhere between Gaza and Rosh HaNikra in northern Israel. The men sing: “The blood of the martyrs will light our way.” In another song, children dance, throw stones, and sing: “In Gaza and in the Balata refugee camp, in Jerusalem, and in Ramallah, we rose up in an Intifada.. Our lands will be regained […] only with blood and stones.” The performance was organized by the PLO’s Department of Refugee Affairs.

Performers: We have outlined our principles with the Degtyaryov machine gun and the RPG. We have outlined our principles with the Degtyaryov machine gun and the RPG. We tackled death with our bullets and we were not afraid. We executed the attack, and then we went home.

You encounter us everywhere between Rafah and Ras Al-Naqoura [Rosh HaNikra]. Our revolution is in every village and every city. You encounter us everywhere between Rafah and Ras Al-Naqoura [Rosh HaNikra]. Our revolution is in every village and every city. The unity between the rebels and the people is our unity. We fight with daggers and guns. All the people are fedayeen. We are accustomed to death and sacrifice. All the people are fedayeen. We are accustomed to death and sacrifice. We are accustomed to death and sacrifice. This is our path, we will never stray off it. For your sake, our revolution, our lives are insignificant.

We are the heroes that the enemy will encounter wherever it may be. Stamp your feet, oh our revolution! We are the heroes that the enemy will encounter wherever it may be. Stamp your feet, oh our revolution! Rise with our bullets and our bombs! Oh our revolution, pave the way of our return! The blood of the martyrs will light our way. We stay true to the oath, comrades. The blood of the martyrs will light our way. We stay true to the oath, comrades. The blood of the martyrs will light our way. We will traverse the long distance. The oath of the revolution is that we will not relinquish our weapons.

Hey, hey, hey, rise up, rise up, rise up! Hey, hey, hey! In Gaza and in the Balata refugee camp, in Jerusalem, and in Ramallah, we rose up in an Intifada, we shouted 'Allah Akbar!' in the name of Allah. In Gaza and in the Balata refugee camp, in Jerusalem, and in Ramallah, we rose up in an Intifada, we shouted 'Allah Akbar!' in the name of Allah. We are challenging [the enemy] with our free people and with stones. Our young people are rebelling. Our lands will be regained and our shame will be washed away only with blood and stones. Rise up, rise up, rise up, hey, hey hey!

But Arafat swore they ended armed resistance in 1993! I mean, he couldn't have been lying, could he?

And if all the people are fedayeen, then that means that they are all legitimate targets, right? That is their logic for targeting every Israeli civilian - does that work for Palestinians as well?

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Palestinian foreign ministry warns that Israel planning a Gaza war after Passover, threatens any nation supporting Israel

In a highly unusual press release, the Palestinian foreign ministry warned that Israel was about to embark on a war against Gaza, and asked foreign countries to pressure Israel not to do it.

The statement, released Sunday, says:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates warns of the results and repercussions of any imminent Israeli military aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu believes that the military aggression on the Gaza Strip is his political savior, given that the opposition will stand with him in that military confrontation, which will weaken or even stop the opposition campaign against him.

The Ministry warns the international community of the danger of what Netanyahu will do after the end of the Jewish holidays, and calls for proactive international positions to prevent these crimes from being committed against the innocent Palestinian people, particularly in the Gaza Strip, including restoring the policy of assassinations against Palestinian leaders there.

The Ministry affirms that the Palestinian people will not accept, this time, the bias of some countries to the position of the occupying and apartheid state on this upcoming aggression in favor of the occupying state, and to give the occupying state unacceptable protection by claiming its right to self-defense despite it being a country of aggression, occupation, crime and siege.

Does the foreign minister have access to some information that Israeli media does not? Or is it trying to engage in psychological warfare?

Perhaps it is trying to take credit if no war takes place in the next month, telling the world that its pressure stymied Israeli plans.

Notice the threat that they will not accept any nation taking Israel's side and saying that Israel has a right to self-defense. What exactly does that mean? Are they threatening diplomatic action - or are they threatening terror attacks?

Palestinian media and pundits are puzzled over this statement as well. But no one seriously thinks that the MOFA has inside information.

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The groundwork is being laid to accuse Israel of genocide (update)

A year ago, I went through the history of the scurrilous "apartheid" charge against Israel and showed how the same playbook could be used to accuse Israel of "genocide" - twisting the definition of the term, socializing the charge starting with the extremists and then getting more mainstream Israel haters to write pseudo-academic papers "proving" Israel is engaging in it, and then finally having mainstream NGOs pretend to look at the issue objectively while perverting the meaning of the term.

My prediction is coming true.

