Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: USAID

Showing posts with label USAID. Show all posts

Friday, September 01, 2023

UNRWA didn't get $75 million from the US by today's deadline. Let's see if the dire predictions come true.

Khaled Elgindy senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, issues a dire warning at The Hill:

One wouldn’t know it from the headlines, but the next violent eruption in the Gaza Strip may be just around the corner. As most of Washington remains mired in its traditional August doldrums, yet another a potential crisis is brewing in the already isolated and impoverished Gaza Strip. For the past several months, $75 million in badly needed food assistance for Palestinians has been held up in Congress, not because of any bureaucratic or logistical impediments but for purely political reasons. Moreover, if the Biden administration does not act by the end of August, it will likely lead to a further deterioration in the already dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza — with potentially serious security implications for Jordan, Egypt and Israel.

The $75 million, approved by Congress and the State Department earlier this year, is being held up by Idaho Sen. James Risch, ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He wants assurances that the funds will not go to terror groups.

Let's look at this a little closer.

Here are the top national donors to UNRWA as of 2021:

Notice anything missing? Yes, the Arab nations are nowhere to be found, and in fact Arab nations provide only a tiny percentage of UNRWA's budget. The top Arab donor, Qatar, gives a mere 5% of what the USA gave in 2021.

The US already provides more aid to UNRWA than anyone else, over $300 million a year. Why is it obligated to give an additional $75 million, which is more than the entire Arab world combined gives to UNRWA? Where are the angry op-eds demanding that Saudi Arabia or China give tens of millions to UNRWA?

Is this all going to be "food aid"? While the original bill says the $75M was for "food assistance to vulnerable Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza" it cannot be earmarked; UNRWA will simply redirect other moneys to more problematic programs like their schools that teach the beauty of "martyrdom."

A little more context: People have been warning of starving Palestinians for many years now. In 2008 Jimmy Carter said that Gazans were literally "starving to death" and in 2009 he said they were "literally starving."

Nine million people die of starvation every year. Not one of them is Palestinian.

Interestingly, USAID will provide direct food aid - US food products - and food vouchers to countries where cash might go to terrorists. If there is such a looming food crisis, the US can contribute....food. This would also help US farmers and food producers, and it would be more difficult for Hamas to steal the food and resell it, as it does today with UNRWA products. (Obviously there are logistics involved to set up a direct food program, and it takes months to ramp a program like that up, but it could be done for next year.)

Here is the best part of Elgindy's article:

Despite appeals from the State Department, UNRWA and several Arab governments, Risch shows no sign of budging. “The administration has all the authority they need to provide emergency food assistance to UNRWA,” observed a spokesperson for the senator, adding that Risch “will continue to hold them until his long-term concern about UNRWA are addressed.”

On this, at least, Risch is correct. Biden does indeed have the authority he needs to disburse the funds over Risch’s objections. But this will require taking a stand and expending at least some political capital on an issue—the Palestinians—that has not been a political priority for the administration thus far.

So when a Republican holds up the aid, he is responsible for a looming escalating crisis that may lead to starvation, instability and war. But when Biden chooses not to override the senator, he is merely reluctant to expend political capital.

We are at September 1. Biden didn't override Risch. Let's see if the dire warnings come true.

The reality is that UNRWA is unsustainable as it stands right now. Its unique and bizarre definition of "Palestine refugee" ensures that it will need more funds every year forever. Clearly the world is sick of paying for this: in June a pledging conference for UNRWA netted a mere $107 million of the $300 million they wanted.

The solution is simple. Take 2 million Palestinians who are Jordanian citizens off the rolls. (Provide additional funding for the Kingdom of Jordan for a few years so that government can do its job and take responsibility for its own citizens' education, medical and housing needs.) That slashes UNRWA's budget by some 35%.

Later, do the same for Palestinians who live in the area of British Mandate Palestine, who are not "refugees" by any measure. They are the proper responsibility of the Palestinian Authority which provides schooling and medical services for its citizens - except for the "refugees," an absurd discrimination that the world doesn't seem to mind. That's about 40% more of its budget.

The Palestinians who are still in real need - the ones in Lebanon and Syria - really do deserve funding even though they aren't refugees either, but they have no government on their side. However, political pressure should be put on those countries to allow the Palestinians who have lived there for seven decades to become naturalized like any other Arabs can.

People who care about Palestinians should not object to any of these ideas. But, as we know, the world doesn't care about Palestinians unless they can be used as propaganda tools - "refugees" - to damage Israel.

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US gives millions to Palestinians without reporting where, exactly, the money goes

The United States has a very nice web page that shows how much foreign aid is given and the specific recipients every year.

Here's a detail of what the West Bank/Gaza page looked like in 2020:

The highlighted text says, "USAID redacted this field in accordance with the exceptions outlined in the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016."

I count about $90 million given to these anonymous Palestinian recipients since 2016.

Looking at the text of that Act, it appears that there are only two reasons to redact the names of the recipients:

(3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.—
(A) HEALTH OR SECURITY OF IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS.—
If the head of a Federal department or agency, in consultation with the Secretary of State, makes a determination that the inclusion of a required item of information online would jeopardize the health or security of an implementing partner or program beneficiary or would require the release of proprietary information of an implementing partner or program beneficiary, the head of the Federal department or agency shall provide such determination in writing to the appropriate congressional committees, including the basis for such determination.
(B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a determination that the inclusion of a required item of information online would be detrimental to the national interests of the United States, the Secretary of State shall provide such determination, including the basis for such determination, in writing to the appropriate congressional committees.

Could it be that the reason that some of the recipient names are redacted is because they would be threatened if it was known they were accepting aid from the US? Or perhaps some of the programs are "under the radar" grassroots peace initiatives, that the Palestinian Authority tries to quash as "normalization"?

Either way, it seems like there is a bit of money sloshing around without any transparency.

One other interesting note. In 2019, the Trump administration announced that it ceased all aid through USAID to the Palestinians. Yet somehow USAID still managed to send millions to the Palestinians in 2019 and 2020 - much less than during the Obama and Biden administrations, but not close to zero.

It seems that the "Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016" leaves a lot of wiggle room for non-transparency.

