Showing posts with label gunness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gunness. Show all posts

Friday, December 25, 2015

.@UNRWA's Chris Gunness again violates his organization's stated neutrality standards

Chris Gunness, UNRWA's spokesperson, tweeted this yesterday:



I believe that this is the story that Gunness is referring to, about how the IDF is coordinating with Bethlehem officials to ensure that Christmas celebrations can be successful, despite the Arab violence that is scaring people away:



At the end of the story the reporter indeed says "Palestinians resent Israel's continued occupation of land they want for a future state." But the focus of the report wasn't on Palestinian suffering as every single other media report is, so Gunness found the report to have an "amazing lack of context."

(The BBC itself had such a story on Wednesday about a Bethlehem carpenter who is losing business because of the separation barrier that has now been in place for many years.)

I again quote Gunness about UNRWA's supposed neutrality:
Where we find credible allegations of neutrality violations among our staff, we investigate and where it's appropriate we take disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. And that process is audited by our major donors.

In other words, this person who claims that "UNRWA’s neutrality is the family's silver" has again violated that very mandate.

UN Watch also noticed this and issued a press release (not on their website as of the time of this writing):
GENEVA, Dec. 25, 2015 -- A Geneva-based watchdog agency called on U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power to take remedial measures against UNRWA and its spokesman Chris Gunness for engaging in partisan advocacy—breaching its neutrality promise under the 2015 UNRWA-U.S. Framework for Cooperation—after Gunness, an ex-BBC reporter, published a "demand" last night that the BBC "use the words 'Israeli occupation' in its coverage of Christmas in Bethlehem.""The neutrality breach here is astounding," said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. "It's also unprecedented, because there is no other humanitarian agency in the world that publicly lobbies the media on what it should say about one party or another. UNRWA is putting at risk the $400 million support they receive from the U.S., which is conditional on UNRWA staying neutral and impartial." UN Watch noted that Gunness has not asked the BBC to mention murder, persecution and ethnic cleansing of Christians in Palestinian areas and throughout the Middle East, as documented before the UN in compelling testimony by Father Gabriel Naddaf, who noted that "Israel is the only Mideast country not persecuting Christians."
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.

Monday, November 02, 2015

Chris Gunness pretends to be neutral and then shows his bias (plus video)

Middle East Eye has a print and video interview with UNRWA's Chris Gunness that shows yet again what a liar and apologist for Palestinian terror he is.
When MEE asked Gunness about staying neutral in what many perceive to be an unbalanced conflict, he said he agrees that “it is a very unbalanced conflict in that you’ve got one side throwing stones and on the other side often with guns,” but “we can only do this work if we remain neutral" and "UNRWA’s neutrality is the family's silver".
I would say that it is a very unbalanced conflict when one side has raised generations of people to believe that killing the other side is moral and just and the other side has hundreds of biased NGOs dedicated to tying that side's hands behind its back as it tries to defend itself. One side cares about morality and the other doesn't. One side is expected to adhere way beyond the letter and intent of international law while the other is not expected to even act like normal adults.

So Gunness, by framing the conflict the way he did, shows that he is far from neutral.

Gunness also managed to find many reasons to justify knife attacks while insisting he was not trying to condone them:
Gunness cited “settler violence… which happens largely with impunity", “not having access… to al-Aqsa” and “disproportional use of force” by the Israeli army as “driving the Palestinians, particularly a new generation of younger Palestinians, to feel there is no political future.”He stressed that neither he, nor the UN condone Palestinian knife attacks “but on the other hand, they all have a context, and that context is the deepening occupation and the brutality the comes with that.” The reality is “a new generation of younger Palestinians” that “feel there is no political future"
 Of course, the elephant in the room is incitement to murder, incitement that in no small way comes from UNRWA itself. I put together this video to address that aspect of his interview:




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.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

.@UNRWA uses Hamas human shield victim for fundraising and demonizing Israel

Over the past year, Chris Gunness of UNRWA has trotted out Mohammed, a child who was tragically blinded in an Israeli airstrike, as a poster child to raise money from people who would be aghast at Israel's cruelty at doing something so vicious to such an innocent boy.

