Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

04/28 Links Pt1: UN admits Hamas fired rockets from UNRWA schools; Nepal Thanks Israel for Aid

From Ian:

UN Watch: Explosive: UN admits Palestinians fired rockets from UNRWA schools

The UN finally investigated the Palestinian storing of rockets in UNRWA schools and their use of the schools to launch rockets against Israel, all of which constitute grave violations of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.
Key findings gleaned from the UN report:
Hamas and/or Islamic Jihad stored rockets in UNRWA schools. The board found, in the case of the UNRWA Jabalia Elementary “C” and Ayyobiya Boys School, referring to the discovery of weapons there on 22 July 2014, that “it was highly likely that a Palestinian armed group might have used the premises to hide weapons.”
Hamas and/or Islamic Jihad stored rockets in schools that were in active use by children. During the war, former PLO lawyer Diana Buttu famously said on Al Jazeera that “the rockets that were found in the schools in UNRWA were schools that are not being used by anybody—school is out, I’ll have you know.” However, in the UNRWA Gaza Beach Elementary Co-educational “B” School, on 16 July 2014, the UN Board of Inquiry notes that the school gate was unlocked during the period leading up to the incident “in order to allow children access to the schoolyard.” School was out, but UNRWA was inviting the children back in to play.
Hamas and/or Islamic Jihad fired rockets from UNRWA schools. In the Jabalia school listed above, the board found that “it was highly likely that an unidentified Palestinian armed group could have used the school premises to launch attacks on or around 14 July.” Similarly, concerning weaponry stored at the UNRWA Nuseirat Preparatory Co- educational “B” School, the UN inquiry found that “the premises could have been used for an unknown period of time by members of a Palestinian armed group” — and that “it was likely that such a group may have fired the mortar from within the premises of the school.”

UN Secretary General: Palestinian militants put UN schools at risk during Gaza war

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon charged that Palestinian militants had stored weapons in three UN facilities during last summer’s Gaza war and that such action was “unacceptable.”
“I am dismayed that Palestinian militant groups would put United Nations schools at risk by using them to hide their arms,” Ban said on Monday as he released a summary of a Board of Inquiry probe into events that occurred in UN facilities in July and August.
“The three schools at which weaponry was found were empty at the time and were not being used as shelters,” Ban said. "However, the fact that they were used by those involved in the fighting to store their weaponry and, in two cases, probably to fire from is unacceptable.”
He also took Israel to task for shelling neutral UN facilities and killing or injuring Palestinians sought shelter there from the bombings that occurred during Operation Protective Edge.

IsraellyCool: Chris Gunness Has Clearly Lost His Mind, But So Far, Not His Job

Back in July, Brian wrote about how UNRWA, the “United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East,” discovered rockets stored in one of its schools in Gaza, and subsequently returned those rockets to Hamas.
With the publication of a UN report on the matter, UNRWA Spokesman Chris Gunness tweeted the following today:

Chris Gunness
‏The UN Secretary General Board of Inquiry found no evidence that UNRWA handed rockets over to Hamas
There you have it, nothing to see here. Here’s the relevant section of the report, from the UN Watch website:
57. The Board was informed that UNRWA had received testimony that two individuals identifying themselves as policemen had come to the school, alleged that they knew who was responsible for the cache of weapons and left a telephone number. Upon being contacted, one of these individuals stated that the weapons would be removed from the school in the early morning. The Board was further informed that, early in the morning of 17 July, the door to the classroom in question was found locked, with no signs of forced entry or exit, and that it was noted that the weapons had been removed.
Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhh. So, according to the report, UNRWA found the rockets, contacted “local authorities,” i.e., Hamas, and asked them to remove the rockets. Instead of removing the rockets, the Hamas police provided a phone number, which they somehow just happened to have, for the unnamed individuals who had put the rockets there in the first place, whom they just happened to know. Those people were contacted — presumably, by UNRWA staff — and apparently came to the school and picked the rockets up. Lost property, happily reunited with its owner. Much better!
In the warped mind of Chris Gunness, that counts as “no evidence that UNRWA handed rockets over to Hamas.”

Canadian Muslim paper calls Jews terrorists

Meshwar is an Ontario-based free Arabic newspaper.

Its April edition (p. 22) includes an article that describes Judaism as a terrorist religion, entitled "Jewish terrorism."

The article, originally published in Al Jazeera, says that Islam only orders Muslims to fight defensive battles, "but if you look at the Bible, the Jews are the real terrorists in the name of the Lord."

The article also says that Jews believe that "the world is divided into two parts: the people of God who have grace and love, and other peoples who engage in bestial, savage acts." The Torah, it says, tells the Hebrews to separate from the other people because non-Jews are unclean and really just animals in human form who do not deserve to mingle with the Chosen People. The only reason God created non-Jews, we are told, is to either have them available to be destroyed by the Jews or for God to use them as a lesson when he is angry so the gentiles can defeat the Jews.