(h/t Irene)

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US signs agreement to send billions to Jordan - no strings attached

This story from September sure flew under the radar.

From Jordan News:

US Ambassador to Jordan Henry Wooster has said that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) Jordan and the US signed in Washington on September 16 is a platform that will enable the two governments to start a dialogue over common issues.

Speaking to journalists at his residence on Tuesday, Wooster said that the MoU focuses on two main issues: water and the public sector.

Under the MoU, the US government will provide a total of $10.1 billion in aid to Jordan between 2023 and 2029, at around $1.45 billion annually. It is the fourth such document signed by the two countries since 2010.

Wooster stressed that support for sectors was determined by Jordan, which sets priorities, and not by the US, and that there are no conditions attached to the MoU, which are not legally binding.

The US doesn't have any say on how the money would be spent? No conditions? No auditing?

It looks like some of the funds are very generally earmarked: out of the $1.45 billion of grants annually, $610 million is direct assistance to the Treasury; $75 million to the stimulus support fund; $350 million towards implementing priority development schemes with USAID; and $400 million in military aid to the Jordanian Army.

Beyond that, it looks like Jordan can do whatever they want with it.

And of course, there is no requirement for Jordan to extradite mass murderer Ahlam Tamimi to the US, despite her being on the FBI's Most Wanted list.

Israel is routinely accused by its detractors of having a blank check to use US funds however they want. It is a lie. There are extensive audits for US aid to Israel.

But here, the same people who claim to care so much about how US taxpayer dollars are being spent are suddenly mute in a case that really appears to be a blank check to Jordan - $610 million a year we know going straight to its treasury which can then be spent however they want - and no pushback.

How much of that money goes to fund explicitly antisemitic educational materials? Jordan funds the building of mosques - how many teach hate? Would US funded weapons be used to quash peaceful protests? There are no guardrails.

And no one even seems to suggest that Jordan should not get a penny until it sends Tamimi to the US for trial.

(h/t Arnold Roth)

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They Say Biden Only Criticizes Israel Behind The Scenes -- The Same Place He Undermines It (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

President Joe Biden called Netanyahu to congratulate him on his victory, as he returns to serve as prime minister of Israel.

It only took a week, but a lot was made of the fact that a number of world leaders lost no time in contacting Netanyahu to wish him well, while Biden -- who likes to brag about his friendship with Bibi -- seemed to be deliberately delaying his congratulations.

And maybe he was.

In February 2021, CNN reported that Biden took his time after winning his own election before contacting Netanyahu -- and that was because Netanyahu had taken his time contacting Biden on winning the election in 2020.

And so it goes.

But we are told that Biden and Netanyahu are actually good friends -- after all, Biden tells us so himself. He has claimed that he once gave Bibi a photo inscribed with the words:

“Bibi I don’t agree with a damn thing you say but I love you.”

Whatever that means.

During Biden's last visit to the Middle East, he visited Israel and met with Netanyahu, even though he was no longer prime minister at the time, and shook hands with him, saying “You know I love you.” Ha'aretz reported that a member of the US delegation met with a senior Israeli figure and told him that Biden's comment had nothing to do with affection --

When the president tells Netanyahu, “You know I love you,” the interlocutor from Washington explained, the implicit continuation of the sentence is: love aside, but you know I don’t want to see you return.

In any case, no matter how the media and the pundits choose to describe their relationship, Biden supposedly limits his criticisms of Netanyahu and Israel to private communications, while publicly providing unwavering support for the Jewish state. Yet that has not prevented Biden from publicly calling Netanyahu "counterproductive" and "extreme right."

That may be something to keep in mind when Netanyahu confides to Mark Levin that

[Biden] always says, 'Bibi, I love you, but I don't agree with a word you're saying' — [and] I say to him, ‘Joe, sometimes I reciprocate that.'"

Netanyahu and Biden apparently each can give as good as they get.

And when it comes to Israel, not all the things that Biden says about the Jewish state are complimentary.

Two years ago, Channel 13’s Nadav Eyal provided excerpts from a classified memo detailing a meeting Biden had with Golda Meir in 1973. The media's major focus was on the revelation that Biden relayed to her the conversations he had with Egyptian leaders who told him that they respected Israel's military superiority. Weeks later, Egypt attacked Israel. Obviously, Biden is not responsible for Israel's lack of preparation and military intelligence at the time.

However, there are some other comments Biden made that seem to have been overlooked.

Speaking directly to Golda Meir, Biden not only claims that Israel has an outsized influence on the Nixon administration against its will, but also claims that the US Senate is afraid of crossing American Jews.

There is a certain brazenness there that would make Ilhan Omar jealous.

But Biden is known for his odd comments and gaffes. What about what he has actually done since taking office -- what do his actions indicate about his attitude towards Israel and what Netanyahu can expect?

Just last November, it was reported that the Biden administration wanted to reopen the US consulate for the Palestinian Arabs in its original location in Jerusalem, despite the fact that the establishment of such a consulate in Jerusalem would be a violation of the Oslo Accords.

This is the same Biden who in support of the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995, said

Mr. President, it is unconscionable for us to refuse to recognize the right of the Jewish people to choose their own capital. What gives us the right to second-guess their decision? For 47 years, we, and much of the rest of the international community, have been living a lie.

Yet here was the Biden Administration trying to create conditions that would imply a division of Jerusalem between Jews and Arabs.

Eugene Kontorovich put it in stronger terms:

"The US does not want to open a consulate merely to have a place for diplomatic connections with the PA [Palestinian Authority]. If that is all they wanted, they could easily do this by opening a mission in Abu Dis or Ramallah -- where most other countries conduct their relations with the PA... the purpose of opening the consulate is to recognize Palestinian claims to Jerusalem."

Actually, Biden himself was explicit when he visited Abbas during his visit to the Middle East:

Jerusalem is central to the national visions of both Palestinians and Israelis, to your histories to your faiths to your futures. Jerusalem must be a city for all its people.

One month later, the Biden administration seemed to have shelved the idea.