Michael Barnett, Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at George Washington University, wrote an absurd article for a blog called "Political Violence at a Glance" where he asks, "Is Israel on the precipice of genocide?"

He knows that Israel isn't guilty of genocide now - instead, he says that it has all the risk factors in place today:

Genocide is impossible to predict: there is no agreement on how the combination of preconditions, contingent paths, triggers, and entrepreneurs produce a form of violence once unimaginable. But research on genocide over the past several decades has provided insight into the preconditions, which provide a reasonable starting point.

Preconditions are not predictors. If we use them to predict genocides, we will overpredict. But a look at the UN’s report on atrocity crimes, which lists risk factors for genocide and “lesser” forms of organized violence, is illuminating. It lists eight common and six specific risk factors. The eight common factors are situations of armed conflict or other forms of instability; record of serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law; weak state structures; motives or incentives; capacity to commit atrocity crimes; absence of mitigating factors; enabling circumstances or preparatory action; and triggering factors. These are, as the document states, general risk factors. Many states might qualify. Israel ticks all the boxes.

Really? Israel has weak state structures? Israel has motives or incentives to destroy all Palestinians? Israel has "triggering factors" for genocide? Israel has no mitigating factors???

Barnett makes these pronouncements as if they are beyond dispute - but anyone who knows anything about Israel knows they are fiction.

Anyone who believes that is already an antisemite ab initio.

I don't think Barnett actually believes any of this. He once taught at Hebrew University. No, this is worse than stupidity - this is malicious.

Notice also that while the UN report is concerned with all war crimes - a far more expansive terrain - Barnett represents this already flawed list as proof that Israel is readying for the worst possible crime, genocide.

He did this knowingly.

Barnett's intent was to write an article saying Israel is on its way to the crime of genocide, and he then cherry picked third rate evidence to pretend to prove his thesis and ignored anything that shows it is garbage. His main example is Huwara, which was widely condemned across Israeli society, yet he positions it as mainstream and government policy.

It isn't scholarship. It is deceit cloaking as scholarship.

And, by the way, applying those criteria to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority shows that they are much closer in checking off all the boxes than Israel is. The only missing one is the capacity - and the only reason they haven't gotten that capacity is because Israel constantly frustrates Iranian attempts to give them that capacity.

And Iran checks off every single box. Including openly creating a weapon with the single purpose of murdering millions of Jews.

Barnett appears to be trying to set the stage so that accusing Israel of genocide in five or ten years doesn't sound so outlandish. People hear the words "Israel" and "genocide" together for a few years and they start to figure where there's smoke, there's fire. It is exactly what happened with "apartheid."

We'll be seeing more articles like this - not because they have any basis in reality, but because there are enough modern antisemites today to want to create that perception of reality.

UPDATE: Ian notes in the comments:

His book literally has the The Red Cross Ambulance Hoax on the cover.

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Another absurd anti-Israel report from HRW submitted to the UN

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch submitted a memorandum to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities about the problems of Palestinians with disabilities.

Not surprisingly, it places most of the blame for Palestinian leaders not adhering to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on - Israel.

Here is a section about how Israel restricts movement in and out of Gaza:

Human Rights Watch found that sweeping Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods, at times exacerbated by restrictive policies by Palestinian authorities, curb access to assistive devices, health care, and electricity essential to many people with disabilities.

For more than 15 years, Israeli authorities have blocked most of Gaza’s population from traveling through the Erez Crossing, the only passenger crossing from Gaza into Israel through which Palestinians can travel to the West Bank and abroad. Israeli authorities often justify the closure, which came after Hamas seized political control over Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in June 2007, on security grounds. The closure policy, though, is not based on an individualized assessment of security risk; a generalized travel ban applies to all, except those whom Israeli authorities deem as presenting “exceptional humanitarian circumstances,” mostly people needing vital medical treatment and their companions, as well as prominent businesspeople.

Israeli authorities also significantly restrict the entry and exit of goods into Gaza. While there are no restrictions on the import of assistive devices, policies regarding “dual-use” items have restricted the entry of spare parts and batteries for hearing aids and other devices, according to the Israeli human rights group Gisha.[7] Medical Aid for Palestinians has documented that Israel has restricted as “dual-use” items carbon fiber components used to stabilize and treat limb injuries, and carbon fiber and epoxy resins used to produce artificial limbs, resulting in patients being fitted with heavier, more uncomfortable alternatives.