There are only three things permissible for Jews to do to gentiles, according to the writer. The first is to murder them (of course.) The second is to expel them. And the only other acceptable behavior of Jews towards non-Jews is to enslave them.

Also, we are told that women are considered to have bad qualities and are despised by Jewish men.

I believe that this article may violate Canadian laws on hate propaganda. While there is a loophole for legitimate critiques of religious beliefs, the person making the critique must be acting in good faith, and in this case the article is based thoroughly on lies that the author (and editor) must have realized if they weren't a priori antisemitic.

Here is the illustration for the article in Meshawar.

(h/t Shawarma News)

When "human rights" activists turn intolerant

Haaretz reports:

A rights group in Israel is calling on the country’s medical association to forbid doctors from taking part in a Jerusalem women’s health event scheduled for Tuesday that is closed to women participants.

The event is co-sponsored by one of Israel’s leading - and publicly funded - HMOs, Meuhedet, and the ultra-Orthodox medical institute Yad HaRamah. It is meant to focus on research and innovation in women's health, bringing together medical experts, rabbis, teachers, and experts in Jewish law for dialogue and discussion.

A spokesperson for the conference told the Ynet news website that not only were women absent from the roster of speakers and panelists at the event, but that they were barred from the audience as well.

Uri Regev, director-general of Hiddush, a nonprofit organization that promotes religious freedom and equality, declared that “the existence of this conference proves how crucial it is that the exclusion of women be declared a criminal act. The idea that the Meuhedet HMO and the Shaare Zedek hospital can hold an event in which exclusively male doctors and rabbis gather and discuss women’s medical issues without even one woman doctor is a surreal phenomenon that one hardly believes can exist in what claims to be a Western country.”

Charging the HMO with “sucking up” to the haredi public by agreeing to exclude women, Regev said that medical professionals should stay away from the gathering. The participation of senior doctors in such an event, he said, represents a “blatant violation” of a decision by the medical association’s ethics board forbidding discrimination against women and determined that “doctors will not participate in any medical or scientific event in which women are excluded.”

Jessica Montell, formerly of B'Tselem, gleefully tweeted an obscene comparison:

Saudi Arabia? No, Israel 2015! Women barred from speaking at or ATTENDING seminar on women's health & Jewish law. http://t.co/iEfJCw5CQZ
— Jessica Montell (@JessicaMontell) April 28, 2015

I do not agree that there is any justification for excluding women from this conference. I don't believe that there is even any halachic (Jewish legal) reason that justifies it. There is nothing wrong with publicizing the incongruity of a conference about women's health issues that excludes women.

But these "rights" organizations and activists like Montell are going much further than that. Hiddush is demanding that an Israeli HMO cut out health services to a portion of the population because they find their passionate religious beliefs to be objectionable.

This isn't a stamp collecting conference. It is a medical conference meant to help women, despite the non-attendance of women. That is bad, but not as bad as the self-righteous "rights activists" who believe that the health of hundreds of thousands of haredi Jews is less important than their oh-so-moral stance.

Meuhedet's response was quite reasonable:

After the protest hit the headlines, Meuhedet issued a statement saying that the event was designed to serve its clientele in the Jerusalem area, which includes 250,000 ultra-Orthodox members and was part of its mission to serve all elements of the population and that “the conference was designed for the rabbis of Jerusalem neighborhoods with the goal of strengthening the connection with the communities rabbis and the HMO through open dialogue with doctors who practice gynecology. The goal of the conference is to encourage dialogue with tens of these neighborhood rabbis (with whom the hundreds of thousands of our clients consult) The nature of the event was designed to suit the target audience it is trying to serve.”

Meuhedet is serving its clients. Hiddush, and presumably Montell, don't give a damn about the health of those fanatic Jews.

If individual doctors don't want to speak at the conference, that's their right as well. But those who demand that others refuse to educate a major sector of Israeli society go way beyond this. They are just as intolerant as the conference organizers are.

And I cannot help but think that this intolerance would not ever extend to any religion besides Judaism. Has anyone, ever, called on the World Health Organization to cease all operations in Saudi Arabia because it segregates men and women in conferences the country demands that women cannot visit doctors unaccompanied by male guardians?

Intolerance may be intolerable, but so is intolerance in the name of fighting intolerance.

From The Arab American News coverage of an anti-Israel event:

Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News, said it is vital to honor the victims.
...
He praised the resistance as the sole protector of Lebanese civilians.

"The Israelis are not able to get across one foot into our country [Lebanon],” he said. “And that is because brave people who were ready to pay the ultimate sacrifice, taught them a lesson that we cannot forget our martyrs and we shall never forget who our enemy is."

Siblani stressed the importance of unity to safeguard the community from the challenges it is facing. He said the resistance defeated Israel in the 2006 war when the second Qana massacre was committed; hence the enemies of the Arab World are reverting to the divide-and-conquer strategy to prevail.

