Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, June 14, 2010

Why Arab countries don't meet their UNRWA pledges

Financial Times has an article that mentions that Arab nations are being criticized for not coming close to meeting their pledges to pay for UNRWA's budget:

Figures show that members of the Arab League have consistently provided less funding than promised to the United Nations agency charged with supporting the Palestinian refugee community.

Chris Gunness of the UN Relief and Works Agency says: “The oil boom has seen the coffers of many Arab states swell to the tune of billions of dollars. Surely, it is now payback time to help fund education and healthcare for some of the most disadvantaged people living on their own doorstep.”

The agency provides schooling, healthcare and financial aid to millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. But it is faced with a budget shortfall of $90m this year and is seeking more funds urgently, not least from the Arab world.

Speaking in New York this year, Filippo Grandi, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, pointed to an Arab League resolution that member states should provide at least 7.7 per cent of the agency’s general budget. Mr Grandi said that in spite of the pledge, Arab states’ contributions stand at only 1.5 per cent.

The 7.7 per cent commitment is for the general budget, which accounts for core activities such as schools and hospitals, and was made as early as 1987. It has been reiterated since, most recently last September.

Based on that pledge, Arab League states are currently about $450m in arrears to UNRWA, with Saudi Arabia accounting for $150m of the shortfall.

Then, at the end of the article, FT.com explains why funds earmarked for Gaza reconstruction by Arab nations have not been forthcoming - and it has nothing to do with Israel:

Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, visited Gaza on Sunday, one of only a few high-level politicians from abroad to travel there.

Mr Moussa stressed that the funds earmarked for reconstruction could only find their way into Gaza after a reconciliation agreement between Fatah, the more pro-western group that controls the West Bank, and Hamas.

Arabs know very well that Hamas is the problem. They know that they do not want Hamas to gain more power. Even the PA is happy to see Hamas pressured by the embargo (as Ha'aretz reported yesterday.)

Why hasn't the mainstream media caught up to the plain facts that Arabs know all too well?

Because they are so heavily invested in the "Israeli blockade stopping aid" mantra that they refuse to report anything that contradicts their received wisdom of the past three years.

Bill Maher: "Media way too stupid to understand Gaza"

As an interesting followup to my posting about the Gaza stories that the media ignores, Newsbusters notices what Bill Maher said recently(h/t Soccer Dad via email):

On the June 11 Web portion of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" called "Overtime," Newsweek editor Jon Meacham offered the argument there is not a pro-Israel bias in the media, which is often alleged.

"The idea that there is a pro-Israeli bias in the broad media - whatever ‘the media' means at this point, I strongly disagree with," Meacham said. "I think if anything you run into a very strong feeling on the Palestinian side."

That led another panelist on Maher's show, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow to protest by asking who is pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel in politics or media.

"Who speaks out publicly in a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli way in mainstream American politics, or media?" Maddow asked.

Aside from the obvious answer - Helen Thomas, the media have attacked Israel time and time and time again. (One might suggest Maddow spend some time reading NewsBusters if she is looking for answers.) However, that prompted Maher to say the media are anti-Israel, pro-Palestine. And he offered a reason why. [Emphasis added]

"I think most of them do because I think the media, to take up your point, mostly - is way too stupid to understand the issues," Maher said. "So what they do is they go toward, ‘Oh, who's a victim?' And yes, their situation in Gaza is tragic. But partly it is tragic of their own making."

The question is: how much of it is stupidity and how much is mendacity?

"Honor killing" news from Jordan

From the Jordan Times:

Two brothers were charged on Saturday charged with the premeditated murder of their married sister in the latest so-called honour murder to occur this year, official sources said.

The 19-year-old victim, who was not identified by officials, was reportedly shot in the head by her 20-year-old brother in a bus on the way back to Amman from her husband’s house in Irbid, one official source said.

The victim’s 20-year-old brother claimed family honour as his motive because his sister married a man against her family’s wishes.

A second source told The Jordan Times that the victim wanted to marry her 19-year-old cousin but her family refused.

“After the family repeatedly turned down his marriage proposal, the two decided to marry on their own and moved to Irbid almost 10 days ago,” the source said.