....Hamas authorities in Gaza and humanitarian organizations have sought to provide assistive devices to those in need of them, but their efforts often fall short. Gaza’s Social Development Ministry reported on its website in September 2017 that it had allocated US $500,000 in its 2018-2020 plan for assistive devices, but it is unclear what devices it secured and distributed, and what standards it relies on to assess need.[14]

....Under the CRPD, States Parties should take effective measures to ensure personal mobility, including by facilitating access to assistive technology and by promoting the availability, knowledge, and use of assistive devices and technologies.[16] International humanitarian law obliges occupying powers to ensure the safety and welfare of civilians living in the occupied territory.[17]

Israel’s sweeping restrictions on the movement of people and goods, at times exacerbated by restrictive policies by Palestinian authorities, restrict the right of people with disabilities to freedom of movement and access to assistive devices, as set out under articles 20 and 14 of the CPRD.

Here's how HRW's bias works:

It mentions a couple of times that Palestinian authorities also restrict Gazans from leaving the territory. But while it goes into some detail on Israeli restrictions, it doesn't say anything about the Palestinian restrictions. Is it Hamas or the PA? (The answer is both.)

This memorandum is meant as a submission to the CPRD review of Palestinian policies, as they are signatories to the CPRD and have specific obligations under that convention. Israel's policies on allowing Gazans into Israel are not a part of Palestinian responsibilities under the CPRD. HRW is using this as another excuse to bash Israel.

Notice also that the word "Egypt" is not mentioned once in this memo. It is another border through which people and goods can pass, but only Israel is responsible for restrictions, not Egypt.

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In October, the Palestinians enacted their own draconian judicial reforms. The West ignored it.

Abbas with members of the Supreme Constitutional Court that he appointed

During these tumultuous times of anger and angst over the future of Israel's judiciary, it is worth looking at recent changes to the judicial system under the Palestinian Authority that received next to no Western coverage.

On October 28, Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree creating the Supreme Council of Judicial Bodies and Authorities.

This Council has full control over the the Palestinian Authority‘s judicial system - the Supreme Constitutional Court, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Court of Cassation, the Supreme Administrative Court, the judicial authority of the security forces, the Shariah Judicial Council, the ministry of justice and the attorney general.

The head of this council? Mahmoud Abbas, himself!

Abbas has complete and direct control over the entire Palestinian judiciary.

A few years ago he created the Supreme Constitutional Court and handpicked all the members, he then used that court to dissolve the Palestinian Legislative Council so he could be the head of the legislative branch of the government as well as the executive. And he uses his power to create hundreds of laws by presidential decree using the excuse that there is no legislative branch to do the job.

The media is silent. NGOs are nearly silent (Amnesty gave this a brief mention in their annual report, Human Rights Watch didn't mention it at all.)

A website by the European Council on Foreign Relations, called Mapping Palestinian Politics, describes in detail how Mahmoud Abbas has complete control of nearly every important Palestinian institution.

Since succeeding Yasser Arafat as Palestinian leader in 2004, Abbas has consolidated his grip on power within the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and Fatah. Over the years, Abbas has steadily purged or constrained his political rivals, monopolised the various Palestinian decision-making processes, and pursued increasingly authoritarian measures to stifle dissent and shrink the space for Palestinian democracy and popular participation.

Why is there so much global criticism of Israel considering changes to the judiciary, and near complete silence when the Palestinian president rips up any pretense of a division of powers and installs himself as the head jurist as well as dictator? More importantly, how can anyone look at the Palestinian Authority and think that this should become an independent state when it its current state it runs roughshod over the rights of its citizens?

The bigotry of low expectations hurts Palestinians. And it is ingrained in the world's psyche - mostly because the Palestinian leaders have encouraged this bigotry by blaming all of their problems on the Jews.

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Israel has slowed down its raids in Palestinian towns recently.

It may be because of Ramadan - or it may be because the PA agreed to do its job and assert control.

The Palestinian security forces arrested a number of fugitives wanted by Israel, including a leader in the Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad. Members of terror groups fired heavily towards the police district headquarters in Jenin and young men targeted the building with Molotov cocktails in response

Video clips on social media documented showed heavy shooting.

While the PA has claimed that they have stopped security coordination with Israel, it looks like they realized they have no choice but to assert authority in the West Bank or lose it.

Then again, we haven't seen them arrest any members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, which is linked to the ruling Fatah party. If we see that, then we'll know that the PA is somewhat serious about fighting terror, and not just trying to ensure that armed militias don't take over.

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Palestinians try to hijack UN Conference on Least Developed Countries

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas went to Doha to speak at the 5th UN Conference on Least Developed Countries.

As is always the case, he spent more time attacking Israel than to discuss the topic at hand.