"The only way they could defeat us is dividing us," Siblani said. "They went to their books and they searched for a way to do it. Unfortunately, they have found it— sectarianism."

The enemies of Arab unity have books to look up how to defeat the Arab world? What books might those be?

To get the answer all you have to do is find out how Arabs describe the famous forgery the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. This article, which is typical in Arab media, describes the first, third and fourth protocols as saying that the Jews will use liberal ideas to destroy the power structures of governments, causing civil wars and sectarian chaos.

Hamas says essentially the same thing in its Charter, article 32:

World Zionism, together with imperialistic powers, try through a studied plan and an intelligent strategy to remove one Arab state after another from the circle of struggle against Zionism, in order to have it finally face the Palestinian people only. Egypt was, to a great extent, removed from the circle of the struggle, through the treacherous Camp David Agreement. They are trying to draw other Arab countries into similar agreements and to bring them outside the circle of struggle.

....The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.

Sibliani tries hard to hide his overt antisemitism, but this little comment reveals that it is an integral part of his worldview.

If he denies this, then the easiest question to ask him is...what books was he referring to?

By the way, imagine the outcry if a non-Arab media mogul would say something like this. But since he is an Arab, the same standards do not apply.

(h/t Dan)

Abbas also volunteers to help Nepal victims - with words

From the official PA Wafa news agency:

President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday offered his condolences to President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, Ram Baran Yadav, following the earthquake that hit Nepal on Saturday.

Abbas expressed his and the Palestinian people’s solidarity with the families of the victims, as well as with the people and government of Japan, and hoped a speedy recovery for the wounded, affirming the Palestinian side’s willingness to provide all possible help.

(The "Japan" part seems to be a typo, it isn't in the Arabic version of the article.)

I'm sure that they appreciate it.

04/27 Links Pt2: Bernard-Henri Lévy: New Wording is Making Antisemitism ‘Acceptable’ Again

From Ian:

French Philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy Says ‘New Wording’ is Making Antisemitism ‘Acceptable’ Again

French philosopher and public intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy told a New York audience on Sunday that an emerging new language for antisemitism is once again making the world’s “oldest hatred” acceptable.
“Antisemitism in Europe is taking on a new form, is adopting a new wording which makes it again acceptable … by a growing number of French and European people,” he told an audience at the Consulate General of France in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
He said the new antisemitism rested on the three pillars of anti-Zionism, Holocaust denial and using the Holocaust to “shut up” other human catastrophes.
Explaining his thesis, Lévy said that “one of the questions … of antisemitism … is to inhabit the wording which makes the hatred possible and legitimizes the hatred. It gives the feeling to the one who hates that he hates for good reasons.”
Throughout history, as the justification for antisemitism, Jews have at times been despised for “killing Christ” and at other times resented for “inventing Christ,” Lévy said. During other periods Jews were considered to be a corrupting race. These historic forms of antisemitism are now in the “process of disappearing” he said.
According to Lévy, today’s emerging anti-Jewish bigotry rests on three arguments.
The first of them is anti-Zionism. That “Jews deserve to be hated because they are faithful…to an illegitimate state.” The second is Holocaust denial. “Jews deserve our distrust…our hate…because they traffic what should be the most sacred part of themselves.” And the third justification antisemites are using, Lévy argued, is that Jews use the Holocaust to “shut up” the suffering of others and other genocides, “particularly the Palestinians.”

A defining moment for Europe

Europe’s leaders and media have long ignored, downplayed or outright denied that anti-Semitism has increased on the continent over the past 15 years. When in 2006 a gang of self-described “barbarians” of African and North African background tortured llan Halimi, a young Parisian Jew, for 24 days, finally dousing his naked body with acid and leaving him to die beside a highway, the police refused to acknowledge the obvious hate element of this horrific crime.
The anti-Semitic nature of more recent attacks on Jews could no longer be so easily denied. But even so, the murders in 2012 of three Jewish children and a rabbi in Toulouse, and of four people in the Brussels Jewish museum last May failed to evoke any largescale demonstrations, let alone serious political action.
One therefore does not have to be a cynic to wonder whether the January attack on the Paris kosher supermarket and the murder the following month of a synagogue guard in Copenhagen would have passed just as quickly from public consciousness had these crimes not been flanked by assaults on journalists and free speech. The Charlie Hebdo attack galvanized public outrage in a way the Toulouse and Brussels murders clearly had not.
However belatedly, governments, particularly the French, speak now more openly about the anti-Semitic threat from Islamic extremists. We would be fooling ourselves, however, if we reduced the problem “just” to Europe’s thousands of home-grown jihadis.

