Saturday, December 19, 2015

There will be no "Goldstone" for airstrikes killing Syrian civilians, UN says

A United Nations team of war crimes investigators will not probe air strikes by foreign countries in Syria, its chairman said on Wednesday, despite concerns that some attacks by foreign militaries could have violated the laws of war.

The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria is not intended to investigate air strikes in Syria by foreign nations, Chairman Paulo Pinheiro said.

“It is not our mandate to investigate the behavior of powers involved in the crisis of Syria,” Pinheiro told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview.

It would not probe potential cases of violations of international human rights law involving nations conducting military strikes in Syria, he said.

“There is no possibility that we will investigate the American air strikes or French or British or Russian,” he said.

The decision reflected a desire not to meddle into the affairs of powers outside Syria as well as limited means at the group’s disposal, Pinheiro added.

Some observers have cited instances that disproportionately hit civilians and civil infrastructure, and Pinheiro and his three co-commissioners have repeatedly cautioned powers to follow the laws of war.

"Besides," UN officials would have loved to add, "we all know that there is only one Western nation that we hold to any standards whatsoever. And even when that nation exceeds all standards that we set for ourselves, we find them guilty anyway!"

I love the "limited means" argument. The UN holds meetings practically every week all over the world to denounce Israel (we mentioned one in Jakarta last week), it has multiple committees and groups dedicated to nothing else but demonizing Israel, yet they can't scrape the money together to investigate any other nations that are far worse in their wartime activities. Funny, that.

(h/t Gilbert)

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.

12/18 Links Pt2: Celebrating Israel; Anti-Semites Unwittingly Aid Israel; UN recognizes Yom Kippur

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Celebrating Israel

There is no shortage of negative news about Israel; Every once in a while we Israelis should remember there is much for which to be proud.
In large part due to slanted media reports, propaganda and downright lies, impressions of Israel worldwide tend to be negative – particularly among those who have never visited the country.
But according to the UN Human Development Index released this week, things in the Jewish state are not so bad. In fact, they are pretty good.
The index, which takes into consideration income, life expectancy and education for a combined development score, ranks Israel 18 out of 188 countries in human development. Not only did Israel’s score surpass by far all of its neighbors (Qatar is the highest ranked Arab state at No. 32; Saudi Arabia, 36; Lebanon 67; Jordan 80; Egypt, 108; and war-torn Syria at 134), but it outscored the EU and OECD averages as well. Countries such as France, Spain, Italy and even Japan scored lower than Israel. Sub-Saharan Africa scored the lowest.
A number of factors come together to give Israel one of the highest scores in the world. For instance, Israel has the second lowest rate of maternal mortality in the world with just two deaths for every 100,000 births. And at 2.9 births per woman, the Jewish state manages to maintain such a low mortality rate while having the highest fertility rate of any country in the “Very High Human Development” category (those countries ranked in the top 49). For the sake of comparison, the US has 28 maternal deaths per 100,000 births at a two-birthsper- woman average.

Anti-Semites Unwittingly Aid Israel

I admit to getting a kick out of seeing anti-Semites inadvertently help the very Jewish state they dream of destroying. And it happens more often than you might think, as was driven home by three very different news reports this week.
The first is that some 8,000 French Jews moved to Israel this year, topping last year’s all-time high of 7,000. Immigration is always good for Israel. Not only does each group of immigrants bring its own ideas and strengths that contribute to making Israel a better place, but the country simply needs a critical mass of people to survive as a Jewish state in an Arab region. Indeed, had it not been for the millions of Jews who immigrated since 1948, Israel might not have survived.
Most immigrants to Israel are Zionists; they genuinely care about the Jewish state. But even so, most of them wouldn’t have left comfortable lives elsewhere had there not been a push factor as well as a pull factor; that’s why most American Zionists still don’t come. And usually, anti-Semitism has been part of that push factor, just as it is for French Jews today.
So thank you, anti-Semites, for turning a country of 800,000 people into one eight million strong. It would never have happened without your help.