Another area that reflects Biden's attitude towards Israel is the appointments he makes to fill positions that influence policy in the Middle East.

o In February, the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor invited nonprofit groups to apply for grant money in order to "strengthen accountability and human rights in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza." Not only would this strengthen those seeking to delegitimize Israel, but the appointee to head the program was Sarah Margon -- the former Washington director at Human Rights Watch who has openly supported boycotting Israel.
o  The White House appointed George Salem as chairman of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Partnership for Peace Fund board. Salem lobbied for the Palestinian government from 2015 until late 2021 and was registered as a foreign agent for the Palestine Monetary Authority. Under Abbas, the Palestinian government has been known for the way it has mishandled foreign aid -- especially exploitation of those funds for the pay-to-slay program.
o  The Biden administration appointed Elizabeth Campbell as a deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. She is the former director of UNRWA, criticized for its use of textbooks promoting hatred of Jews and of terrorism in Palestinian schools.
o  Hady Amr serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs and Press and Public Diplomacy in the Biden administration. He is also in charge of US negotiations with Israel and Palestinian organizations. He was the lead author of a report published by the Brookings Institution in December 2018 that said that the US must "reconnect" with Hamas, "create a Palestinian unity government integrating Hamas" and "compel Israel to make major concessions" even if this would "endanger Israel" -- concluding that "should Israel prove uncooperative with American efforts, the United States could signal it will move ahead anyway."
o  Biden's nominee for a top role at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Tamara Cofman Wittes, was director of the Middle East Policy Center at the Brookings Institution. She promoted articles that criticized the Abraham Accords and discouraged Arab countries from normalizing ties with Israel before the 2020 election. She tweeted that peace between Israel and the UAE was a ‘new Naksa,' a setback. She also retweeted an article that called the Abraham Accords misogynistic, a “triumph for authoritarianism.”

ZOA head Morton A. Klein has his own list of anti-Israel appointees that Biden put into key positions within his administration.

Reema Dodin [deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs]—who justified and even encouraged suicide bombings against Jews, organized anti-Israel rallies and spread Medieval-style blood libels, including the false claim that Israel denies Palestinian Arabs food, water and medical treatment; Maher Bitar [National Security Council official]—who organized the Palestine Solidarity Movement anti-Israel boycott conference at Georgetown University, at which he ran a session on how to demonize Israel; Karine Jean-Pierre [White House Press Secretary]—who helped orchestrate Democratic presidential candidates’ boycott of a major pro-Israel conference; Wendy Sherman [United States Deputy Secretary of State]—who negotiated the terrible Iran deal, praised secret concessions to Iran and downplayed PLO suicide bombings and other terror attacks on innocent Israelis; Avril Haines [Director of National Intelligence]—who signed a vicious letter falsely accusing Israel of violence, terrorism, and incitement; apologist for Hamas and Iran Robert Malley; and numerous others.

Klein also recalls that Biden praised Rashida Tlaib last year:

I admire your intellect, I admire your passion, I admire your concern for so many other people. You’re a fighter and God thank you for being a fighter.

He also notes that Biden resumed funding to Palestinian projects, in violation of the spirit -- if not the letter -- of the Taylor Force Act.

In fact, last month it was reported that the legal advocacy group America First Legal, a group of conservative lawyers and activists, filed a FOIA request for internal documents about US funding for the Palestinian Authority. The group claims that the Biden administration is violating US law by providing more than half a billion dollars to the PA. They claim the documents they are demanding will show an illegal effort "to undermine Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem."

And let's not forget about Biden and Iran.

Remember the tension we saw between Netanyahu and Obama?
The next 2 years might just make Netanyahu nostalgic for those days.

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It really looks like USAID is trying to give Area C land to Palestinians

Last month I reported that the advisory panel for USAID, the American aid agency that funnels millions of dollars to Palestinian organizations, has recommended that the US should build institutions in Area C, ostensibly to promote Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.

However, these institutions would almost certainly not be available to Jews who already live in Area C, meaning that they would be effectively a way for USAID to take land away from under Israeli control and give it to Palestinians.

One of the more outrageous proposals mentioned was to build an entire university in Area C for Palestinian use.

Now, Israel's Channel 14 is reporting that Joe Biden supports the idea.

From the Arabic Ultrapal news site:

Israeli Channel 14 said, on Wednesday, that US President Joe Biden gave oral approval to a request submitted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish a Palestinian university in an area classified as C according to the Oslo Accords.

She added, that a senior official in (USAID) confirmed to her the news, and that the agency recently held a closed meeting to discuss this file after Biden's approval, and an informal tour is expected in the coming weeks to choose the land that will be allocated to the university buildings.

She noted that USAID officials presented the idea to Biden during his recent visit to Jerusalem.

As I wrote, USAID programs are supposed to be officially joint Israeli-Palestinian initiatives, but if Palestinians are meant to reap the benefits, why not place them where the Palestinians mostly live?

The MEPPA funding program behind these ideas has two goals: economic development of the Palestinian private sector and "person to person" peacebuilding programs. Building a Palestinian high tech university on Israeli-controlled lands is not either of these - it is a land grab. Even if some of the instructors are Israelis.

I don't know if the USAID officials were taking advantage of Biden's possible confusion, or if Biden understands that this is a direct challenge to Israel's rights.

Is USAID trying to take Area C away from Israel?

USAID is the US government's humanitarian aid arm. It has worked with Palestinians on various projects.

In 2020, Congress allocated $250 million over five years through the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA) "to advance peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians to enable a sustainable two-state solution."

Most of MEPPA funds are funneled through USAID:

The funds allocated to USAID will be guided by a fifteen-member Advisory Board with twelve members appointed by Congress in addition to a chair and two international members appointed by the USAID Administrator. The Board is tasked "to consult with, provide information to, and advise USAID and other U.S. Government agencies" on the efficacy of programming and partnership options to ensure the advancement of the goals of the Partnership for Peace Fund. Members are selected from diverse backgrounds, and their collaboration is governed by the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

This Advisory Board held its first meeting in April, and it appears that it is interested in building institutions for Palestinians where they can supposedly work together with Israelis.

But they intend to build these institutions in Area C, which is under Israeli control, even though some 95% of Palestinians live in Areas A and B.

The transcript of their initial meeting in April included this:

Hiba Husseini: The other recommendation I would make is an Area C. Area C can be utilized both for the private sector, which I propose that we develop a logistics and distribution center, for example, in Area C. These distribution centers require large space and employ large number of people and create a lot of IT-related systems. So, I think logistics, distribution centers in Area C to serve the West Bank would be a very innovative idea and would bring the two sides -- the two businesses and create the integration that some of my colleagues have spoken about.
Another Area C project I envisage is the youth -- joint youth education in -- like IT incubation in Area C. So, take cool kids during the summer breaks and then create more advanced programs, maybe even leading to an IT university of sort or IT training center. We need the skills. And Israel has the skill, so I think jointly kids can start learning from the high school level moving forward...

George Salem (Chair):...I took pride to take careful notes of what everyone had to say. I would add, you know, the idea articulated by Ms. Husseini about expansion of programs for businesses in Area C is one I think that could be really fruitfully explored, as well as IT training, and perhaps even establishing a university there, as well as tourism.

You can be sure that when they are talking about these initiatives, the hundreds of thousands of Jews who live in Area C are meant to be excluded. Which means that this is a means to help Palestinianstake over parts of Area C - much as the EU has done over the past decades.

To pass muster with USAID, these programs are supposed to be officially joint Israeli-Palestinian initiatives, but if Palestinians are meant to reap the benefits, why not place them where the Palestinians mostly live?

MEPPA has two goals: economic development of the Palestinian private sector and "person to person" peacebuilding programs. Building a Palestinian high tech university on Israeli-controlled lands is not either of these - it is a land grab. Even if some of the instructors are Israelis.

Husseini and Salem are both Palestinian. They know exactly what they are doing.

The advisory board's recommendations are non-binding, and some members seem to be staunch Zionists including Sander Gerber of AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition. Hopefully any agenda that undermines Israel, like the Area C proposals here, will be quashed before any damage can be done.

(h/t Irene)

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The only Arab country still funding the Palestinian Authority is Algeria

In an interview with Palestine TV, PA prime minister Mohamed Shtayyeh discussed how the world has drastically reduced aid to the regime which is widely viewed as corrupt.

He said that the entire Arab world has stopped funding the PA, with the sole exception of Algeria.

When virtually the entire Arab world has decided that the Palestinian Authority is not worth investing in, the rest of the world should listen.

One major reason the Arab world has lost interest in the Palestinian cause is because of the ongoing split between the West Bank and Gaza. Today is the 15th anniversary of Hamas' Gaza coup, and the PA half-heartedly demanded that they should be in control of the sector. They claimed that Hamas' takeover was part of a Zionist plot against them. Saying absurd things like that doesn't help endear the PA to the Arab world, either.

Shtayyeh also complained that the US has not resumed its aid to the PA that ended under Donald Trump. The Biden administration has resumed funding UNRWA and USAID programs in the territories, but not the PA itself. Part of the reason is because of the Palestinian Authority's insistence that it continue to pay terrorists and their families as a core part of its budget.

He also whined about how EU countries have been curtailing aid, in response to the PA's funding terror and teaching hate in its schools. He stated that "We affirmed to the European Union the rejection of any conditional financial aid. We will not accept to change one line in the Palestinian curriculum."

There is nothing wrong with the West putting conditions on how its aid money is spent, and the PA refusal to adhere to those conditions shows how important it is to the Palestinian leaders to continue to teach hate and fund terror.

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USAID leaving the territories - good or bad?

From Haaretz:

The United States Agency for International Development announced that half of its employees in the West Bank and Gaza will be let go in the coming weeks and by early 2019, the operations will be completely shut down.

The humanitarian agency is one of the largest and most important in the region.

The U.S. State Department informed USAID last week that by next month the agency would have to present a list of 60 percent of its employees to be dismissed as the first step in the shutdown that will be finalized by 2019.

The USAID chapter in the West Bank and Gaza began operating in 1994, focusing mainly on economic issues including water, infrastructure, education and health. USAID has invested about $5.5 billion in the West Bank and Gaza in the construction of roads, schools, clinics and community centers.

USAID also buys medical equipment, provides humanitarian assistance to those in need of medical care and teaches lifesaving techniques to doctors from Gaza and the West Bank via Israel and other countries. In recent years USAID has conducted in-service education for teachers, built schools and worked on projects to keep young Palestinians in the education system.

USAID has been fairly concerned in making sure that it does not fund any people or groups associated with terrorism. At the same time, it has not been effective in training ordinary Palestinians to abhor terror and to accept Israel. Palestinian thinkers have warned that USAID promotes "normalization" but the PA has pushed back heavily against any such initiatives.

USAID describes its purpose this way:

The purpose of foreign aid should be ending the need for its existence, and we provide development assistance to help partner countries on their own development journey to self-reliance – looking at ways to help lift lives, build communities, and establish self-sufficiency.

Our efforts are both from and for the American people.

USAID demonstrates America’s good will around the world; increases global stability by addressing the root causes of violence; opens new markets and generates opportunity for trade; creates innovative solutions for once unsolvable development challenges; saves lives; and advances democracy, governance, and peace.

By those standards, has USAID been successful in the territories?

Are Palestinians more pro-American? Clearly not.

Did USAID address root causes of anti-Israel violence? Clearly not.

Did it open new markets in the territories? If it did, those markets are minuscule.

Did it advance democracy? Certainly not.

Did it advance governance? It seems that on the contrary, the Palestinian leaders are now dependent on foreigners to build their governance structure, and after over 20 years, one would think they would be more self sufficient if these foreign teams from the US and EU really were teaching them how to be self-sufficient.

Did it advance peace? No, although it possibly kept the status quo.

The head of USAID once said “I believe the purpose of foreign assistance is to end the need for its existence.” By that measure, USAID has failed Palestinians, and withdrawing it should be to their benefit - they have the tools, they just choose not to use them.

There is a danger to Israel by the removal of USAID. Infrastructure projects are needed no matter who funds them and if there is no safe water, for example, Israel will end up being more involved in Palestinian affairs rather than disengaging from them.

Chances are pretty good that for the medium term, the EU will happily make up the shortfall from the absence of USAID. But that pushes the main problem off - if the purpose of this aid is to build self sufficiency, then the programs must have that goal in mind from the start, instead of creating a welfare society where Palestinians expect the West to do everything for them, as exists today.