Our Palestinian people have been living the ravages of the Nakba and the refugee catastrophe for 75 years, and they are facing the crimes of the occupation, which, since 1967, have turned into a continuous colonialism that violates the resolutions of international legitimacy, delves into practices of ethnic cleansing and racism, persists in changing the identity and character of the occupied city of East Jerusalem, and violates Al-Aqsa Mosque. It assaults the historical and legal status of Islamic and Christian sanctities, uproots Palestinians from their land, demolishes their homes, continues settlements, plunders resources and withholds Palestinian funds, and kills Palestinians in Nablus, Jenin, Jericho, Jerusalem, Hebron, and other cities, villages, and camps .

On top of that, terrorist settler gangs commit crimes of burning Palestinians and their property, as happened recently by burning dozens of homes, shops, and hundreds of vehicles in the town of Hawara, and calling on ministers in the occupation government to incite killing and destruction and to wipe this town out of existence. We call on the international community to stop and punish this Israeli terrorism against our people, and to work towards ending this occupation of the land of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Despite all this, our people will remain steadfast, continuing to defend their land and sanctities .

The State of Palestine will continue to confront the occupiers and their violations of international law, signed agreements, and their unilateral practices, and go to international forums and courts. We will also continue to carry out our international responsibilities, as happened when the State of Palestine chaired the Group of 77 and China in 2019, in addition to continuing our efforts to combat extremism and international terrorism .

Yes, the people who literally invented international terrorism, the people who supported Al Qaeda far longer than any Arab country, the ones who literally pay terrorists and their families as an inviolable part of their annual budget, claim to be fighting terrorism.

We look forward to continuing your support for our endeavor to defend our people's legitimate right to self-determination, and their right to freedom and independence. We will also continue our commitment to implementing the sustainable development plan and its goals, and the special situation of the least developed countries. We have succeeded in launching a very important document entitled "Atlas of Sustainable Development 2020", with the aim of documenting development efforts .

I couldn't find this Atlas of Sustainable Development 2020. One would think that if it was such an important document, it would be referenced in Palestinian websites. All I found was a video about this document, written in English, which indicates that it is one of the hundreds of reports that have been pushed by the EU or UN, mostly created so the Palestinian Authority can show the West that it is acting like a normal government that cares about its people.

Yet the recommendations in these reports are never implemented, unless more Western money is dependent on progress.

UPDATE - it is here. It is a point in time document showing how the Palestinian territories are doing against UN goals. It might be important, but it doesn't mandate any improvements. (h/t GnasherJew.)

The Palestinian Authority has never acted like a real government - for good reason. The only issues that they are passionate about are anti-Israel, not pro-Palestinian. When you look at everything it does, everything they say in international forums, every statement they issue, this is obvious. And this speech by Abbas is simply more proof that Palestinian nationalism is a cover for destroying Israel by any means possible.

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Freedom of the Press, Palestinian style

This morning, ahead of a planned press conference at the Watan Media Network in Ramallah, Palestinian security services in plainclothes stormed in and shut it down.

According to Watan, the security forces, some of whom were armed, tried to expel a number of journalists who were present to cover the press conference. They also attacked Watan employees when they objected to the intrusion, which they say was done without a written order.

The press conference was going to include criticism of the Palestinian Authority for working with the US in trying to calm down tensions, as well as for not working to hold elections.

Since this is a dog-bites-man story, don't expect to see any op-eds decrying the lack of freedoms under Palestinian rule.

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01/26 Links Pt1: Mark Levin, Eugene Kontorovich Explain Israel’s Judicial Reforms; 9 Palestinian gunmen killed as IDF foils terror cell in Jenin; The Saudis are growing sick of Palestine

From Ian:

HRC Op-Ed In The Hill Times History Doesn’t Support Giving Israel An ‘Occupier’ Label

HRC’s Op-Ed entitled: “History Doesn’t Support Giving Israel An ‘Occupier’ Label” was published in The Hill Times on Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Israel, the nation-state of the Jewish people, is not an “occupier” of its own land and of its own eternal and undivided capital, Jerusalem.

No UN resolution or political proclamation can distort these historical truths.

Furthermore, Jews have historical ties to Judea and Samaria which dates back thousands of years. Israel strenuously disputes claims that it’s an “occupier,” citing pre-existing legal, ancestral, and biblical claims to lands it acquired in a war of self-defence in 1967 against pan-Arab armies seeking its destruction and as there was no recognized sovereign of these areas at the time.

Jordan controlled the area now regarded as the “West Bank” from 1948-1967 following the War of Independence, which saw combined Arab armies try to wipe the nascent State of Israel off the map. Jordan didn’t have rightful title to the land according to international law. Same equally applies for Egypt, which controlled the Gaza Strip from 1948-1967, unlawfully, and which Israel acquired in 1967, but from which, in 2005, it unilaterally disengaged, removing 21 settlements, 8,000 settlers, and its combined armed forces in a unilateral concession for peace.