Book explodes myth of Moroccan coexistence

It is a sorry sign of how intolerant of minorities were the theologians of the al-Maliki school of Islam in the Maghreb until the colonial era, that the first thing they published when the printing press came to Morocco in the 19th century, was not a scientific tract, or even the Koran, but the Epistle against the Jews which al-Maghili wrote to the chieftains of Touat five centuries earlier.
Maghreb theologians preserved a strict interpretation of the dhimmi laws which governed the relationship of Jews and Muslims under the 8th century Pact of Omar. The prophet Muhammad had spared the lives of the defeated Jews and Christians as 'People of the Book', rather than put them to the sword, but they had to abide by rules denoting their subjugation and inferiority to Muslims.
Following codification in the 13th century by the literalist theologian Ibn Taymiyya, 'Dhimmi' acquired a precise meaning in Islamic jurisprudence: non-Muslims would be 'protected' by Muslims in return for a capitation or poll tax. This begs the question - protected against whom?
Violent mobs singled out the Jewish 'Other' for attack and looting. Jews would 'cop it' at times of political turmoil or trouble.
Jews could not build new synagogues or repair them without permission; they had to allow Muslims to enter them at will. Jewish homes had sometimes to be painted red or blue, even after Jews had been permitted in modern times to move out of the Jewish mellah into the medina.
Jews were forbidden from teaching their children the Koran. This was to prevent Jews engaging in theological polemics with Muslims.
Jews had to wear special badges and black attire. A Jew's djellaba was worn awkwardly 'off the shoulder' for maximum discomfort. Jews were not permitted to blow the ram's horn (shofar) in a public place. The Palestinian Mufti of Jerusalem would use this pretext to incite anti-Jewish riots in 1929.

Dr. Wassim El-Sisi, at Egyptologist, says that God's chosen people are not Jews but the Egyptian people.

Jewish claims to be chosen are simply propaganda, he says.

Sisi says that the prophet Idris appeared and declared this thousands of years before Moses.

Idris is a prophet mentioned in the Koran as the second prophet in history, after Adam. He is identified with Enoch. In the Koran he indeed visits Egypt and the Nile.

Sisi also said that the Egyptian people were respectful of women, unlike the Jews who consider women unclean. In addition, he says that modern research confirms that Egyptian genes are present in all races in the world.

You can learn amazing things from Arabic media.

If any part of the PA budget is sacred, it is the part that pays the salaries of terrorists in Israeli prison, former prisoners, and their families. Some 6% of the PA's budget goes towards rewarding terror.

So this story, which did not get any publicity in English, is most interesting.

A few dozen former prisoners protested that their salaries were cut by the PA. According to the article, some 70 terrorists have been cut off from the Western-funded gravy train of welfare for terrorists.

According to reports, the reason is because they are members of Hamas who refuse to accept the legitimacy of the Fatah-led PA government.

The PA's official response was that these protesters were criminals (I'm not sure if they mean that they violated Palestinian law or if they were jailed in Israel for criminal, not terrorist, activities.)

The protesters denied that they were criminals and said "all the prisoners whose salaries have been cut are honorable people of this country who spent the prime of their youth in Israeli jails, in defense of the Palestinian cause."

The protesters threatened a hunger strike if their demands aren't met.

The article helpfully confirms that "According to Palestinian law, any prisoner who has spent time in Israeli jails for more than 5 years has the right to a salary and he is assured of a job."

And the world wants to give legitimacy to a state that by law hires terrorists for do-nothing jobs. The word "corruption" doesn't describe this because it is not being hidden at all - they are proud of it.

(h/t Yenta)

12/18 Links Pt1: Col. Kemp: Why we put our reputations on the line; Why Syria Can’t Be Fixed

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Rubio, Cruz and US Global Leadership

At some point between 2006 and 2008, the American people decided to turn their backs on the world. Between the seeming futility of the war in Iraq and the financial collapse of 2008, Americans decided they’d had enough.
In Barack Obama, they found a leader who could channel their frustration. Obama’s foreign policy, based on denying the existence of radical Islam and projecting the responsibility for Islamic aggression on the US and its allies, suited their mood just fine. If America is responsible, then America can walk away. Once it is gone, so the thinking has gone, the Muslims will forget their anger and leave America alone.
Sadly, Obama’s foreign policy assumptions are utter nonsense. America’s abandonment of global leadership has not made things better. Over the past seven years, the legions of radical Islam have expanded and grown more powerful than ever before. And now in the aftermath of the jihadist massacres in Paris and San Bernadino, the threats have grown so abundant that even Obama cannot pretend them away.
As a consequence, for the first time in a decade, Americans are beginning to think seriously about foreign policy. But are they too late? Can the next president repair the damage Obama has caused? The Democrats give no cause for optimism. Led by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential hopefuls stubbornly insist that there is nothing wrong with Obama’s foreign policy. If they are elected to succeed him, they pledge to follow in his footsteps.