The family knew where their daughter resided and on Saturday night, they took her from her home in Irbid and on the way back, her brother reportedly drew a gun and shot her to death, the source added.

The victim was the second woman to be killed for reasons related to family honour during the month of June, and the seventh since the beginning of the year, according to medical sources.

On June 1, two men were ordered detained after allegedly stabbing their female relative to death in the street after learning that she was pregnant out of wedlock.

Another article about a sentencing for an "honor killing" in Jordan is illuminating:

The Criminal Court on Sunday sentenced a 31-year-old security guard to 10 years in prison for shooting his niece to death in an Amman neighbourhood in November 2009.

The court first handed the defendant a 15-year prison term after convicting him of murdering his 19-year-old niece at her home on November 29, but immediately decided to reduce the sentence to 10 years because the victim’s father dropped charges.

Court papers said the victim went missing from her family home almost one week prior to the incident, adding that a man spotted the victim at a zoo on the day of the murder and informed her family.

The victim’s father, brother and uncle picked her up from the zoo and took her home… two minutes after they arrived, the defendant drew a gun and shot her 18 times in the head and legs.

Police arrested the uncle shortly after the shooting.

The victim’s father and other relatives testified in court that the teenager “was a troublemaker, would often leave the house without their permission and was once seen in a nightclub”.

“She brought us disgrace with her repeated disappearances from our home and people urged us to preserve our honour,” the victim’s father said in court.

Some witnesses who were present when the shooting incident occurred testified that the victim challenged her uncle by telling him: “I am free to come and go as I wish and you can shoot me if you want.”

Government pathologists testified in court that the victim was neither pregnant nor had she engaged in any sexual activity.

The court rejected the uncle’s claims that he shot his niece in a moment of rage to “cleanse his family’s honour”, adding that the defendant would have benefited from a reduction in penalty if the victim was caught committing adultery, but “clearly, this condition does not apply in this case”.

Too bad for the uncle that his victim was a virgin, because otherwise the court would have agreed that she deserved it (at least in part.)

In Jordan, claiming that a murder was done for "honor" is a valid defense and it is effective for reducing the sentence of the murderer. As a result, during the trials there will inevitably be testimony about how slutty the victim was, because that would have a bearing on the case.

Notice also that the sentence was reduced because her father dropped the charges against his brother or brother-in-law - even though it looks like he was complicit in the murder!

Today is the third anniversary of Hamas' bloody coup

Palestinian Arabs love anniversaries of what they consider their defeats. They annually celebrate the anniversaries of the Balfour Declaration, of the UN Partition resolution, of Israel's Independence Day, of the Six Day War, of Deir Yassin, of Sabra and Shatila, and so on. Each of these events will be heralded by a slew of angry articles and public events, often staged at the UN and European cities.

Today, however, is the third anniversary of the biggest setback that Palestinian Arabs ever had in their alleged quest for independence: the anniversary of Hamas' violent overthrow of the PA in Gaza.

Hundreds were killed, including UN workers, and the reverberations are still being felt as the chance for reconciliation seems as remote as ever. Right now, Hamas' hold on Gaza is not in any jeopardy as it has ruthlessly and violently eliminated all possible opposition.

Yet the commemoration of this anniversary is muted. I see only one angry article about it in the Palestinian Arab press.

No angry rallies in Brussels. No resolutions in Geneva. No human right activists publicly calling on Hamas to lift its siege of Gaza and allow the PA to administer it in an attempt to help Gazans get back to where they were before June, 2007, when there were many more imports and exports, when travel between Egypt and Gaza was administered by the EU. While there is no shortage of angry "humanitarians" who are not at all embarrassed to call for the destruction of Israel in the name of justice for PalArabs, not one publicly calls for the destruction of Hamas.

One gets the impression that maybe all of the people who claim to care about Gaza really have a different agenda.

Hamas minister calls additional goods for Gaza "a joke"

Hamas economic minister Ziad Zaza ridiculed the newest items that Israel is allowing into Gaza as a "joke."

He said that they need building materials like cement and iron, not mayonnaise and thread. You know, the things that they need for rockets and bunkers.

(By the way, Israel allows wood to enter Gaza, and very sturdy houses can be built out of wood. For some reason, though, this is apparently part of the joke.)