When you hate Israel, it can do nothing right
Evil Hasbara claim	Israel Derangement Response
Israel is tolerant towards gays	Israel has some homophobes, and therefore really hates gays (Richard Silverstein) Israel is only pretending to be tolerant; it is engaging in “pinkwashing” to distract the world from its crimes (Sarah Schulman)
Israel has repeatedly offered peace and been rebuffed	Those “peace plans” were completely unacceptable to Palestinian society and therefore Israel didn’t offer enough (+972) Palestinians accepted the idea of two states in 1988 and therefore cannot be expected to ever compromise on anything ever again (Robert Malley)
How could supposedly racist Jews consistently vote for non-Jews in TV reality polls?	They are still racist, they are simply practicing “tokenism” (Max Blumenthal)
Israel sends aid to help victims of natural disasters	Israel really wants to learn how to kill more effectively (Rania Khalek) Israel wants to steal the organs of the victims (Jenny Tonge) Israel is trying to distract the world from its crimes by pretending to do good (Ali Abuminah)
Hamas and Hezbollah are terror groups that Israel must defend itself from	Hamas and Hezbollah are “social movements that are progressive” (Judith Butler)
Arab men beat their wives and engage in “honor killings”	It is Israeli policies that cause Arab men to beat and kill their wives (The Lancet and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay)
The IDF has fewer reports of rape compared to other countries’ armies	They don’t rape because they consider Arab women too inhuman to even consider raping (Tal Nitzan) IDF rabbis say rape is perfectly OK according to Yossi Gurwitz Tasteless T-shirts prove Israel has a “rape culture” (David Sheen)

In short: If Israel does something bad, it is proof that Israel is evil. If Israel does something admirable, it is proof that Israel is evil. If Arabs do something bad, it is because Israel is evil.

Life is so simple for the simple-minded.

PA prime minister Rami Hamdallah spoke at the Asian-African Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia last week. In his speech, he said that the independence of Palestine and gaining their freedom is the last remaining objective of this conference from its inception 60 years ago.

Hamdallah said that his people are still suffering from the historical injustice done to him, and that living under occupation is unjust and claustrophobic, and that the pain of exile and asylum is still continuing and worsening He called for the establishment of fully sovereign Palestinian state on the "1967 borders."

But the first Asian-African Conference was held in 1955, way before 1967. Why wasn't there any mention then of creating a Palestinian Arab state in the illegally annexed West Bank and Gaza then?

The Palestine issue was addressed in the 1955 final conference communique with a very vague paragraph:

In view of the existing tension in the Middle East, caused by the situation in Palestine and of the danger of that tension to world peace, the Asian-African Conference declared its support of the rights of the Arab people of Palestine and called for the implementation of the United Nations Resolutions on Palestine and the achievement of the peaceful settlement of the Palestine question.

Nothing about statehood.

In fact, that 1955 declaration included parts that Palestinian Arabs have consistently violated against Israel:

Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.
Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations large and small.
Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country.
Respect for the right of each nation to defend itself singly or collectively, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.
Abstention by any country from exerting pressures on other countries.
Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country.
Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement as well as other peaceful means of the parties’ own choice, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.

Why doesn't Hamdallah insist that his own people adhere to all of these principles?

04/27 Links Pt1: A light unto the nations; IDF Activities in Nepal; Someone sends Iran a message

From Ian:

A light unto the nations

Israel's critics have tried, with some sophistication, to compare the monsters of the Third Reich who ravaged Europe to the IDF soldiers who are working tirelessly to safeguard Israelis, even though our national ethos is not destruction but rather the pursuit of peace and securing the continuity of life.
Not only do those comparisons lack any merit, they are utterly outrageous. Especially in light of the events of the past few days.
The tragic earthquakes in Nepal have claimed thousands of lives. Beyond the immediate humanitarian concerns, Nepal is looking at a long recovery. The first disaster relief team has already left for Nepal as part of a coordinated effort orchestrated by the IDF and the Foreign Ministry.
The so-called military of thugs is already assembling another delegation of some 250 people to help with the search-and-rescue efforts, provide security and carry out field surgeries.
The IDF has been saving lives all over the world for more than 60 years. Technological advances have helped it gain more expertise. The soldiers have demonstrated their capabilities in Turkey, Greece, the Philippines, Haiti, African countries and elsewhere. In fact, by doing so they have lived up to the mission Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion assigned them. Israel's first prime minister believed the IDF was more than just a military force and said it was duty-bound to advance educational and socio-economic causes owing to its central role in building the nation. Indeed, the IDF has been an "army of relief," fitting into what Prophet Isaiah called "a light unto the nations."