Importantly, the Palestinians have never had sovereignty and statehood, and according to Israel’s position and many leading international jurists, the laws of occupation aren’t applicable.

Melanie Phillips: Netanyahu at bay, but what about the facts?

So, how’s Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faring in his supposed program to smash democracy at the behest of the religious extremists in his government?

Well, as Israel’s newly-minted dictator, he’s not doing too well in that regard.

Consider: Netanyahu has demonstrated his supposed craven subjection to the ultra-nationalist Bezalel Smotrich, to whom he gave authority over civilian administration in the disputed territories, by brutally slapping Smotrich down when he attempted to overrule an IDF and Defense Ministry decision to tear down an illegal Israeli outpost.

Netanyahu has shown his allegedly despotic determination to ditch the rule of law by bowing to the Supreme Court’s ruling against his minister and long-time ally Aryeh Deri and firing him.

And Netanyahu showed himself captured, bound and gagged by the zealots in his government who want to turn Israel into a theocracy when he effectively overruled the Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, who said he would stop funding cultural activities on Shabbat.

In other words, in every case, Netanyahu has chosen to uphold the existing order rather than overthrow it.

Undoubtedly, the fight between Smotrich and the defense establishment has further to go. Netanyahu has said he will somehow bring Deri back into his government. We have yet to see how these and other issues will turn out.

Maybe Netanyahu will yet morph into a cross between Viktor Orban, Herod and Mussolini. But so far, he has been behaving as a cautious, risk-averse prime minister determined to keep the liberal, constitutional show on the road.

Of course, this has received no acknowledgment from the “progressive” Jewish world, both in Israel and the Diaspora. To such people, Netanyahu is personally irredeemable, and because the government he has formed is committed to defending Jewish interests rather than left-wing principles, it is deemed incapable of doing anything sensible or good.

Gadi Taub: The Struggle for Israel’s Democracy

In his previous administrations Netanyahu was careful not to pick a fight with the country’s judicial oligarchy, preferring to spend his political capital on other subjects—primarily Iran and economics. He assumed, based on experience, that Israel’s judicial oligarchy would continue to abide by an unwritten rule: If a politician doesn’t try to reform the justice system, they will leave his person—though not necessarily his policies—alone. The flip side of this arrangement was, in any case, more obviously true: Try to advance a reform, and you almost always end up with a criminal investigation, often one that was fabricated, as in the cases of Yaacov Neeman and Reuven Rivlin, both of whom were among those barred from serving as justice ministers by contrived investigations that ended up with nothing. The judiciary had its own praetorian guard in the Office of the State Attorney, which cultivated a culture of promiscuous yet slow-moving investigations that made sure politicians didn’t step out of line.

After Netanyahu won his fourth term in 2015, the despair on the left reached a fever pitch, and the various centers of left-wing power began to clamor for Netanyahu’s head. The press led the way with investigative pieces accusing Netanyahu of corruption. Despite the speculative nature of these investigations, law enforcement pursued them with new vigor, leading, finally, to indictments.

The indictments had a paradoxical effect on the struggle for power between bureaucracy and democracy. First, they showed Netanyahu that the judicial oligarchy posed a direct threat to his political fortunes that could not be reasonably abated through the usual program of mutual noninterference. Second, the attacks by the judiciary on Likud’s undisputed leader had an energizing effect on his voters.

While removing a justice minister can be seen as a peripheral event, taking down a prime minster, and thus overturning the results of a national election, is a wholly different matter. It can fly, even with his supporters, when a prime minister is clearly proven to be corrupt, as was the case with Ehud Olmert, who ended up serving jail time. But when more than half the public feels its standard-bearer was framed and its ballots effectively shredded, it is unlikely to just accept that result. So both Netanyahu and his voters came to see, more clearly than before, the severity of the problem and the urgency in restoring the balance between the branches of government.

But the indictments and later trial also threatened to neutralize Netanyahu’s ability to act. It is difficult for a prime minster to reform the judicial system and put checks on politicized law enforcement when he himself is facing a trial. How would he escape the obvious suspicion that he is trying to save himself and is willing—as the left dramatically phrases this talking point—to “smash the justice system just to save his own skin”? True, judicial reform is unlikely to interfere with an ongoing trial, except maybe by making the judges more hostile. But perception is crucial here, and so Netanyahu seemed caught in a bind. The question came down to this: Will voters support a reform, or will enough of them see it as cynical, self-serving move on his part?

Last year’s election turned precisely on that question. And the voters gave a clear answer.