It is absurd that so many years after Oslo the Palestinians have not learned to build their own institutions. Zionists in the 1920s and 1930s essentially built their state institutions without foreign assistance and they were ready in 1948 to govern themselves.

The world needs to look at exactly why "Palestine" has not progressed significantly in self-sufficiency since 1994.

it won't like the answer - that the "State of Palestine" is not meant to be a place for Palestinians to live safely and with dignity, and instead it has always meant to be a springboard to destroy Israel. Any aid they get towards that goal is welcome, and any aid they get that frustrates that goal is rejected.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Head of Western-funded NGO:"Ancient Zionist terrorists wrote the Torah; plundering, occupying, criminal, terrorist killer Jews"

Last week I wrote about Dr Gamal Abdel Nasser Mohammed Abu Nahel, head of the Palestinian Commission for Refugees Rights Protection which has been funded and/or supported by USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Anna Lindh Foundation, the UN Development Program and others. He regularly meets with delegations from around the world, most recently with people from Japan and Malaysia.

I noted his essay, promoted on the Facebook page of his NGO, that called Jews "the largest and most despicable gang in the world."

Abu Nahel just wrote another article to show off his Jew-hatred, titled "My Message to the Ultra-Jewish Usurpers." It is also featured on the PCRP's Facebook page.

This may be the most hateful antisemitic article I have ever seen from the Arab world.

And the writer is respected by Western NGOs who continue to fund him!

Excerpts:

The Quran tells us that there is a people that are the kings of terror, it is their habit to kill, oppress, tyrannize and betray. They are still the top criminals in the world after centuries. They are the Jews, the Sons of Israel.

You Jews think that you are Allah’s Chosen people and you are above everybody else and everybody else should be your servants, and their souls are evil souls.

Yet Allah said in the Koran about you (Quran 3:21): "Those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah and kill the prophets without right and kill those who order justice from among the people - give them tidings of a painful punishment."

We are not surprised that you deem the innocent blood of women, children of non-Jews, especially Palestinians, free prey. The ancient and modern Zionist terrorists wrote the Torah and claimed it was God’s words.

Because you Jews falsify Allah’s words, curses came down upon you. You claim that Hitler burnt you and that Pharaoh killed your children. Now you are doing even worse things to Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians, committing war crimes.

Oh Jews, you are the criminal gang of Netanyahu and Lieberman, you gang of plunderer settlers, you are the last colonialist, criminal, terrorist, fascist, Nazi, Pharaonic, Hitlerite occupation that modern human history knows.

You extremist, criminal, plunderer settler Jews, you lowly, despicable gang, we say to you that Allah told us that He would enable us to get to your necks and torture you, and this will last till Judgment Day. You are gathering in Palestine so that it becomes your graveyard. You came here as plundering occupiers so that Palestine will become the place of your slaughter, humiliation, and the Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians will lie in ambush for you, make you pay the jizya and kill you.

It says in the Quran, 7:164-167: "And when a community among them said, 'Why do you advise [or warn] a people whom Allah is [about] to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?' they [the advisors] said, 'To be absolved before your Lord and perhaps they may fear Him.' And when they forgot that by which they had been reminded, We saved those who had forbidden evil and seized those who wronged, with a wretched punishment, because they were defiantly disobeying. So when they were insolent about that which they had been forbidden, We said to them, 'Be apes, despised and hated.' And [mention] when your Lord declared that He would surely [continue to] send upon them until the Day of Resurrection those who would afflict them with the worst torment. Indeed, your Lord is swift in penalty; but indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful.

[In other words, Allah will send against the Sons of Israel a tribe of Arabs that will torture them terribly until the Day of Judgment.]

Oh plundering, occupying, criminal, terrorist killer Jews, we the Palestinians are your fate in this holy and blessed land. Allah bestowed an honor upon us by giving us this land in order to be the vanguard of jihad, resistance and struggle in order to protect the honor of the Arab and Muslim umma (nation). Despite the bloodshed, the great and honorable Palestinian mother will keep receiving news of the martyrdom of her son and his ascent to Paradise with ululation. As for you, plunderer, cheater, criminal, pharaonic, worshippers of the Cow and the Calf, oh Zionists, your fate will be to be thrown to the garbage bin of history.

This respected NGO leader excretes bile like this weekly, all linked from the PCRP's official Facebook page. For example, this recent article says Jews are "herds of rapist pigs, the Jews are descendants of monkeys and pigs."

It never ceases to amaze me how such explicit bigotry is condoned by the world that continues to not only ignore but actually fund this hate.

Write to the NED, USAID Anna Lindh and UNDP and ask them point blank why they support this Jew-hatred, ask them to explicitly condemn Dr. Mahel both in the email and on their webpages, and ask them to specify exactly what they plan to do to ensure that their grantees don't act unacceptably now and in the future. Stress that if they really care about peace, then they must be vocal about such incitement to hatred, or else they appear to be condoning it.

NGOs are very sensitive to things like this going public, even though they will try to sweep it under the rug. Some will try to say that they haven't funded PCRP recently so they are blameless. The answer is that whether they like it or not, they are associated with the group because of their past support and as such it is their responsibility to use their influence to get PCRP to fire Dr. Nahel and condemn his hate - if they really care about peace. Pretending that Arab antisemitism is somehow understandable is not an acceptable response, and if they aren't angry about this, then they are part of the problem.

Only a few polite emails will make a huge difference. Send any responses to me so we can get more pressure going to stop this hate and incitement.

And when you get just one of these funders to publicly denounce this Jew-hatred, then the media will notice, and the PCRP will be forced to either double-down on the hate or try to explain it away.

Here is where you, today, can make a difference.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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.

Head of Western-funded Palestinian NGO calls Jews "the enemies of humanity" (update)

Here is a description of the Palestinian Commission for Refugees Rights Protection written by the Anna Lindh Foundation:

The PCRP is Gaza-based NGO. It works with Refugees Communities, camp based groups all over Gaza Strip. Its mandate based on three interrelated areas namely Research, advocacy and campaign as well as Training and development. Current staff includes 4 full times. 6 part time, and 8 volunteers. The Budget varies yearly depending on the funding available. USAID, NED, QATAR government was the major three donors in the last three years.