He wrote in September for Haaretz:
Behind these statistics are real lives each with a dignity and a destiny that must be nurtured and respected. Allow me to tell you about one of them – the nephew of my colleague, Kamal. A missile struck the house where he lived with his extended family. Four of his brother’s children were severely injured as they slept. Kamal’s eight-year-old nephew was wounded by shrapnel to the face. He was taken to hospital unconscious. The child awoke from his coma blind. We found a hospital in Amman to take the boy. But his mother was denied passage out and eventually his aunt accompanied the sightless boy from Gaza. Ten days later, his father was in the mosque about to pray. It was hit. The child found himself both sightless and fatherless.

In November, he tweeted this:


He used Mohammed for fundraising something called "The Vision Project":
The UNRWA Vision Project came about because of an astonishingly brave kid in Gaza, Mohammad aged 8 whose life was changed forever when a single shell hit his house and blinded him. We need to make this project a reality for hundreds of children in Gaza. Please donate today to end their suffering and help bringing them a brighter future.

More implied Israeli cruelty for his fundraising tweet in May:


This week he spoke about Mohammed to at least two more audiences in London, one at the US designated terror group Interpal that I mentioned previously, and one other at Parliament:



That is a lot of mileage from a kid who was blinded by an airstrike.

But who is to blame for Mohammed's blindness?

This man - Mohammed's father, Nidal, a commander for Hamas Al Qassam Brigades Nuseirat Battalion.


Nidal was a legitimate target under the laws of war by any definition,. He used his family, including Mohammed, as human shields. 

No one was killed in the Israeli airstrike targeting Nidal, although Mohammed's siblings were injured.

A week later, Nidal met with two other senior Hamas terrorists in a mosque at 3:30 AM, way before dawn prayers. Israeli forces did not miss that time and all three were killed. Hamas detained an AP reporter looking at the rubble of the mosque because they didn't want him to see evidence that the mosque was in fact a terrorist headquarters.

Mohammed Badran is blind because his father was a disgusting Hamas terrorist who valued his own life above that of his family.

Gunness knows that Mohammed's father was a Hamas terrorist. He won't ever admit it out loud.

Because  this is all about money, and Chris Gunness is more than happy to cynically use this victim of Hamas policy to raise money.

UNRWA cannot fundraise by telling the truth. Mohammed is young and his photos are heartbreaking. So Israel must be blamed for his injuries, explicitly or implicitly - because UNRWA raises cash from donors who hate Israel.

Truth be damned - UNRWA needs to slander Israel in order to make money so it can teach the next generation to hate Israel even more.

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.

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

UN Watch ratchets up the pressure on UNRWA

UNRWA's Chris Gunness did not want to get on Hillel Neuer's bad side.

Since Gunness essentially threatened UN Watch on Twitter, Hillel has been nearly as obsessed with proving Gunness is a hypocrite as, well, me.

Yesterday, Neuer was on WSJ video news.slamming Gunness.



Today, UN Watch issued another press release based partially on my research:

GENEVA, September 1, 2015 - UN Watch today expressed alarm at Facebook posts by UNRWA officials (see sample below) that openly incite to antisemitism and terrorism, and urged UNRWA chief Pierre Krähenbühl to take immediate action by terminating the officials, and issuing an apology.

“The pattern and practice of UNRWA school principals, teachers and staff members posting antisemitic and terror-inciting images suggests a pathology of racism and violence within UNRWA that must be rooted out, not buried, as UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness has attempted to do by calling for boycotts of newspapers or NGOs that report these incidents of hate,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a non-governmental Geneva watchdog organization.

“The UN must recognize that these disgusting posts, published on Facebook accounts run by people who identify themselves as UNRWA officials, constitute a gross violation of Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits “incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence,” said Neuer.

“Enough of the UNRWA strategy of impunity, denial and deflection. It’s time for the perpetrators to be held to account. They must be fired, immediately.”

Also today, they linked to the video of my interview on Israel's Channel 10 about UNRWA

UNWRA spokesperson Chris Gunness promised to fire UNRWA officials who promote antisemitic violence, a pledge that will be put to the test this week as UN Watch submits detailed evidence of such incitement to the United Nations.

Gunness’ comments were made in response to information documented two weeks ago by the blogger Elder of Ziyon.

Gunness’ comments, recorded at 4:00 in the video above, from August 19, 2o15:

If there are allegations, and if this is true, it is indeed a very big problem, and we will deal with it. Where we find credible allegations of neutrality violations among our staff, we investigate and where it’s appropriate we take disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal. And that process is audited by our major donors, with the United States and the European Union who are the biggest suporters of Israel on the international stage.

Which clearly UNRWA isn't doing, nor do they have any intention of doing that unless forced to by public pressure.

Which means that UNRWA does not take these allegations seriously at all.

I'm working on other angles to publicize UNRWA's hypocrisy, but meanwhile the independent petition to investigate Gunness keeps on adding signatures. 

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Antisemitic UNRWA teachers on Facebook. UNRWA pretends they aren't there (UPDATE)

Today, Chris Gunness has told The Jerusalem Post that the UNRWA school whose Facebook page I discovered had antisemitic material had nothing to do with UNRWA.

Yeah...someone forged an UNRWA page for a couple of years in hopes that its antisemitism would be discovered by someone like me eventually. Makes perfect sense.

Also:
He also dismissed claims that a staff member in the Palestinian territories had posted anti-Semitic material on a Facebook page.

“The posting on Facebook appears to have been designed to look as if it was posted by an UNRWA staff member but there is no evidence that any UNRWA staff member was involved,” Gunness said.

Separately, Gunness added, UNRWA had written to Facebook about another impostor account, which has since been removed.

“In the last year, upon UNRWA’s request, Facebook has removed or disabled access to over 90 pages and groups using UNRWA’s name and/or our logo without authorization,” Gunness said.
Amazing! All of those posts I discovered from people who identified themselves as UNRWA teachers, many with photos of their schools, really weren't from UNRWA teachers!

Earlier today I posted about how UNRWA promises to investigate any serious allegation of bias on the part of its staff, suggesting that we send examples of such bias to UNRWA and copy their donors in the EU and US to demand an investigation.

Here's one I wrote about last year that was widely tweeted at the time and Chris Gunness didn't do anything - the antisemitism is still on Facebook today.



It would be hard to argue that Mohammed Abu Staita doesn't work for UNRWA. He is friends with many other UNRWA teachers, there are photos of him at professional seminars and in the classroom.

So here is another poster to send to the State Department or Foreign Office demanding that UNRWA live up to its obligations to investigate this UNRWA teacher and publicize its findings and disciplinary action.





This cartoon was not the only one advocating murdering Jews on his page, by the way. 




Is this a credible enough allegation, Chris?

I've been tweeting other Facebook pictures from UNRWA teachers that were never removed from when I discovered them last year:













I'm sure they are all fake!

UPDATE: In case Gunness claims that Staita is not an UNRWA employee:

He runs their Respect and Discipline Initiative for his school, the Al-Rimal boys junior high school "A". Here he is:


(h/t Bob K)

UNRWA must dismiss Chris Gunness. He said it himself.

In my last post I quoted Chris Gunness on Israeli TV last week:

Where we find credible allegations of neutrality violations among our staff, we investigate and where it's appropriate we take disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. And that process is audited by our major donors.

Since he said that, he tweeted this::



Chris Gunness is trying to dig up dirt on UN Watch because they wrote to the UN Secretary General about the antismeitism posted in a UNRWA school Facebook page that I discovered.

Someone sent him a response, that Gunness immediately sent out to his 36,000 followers:



That link is a long article attempting to smear UN Watch but all it shows is that the organization is partially funded by the American Jewish Committee and that it is pro-Israel. This is, to Gunness, apparently enough to damn UN Watch enough for his readers, but we needs a bit more dirt.

In Chris Gunness' mind, if someone is pro-Israel then their criticisms are not worth responding to.

This is not a one-time thing. In 2009, after an email exchange with me about reports of UNRWA aid being diverted to Hamas, we had this conversation via email:


where do u fit in politically? C 
I'm not sure why that is relevant, but you can see from my site that I would be considered a fairly hawkish Zionist. I spend a great deal of time trying to understand the Palestinian Arab psyche, and I am much harsher on their leadership than on the people.
Is there condemnation on your site (which your link didn't get me into) of the white phosphorous attacks on neutral UN compounds? Does it carry the Secretary General statement calling for those responsible to be punished? Chris

I answered, and that was the end of that conversation, but this shows that Gunness treats questions differently depending on the political views of the questioner.

Which is, by definition, a violation of neutrality.

Similarly, Gunness blocks many of his critics on Twitter, which again is against what a spokesperson should do.

We mustn't forget Gunness' pathetic attacks on The Jerusalem Post trying to paint it as "ultra-right" and supporting Jewish terrorism. The UN defended him by denying that he wrote what he wrote.

Based on these well-documented examples, it is clear that Chris Gunness is guilty of what he claims is UNRWA policy against bias and violations of neutrality. As a spokesperson, he must address the issues, not try to divert the issue by smearing the people who point out UNRWA hypocrisy and lies. By his own stated standards, instead of attacking those who point out UNRWA's problems, UNRWA should be investigating them - impartially, and regardless of the source.

Therefore, Chris Gunness is in violation of UNRWA's own neutrality standards. and since there is no chance of an impartial investigation from within UNRWA, he must be disciplined and fired, and UNRWA must hire a spokesperson who actually performs those duties impartially and with respect to all who have legitimate criticisms of the agency.

Fire Chris Gunness now.


Today's pro-violence @UNRWA teacher. Your move, Chris Gunness.

Last week, on Israeli TV, in response to my scoop about UNRWA teachers posting pro-terror and pro-Nazi images on Facebook, UNRWA's spokesperson Chris Gunness said words that I am not going to let him forget.

He said:

Where we find credible allegations of neutrality violations among our staff, we investigate and where it's appropriate we take disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. And that process is audited by our major donors.
 -Chris Gunness, UNRWA Spokesperson
August 19, 2015

I have never seen such an audit, which should be transparent and public, from among the many examples I have unearthed of UNRWA staff advocating violence and antisemitism.

So, Chris. here's your chance.

Essam Taybeh, UNRWA teacher, posted this graphic on Facebook (click on thumbnail on right to see the poster with Essam's name and UNRWA affiliation)::


There you have it. An UNRWA teacher is advocating Arab violence as the only legitimate action for Palestinians.

Chris Gunness must do something, because he said he would and that this is UNRWA's policy. Unless he believes that a teacher who openly advocates violence is a proper role model for young Palestinian kids. Or unless he is a liar.

And his major donors, including the US and EU countries, must ensure that UNRWA launches a transparent investigation into Essam Taybeh, and let the world know exactly what was done..

Your move, Chris. 

Please email and tweet c.gunness@unwra.org, the UN Secretary General @secgen and your national diplomatic office with this information,

Here's a poster to make it easier:



And I will be keeping Chris busy for the foreseeable future. Because there are lots more, and lots worse, examples. But this one, which only advocates violence, still violates UNRWA's principles, and if the criteria for investigations are "allegations of neutrality violations" then UNRWA will be busy investigating and disciplining teachers for a long time.

Who knows, maybe one day they will actually decide to uphold their own standards rather than keepcovering up what their staff is doing.


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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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