Col. Richard Kemp: We put our reputations on the line. This is why

The High Level Military Group’s (HLMG) findings on the 2014 Gaza conflict were the diametric opposite of those of the UN Human Rights Council, human rights groups and the majority of Western media, all of whom believe Israel used disproportionate force and committed war crimes. Why?
Because, unlike the HLMG, these organisations lack any credible military expertise. This is a problem when you are assessing a military conflict. They also mostly hit this issue from a pre-determined position that they want to be right: Israel is the neighbourhood bully and Hamas are the hapless representatives of a bullied, down-trodden population. And they analyse the situation based on human rights law, not the laws of armed conflict. Human rights law is fine if you are dealing with a police arrest on the streets of London, but not when you’re looking at large-scale violent armed exchanges between warring factions – that is what the Geneva conventions are intended to regulate.
The upshot of this ignorant, distorted, malign and misjudged perspective is the widespread demonisation of the state of Israel. That, of course, is what Israel’s enemies, who have manipulated the UN, human rights groups and much of the media as well as many world governments, always intended.
If you are taken in by it, and you yourself condemn the Jewish state on the basis of what these organisations tell you, which to be fair is pretty much all you ever hear, then you too are an instrument of Israel’s enemies. If you are Jewish and you condemn Israel on the basis of this disinformation, then you are a doubly valuable enemy instrument. You are like Lord Haw-Haw was to the Germans during the Second World War: a valuable Brit (well, a US-born Irishman to be precise) who used Nazi propaganda against the UK.

Israeli Columnist Applauded at Haaretz Conference for Calling Aliyah a Crime

A veteran Haaretz columnist was applauded at the Israeli daily’s conference this week in New York, after calling Jewish immigration to Israel (aliyah) a crime, the Israeli news site nrg reported on Thursday.
Amira Hass made the comment while moderating a panel on “struggles for equality” in Israel. The long-time publicist, who is known for her extreme left-wing views, pointed to the fact that, unlike an American Jew, an American of Palestinian origin wishing to immigrate to Israel would not be granted citizenship.
“Because of that, any [Jewish] individual who is planning to make aliyah should know that he is about to commit a crime,” Hass said, eliciting applause from the largely Jewish audience and no counter-argument from panel participants.
“At any given moment, every American Jew has rights in Israel that are denied to Palestinians,” she continued, claiming that while American Jews can visit, work or live anywhere in the country at any time, some Palestinians born in Israel don’t have those same rights.

US supports Saudi book fair that sells antisemitic literature

The Saudi Press Agency reports:

Jeddah, Rabi'I 01, 1437, December 12, 2015, SPA -- US Consul General in Jeddah Todd Holmstrom praised [the] Jeddah International Book Fair, which represents an opportunity to celebrate reading as an essential part of life.

He made the remarks during his visit today to the exhibition.

The US official highlighted Saudi-US relations in the field of cultural exchange.

In fact, the US Consulate had a booth at the fair, where they sold books like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, "I am Malala" and Barack Obama's autobiography along with a biography of the First Lady.

The ADL highlighted some other books at the fair:

The Jeddah International Book Fair in Saudi Arabia, which hosts more than 350 publishing houses from 21 countries, appears to feature anti-Semitic books for sale.

The book fair, taking place December 12–22, includes on its “Book Lists” works such as My Awakening: The Jewish Influence in the United States by the notorious anti-Semite David Duke. Duke’s book, classified as “Political Science” on the list from the Dar Alfiker Al Mua’sir publishing house in Lebanon, is listed for SAR53 (US$14).

Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which served as a blueprint for the extermination of six million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust, is listed to be sold at the book fair for SAR45 (US$12). Classified as “History,” Mein Kampf, is on the list from Ibn Al Nafees publishing house in Egypt. A book titled Free Masons, The Jews and The Torahby Dr. Noman Al Samarayi, which promotes conspiratorial theories about a Jewish role in dominating the world, was listed for sale for SR8 (US$2).

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

I found books with titles like Psychological Study of the Jewish Faith with determines exactly why Jews are so racist, and the Jewish Sedition of History - and they were just from one exhibitor.

So why is the US supporting this book fair?

(h/t Shawarma News)

Two weeks ago I asked readers to write to organizations known to have funded the Palestinian Commission for Refugees (sometimes called the Palestinian Commission for Refugees Rights Protection or PCRP) and ask about their apparent support for its head, Dr Gamal Abdel Nasser Mohammed Abu Nahel, who is a prolific author of virulent Jew-hatred, whose articles are linked to from the PCRP Facebook page.

I predicted that these organizations would distance themselves from Dr. Nahel rather than use their positions of influence to pressure the organization to fire him. And I was right.

The National Endowment for Democracy was the first to respond by saying that they have not funded the organization for several years.

Now, USAID has issued a similar response to several of my readers:

Thank you for your recent inquiry to the US Agency for International Development.

USAID does not currently fund the Palestinian Commission for Refugees (PCR). The organization last received funding from USAID in 2009-2010 to conduct community outreach in Gaza on women’s legal rights, through the USAID NETHAM Rule of Law Program, which ended in 2010.