I was able to verify at least one grant by USAID, of $37,000, in 2010, as well as over $40,000 in grants in 2005.

The website of the PCRP says that it is a member of the Anna Lindh network as well as of Amnesty International as well as other umbrella NGO networks.

In addition, they work with the UN Development Program. They recently met with a delegation from a Japanese NGO.

So while it is not too well-known, the PCRP gets its share of Western funds and attention.

The president of the organization, Dr Gamal Abdel Nasser Mohammed Abu Nahel, just wrote an article promoted on the PCRP Facebook page about - Jews. It is titled "The largest and most despicable gang in the world."

...Understand that they are the enemies of humanity. They twice tried to kill our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. But God saved him from their cunning and guile.

Their so-called state is a bloody mess without morals and without religion run by a terrorist gang They are a nation of treachery and deceit and murder.

..."The Hour will not until Muslims fight the Jews, and the Jew hides behind the stones and trees. The rocks or trees will say: O Muslim! O slave of Allah! This is a Jew behind me, come kill him; except for the Gharqad tree which is a tree of the Jews": wait for the promise of God Almighty who will cleanse the holy land of their filth and their crimes.

They are the most despicable gang on the face of the earth and all they do was foretold in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, those documents from a lecture by Zionist leader Herzl to a group of Zionists, to control of the world and its wealth and rulers.

The bloody history of the terrorist Jewish Zionists has been continuous since the dawn of history to this day...

This is the head of an NGO that is respected by Western governments and "human rights" organizations. And his organization was so proud of the article that they promoted it themselves.

You may want to write to these Western organizations - Anna Lindh Foundation, Amnesty, USAID and National Endowment for Democracy, asking if they indeed partner with PCRP and if so what they plan to do about this.

(h/t Shawarma News)

UPDATE: Dr. Nahel has previously been highlighted here for saying that "Zionists' were responsible for the Crusades. (h/t Bob K)

Palestinian Arabs warn that USAID money is meant to promote peace

Palestine Times has an article quoting a Professor Abdul Sattar Qassem as warning Palestinian Arab universities against accepting money from USAID - because it comes with strings attached.

USAID spends millions of dollars to promote excellence in teaching and other programs at Palestinian Arab universities. But Qassem sees a dark side:

America requires the recipients of aid not to have been previously arrested by the Zionist occupation, and not to be affiliated with, Palestinian resistance groups. The aid is meant to favor negotiations with the Zionists, and the search for a peaceful solution; it is in favor of two-state solution; and even more dangerous it supports normalization with the Zionists, [for example] with scientific cooperation...the universities that [receive aid from the] U.S. must normalize relations with the Zionist entity, and participate in many activities with the Zionist universities and academics.

USAID funds dozens of projects in the territories, at a cost of some $200 million a year.

Last year a PalArab newspaper accused USAID of being a spy agency and accused it of similar crimes that Professor Qassem is accusing it of, even saying that the only people who receive USAID funding after the terrorists are weeded out are those who have abandoned their national heritage.

Report: USAID halts operations in PalArab territory

Al Quds al Arabi reports that USAID has suspended all of its projects in the Palestinian Arab territories.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee had halted some $200 million in funds for the Palestinian Arabs, it was reported earlier this week, and these were USAID funds.

Some projects have halted already, some can run for a few weeks before running out of money. According to a PA official quoted in the article, the projects that are affected include "roads, water, health and other projects related to state building."

He also said that the White House is exerting efforts to lift the ban but there is no timeframe for such a decision

Some 50 Arab employees have already been asked not to work, and a couple of hundred more will lose their jobs by November.

USAID money to the territories is earmarked for governance, rule of law, civil society, health, education, social services, economic development and humanitarian assistance.

US funds that goes directly to the Palestinian Authority has not been affected.

In the Arab world, especially in Egypt, there have been recent protests against USAID, with people charging that it is a spy agency. Egypt has recently rejected USAID funds because of conditions saying, among other things, that they cannot be used for terrorism.

Arabs accuse USAID of being a spy agency

Palestinian Arab newspaper Al Majd has a study about USAID, the American governmental agency dedicated to offering humanitarian assistance and to help build democratic institutions.

The report accuses USAID of actually being involved in espionage and describes it as one of the most dangerous organizations in the world.

As evidence, the report notes that USAID requires partner NGOs and employees to sign an agreement renouncing terrorism and violence.

Not only that, but USAID will actually do background checks to verify that employees aren't terrorists - and, in the Palestinian Arab territories, they will even ask Israel to help with the verification!

This "study" goes on to say that the only people who remain after this vetting process are those who have "abandoned their national heritage."

In other words, terrorism and violence is - according to Al Majd - part of the Palestinian Arab national heritage.

The report piles on the horrid things USAID does. It actually encourages Palestinian Arabs to work with Israelis in the name of coexistence and peace! It promotes normalization with the "Zionist enemy"!

The study concludes that the entire point of USAID is to humiliate the Palestinian Arabs.

Of course, no one is forcing Palestinian Arabs to accept any aid from the US. Perhaps if the conditions for aid are so onerous, the PA should politely inform USAID that their money should be better spent elsewhere in the world.

I'm certain that American anti-Israel groups, who are so concerned over their tax dollars that go to Israel, would support USAID dropping all aid to the Palestinian Arabs as well.

Who oversees US aid to Palestinian Arabs? (Joffe)

A very important article by Alexander Joffe in Hudson-NY:

In Palestinian economics, where all the money goes is unclear -- but where does all the money come from? Which U.S. programs give how much and who has legislative oversight? Now that Palestinian Authority (PA) prime minister Salaam Fayyad has announced a plan for September for unilateral Palestinian statehood, which includes a request for $5 billion over three years -- and presumes that the newly announced Fatah-Hamas rapprochement does not scuttle all American aid -- the problem of oversight is all the more pressing.

...Economic Support Funds provided by USAID can not go directly to the Palestinian Authority without a waiver to the Appropriations Committee from the U.S. president saying that it is in the interest of U.S. national security to provide them, and and a certification from the Secretary of State regarding the PA's treasury, payroll and civil service – all according to section 2106 of chapter 2 of title II of Public Law 109-13, a 2005 emergency supplemental defense and relief bill (and Public Law 108-199 of 2004 before it).

Public Law 109-13, for example, requires, among other things, that the President certify that Palestinian security services have purged their ranks of terrorists, that the Palestinian Authority stop incitement against Israel, and that it cooperate with the US. in investigations of Yassir Arafat's finances. These waivers have been provided annually despite the fact that Palestinian incitement continues, Palestinian security forces are still laden with terrorists, and Yassir Arafat's money is still missing.

...In fact, the legislative system of appropriations and oversight matters very little when it comes to U.S. aid to the Palestinians: the system of foreign aid permits the president to independently "certify" or "waive" requirements introduced by Congress. It demonstrates the extent to which U.S. aid to the Palestinians is an instrument of Executive policy rather than an altruistic enterprise authorized by the Legislative branch.

....Legislation proposed in Congress to limit or condition funds to the Palestinian Authority or UNRWA are largely meaningless in this light. The "UNRWA Humanitarian Accountability Act," for example, offered by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in 2010, demanded that UNRWA not be used by or support Palestinian terrorists. But like the appropriations bills described above, it offers the Executive branch an out by requiring only "a written determination by the Secretary of State, based on all information available after diligent inquiry, and transmitted to the appropriate congressional committees along with a detailed description of the factual basis therefore." Such a statement is a foregone conclusion. The mechanisms for Congress to review results independently, hearings, reports from Congressional staff, the Congressional Research Service, and the Government Accountability Office, have no weight except in the politics of the next appropriations cycle.

Aid the Palestinians is a microcosm of the larger question of how U.S. foreign aid works. Now that Hamas will evidently join Fatah in a Palestinian Authority poised to declare statehood and request vast additional support, creating genuine Congressional oversight -- with teeth -- should be addressed once again.

Read the whole thing.

Egypt rejects USAID money

Al Masry al Youm reported last month:

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that its annual assitance program in Egypt, sheduled to be implemented in mid 2011, should satisfy the direct needs of Egypt in the fields of employment, economic development and combating poverty.

USAID allocated a significant portion of its assistance over the past years to bolstering democracy in Egypt.

In a statement, USAID said the program will be implemented with the help of NGOs, Egyptian, American or international, and the private sector.

USAID also said it is seeking to respond to the needs specified by the Egyptian community in the field of democratic development.

Indeed, the USAID Egypt site says:

The U.S. Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has made significant contributions over the past 30 years to help improve the quality of life of all Egyptians. Nationwide programs in health, education, trade facilitation, small and micro-enterprise, tourism, and infrastructure development have benefited Egyptians acrosscountry, especially those in under-served areas. US economic assistance to Egypt through the United States Agency for International Development has totaled more than $28.6 billion since 1975.

The Egyptian government has formally rejected this aid - saying that it included too many conditions.

From Ikhwanweb (there are a number of Egyptian newspapers in Arabic reporting the same thing):

Egypt has officially rejected conditional US aid worth USD 150 million in light of US economic support to Egypt, helping it overcome its economic woes and support the process of democratization in the post-January 25 revolution.

The US embassy in Cairo has received a formal letter from the Egyptian Foreign Minister that the Egyptian government rejects US conditions on aid and unilateral coercive economic measures by the US Agency for International Development.

Egyptian minister of planning and international cooperation Fayza Aboulnaga and Finance Minister Samir Radwan visited Washington last month, asking the US to cancel a debt amounting to about $3.6 billion to help the country's new government restore growth and create jobs for young people, but Washington refused.

The cabinet says the US aid is unnecessary and rejects US unilateral resolutions with regard to the US direct funding assistance mainly to the Egyptian private sector, Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and NGOs, arguing social justice is one of the more prominent roles that the country and businessmen should be committed to.

So far, no word from USAID about this.

Hate for Israel trumps love for Palestinian Arabs - every time.

In June, JoeSettler of the Muqata blog noticed that USAID was paving some roads in the West Bank for Palestinian Arabs:

Sometimes there are unintended consequences to one's actions. For instance, let's takeUSAID as an example.

Now their projects are apparently solely dedicated and intended for the benefit of Arabs only, within the Land of Israel. But sometimes, it just doesn't work out that way. For instance, USAID is investing in road building in Judea. Many of the roads are Jew-free roads, but not always.

Here's one example from a sign of theirs that says, "This project is a gift from the American People to the Palestinian People...".

What I think that USAID overlooked is that Jews also use this road regularly. It's a pleasant drive from the Gush directly to Malcha (and the Bibilical Zoo), not the mention Har Gilo to the Gush.

It would have been nice if they could have added a line in Hebrew and mentioned that it's a gift for us Jews too. After all, many Jewish-owned cars use that road every single day.

Anyway, even though USAID didn't mean to fix the road for the benefit of us Jews, we thank you for building a road that Settlers use all the time.

To any normal human being, a win-win situation is the best possible outcome. Obviously USAID is averse to spending money to help Jews specifically in the West Bank, but just like Arabs use and appreciate the supposed "settler-only apartheid" roads that ignorant Israel haters like to pretend criss-cross the area, Jews can use these new roads that were not intended for them.

Arabs, on the other hand, have tended to reject win-win solutions. To the Arab mind in general, when dealing with Israel, honor demands that Israel lose, even if Arabs lose as well. That was the logic of the historic rejectionism of a Palestinian Arab state from the 1930s to today, that was the logic behind the second intifada.

Normal liberals, and especially liberal Jews, tend to be the ones who desire a win-win more than anyone else. They are the ones who work hardest to find the best solution to an intractable problem with the maximum of benefit for the minimum of pain. In a normal world, this is sensible to the point of being obvious.

Unfortunately, we do not live in a normal world.

My Right Word notices that Akiva Eldar, one of Ha'aretz' columnists who most reliably insults his own country, found out about the paved roads that JoeSettler thanks USAID for. And to him, if a single settler is happy, that is unacceptable:

Travelers along the "original" West Bank roads, the ones enabling drivers to bypass Palestinian villages, can see signs declaring "USAID from the American People."

The roads are one of the initiatives of the United States Agency for International Development for building infrastructure in underdeveloped countries. Israel has already proudly left the club of developing countries and is not among the clients of USAID. Nevertheless, it appears the Smith family of Illinois is making the occupation a little less expensive for the Cohen family of Petah Tikva.

According to a June 2010 fact sheet on the USAID Internet site, last year American taxpayers funded the paving of 63 kilometers of asphalt roads in the West Bank. It also says completion of a road in the southern part of the West Bank dramatically increased the amount of trade between Dahriya and Beer Sheva.

What the site doesn't say is that a significant segment of the road goes through Area C - the 60 percent of the West Bank under exclusive Israeli civilian and military control....

This is not the only occupation-perpetuating road funded by American money. Dror Etkes, an expert on the settlements, noticed a few days ago USAID workers energetically laying asphalt on two roads in the Samaria region (northern West Bank ) that crosses Area C. Israelis haven't been traveling these roads for years now because the taxpayer (in this case, the Israeli taxpayer ) has already paved separate, wide, modern roads for them.

One of the main complaints that Palestinian Arabs have had was that they could not easily travel between their towns, because of Israeli checkpoints. The newly paved roads help them immensely, and there is no choice but to have them go through Area C. To Eldar, however, the fact that the roads also help some Jews is completely unacceptable, and somehow they help the "occupation."

His bizarre logic is that if the State of Israel intends to keep the West Bank - a policy that doesn't seem to have ever existed, as it has yet to be annexed in the past 43 years - then Israel should pay for the roads, and Americans should be upset that their money is helping Palestinian Arabs in portions of an area that they want for their state. Eldar would rather not have any roads there at all, or perhaps have Israel's taxpayers give them as a gift to "Palestine".

The reason that "Israelis haven't been traveling those roads for years" is because there was a very good chance that they would get shot and killed. That's why the other roads were built to begin with. To Eldar, that is also unacceptable, of course. Perhaps he can suggest a third intifada to ensure that Jews and Arabs remain as separate as possible, and he wouldn't have to stomach terrible scenes like the two groups shopping together.

The only way to look at ramblings like this is to realize that the amount of self-degradation is so deep that people like Eldar have bought into the Arab mindset that what helps a Jew - even accidentally - is by definition bad for Arabs and therefore inherently evil.

US funds left-wing, anti-Netanyahu ad campaign

From the Jerusalem Post:

The Geneva Initiative unveiled a campaign partially funded by the USAID in which Palestinian leaders speak to the Israeli public in video clips, telling Israelis that there is a Palestinian partner for an agreement.

Thus far, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee Yasser Abed Rabbo and Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub have recorded short messages, all of which begin with a personal address to the Israeli public which includes the word “shalom” in Hebrew and conclude with “I am your partner. Are you my partner?”

Gadi Baltiansky, Geneva Initiative Israel director, explained that the campaign aims to counter the myth that there is no partner on the Palestinian side and to stir a debate as to whether the Netanyahu administration represents a partner for a two-state solution.

The Hebrew webpage for the ads is here.

As an op-ed in JTA says,

This political advocacy effort is aimed at convincing Israelis, in the words of Geneva Initiative head Gadi Baltiansky, “that there is a [Palestinian] partner -- that the problem is specifically with us.”

For the most part USAID, as its name suggests, has been involved primarily in projects related to Palestinian economic development, including parks and a sports facility in Tulkarem. An NGO-run advertising campaign marks a major shift in U.S. government policy. As in the case of NGO political campaigns funded by European governments, this process bypasses the elected Israeli leadership. Such direct interference in the internal affairs of other democracies is a blatant violation of international norms.

At the same time, the USAID funding is notable in that it is relatively transparent. While the USAID website makes no mention of this campaign, the Geneva Initiative released a statement about it: “The campaign is supported with the generous support of the American people through USAID.” News of the funding has been reported and criticized widely in the Israeli media.

...However, the transparency is partial, and the ads do not reference the U.S. government’s role and backing. Thus, Israelis hear Palestinian officials promoting peace without knowing that the message is brought to them courtesy of the U.S. administration, which has its own political interests. The absence of full public disclosure or congressional oversight for this unusual venture is problematic.

The US is funding an advertising campaign meant to make Israelis doubt the leadership abilities of the people they elected. The Geneva Initiative is far the the left of the mainstream Israeli public.

USAID is primarily meant to provide development and reconstruction assistance. To use it to fund a blatantly political program seems to go against its stated purpose.

It is notable that the Geneva Initiative claims:

The GI and our activities are designed to reinstill in the Israeli and Palestinian peoples the hope that it is possible to reach an agreement that will serve their respective national and personal interests and aspirations. We are committed to exposing each side's public to the message of the other – despite the technical and psychological barriers.

Yet I cannot find a single campaign they ever created or funded to convince the Palestinian Arabs to support a realistic peace with Israel. No public relations campaigns in the territories, no ads, nothing. Not a dollar is spent to influence Palestinian Arab public opinion.

It is even more interesting that the GI, as left-wing as they get, which is so keen to convince Israelis that Palestinian Arabs are such great peace partners, do not have a single Arab or Muslim organization listed as a "supporter" on their website. But trust us - they really are peace partners, even if they don't want to publicly be associated with the most dovish Israelis. That is probably only out of fear of being labeled "collaborators" and murdered in cold blood by their equally peaceful next door neighbors.

There is no problem with the GI coaching Saeb Erekat to lie about how peaceful he is. After all, lying is something he has a lot of experience in. Only a month ago Erekat rejected the idea of talking with Israel. His intransigence is clear. And the GI may be hypocritical in its one-sided view of who is the intransigent party in the Middle East, but, again, that it their right.

If the Geneva Initiative wants to get Jibril Rajoub, who explicitly supports terror in Arabic, to make peaceful statements in English, they can pay him whatever they can afford.

However, US tax dollars are paying for political ads in Israel - and not just any political ads, but ads that are designed specifically to turn the Israeli public against their own government. That should be unacceptable from the point of view of Americans as well as Israelis.

(h/t Jed for jogging my memory)