Firas Press' (fuzzy) graphic accompanying the article shows illustrates the dire situation in Gaza.

Evil Zionist...searchlights?

Palestine Today exposes the latest dastardly Zionist crime: illuminating the walls of the Old City and the Temple Mount.

It appears that the Zionists have now stooped to new lows. They have installed powerful searchlights, at the Mount of Olives and elsewhere, to beautify the walls of the Old City. Their lights are also shining upon the Temple Mount, making it look like the holiest site in Judaism is actually a Jewish site!

Even more nefariously, the article notes that they do this evil illumination at night. This is, of course, to avoid confrontations with Arab protesters - the ones who would come out in force against using the searchlights during the day, I presume.

The Zionists are also taking pictures of these illuminated objects and using them for tourist materials. The horror!

Even worse, the article darkly warns that some rabbis are involved in this plot.

I think that we are duty bound to inform them that Allah has joined in with this Zionist plot. After all, who else is illuminating the walls for a good 15 hours a day in the summertime?

Humanitarians aboard ship know what IHH was up to

CiFWatch isolates a fascinating conversation from an early part of the Iara Lee video:

Voice A: “They get held hostage or they get chucked off”
Voice B: “Chucked off?”
Voice A: “They get chucked off – they get thrown off.”

A few minutes later, Voice A explains things further for Voice B:

Voice A: “These guys … these Turks … they’re not like us … [we] come from an easy life … [they are not] just on a boat to Gaza…they’re always ready for these things.”

After a pause, Voice B expresses his concern, which is dismissed by Voice A:

Voice B: “So they’re ready to fight?”
Voice A: “Whatever happens.”

So apparently even the English-speaking "humanitarians" were aware of what the IHH planned to do.

Gaza: The "staggering quality of the very ordinary"

Ethan Bronner in the New York Times introduces a photo essay from a woman who spent two weeks in Gaza.

He writes:

For some, it’s the relative modernity — the jazzy cellphone stores and pricey restaurants. For others, it’s the endless beaches with children whooping it up. But for nearly everyone who visits Gaza, often with worry of danger and hostility, what’s surprising is the fact that daily life, while troubled, often has the staggering quality of the very ordinary.

People who have been observing Gaza closely are not surprised - there is poverty and there is relative wealth; there is want and there is plenty. The photographer captured scenes in Gaza City that would not be out of place in New York City:

Yes, there is an embargo - one that the Quartet agreed to. Yes, there are challenges for Gaza families to get things done.

But there are a number of stories that do not get adequate coverage when reporters like Bronner talk about Gaza.

One is how, despite the troubles that Gazans have, their standard of living is still better than that of many or most in the Arab world at large, let alone the world itself. The number of humanitarians that say they care so much about the lives of Gazans far outweigh the needs of Gazans to get their basic goods. The big argument in Gaza is about how Al Jazeera's initial coverage of the World Cup was interrupted, forcing them to watch it on Israeli TV stations. This is hardly the type of concern one would expect from an area suffering from a humanitarian crisis.

The next underreported story from Gaza is how the murderous Hamas dictatorship has turned Gaza into a place where there is no freedom of speech or freedom of expression, where freedom of religion gets only lip service, and where the rulers prefer to hang on to their sheer hatred of Israel rather than compromise to help their citizens. Any self-respecting liberal - or conservative, for that matter - should be outraged at Hamas' repression of basic human freedoms. Yet such outrage is muted, or non-existent. Humanitarian agencies in Gaza are too frightened to speak negatively about Hamas, which routinely closes charities they do not like. Reporters in Gaza know that they won't have jobs - or they'll end up in prison - if they report facts that Hamas is unhappy with.

Much easier to just toe the Hamas line and blame everything, again, on Israel.

The third story is that almost-forgotten one about Gilad Shalit, being held against all humanitarian law in Gaza - with no family access, no Red Cross access, nothing. If Hamas cared about Gazans, they would be negotiating easing the embargo against Shalit's release. They refuse.