PCR was subject to thorough anti-terrorism vetting prior to receiving funding from USAID, including the vetting of all board members. The statements in question were made by an individual who was not affiliated with PCR during the period that USAID funded the organization.

USAID is committed to supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leading to the emergence of two states living side-by-side in peace and security.

Regards,
Michael Collins

_____________________________________________

Michael Collins | Public Affairs & Outreach Team LeadMiddle East Bureau | US Agency for International DevelopmentRRB 4.10-084 | 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC, 20523 USAmcollins@usaid.gov @USAIDMiddleEast

And again, I encourage my reader to write back to USAID and tell them that while it is very nice that they have nothing to do with Dr. Nahel, they have an opportunity to pro-actively do something about endemic Arab antisemitism rather than wash their hands of the matter. By telling PCRP that they will never receive funding again as long as Dr. Nahel is leading the organization - and that this information will be shared with other funders of Palestinian NGOs - they can do a great deal of good without spending a dime.

The articles I linked to have been removed from the PCRP's Facebook page, so clearly one of the funders made a phone call and PCRP responded by slightly dissociating itself from the antisemitism of its leader. (Or Facebook responded to a complaint, but I doubt that.) NGOs are far more motivated by the fear of losing funding than anything else. The funders of NGOs from democratic countries have an obligation to use their influence to root out the hate, not just to fund a program here or there that might help women or children.

I have not heard anything back yet from the Anna Lindh Foundation or the UN Development Program who also partner with PCRP, and whose partnership appears to be ongoing.

Hundreds of children are sexually molested in Gaza every year

The Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution has issued a press release saying that some 700 children were sexually abused in each of the past two years in Gaza, and over a thousand were victims of similar crimes in 2013.

The abuse includes molestation and rape.

The victims tend to be male and were most often between the ages of 7 and 12.

The attacks happened in family homes, but also in schools and even in public places.

Out of these thousands of cases, only 27 of the attackers have been brought to justice, according to the center's director Said Makadmeh. He blamed existing customs and traditions which influenced the judges and parents' fears of scandal as the main reasons.

The same organization has previously done a study that blamed Israel for aggression in Gaza children. Among all of the ANOVA methods and Scheffe tests and other tools meant to make the study sound rigorous, the basic information came from asking parents if they thought that Israeli practices made their children more aggressive.

Who would a parent rather blame for their kids' violence - themselves or Israel?

So it may only be a matter of time before Israel is blamed for sexual molestation of children in Gaza, too.

12/17 Links Pt2: Breaking the Silence is a personal affront to every Israeli; Aliyah record high of 30,000

From Ian:

Rather than carry Israelis, Kuwait Airways drops NYC-London route

Kuwait Airways is eliminating service between New York and London after the US Department of Transportation ordered the carrier to stop refusing to sell tickets to Israelis.
Namrata Kolachalam, a spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation, announced the airline’s decision, USA Today reported Tuesday.
On September 30, the department announced that the airline had acted illegally when it refused to sell a ticket to Eldad Gatt, an Israeli citizen, in 2013. On October 29, the department ordered the airline to “cease and desist from refusing to transport Israeli citizens between the US and any third country where they are allowed to disembark,” USA Today reported, citing a letter from the department’s assistant general counsel for enforcement.
The newspaper reported that Kuwait Airways explained its refusal to sell Gatt a ticket by saying it needed to comply with a Kuwaiti law barring citizens from agreements “with entities or persons residing in Israel, or with Israeli citizenship.”

'Breaking the Silence is a personal affront to every Israeli'

Breaking the Silence (BTS) has justly been getting kicked around within the Israeli political system following a damning report published by Im Tirzu, that included the organization of former IDF soldiers among ‘foreign agents”. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has revoked any contact between the organization and the IDF, while Education Minister Naftali Bennett has stopped any and all contact between Breaking the Silence and any schools.
Dr. Yoaz Hendel, head of the Institute for Zionist Strategy, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the problems inherent in the organization.
“Firstly, I would like to say that I agree in theory with the fact that we all want the IDF to be a moral army. The issue with BTS is not the cases that they are bringing to light per se, but rather that they are creating a warped picture of the IDF. They take exceptional cases and make them out to be rules that apply across the board, and that simply isn’t true.”
Every army finds itself from time to time in difficult situations of a complex moral nature. The same holds true for the IDF. But what offends many in Israel and around the world, is when an army is vilified because of a handful of incidents. “BTS finds the one exceptional incident that happened, and claim that this is how the entire military behaves at all times. I find that insulting,” said Hendel.

Ex-ICC prosecutor praises, but doesn’t endorse, Israeli report on settlements’ legality

The former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court this week praised Israel’s Foreign Ministry for the recent publication of a report arguing that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are legal under international law.
While not endorsing the report’s content, Luis Moreno Ocampo, who was visiting Israel this week, said a thorough discussion about the settlements’ legality was sorely needed and could be beneficial to all sides involved.
Earlier this month, the Foreign Ministry, under the directive of Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, published a report arguing that Israel has “valid property claims” to West Bank territory, as “Jewish affinity” with the region dates back thousands of years. The document, authored by the ministry’s legal adviser, also seeks to refute the claim that settlements violate the Geneva Conventions and thus constitute a war crime. The effort to portray Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal “ignores the complexity of this issue, the history of the land, and the unique legal circumstances of this case,” the report concludes.
Many Israelis scoffed at the report, doubting its effectiveness in a world where there is near-total consensus about settlements’ illegality. But Moreno Ocampo, who in 2003 became the ICC’s first chief prosecutor and held this role until 2012 when he was succeeded by Fatou Bensouda, praised the ministry’s attempt to present Israel’s point of view.
“That’s perfect. That’s exactly what they had to do,” he told The Times of Israel Tuesday in Jerusalem. “I never read the report. But I think that this is the way to do it: you explain your opinion.”

Hypocritical @UNRWA extends contract of "youth ambassador" who sings of violence

UNRWA's "youth ambassador," the 2013 Arab Idol winner Mohammad Assaf, has released music videos and posted on Instagram about his support of rock throwing, firebombs and other violence against Israeli Jews.

This has been reported by me, UN Watch and Fox News.

UNRWA, of course, claims to take all reports of incitement and lack of neutrality very seriously. In August, Chris Gunness 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 is full of crap.

Because UNRWA just extended Mohammed Assaf's contract to be its "youth ambassador" to incite more teens to stab, stone and firebomb Jews.

And yet the US just pledged another $123 million to this corrupt, lying and terror-supporting organization.

Vic Rosenthal's weekly column:

Barack Obama seems to oppose intervention most everywhere. He is especially committed to minimizing the friction between America and the Muslim world – even trying to align America with Islamic objectives – and so continues to reduce the US footprint in Afghanistan and to take as little action as possible in Syria.

But one place in which he seems happy to meddle is Israel. He’s sent John Kerry to press for a Palestinian state yet again (and to blame Israel for the lack of ‘progress’ in this direction). Recently, the ‘V15’ (Victory 2015) organization which campaigned against Netanyahu in the February elections has come back to life with a new name  (‘darkeinu’, our way) and is setting itself up as a left-wing lobby in Israel’s Knesset. V15 got its funding primarily from American sources, and was considered close to the Obama Administration. Doubtless the lobby will be too.

Various Obama surrogates and allies have joined the “save Israel from herself” club. J Street, of course, has always taken this route, and at the Ha’aretz/New Israel Fund conference in New York last week, representatives of every imaginable left-wing group pushed for the US to apply pressure to Israel in one way or another.

“Can Americans save Israel from its own extremism?” wrote Ha’aretz editor Aluf Benn. Benn should know extremism when he sees it, presiding over  a staff that includes Gideon Levy, who caused hundreds of Israelis to cancel subscriptions when he viciouslyattacked the morality of Israeli pilots, and Amira Hass who asserted that throwing rocks at Jews is the “birthright and duty” of Palestinian Arabs. Both Levy and Hass spoke at the conference. Some people call Ha’aretz “the Palestinian newspaper published in Hebrew.”

In  his keynote address to its biennial convention in November, Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) President Rick Jacobs announcedthat his organization would not allow the fact that Israel is under assault by a wave of murderous terrorism to stop it from pushing its vision of “tikkun olam” in Israel, including everything from creating a Palestinian state to civil marriage to allowing egalitarian worship at the Western Wall to LGBT rights (although Israel is probably more LGBT-friendly than Jacobs’ Westchester County). Jacobs, too, spoke at the Ha’aretz conference.

Many of those who want to save Israel from itself like to say that the problem is that it is not ‘democratic’ enough, wheredemocracy means such things as giving more power to the Arab minority, allowing African migrants freer access to our country, changing budget priorities to make Israel more like a European welfare state, funding non-orthodox streams of Judaism, and allowing foreign interests free rein in supporting Israeli NGOs.

Although they would not admit it, their real problem is that Israel is too democratic, continuing to elect politicians who oppose the Left’s agenda, particularly in connection with its fantasy of withdrawing from Judea and Samaria and entering into a blissful era of peace.

The minority of Israeli leftists, who present themselves as the voice of responsibility and moderation to the North Americans and Europeans who are so anxious to save Israel from theocracy and fascism, have been incapable of gaining political power in Israel because the majority are scared to death that – as already happened with the Oslo Accords and the Gaza withdrawal – they will somehow implement their impossible dream, which will turn Judea and Samaria into Gaza (or worse) and Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport into battlefields.

The Israeli majority, which might be receptive to some of the social themes of the Left like religious pluralism or civil marriage, will not give those ideas the time of day as long as they are accompanied by the suicidal ‘peace’ agenda.

The Left maintained an effective one-party government from 1948 to 1977, and has never reconciled with its loss of political monopoly. It is absolutely convinced of its rightness, as well as its moral and cultural superiority. It is frantic to get back into power and to enact its policies, especially to ‘end the occupation’, which it believes will herald a messianic age of peace and prosperity.

Because for them the end justifies almost any means, the small group of extremist politicians, media people, academics, intellectuals and NGO operatives that suffer from this obsession, are making alliances with European and North American interests that are prepared to support them. This includes the European Union and the Obama Administration, but also foundations supported by George Soros, anti-Israel religious organizations like the Quakers and Mennonites, and liberal dupes like the URJ.

Even those on the Left who have not made the decision to join the Dark Side with Levy and Hass are corrupted by this bargain. The European governments, the EU and Obama Administration (regardless of public pronouncements) pursue a policy that is intended to lead to the end of the Jewish state. This is also true of the Soros-funded organizations and surrogates like J Street. They think they can keep their integrity, but the Devil always gets your soul in the end.

The corruption is most evident in the various foreign-funded NGOs, who receive tens of millions of shekels every year from sources whose interests are often diametrically opposed to those of Israel. The Israelis whose salaries and perks come from these NGOs have become in effect if not in fact agents of hostile foreign powers.

But even those who benefit more indirectly are corrupted – like Ha’aretz, which makes money from its anti-Israel English edition and website, and Israeli academics who enjoy lucrative visiting professorships at universities abroad in return for taking the ‘correct’ line.

And last, but definitely not least, there are the political parties that are aided by groups like V15 at election time.

In Israel there is beginning to be a reaction to the influence of foreign money. The Knesset passed a ‘transparency law’ which is responsible for the documentation of foreign grants to Israeli NGOs that I linked above. But there are loopholes in the law, and a new law has been proposed that will not only require disclosure of grants, but will also require documents produced by these NGOs to be labeled as such, and lobbyists to wear ‘tags’ identifying them. An even stronger proposal would prevent such lobbyists from being in contact with government or military personnel. Under this law, anti-state NGOs could be dissolved by court order.

I’m convinced that some voters were turned off in the last election by the heavy-handed attempts of the Obama Administration’s proxies to tilt the vote against Netanyahu. This is a good sign, but what really ought to happen is that both the Likud and the Labor Party finally divorce themselves from the Oslo fantasy. Security can and should be a non-partisan issue, and the parties can compete on the basis of their domestic visions, or even create a National Unity Government.

In the case of the Likud, it is a question of declaring independence from the mendacious Obama Administration, which has forced it to pay lip service to a Palestinian state that everyone knows must never arise. Now is the time, when the Arabs are murderously demonstrating the absurdity of the idea of giving them a state, to do so.

It will be harder for Labor, which pays homage to the ‘heroic’ Yitzhak Rabin for giving us Oslo, which in fact he was sandbagged into adopting against his better judgment.

I hope that this idea can be made to appeal to Labor –  if they understand nothing else, they should be able to see that this is their only chance to return to power!

12/17 Links Pt1: After 3 months of terror, survivors share fears; Is Hamas Becoming a Second ISIS?

From Ian:

More Lies from Abbas about The "Intifada"

We still have never encountered even one case where a terrorist complained about the absence of a two-state solution. Also, contrary to Abbas's claim, none of the terrorists has ever complained about checkpoints or settlements. This latest wave of terrorism is not about "despair," unemployment, poor living conditions or freedom of movement. Instead, it is another attempt by Palestinian "youths" to eliminate Israel, again using the false excuse that Jews are "desecrating" and "destroying" Islamic holy sites.
A review of the Facebook accounts of most of the terrorists shows that their main intention was to murder as many Jews as possible in order to become "martyrs" -- to impose a reign of terror Jews, to force them to leave Israel.
Abbas is well aware that the "youths" are not complaining about the "occupation." The "occupation" these " youths" have a problem with is the one that began with the creation of Israel in 1948.
A new generation of Palestinians has once again been deceived into believing that the Jews are plotting to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Al-Aqsa Mosque stands, as always, unharmed in its place.

UN Watch: Paris attacks: UN official blames US, West & Israel; “They came to us because we went to them”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the UN ambassadors of the U.S., UK, France, and Germany, must condemn a UN Human Rights Council official for his offensive and morally perverse essay blaming last month’s Paris attacks on the U.S., Western colonialism, capitalism, and “Israeli settlers” — and implicitly justifying them as “a response to grave injustices and ongoing abuses perpetrated by the dominant, primarily developed countries, against populations of less developed countries.”
Leading figures at the United Nations need to condemn the remarks. Indeed, the UN chief had done so in a virtually-identical case in 2013, when in a blog post former UN expert Richard Falk similarly blamed the Boston Marathon terror attacks on “American global domination” and “Tel Aviv.”
The UN Secretary-General must publicly reject Mr. De Zayas’ highly offensive comments, and clarify that no grievance, real or imagined, could ever justify the horrific terrorist attacks that killed 130 innocent people in Paris, wounding hundreds more. To grant even the slightest exoneration to the Islamic State and its criminal perpetrators is to insult the memory of the victims.
The UN Secretary-General must remind all special rapporteurs of the need to understand that while they have independent status, their public comments — when the so-called attempt to “understand” terrorism crosses the line into moral exoneration — can undermine the work and credibility of the United Nations.
Sadly, with the Human Rights Council’s democratic credentials about to sink to the lowest level ever — only 38% of the incoming 2016 membership will be free democracies — we fear more appointments of UN rights experts who will serve as apologists for dictators and terrorism, adding to existing figures like De Zayas, Jean Ziegler and Idriss Jazairy.

Saudi Shura Council Member Al-Buleihi: Arab Culture Immersed in Violence and Hatred of the Other

In a recent TV interview, Saudi Shura Council member Ibrahim Al-Buleihi said: "We produce this kind of people [who carried out the Paris attacks and 9/11], this kind of hostility." "We are immersed in this violence, because we are immersed in the hatred of the other," he said in the interview, which aired on December 5 on Al-Arabiya TV. While the West is not perfect, "the Westerners are apologizing today for what their forefathers did, whereas we are still praising the conquests and raids [of early Islam]," said Al-Buleihi.

Palestinian Media Watch reports:

As its contribution to the Christmas spirit at Birzeit University near Ramallah, Fatah’s student movement Shabiba decorated a Christmas tree with pictures of “Martyrs” - among them terrorist murderer Muhannad Halabi who recently stabbed and killed two Israeli civilians in Jerusalem.

Additional “Martyrs” who the Fatah students apparently think express the message of love, benevolence and goodwill generally associated with Christmas and Christianity, were founder of the terror organization Hamas Ahmed Yassin, founder of the terror organization Islamic Jihad Fathi Shaqaqi, and Secretary-General of the terror organization PFLP Abu Ali Mustafa - all responsible for numerous terror attacks and the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians. Crowning the top of the tree was a picture of former PA and Fatah Chairman Yasser Arafat, who throughout his rule endorsed and encouraged terror attacks against Israelis.

Abbas’ Fatah movement posted pictures of the tree along with members of its student movement on its official Facebook page. Behind the group of Fatah Shabiba students is a sign with the text:

"The way to freedom
is a bullet and a Martyr,
a pen and a prisoner,
an olive tree and a wounded,
a crescent and a cross
Merry Christmas
[Fatah] Shabiba student movement
Birzeit University"

Simon Wiesenthal Center calls on US to stop funding Miftah and other anti-peace NGOs

It's always nice when my research gets recognized.

From Algemeiner:

Rabbi Cooper

A leading US-based Jewish human rights organization cautioned the US government on Tuesday against donating funds to Palestinian NGOs with a history of antisemitism.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, was responding to a report by pro-Israel blogger Elder of Ziyon that Miftah, a Ramallah-based non-profit organization founded and headed by long-time Yasser Arafat loyalist, Palestinian Legislative Council member and former peace process spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, has been receiving a hefty annual sum from the US Consulate in Jerusalem.

“The question that needs to be asked is: Where should US diplomatic and funding efforts be concentrated when it comes to the ideas and values propagated in Palestinian society? The answer is: It should go to those NGOs committed and contributing to the idea of two peoples living side by side in peace and tolerance,” Cooper told The Algemeiner.

Miftah was forced to remove an antisemitic blood libel from its Arabic website two years ago, following exposure by Elder of Ziyon. In March 2013, the watchdog noted Miftah’s publication of an article claiming that Jews use the blood of Christian children for their Passover matzah.

This caused Miftah first to defend itself — accusing critics of conducting a “smear campaign” — and then days later to take down the piece and issue an apology in English, part of which was devoted to distancing Ashrawi from its author and his ideology.

Elder of Ziyon’s current report — based on Miftah’s financial statements and the US Congressional Research Service – shows that in 2013 and 2014, the US Consulate was added to the NGO’s list of donors, among them Oxfam, NED, Norway, Austria and the Anna Lindh Foundation.

The annual sum given by the US to Miftah, according to the financial records, is $175,000.

Rabbi Cooper posited that a litmus test has to be applied to any Palestinian organization receiving funds from the US and Europe. “There should be no automatic checks signed over,” he told The Algemeiner. “The bottom line is, don’t tell me that [Miftah] hasn’t spread blood libels lately, and therefore it’s okay to give it money. The point is to examine whether, as a voice in the Palestinian Authority, it is contributing to civil society or not. If so, maybe $175,000 is too little a sum. If not, we shouldn’t be giving it a nickel.”

...This is a good time, he concluded, to revise the criteria for the allocation of American aid where the Palestinians are concerned.

“Our tax dollars should only go to efforts against violence,” he said. “That’s where we should be investing our money.”

How many recipients of Western aid in the territories have explicitly condemned the current wave of knifing and car ramming attacks?

I am not aware of a single one, but I'm more than willing to be corrected.

.@UNRWA doesn't want Syrian Palestinians to be resettled. But it does want money to keep them stateless. (update)

UNRWA has never done a poll or survey of the "refugees" under its mandate. But since the 1950s, it has claimed with great certainty that Palestinian refugees later, "refugees" had no desire to become citizens of other countries but would rather wait forever for a "political solution" which would mean that they all move to where Israel is now.

The reality is that stateless Palestinians would much prefer to become full citizens anywhere than remain in limbo forever. Their actions when such a possibility emerges proves this to be the case.

Yet UNRWA has always pushed the lie of how Palestinians do not want to become citizens of any state except Israel, which cruelly enforces the policies of every other state on earth to determine who is allowed to immigrate.

The Globe and Mail (Canada) writes about the situation of Syrian refugees whose ancestors once lived in British Mandate Palestine and shows that UNRWA continues to tell Palestinians under their mandate that they prefer cash to perpetuate the problem to a permanent solution:

None of the war-weary Palestinians are likely to come to Canada under the Liberal government’s program to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees. Canada is relying on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – which doesn’t deal with Palestinians – to help identify those most eligible for resettlement. UNRWA has no role in the program.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness declined to comment on Canada’s resettlement program, but he said he hoped that Canada would resume the funding of the agency, which the previous Conservative government halted in 2012. Canada was long a leading donor to UNRWA – providing $32.4-million in assistance in 2007 and another $28-million in 2008 – but sharply reduced that aid over the next few years to $14.6-million in 2012, before making no contribution at all over the three years since.

“Palestinians are finding it increasingly hard to sustain life for themselves and their children in the Middle East,” Mr. Gunness said in an e-mail interview. “It costs seven times more to deal with Palestinian refugees once they get to Europe and beyond than for UNRWA to deliver services to them in the region – which is where they would prefer to be. We are seeing a growing acceptance of this argument among our larger donors and we hope it resonates in Ottawa.”

Gunness is lying, and he knows it. Palestinians are no different from the other Syrian refugees, and they want to have the chance to live normal lives anywhere rather than remain stuck in the limbo that UNRWA and Arab leaders keep them in.

But notice how Gunness is using the idea that paying UNRWA will keep a small percentage of refugees from Syria out of Western countries as a means to scare Western governments into spending a much higher percentage of their aid funds on Palestinians than on the 90% of refugees who aren't.

And it is a lie, too. As the article mentions, Lebanon (and Jordan) have shut their doors to Syrian Palestinian refugees altogether. Lebanon does not allow anyone to build new houses in the camps. So UNRWA's aid is not helping any Palestinians outside of basic medical and social services. Of course many of them would still prefer to take their chances in Europe rather than live in Syria with UNRWA help.

If UNRWA cared about Palestinians, it would welcome the possibility of Palestinians finally finding a home in Canada. It would be lobbying Gulf states to take them in.

But when Palestinians move out of Lebanon, Syria or Jordan, UNRWA loses a little bit of leverage to ask for funding. It prefers that they remain second-class citizens in areas of UNRWA's mandate than to allow them the possibility of living happy lives outside.

UPDATE: A relevant incident:

The commitment of anti-Zionists to maintaining Palestinians as refugees was highlighted when Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in April 2000 and Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley in January 2001 offered to resettle Palestinian refugees in Canada. PLO spokesman Ahmed Abdel Rahman rejected the Prime Minister's offer. He said: "We reject any kind of settlement of refugees in Arab countries, or in Canada." John Manley, in response to his offer, was burned in effigy near the West Bank city of Nablus. Hussum Khader, head of the largest Palestinian Fatah militia in Nablus, "If Canada is serious about resettlement you could expect military attacks in Ottawa or Montreal"

(h/t Max)