IDF Blog: Update on IDF Activities in Nepal

This morning, April 27, an 80-member Israeli humanitarian aid delegation set flight for Nepal, after a magnitude-7.8 quake struck the capital city Kathmandu on Saturday. They will be joined shortly in Nepal by another cargo flight with around 170 trained military personnel.
“We’re on a mission to achieve three things. Deploy major search and rescue operations. Admit patients to our field hospitals within 12 hours of landing. Help the Nepalese people.”
-Colonel Yoram Larado, head of the IDF humanitarian delegation to Nepal
The first team is scheduled to arrive in Nepal late Monday night. It will immediately join other countries that have set up disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of the worst earthquake to hit Nepal in the past 80 years:
- The earthquake’s death toll has already reached more than 3,000 people.
- Local hospitals are unequipped to treat more than 6,500 injured people.
- A second tremor has struck, measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale.
- Hundreds of thousands of people in Kathmandu have been displaced as a result.
- 150 Israeli travelers have yet to establish contact and are believed to be missing.

Four Israelis rescued from Mt. Everest, 100 still missing

Four Israelis were rescued from the slopes of Mt. Everest on Monday, where they had been trapped in the wake of the earthquake that shook the mountainous nation of Nepal on Saturday, leading to a death toll in the thousands. Some 100 Israelis are still missing, according to Israeli officials.
Army Radio said a rescue team sent by Harel, an Israeli insurance company, brought the quartet to safety. All four were reported to be in good health.
Meanwhile, an army 747 jet carrying 250 medical and rescue personnel and supplies, including a field hospital, lifted off from Ben Gurion Airport Monday afternoon for the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.
The plane was the second shipment of aid Monday to the earthquake-battered nation. Earlier in the day, another IDF plane carrying 90 rescue workers and supplies lifted off from Ben Gurion.

NYT and WSJ headline bias, and the underlying anti-Arab racism of the media

Yesterday, the New York Times inverted cause and effect in its headline and reporting of terror attacks in Israel:

Today, the Wall Street Journal claimed that Israel defending itself from bombs is what "threatens to fuel tensions," not the bombs themselves:

There is an underlying racism with these and countless other examples of similar reporting. The assumption is that only Jews have the ability to assume responsibility for their actions, while Arabs are wild animals who are expected to act irrationally and violently.

Since only Jews can act like adults, they are expected to treat the mentally deficient Arabs with kid gloves, just as you would be careful how you act around anyone with mental illness.

Teachers know well that students will act in ways corresponding to how they are treated; if they are expected to be disruptive they will end up being disruptive, if they are expected to be brilliant they end up actually getting smarter.

The same dynamic is at work every day in the Middle East. As long as Arabs are expected to act as if they have no moral compasses, they readily live down to the expectations.

By treating Arabs as people who cannot be held responsible for their actions, the media (and the world governments who subscribe to the same viewpoint) help perpetuate terror and irresponsibility.

The irony is that in an honor/shame culture, Arabs would be even more likely to respond to being shamed by the West pointing out that their behavior is what is aberrant, not Israel's wholly justifiable reactions to being attacked.

But the media will continue to do its part to push the subconscious narrative of Arab intellectual and moral inferiority, the surest way to keep things that way.

Last week, Israeli UN ambassador Ron Prosor treated UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to shakshuka, from an Israeli Manhattan food truck called Shuka Truck.

Naturally, this upset the perennially upset Palestinian Arabs.

Palestine Today writes that the dish "originated in occupied Palestine since ancient times; and spread to become one of the main dishes known in the Arab world."

The Palestinian Arab kitchen is a target of Israeli theft. Israel claims for itself much Palestinian Arab cuisine, such as hummus and falafel.

It should be noted that the occupation also claimed that Palestinian costume and headdresses and the Canaanite shekel is of pure Jewish heritage.

Professor of history at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Dr. Riad al-Astal, confirmed that Jewish groups have been trying hard to convince the world that they are the rightful owners of in the Arab region, especially the Palestinian land, by distorting facts and falsification of heritage in their favor.

Dr. Astal said the battle with the occupation over heritage is no less dangerous than the occupation of land and required a clear strategy to address these thefts, calling on international bodies such as UNESCO to address the issue of counterfeiting heritage.

In reality, the dish originated in northern Africa, not in the Levant. Jews from Tunisia and Libya brought the dish with them when they were expelled from those tolerant Arab countries. Ambassador Prosor never claimed that this was a Jewish or Israeli-origin dish.

So the only people who are stealing others' culture is, as usual, "Palestinians." I wonder what the north African community thinks about that.

From Inside World Football:

A rightwing Israeli non-governmental organisation has stepped up the propaganda war of words over the treatment of Palestinian footballers in the West Bank and Gaza by blaming Palestinian football leader Jibril Rajoub for deliberately stirring up trouble.

Mattot Arim has responded to Rajoub's call for Israel to be suspended by FIFA by urging world football's governing body to expel Rajoub instead because, it claims, he is a front for promoting terrorism.

Responding to the demand for Israel to be thrown out of FIFA unless restrictions on Palestinian footballers travelling between the West bank and Gaza are lifted, Mattot Arim says such restrictions are necessary because of ongoing security concerns, accusing Rajoub of "openly mis-using sports competitions...as venues at which to praise terrorism and present murderers as desirable role models."

In emailed correspondence containing extremely uncompromising language, Mattot Arim, formed in 1992, refutes what it describes as Rajoub's "baseless accusations" saying the head of the Palestine Football Association is in no position to complain about racism because "he himself" has publicly referred to "Jews, Satans, Zionist sons of bitches."

In its hard-hitting letter to FIFA, part of which has been seen by Insideworldfootball, Mattot Arim takes Rajoub to task on a number of issues. One of these is a claim that Rajoub personally opposed a match between Palestinian and Israeli children even though it was sponsored by the so-called Israeli Peres Centre for Peace.

"FIFA's mission is 'developing football for all...building a better future for all through football'," the letter to FIFA says. "But Rajoub's philosophy is exactly the opposite. Suspend Rajoub - not Israel."

Whether Mattot Arim's rant - similar in tone to many of Rajoub's personal attacks on Israeli behaviour - can be taken seriously is open to question given its staunch rightwing status. But it illustrates the depth of feeling on both sides and comes at a highly sensitive time in FIFA's attempts at mediation, with the FIFA Congress just over a month away.

Pointing out Rajoub's support for terror becomes an invalid point if it comes from a "rightwing" source?

I received a copy of the entire letter written by Mattot Arim:

Dear FIFA leadership,

re: FIFA - Suspend Rajoub - not Israel!

Next month, Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Football Association (affiliated with FIFA), will ask the FIFA Congress to suspend Israel from international soccer.

We ask that you suspend Rajoub, instead. Here's why:

FIFA's mission is "Developing football... for all ...promote it globally in the light of its unifying...value.... unite and inspire the world through ...competitions ....Football can ...break down barriers.... building a better future for all through football." But Rajoub's philosophy is the exact opposite.

3 examples:

1. "[A]ny activity of normalization in sports with the Zionist enemy is a crime against humanity. ... the Palestinian sports leadership ...- the Palestinian Olympic Committee and the Palestinian Football Association - have opposed such activities....I demand that all individuals and institutions distance themselves from such activities".
(Rajoub's statements were made in response to a football match between Palestinian and Israeli children sponsored by the Israeli Peres Center for Peace).
Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 8, 2014; also posted to Jibril Rajoub's official Facebook page, Sept. 6, 2014.

2. "Rajoub ... noted that the Palestinian teams that are under the responsibility of the Olympic Committee ...will not play under any circumstances, inside the Green Line" (i.e. in Israel).
Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 16, 2012.

3. "Something that has no place in the dictionary of Palestinian sportsmen is ...normalization with the occupation (i.e. with Israel). Impossible, impossible, impossible...I understand by normalization that ...we'll play [sports] together .... I say to you: Under no circumstances will there be normalization. Next time we are prepared to bring the Executive Committee in helicopters... so they will see no Jews, no Satans, no Zionist sons of bitches."
Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, May 17, 2012.

Even worse, Rajoub routinely abuses sport competitions, using them as venues at which to praise terrorists and present murderers as desirable role models. 3 examples:

1. Dalal Mughrabi hijacked a bus in 1978, killing 37 civilians, 12 of them children. She was glorified in a women's ping pong tournament sponsored by Rajoub in 2013. ("The Martyr (Shahida) Dalal Mughrabi Women's Table Tennis Tournament ... will be sponsored by Chairman of the Olympic Committee Jibril Rajoub" - Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, Sept. 26, 2013).

2. Hassan Salameh planned the murder of 11 Israeli athletes in the Munich Olympics in 1972. The official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, reported on "the Second Palestine Boxing Tournament for youth and men in Hebron" held "In the presence of Rajoub" and "named ... after Shahid Ali Hassan Salameh, the 'Red Prince.'" (Aug. 9, 2010).

3. Abu Jihad, also known as Khalil Al-Wazir, planned many deadly Fatah terror attacks, including the 1978 hijacking of a bus and killing of 37 civilians, 12 of them children. The Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, reported on June 11, 2010 that the "Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) 16th Football Tournament for youth" would be held "under the supervision of the Palestinian Football Association" and in the presence of a "representative of Jibril Rajoub". The newspaper referred to Al-Hayat Al-Jadida as "The Prince of Shahids (Martyrs)".

Note that Rajoub's revolting endorsements of terrorism are reported by Palestinian news sources using his organizational affiliation! For example, Ma'an, a Palestinian news agency, reported on July 17, 2013 that "Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub" eulogized Ahmad Jabarah Abu Sukkar (a mass murderer), as "patriotic" and a "caring father of generations of struggle". Rajoub even praised the mass murderer's "pure soul" and spoke of "our adherence to the principles and goals that he dedicated his long life to protect". Ahmad Abu Sukkar planned a bombing attack in 1975 in which 15 were killed and over 60 were wounded. http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=9398

Rajoub has even explicitly and publicly encouraged murder of civilians ("Am I stopping you from slaughtering a settlement? No one is stopping anyone. ...No one is stopping anyone", Awdah independent Palestinian TV channel, Aug. 13, 2014). Rajoub has never retracted (or been called upon to retract) this statement. http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2014/08/26/pa-leader-jibril-rajoub-calls-to-slaughter-the-jews/

Rajoub links FIFA, and world football, to terrorism. He is a stain on your organization. Please suspend him.

S. Dym, spokesperson on behalf of Mattot Arim an Israeli NGO working toward peace-for-peace since 1992

(h/t YK)

Hezbollah media says Israelis going to Nepal only to save Israelis (UPDATE)

From Hezbollah's Al Manar:

A 6.7-magnitude aftershock struck earthquake-devastated Nepal on Sunday, the USGS said, with climbers reporting the tremor triggered more avalanches on Mount Everest as the overall death toll from a massive earthquake which devastated large parts of the country has passed 2,000.

The latest quake struck northeast of Kathmandu near the border with China at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), the US Geological Survey said.

A number of Israelis were wounded in Nepal, according to Zionist media outlets.

Ynet mentioned that the Zionist entity sent a number of doctors and paramedics as well as 240 soldiers for Kathmandu to participate in rescuing the Israelis.

What did YNet say?

A Magen David Adom delegation left Israel for Nepal on Sunday morning to help Israelis caught in the earthquake and assist locals after a powerful earthquake struck the region Saturday, triggering an avalanche on Mount Everest.

The terrorist paper was trying to make it sound like Israelis don't care about the other victims.

UPDATE: But lowlifes like HRW's Ken Roth and Max Blumenthal look at things differently:

Easier to address a far-away humanitarian disaster than the nearby one of Israel's making in Gaza. End the blockade! https://t.co/PUISAcGwqY
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) April 26, 2015

For a country responsible for so many man-made catastrophes, natural disasters can't come often enough: http://t.co/9WAvQHaZ8x #hasbara
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) April 26, 2015

International law experts praise Israeli actions in Gaza war

From Just Security:

A Legal and Operational Assessment of Israel’s Targeting Practices

By Michael Schmitt and John Merriam

Israel has long resisted publicly revealing its targeting methods and even some of its specific positions on the law of armed conflict (LOAC), fearing that doing so would provide an operational advantage to its adversaries and be exploited by often-critical interlocutors among states and in the international human rights community. This may be changing. Shortly after the conclusion of open hostilities, the IDF invited us to Israel to examine its targeting practices and application of the LOAC. We visited an operational IDF headquarters (the Gaza Division) and observed its targeting cells; reviewed the targeting procedures of both ground and air forces; studied the organization, training, and methodology of the Military Advocate General’s Corps; visited a Hamas attack tunnel; examined combat footage, including the publicly released footage here; and interviewed IDF officers — both legal advisers and operators — at various levels of command.

Our goal was not to assess the just-concluded campaign (Operation Protective Edge), but rather to delve into how the IDF conducts targeting in general from the perspective of individuals who have real-world targeting experience and LOAC expertise. The results of the research will be published in two related pieces, one for a military-policy audience, the other in an academic law journal.
Broadly speaking, we concluded that IDF positions on targeting law largely track those of the United States military. Moreover, even when they differ, the Israeli approach remains within the ambit of generally acceptable State practice. The IDF is served by a corps of highly competent and well-trained legal advisors who operate with a remarkable degree of autonomy, and its operations are subject to extensive judicial monitoring. While there are certainly Israeli legal positions that may be contentious, we found that their approach to targeting is consistent with the law and, in many cases, worthy of emulation.

Michael Schmitt is the Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law and Director of the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College.

John Merriam is a US Army Judge Advocate currently serving as the Associate Director of the Stockton Center at the US Naval War College.

The two larger papers are interesting in themselves. For example:

When civilians may be affected by an attack and it is militarily feasible to do so, the IDF undertakes extensive measures to warn them.69 Some, such as leaflet drops and general announcements to the civilian population, are common in conflicts. They typically announce that a particular area will be subject to attack and instruct the population where to go to avoid its effects. In many cases, the IDF contacts neighborhood leaders and asks them to encourage civilians to leave the area. The IDF also delivers very precise warnings of particular strikes. As described below, these include direct phone communications with civilians in the target area and so-called “knocks on the roof.” Human rights organizations criticized both of the latter techniques during the recent Israeli operation in Gaza, although the authors did not find the criticism well-grounded.⁷⁰

Footnote 70 refers to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, effectively saying that their grasp of international law is flawed..

Finally,

Although the Israeli positions on the LOAC principles and rules governing targeting are rather orthodox, the unique operational environment in which it finds itself clearly affects interpretation and application. As an example, given the propensity of Israel’s enemies to use human shields, it is unsurprising that Israel has taken the position that individuals voluntarily acting this manner are to be treated as direct participants in hostilities. In light of its enemies’ frequent failure to distinguish itself from the civilian population, it is equally unsurprising that Israel has embraced the principle of reasonableness with respect to target identification. Perhaps most noteworthy is the high value Israel places on the safety of its soldiers and its civilian population. Although impossible to quantify, these concerns undoubtedly influenced the perspective of Israeli commanders as they plan and execute military operations, perspectives that often come into play in the application of such LOAC concepts as proportionality.

In the authors’ opinion, use of lawfare by Israel’s enemies likewise shapes, whether consciously or not, Israel’s interpretation and application of the LOAC. In particular, Israel has adopted an inclusive approach to the entitlement to protected status, particularly civilian status. Examples include Israel’s positions on doubt, its treatment of involuntary shields as civilians who are not directly participating and its view that individuals who ignore warnings retain their civilian status. Although these positions might seem counterintuitive for a State that faces foes who exploit protected status for military and other gain, such positions are well suited to counter the enemy’s reliance on lawfare. In this regard, Israel’s LOAC interpretations actually enhance its operational and strategic level position despite any tactical loss. Along the same lines, in many cases, the IDF imposes policy restrictions which go above and beyond the requirements of LOAC.

Israel's actions were quite lawful under any sane interpretation of the Laws of Armed Conflict. Amnesty and HRW twist international law in ways that make it impossible for any modern army to fight.

04/26 Links: San Remo: The Forgotten Milestone; Israel rushes aid to earthquake-struck Nepal

From Ian:

San Remo: The Forgotten Milestone

Ninety five years ago, prime ministers, ambassadors and other dignitaries from Europe and America gathered in the Italian Riviera. Journalists from around the world reported on the upcoming San Remo Peace Conference and the great expectations the international community placed on this event, just a year after the Paris Peace Conference had settled the political map of Europe at the end of World War One.
On Sunday, April 25, 1920, after hectic deliberation, the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers (Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the U.S. acting as an observer) adopted the San Remo Resolution -- a 500 word document which defined the future political landscape of the Middle East out of the defunct Ottoman Empire.
This Resolution led to the granting of three Mandates, as defined in Article 22 of the 1919 Covenant of the League of Nations. The future states of Syria-Lebanon and Iraq emerged from two of these Mandates and became exclusively Arab countries. But in the third Mandate, the Supreme Council recognized the “historical connection of the Jewish people to Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country” while safeguarding the “civil and religious rights” of the non-Jewish population.
Subsequently, the British limited the Jewish Homeland in Palestine to the area west of the Jordan River and allowed eastern Palestine to be gradually administered by the Hashemites. The territorial expansion to the east eventually gave birth to the Kingdom of Transjordan, later renamed Jordan in 1950.
The importance of the San Remo Conference with regard to Palestine cannot be overstated:

A Dybbuk in the White House

In Jewish folklore a dead malcontent may return to possess the living. The troubled soul is known as a “dybbuk’, and it runs amok making mischief. Writers and people of stage and screen have invoked the fiend to aggravate family wrangles to the point of madness.
Yet for all its wicked antics the dybbuk wants nothing more sinister than to settle a score. It may upturn some lives in the ghetto, but not the balance of world power. And no dybbuk, until now, toyed with the President of America.
Love or hate Obama’s par-cooked nuclear deal, there’s no doubting the architect’s turn-up of the old order. Iran, hitherto America’s number one foe, is to be, in the world’s number one hotspot, America’s number one ally.
A detente, in other words, is brewing between the world’s powerhouse and the world’s sour pickle jar. The President’s resolve to bring war-mongering mullahs in from the cold is life-changing.
Debate his grip on reality; fret at the madness of trusting Iran to abide by unverifiable terms; believe that the terms will inhibit or pave the way to nuclear breakout; extol Obama’s indefatigable self-belief or cut at his mulish naïveté, it all pales beside one dominating horror. Effectively a president of America has decamped to the enemy.

JCPA: The Power Struggle for Leadership of the Palestinian Authority

The conflict between Abbas and Dahlan, who for years had been a favorite of Abbas, erupted in 2011 and escalated to the point that Dahlan was expelled from Fatah and tried in absentia.
Since then there have been various attempts at mediation. Even Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi tried, but Abbas rebuffed his appeal to mend fences with Dahlan.
The Ramallah court’s ruling prompted a wave of rumors about new, behind-the-scenes mediation efforts.
Such efforts appear to depend on whether the PA will appeal the court’s ruling. Fatah officials who are close to Dahlan confirm that reconciliation efforts have resumed, taking account of Dahlan’s growing power in Gaza and in the refugee camps in Lebanon.
Recent months have also seen a spike in Dahlan’s power in the refugee camps and general area of Jenin and Nablus, leading to armed clashes between his supporters in the Balata camp (adjacent to Nablus) and Abbas’ followers in the Nablus area.