Instead of putting Gaza in context, the media and NGOs have grotesquely twisted the story of Gaza into a parody of objectivity. Gaza is presented as being one of the worst places to live in the planet, and this is simply a lie. Egyptians a few miles away are poorer than Gazans but do not get pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars to make their lives easier. People in sub-Saharan Africa can only dream about the daily caloric intake of the average Gazan, and they are not spending their days emailing letters to the editor about their lack of Arabic World Cup coverage. The idea of a new dress shop opening at a high-end mall, as shown in the second photo above, does not jibe with the the narrative of extreme poverty or of "slow genocide."

Gaza's truth has been perverted by the hatred that many have of Israel. This has strengthened Hamas immeasurably, and it also forces Gazans to live under an unyielding Islamist rule that will not change as long as this status quo exists.

Which brings up another underreported story - the fact that the so-called humanitarian groups are not motivated by love of Arabs, but rather by hate of Israel.

There is only one reason that Gaza gets such exaggerated attention - and that is because it is perceived as being the victim of Jewish aggression, and the majority of people who say they care about Gazans are using that as a cover for their seething hatred of Israel. If so-called humantarians care about Gazans so much they would be working tirelessly to pressure Hamas to work with the PA to bring the situation to what it was before Hamas' coup. The fact that they blame Israel - and only Israel - for Gaza's problems betrays their real agenda.

IHH is an extreme example, but Free Gaza, and Viva Palestina, and Code Pink and many others show little to no concern about any other people besides those they consider victims of policies of the Jewish state. The media ignores this dimension of their political activity. They believe their claims of being aid groups or humanitarian groups, when in fact they are dedicated to destroying Israel and denying the Jewish people the right of self-determination. At least UNRWA has a little oversight and published rules; at least Amnesty and HRW show some concern about other areas of the globe; at least PCHR and Al Mezan will quietly criticize Hamas for some of their more egregious crimes against Gazans. But there is no daylight between the positions of the Al Aqsa terror brigades and those of Free Gaza and the other flotilla members. They all agree that Israel must be destroyed, and their pretense of charity work is a cover for that very inhumanitarian goal. Yet the press simply believes their claims, without any real investigation of their history, their funding and even their own words.

This is the problem. It is not that there is a dearth of coverage about Gaza - it is that there is a huge deficit of coverage of Gaza that goes beyond the most basic, incorrect memes.

The latest hour of footage aboard the Mavi Marmara

I saw this expanded footage last night but it didn't add too much to what we already knew. Still, it adds a little:

From this video we learn:

* Even though the Australian reporter said that the IDF timed the raid for Muslim prayers, the Muslims on board prayed well beforehand
* The "bloodstains" that were mentioned on the ladder were from paintballs
* The helicopter caught on the video is almost certainly the third one
* Even though the top deck had the hardcore IHH jihadists, the "humanitarians" on the lower deck still were prepared with slingshots and at least a few with metal poles
* At 50:30 we see people still waiting to ambush soldiers with metal bars and chains, in full view of all the "peace activists." No one says a word against this. One person opens up a package or something (pepper spray?) with a fairly large knife.
* There is an intriguing edit at about the 1:00:40 mark where someone starts saying what sounds like "Stupid Jews, stupid Zionists, to try to (unitelligible) soldiers" - then he gets edited out.

IDF Powerpoint summary of flotilla history

Here is a PowerPoint presentation created by the IDF, which I converted to video. You might need to watch it in hi-def (and use the pause button a lot) to read it all :

Here is it in Scribd:

Summary of Flotilla - Final Version

(h/t Joel)

Israel eases restrictions on Gaza; Hamas increases them

Israel is today allowing, for the first time in years, cars to be imported to Gaza over Israeli crossings, for the use of Gaza's water treatment authorities.

It also is allowing a greater variety of items into Gaza, like ketchup, mayonnaise, and sewing materials.

Meanwhile, Hamas not only is stopping many of the new goods from entering, but it is also feeling more emboldened to tighten its restrictions on its political opponents.

According to Fatah, Hamas arrested 16 Fatah members this morning, a marked increase in such arrests over the past few months.

Hamas is confident that the world won't notice what it is doing.

German TV exposes IHH for what it is

Barry Rubin summarizes:

The three German leftist activists interviewed claimed all participants were from humanitarian organizations and talked about all the fun they'd had. They had no interest in knowing that they were being used.

The show then contrasts this with material about the extremism of the IHH, which organized the trip. Those about to depart on the ship—who shortly thereafter would be attacking the arriving Israeli soldiers—chanted, “Oh, you Jews.…the army of the prophet Muhamad will return–just like in Kaibar [where Jewish men were massacred and women and children forcibly converted and sold into slavery]....Intifada until victory!”

For the militants, this was a revolutionary act, a raid, not a humanitarian mission. Of course, the vast majority of those on the ships were just trying to do a good deed, but they were not the ones who determined that the outcome would be a violent confrontation.

Mete Cubukcu, editor-in-chief of NTV, one of Turkey’s largest television networks, explains how the IHH, which organized and led the flotilla, is linked to radical groups and Jihad fighters, including those who murdered a beloved Armenian journalist.

Then there’s the interview with IHH and flotilla leader Yildrim on board the Mavi Marmara (3:40). He says they know Israel will stop the ship and that when this happens, there will be huge demonstrations throughout the world.

The show then interviews Michael Kiefer, a left-wing expert on Islam from Erfurt University. He says that the Turks on board were not peace activists as this term is understood in the West, but people advocating violence and revolutionary activity.

What's most ironic is that many of the Turks on the ship were from the IHH and an extremist nationalist group, the BBP. Three years ago, the left-wing party to which the three German participants belonged applied to the German government to label these groups as “racist” with a “propensity for violence and totalitarian structures based on the führer principle” equivalent to a German neo-Nazi movement.

When asked by a German television reporter: “You seem not to have bothered from the outset about who would travel with you,” Annette Groth, the left-wing member of parliament who was on the ship angrily ended the conversation. She and her colleagues didn't want to know how they'd served as human shields for violent groups acting in support of a terrorist, racist group, Hamas.

Those in the media who continue to cover up or ignore these facts should be asked why, to paraphrase the German reporter's question to Groth, "You seem not to have bothered by the nature of the extremists, terrorists, and antisemitic groups for whom you're making propaganda.

Why Hamas doesn't allow new foods into Gaza

Firas Press reports that Hamas is refusing to allow shipments into Gaza of cheese, milk, juices, detergents, soft drinks and biscuits - items that up until now had been restricted.

The reason? According to the article, factory owners are pressuring the de facto Hamas government not to allow these items in. because those imports would compete with their factories, hurting the Gaza economy and (they say) forcing them to lay off workers.

My guess is that taxes going to prop up the Hamas government has something to do with this as well...

Peace-activist helps Israelis soldier. Or doesn't he?

In an Italian newspaper a picture of an Israeli soldier and an activist was shown, which I had not seen before. The picture was taken by photographer Sefik Dinc. It clearly shows how well the Israeli soldiers were being treated when they came on board of the ship:

I wanted to see if I could retrieve more pictures or this pictures in an uncropped version (as the size shows it's obviously cropped for the website), and I found this:

Another interesting photograph is on page 5:

Its caption reads:

"Exclusive. Activists on the 'Mavi Marmara' ship in the international waters of the Mediterranean sea as it headed for the blockaded Gaza Strip just before the arrival of the Israeli commando."

They sure were prepared.

(unfortunately I cannot reach the large photographs, nor can I register. So you'll have to do it with this.)

UPDATE: Reader Iva notes that the first photo is from an Italian website of 3 different news papers and it mentions that the photos would be published the next day by an Italian weekly OGGI. Iva was able to log in and provide us with a better resolution picture:

Caption: Israeli solder gets hit with a stick(pole)

Palestinians gather outside an electrical appliances store in Gaza City, to watch a live televised broadcast of the opening match of the World Cup soccer tournament between South Africa and Mexico in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday June 11, 2010.

Palestinians sit in their tent as they watch the opening match of the World Cup 2010 taking place in South Africa, on June 11, 2010, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. There [sic] home was destroyed during one of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip:

and a foreigner behind his netbook in Gaza:

Mmm, perhaps Flotilla only wanted to bring them some Vuvuzela's?

UPDATE: Btw, I thought the people in Gaza had no televisions. At least that's what Anne de Jong (Dutch passenger on one of the boats of Flotilla tries to let us believe: