Monday, January 18, 2016

01/18 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: Exposing the enemy within; Israel, superpower for women

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Exposing the enemy within

I 've been reading with particular interest about the row over Tuvia Tenenbom's exclusion from a Limmud panel. I myself have spoken at Limmud, although I haven't attended for several years. I have met Tenenbom and admire his work. By reporting what people say in unguarded moments (an activity once known as journalism) he has been steadily exposing the appalling Israel-bashing and Jew-hatred among Germans, Palestinian Arabs and, increasingly, Jews themselves.
Jews tend to be neuralgically averse to acknowledging this treachery among their own. This occurs particularly on the left, which in its mind-bending way screams "racism" at anyone who condemns those promoting murderous bigotry against Israel or the west. So I wasn't surprised to read that the largely right-on Limmud audience reacted with hostility to Tenenbom's observations about Jew-hatred in Germany. Whether or not these findings were true was, of course, irrelevant. Tenenbom, whose instincts for fighting bigotry seem bred in the bone, did not take the abuse lying down. The reaction he provoked, however, caused his abrupt removal from a Limmud discussion in which he was booked to participate.
The person who dropped him was Keith Kahn-Harris. Some years ago, Kahn-Harris approached me to take part in a series of dinners he was organising. He was concerned that the UK Jewish community was becoming divided over Israel. Jews were demonising fellow-Jews. The increasing bitterness, he said, was destructive of debate. Would I therefore take part in a "safe space" dinner discussion to open up a dialogue? The safe space turned out to be a group of folk on the left who wanted to have a go (in the most delicate and exquisitely pained way, of course) at the one presumed right-winger present (me). That experience illustrated two things. First, that those not of the left are regarded axiomatically as the people making dialogue impossible through their outlandish views. Second, there was no way those round that table could acknowledge closed minds were on their own side.
The left cannot ever admit that it demonises opponents and shuts down debate because it stands for tolerance, rationality and conscience. Doesn't it? (h/t Jewess)

David Collier: A silence worth breaking, the reservists fight back

For anyone living outside of Israel and opposed to the delegitimization of Zionism, it is difficult not to be aware of the movement called Breaking the Silence (BTS). The boycott movement against Israel frequently use their material, the anti-Zionist groups on campus show their video clips on a loop and left wing political Zionist groups cling on to their skirt tails and refer to them as heroes.
For some time, most Zionists have considered Breaking the Silence to have crossed too many lines to be deemed legitimate. They have been accused of distortion, of deliberately exaggerating events, and of removing the all-important context from their statements. It is claimed that they receive much of their funding from groups hostile to Israel. Much of their effort seems to be directed towards an international audience. The suggestion that they were simply lying for political gain was never far from the surface. Yet as BTS accusations are invariably anonymous, how do you attack a claim that removes all identifying features from public view?
Recently a group of reservists from the Israeli army, decided to do exactly that. With vast experience of IDF procedure and ethics, these officers were convinced that Breaking the Silence were spinning lies, and by searching out those that served with publicly known members of the group, they began to piece together a real picture of the events that occurred.
With BTS implying that the actions of some of these Israeli soldiers made them war criminals, this movement, ‘Reservists at the Front’, announced they had started proceedings to sue the movement Breaking the Silence for libel in the Israeli courts. Just recently, they met the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to seek support for their action.
On Sunday, 17/01/15, I caught up with Amit Deri, founder of Reservists at the Front and managed to ask him a few questions. Below is an English transcript of the interview.

Legal Insurrection: Fighting The Hate: When Does Anti-Israel Become Anti-Semitic?

Last week I drove out to Rochester, NY to give a talk titled ‘Fighting the Hate: When Does Anti-Israel Become Anti-Semitic?’.
Sponsored by ROC4Israel, a new pro-Israel organization that we featured in a post back in October, my lecture centered on how legitimate criticism of Israel can be distinguished from criticism that crosses the line into anti-Semitic hate speech.
A video of my 60 minute lecture, which also captures its accompanying PowerPoint slide show, is now available on YouTube (full embed lower in post).
Below I highlight the main themes. I break the hour-long lecture into segments so that readers can click on to those parts of the talk that are of most interest.
I then summarize a series of post-lecture discussion exercises that I led with the nearly 100 audience members who attended my January 7, 2016 event.

Don't worry, be happy about Iranian nukes (NYT flashback edition)

New York Times, January 17, 2016

A Safer World, Thanks to the Iran Deal

New York Times, May 7, 1992

North Korea Defuses Nuclear Fear

This is a moment many thought would never come: Iran has delivered on its commitment under a 2015 agreement with the United States and other major powers to curb or eliminate the most dangerous elements of its nuclear program. The world is now safer for this.

The International Atomic Energy Agency verified on Saturday that Iran has shipped over 8.5 tons of enriched uranium to Russia so Iran can’t use that in bomb-making, disabled more than 12,000 centrifuges and poured concrete into the core of a reactor at Arak designed to produce plutonium.

On Sunday, President Obama hailed these steps as having “cut off every single path Iran could have used to build a bomb” and noted that engagement with Iran has created a “window to try to resolve important issues.” Most important of all, he said, “We’ve achieved this historic progress through diplomacy, without resorting to another war in the Middle East.”

Still, there are daunting challenges ahead, including ensuring the deal is strictly adhered to, an obligation for the United States, Russia, China and Europe. Cheating should be much harder, given that Iran will be subjected to continuous and intrusive monitoring by the I.A.E.A. of its nuclear enrichment facilities, centrifuge production and uranium mines. And even if the Iranians were to attempt to produce enough nuclear fuel for a bomb, it will now take them more than a year to do so. Before the agreement, that breakout time was two to three months.

The deal is a testament to patient diplomacy and President Obama’s visionary determination to pursue a negotiated solution to the nuclear threat, despite relentless attempts by his political opponents to sabotage the initiative. After more than 30 years of hostility between the two countries, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran and his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who took office in 2013, pursued the nuclear deal and its implementation with a pragmatic and constructive attitude.

North Korea has lifted the veil from its nuclear programs, thereby lifting hopes that it is renouncing any ambitions to develop nuclear arms. Long considered a potential nuclear renegade, North Korea has now provided the International Atomic Energy Agency with key details of its nuclear facilities, including a suspected reprocessing plant at Yongbyon. That will permit early inspections of the sites. Improved trade and diplomatic ties with the U.S., South Korea and Japan will surely follow, satisfying North Korea's needs.

Under a nuclear safeguards agreement with the I.A.E.A. that went into effect last month, Pyongyang is obliged to open all its nuclear sites to inspectors. To facilitate those inspections it is supposed to provide design data for all sites that handle uranium or plutonium, including those under construction or planned. It has now done so.

The sites include a laboratory at Yongbyon "designed for research on the separation of uranium and plutonium." This is believed to be the worrisome reprocessing plant, which some believe has the potential to turn out weapons-grade nuclear material in substantial quantities. That facility will be inspected by the I.A.E.A. in coming weeks. Under an agreement with South Korea, the North will then have to dismantle it.

Both North and South Korea now need to agree to carry out their own mutual inspections of suspect nuclear sites, going even beyond I.A.E.A. inspections in dispelling nuclear fears.

Should the inspections proceed without a hitch, they would convince even the skeptics that all of Korea is nuclear-free. That would vindicate those in the Bush Administration, in Seoul and in Tokyo who sought to resolve the nuclear issue diplomatically.

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UN plan to combat "violent extremism" doesn't mention Islam

From the UN:

On 15 January 2016 the Secretary-General presented his Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism to the General Assembly.

In recent years, terrorist groups such as ISIL, Al-Qaida and Boko Haram have shaped our image of violent extremism and the debate about how to address this threat. Their message of intolerance – religious, cultural, social – has had drastic consequences for many regions of the world. Holding territory and using social media for real-time communication of their atrocious crimes, they seek to challenge our shared values of peace, justice and human dignity.

In the Plan, the Secretary-General calls for a comprehensive approach encompassing not only essential security-based counter-terrorism measures but also systematic preventive steps to address the underlying conditions that drive individuals to radicalize and join violent extremist groups.

The plan itself does not mention Islam at all, except in reference to the "Islamic State."

Here is the UN's overview of its plan.

You can see that according to the leading world experts, Islamic terror doesn't exist. Terrorists are simply people who are disadvantaged and who suffer from lack of socio-economic opportunities and poor governance. (The "unresolved conflict" part seems to be aimed to justify Palestinian terror.) This is what drives them to "extremism. "

The UN provides the framework to solve a problem that they refuse to define.

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

01/18 Links Pt1: Remembering Dafna Meir together; Pregnant Israeli woman stabbed in terror attack

From Ian:

Remembering Dafna Meir together

I’m sitting alone by my computer, reading about a woman I will never get to meet. Before social media, Dafna Meir would have remained a name on a list for most of us. But the internet brings her own words, and the words of the people who loved her, into our separate homes. Tonight we are holding an improvised online wake for a woman few of us knew. And as we mourn Dafna Meir together, we are no longer truly alone.
Dafna Meir was many things for many people. She was a dedicated nurse. She taught women about fertility and contraception, sexuality and health, from a holistic point of view. She shared her medical and religious knowledge with other women, through her blog (in Hebrew) and in private conversations.
For five and a half years, Dafna answered anonymous medical and halachik questions through Kolech, helping women balance modern life, Jewish law and medical concerns. “I tried to enter the head of the person asking the question,” she wrote in a touching Facebook post in 2013, when she passed the mantle to new volunteers. “I tried to check what’s the central issue that requires an answer, what’s the question’s essence, so that I could answer the details and clauses in a way that would enable the woman who asked the question to find the answers within herself.”
Dafna didn’t stop sharing her knowledge when she stopped volunteering for Kolech: Many women consulted her, online and in real life. They recall, tonight, how she always made time to answer them thoroughly, and with what we call in Hebrew “maor panim“: a welcoming, lit face.
Dafna was also a wife and a mother. She gave birth to four children and became a foster mother to two others as well. This evening, as the night descended on the hills around their home, these children watched Dafna bleed to death on her own doorstep, after a terrorist stabbed her and ran.

Pregnant Israeli woman stabbed, wounded in Tekoa terror attack

A pregnant Israeli woman in her 30s was stabbed and moderately-to-seriously wounded in the settlement of Tekoa in the West Bank on Monday.
The victim wounded in the stabbing attack was later identified as Michal Froman, the daughter-in-law of late renowned peace advocate Rabbi Menachem Froman.
The terrorist who carried out the attack was shot and wounded.
Magen David Adom paramedics provided initial medical treatment, before evacuating the woman to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Paramedics then added that she was in moderate and stable condition, suffering from one stab wound to her upper body
According to the IDF, the stabbing took place in a clothing warehouse in the Tekoa industrial zone.
The IDF said the terrorist was in critical condition, on a ventilator and sedated.

New Israeli video shows PA's incitement

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office on Sunday released a new video showing the constant incitement by Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and media against Israel.
Israeli officials have warned that this incitement is the root cause for the current wave of terrorism against Israelis, but Western countries insist that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas is a “peace partner” for Israel.
The release of the video coincided with Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy Minister Gilad Erdan presenting ministers at Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting with the index of incitement in the PA.
The findings of the index indicate a rise in incitement in the PA, sponsored by the leadership and religious figures, in the institutions of formal education and massive exposure of the culture of incitement to the international community.
Ministers were presented with examples from children's and youth programs on the official Palestinian Authority television channel featuring – inter alia – children calling for the murder of Jews, incitement by Abbas himself encouraging terrorism, and incitement in new media.
Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy Ministry Director General Sima Vaknin noted that approximately 37% of terrorists are under 20, 39% are 21-25 and the remaining 24% are over 26.

Incitement and Education for Hatred in the PA

Palestinians celebrate murder of Dafna Meir

QudsN, a Palestinian news site, celebrated the murder of Dafna Meir of Otniel with this graphic featuring the name of the town:

Their Facebook post with this graphic has dozens of comments praising the murder, hoping that the murderer isn't found and wishing that the victim burns in hell.

(h/t Yenta)

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The UN mightily tries to pretend Israel doesn't exist

Israel's existence in the center of the Middle East remains a thorn in the UN's side.

The UN has five economic regional councils:

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)

One would naturally think that Israel would be part of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, because that is where it is located. Of course, Arab nations don't want Israel to exist, so Israel was forced to join the ECE instead.

But Israel's physical presence is still a problem when ESCWA wants to issue infographics that include maps:

I'm not quite sure why Egypt isn't on the map, but we know very well why Israel isn't mentioned. (Israel's has 3.54 million tourists in 2013, which would place it at #3, ahead of Jordan.)

ESCWA cannot completely ignore Israel by calling the area the "Middle East" or "MENA" or something like that, so the UN came up with another way to describe the Middle East while excluding Israel:

They call it the "Arab Region."

Because they know that when they issue statements on the problems of forced migration or women's rights in the region, they don't want to keep adding "...except for Israel." By doing that they would highlight how much better off Israelis, including Arab Israelis, are than their neighbors.

And that is a message that must not be mainstreamed.

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

Dafna Meir z"l

Yesterday, an Arab terrorist entered the home of Dafna Meir and stabbed her repeatedly in front of her children, murdering her.

Today, a teenage Arab terrorist repeatedly stabbed a pregnant Jewish woman as she was working in a clothing warehouse, She was seriously wounded.

It appears that yesterday's attack energized the Palestinian youth to start a new trend - to attack women.

But as with all other trends, soon the people who justify all Palestinian atrocities will come up with reasons why these women are legitimate targets. They'll even try to say it is legal under international law. And others will eagerly share their bizarre reasons to justify their own hate.

In the end, it is simply Jew-hatred. But just as the people who persecuted Jews from Egyptian bondage through the Middle Ages through the Holocaust justified their Jew-hate as a noble cause, so do today's Jew-haters.

I recently saw a book that pretended to justify Palestinian suicide bombings - using psychological language. You can read portions here, as the author - a Palestinian - disregards all facts and logic in his zeal to justify the most horrible crimes.

In short, according to these modern supporters of genocide, feeling oppressed justifies mass murder.. But when you add lots of footnotes, antisemites think that they now have a solid academic basis for their hate.

It is only a matter of time before we see justifications for targeting Jewish women.

Video roundup of the week

Mrs. Elder and I have been talking about doing a podcast or similar for a few months, and on Sunday night she said that we should just try to do something in real time and see how it comes out.

Here it is - a completely unedited, unrehearsed review of some of my posts of the week.

Let me know if you think that something like this (presumably a more polished version) would be of interest.

Other possibilities are live broadcasts and interactive broadcasts, all of which are not too hard to do nowadays. Or maybe make shorter videos with a single story for each one.

Any feedback and ideas welcome! This is only a beta test!

Vote for Best Video Hasby Award

The nominations for the Best Pro-Israel Video Hasby Awards are:

BEST PRO-ISRAEL VIDEO

"Why do you hate Israel?"

Israel: The world's most moral army

Lucy Aharish on the stabbing intifada

A special kind of hate (Pat Condell)

Top Ten Reasons Why Every Liberal Should Support Israel
Beyond Deception Strategy - Pierre Rehov
War Crimes in Gaza - Pierre Rehov

Bill Whittle: Terrorist Nation
Israel's Legal Founding - Alan Dershowitz
Who is Guilty of War Crimes in the Gaza War? - JCPA
KillStarter – Crowdfunding Iranian Terror (Shurat HaDin)
This Is how the Palestinians Raise their Children
Anti Israel Media Bias Much?

survey solution

The poll will close on Wednesday night.

Another potentially massive gas field found in Israeli waters

Haaretz reports:

An Israeli exploration group reported on Sunday it has discovered another large natural gas field off Israel's Mediterranean coast.

The group, led by Isramco Negev and Modiin Energy, said that a resource report showed there could be an estimated total of 8.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas at the Daniel east and west fields.

Here is where the new field is:

Egypt has recently discovered a massive gas field off its shores, so the race is on to develop and export this gas. If the estimates on this field are true, then Israel's total gas reserves are close to Egypt's.

TOI had a decent backgrounder on the entire controversy over natural gas in Israel.

The Hasby Award for Best Pro-Israel Article is being opened up for popular votes.

The nominees for Best Article are:

A Letter To Palestinian Supporters Tempted To Co-Opt Native American Struggles, Ryan Bellerose

It’s Not An Argument, Ryan Bellerose

History Matters ,Ryan Bellerose

Why I Am Pro-Palestinian Ryan Bellerose

The Palestinian Theft of Jewish Identity, Binyamin Arazi

The Rage Less Traveled, Kay Wilson

Calling BS on BDS - Apartheid Law vs. Israeli Law, Judean People's Front

The Biggest Mistakes Pro-Israel Advocates Make, series (Lex)

Is Israel a democracy? (Vic Rosenthal)

online polls

(I mistakenly placed a Barry Shaw book on this Articles list, please so not vote for that yet.)

Poll will close on Wednesday evening.

Hasby Award Winners - Best Young Defender of Israel

For the Best Young Defender of Israel award, I am awarding both the regular Hasby award and a Popular Vote award.

The winner of the Best Young Defender of Israel for 2016 is:

01/17 Links: Israeli woman Stabbed to Death; Fatah: Female terrorist killers are role models

From Ian:

Attacker stabs Israeli woman to death in her West Bank home

An Israeli woman was stabbed and killed in an attack inside her home in the West Bank settlement of Otniel, outside of Hebron, on Sunday evening.
The attacker, whose identity was not immediately known, fled the scene of the crime.
The army said in a statement that the assailant broke into the woman’s home and stabbed her to death.
Soldiers and police officers launched a manhunt for the attacker, setting up checkpoints in the area. The attacker was believed to have fled to a nearby Arab village, specifically Khirbet Karme, located just north of Otniel, according to Israeli media.
The army instructed residents to remain in their homes as they searched for the attacker.
The name of the woman, described in her late 30s, was not given. A child was reportedly in the home at the time of the attack, according to Channel 2 news.

PMW: Fatah: Female terrorist killers are role models

Fatah's first attack against Israel which targeted Israel's National Water Carrier (Jan. 1, 1965), is seen by Fatah as the "Launch" of the Fatah movement. Fatah Central Committee member Amal Hamad took the opportunity of this year’s anniversary celebrations to honor four female terrorists, three of them murderers, as outstanding role models for Fatah.
The four female Fatah terrorists Hamad chose to honor were each unique in some way. Dalal Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus in 1978 and killed 37 civilians, 12 of them children. Ayyat Al-Akhras, at 17 years old, was the youngest female suicide bomber in history. She killed 2 people in her 2002 bombing. Wafa Idris was the first female suicide bomber who killed 1 and wounded over 100 in 2002. Fatima Barnawi placed a bomb in a movie theater in Jerusalem in 1967 in an attempt to murder movie goers, but the bomb failed to explode. She was arrested and became the first female terrorist to be incarcerated in an Israeli prison.
Amal Hamad, Fatah Central Committee member: "Dalal Mughrabi led a squad of honorable and noble fighters. She crossed all the borders and the beach with them, and reached the center of Tel Aviv. She got on a bus and massacred the enemy and caused dozens of deaths. She was the commander and the role model... There are many Martyrdom-seekers among the Fatah women. The woman was present from the first moment. She took part in the national struggle, bore arms, resisted the occupation and detonated [bombs]. Fatima Barnawi blew up a movie theater in Jerusalem. Dalal blew up a bus, and killed officers, not civilians, and not children, women or elderly. She killed officers of the Israeli occupation army (sic, they killed 37 civilians, including 12 children). Among our female fighters there were role models: Wafa Idris (i.e., first suicide bomber, killed 1) and Ayyat Al-Akhras (i.e., 17-year-old, youngest suicide bomber, killed 2)." [Official PA TV, Jan. 1, 2016]

Fatah official names 3 murderers who in total killed 40 people as female role models

Who Is Betraying the Palestinians?

If the Americans and Europeans continue meddling, the stable but still fragile Palestinian social fabric in the West Bank will tear, and at the first sign of weakness, Hamas and ISIS will rush in -- as they have long been planning -- to take over.
Every Arab regime has, at one time or another, used the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an excuse to oppress its people. Our fellow Muslims have been happy to use us as a pretext: We are waging war because of the Palestinians. We refuse to fight because of the Palestinians. We cannot do what you want because of the Palestinians. At no time did they ever seriously seek to resolve the conflict -- nor did they ever want to.
The sheikhs who claimed it was forbidden for Muslims to live under the shadow of infidel European Christianity now have to watch as Muslims grovel at Europe's feet and beg the infidel Christians for a safe haven and shelter from... other Muslims.

Erik Tillman is an Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul University and one of my colleagues on the Academic Board of Trustees at Vocal Europe.

We seem to have differences concerning the significance of the migration crisis currently playing itself out in Germany and Sweden, among other western European countries.

In a piece entitled, Is the Refugee Crisis Fueling a Radical-Right Surge in Europe?, Tillman claims:

the refugee crisis is helping to push those voters attracted to the radical right—individuals who value security and social cohesion over individual autonomy and universal rights—to vote for those parties. (Emphasis mine.)

My question is whether or not the current refugee crisis will incline European voters who are already attracted to the "radical right" to vote for right-leaning political parties, as Tillman implies, or are we seeing a reasonable and growing concern among native Europeans about the political sensibilities and behavior of many of the Arab-Muslim immigrants pouring into their countries?

Tillman, for his part, took exception with my statement, within Arab Migrants, Jews, and the “Radical-Right” in Europe:

One thing that we know with certainty is that the great majority of Middle Eastern immigrants into Europe do not hold liberal values, i.e., the values of minority rights, gender equality, free speech, freedom of religion, and Gay rights.

Tillman points out:

But what do we “know with certainty” about the values of Muslim immigrants in the West? Because it is difficult and expensive to conduct survey research on a minority population, there is not a great deal of evidence.

He notes:

it is not a monolithic religious community, and significant differences exist between Muslims of different branches.

Islam numbers around 1.5 billion people from virtually every corner of the world... with the possible exception of Japan... so, yes, it is exceedingly diverse.

Tillman concludes:

many European Muslims display lower levels of prejudice closer to those of European Christians. This fact should remind us that individual personality traits that predispose one to prejudice exist across all religions and societies.

I absolutely agree.

Nonetheless, the data clearly shows levels of anti-Semitism throughout North Africa and the Middle East topping out over the 90th percentile according to Anti-Defamation League world statistics. The current genocide of Christians within that part of the world is staggering, and entirely under-reported, as Raymond Ibrahim, a scholar of Coptic descent, can easily attest. The rights of women and Gay people are regularly trampled throughout the Arab-Muslim Middle East and few in the West seems to care.

It is a matter of fundamental common sense, therefore, that traditionally oppressed groups within Europe, such as the GBLT community or the Jewish minority, not to mention women, should have a heads-up concerning the political nature of this Islamic influx.

Tillman takes a helpful step in that direction by breaking down some of the differences between Islamic groups. For example, he notes that there are significant differences in outlook between Sunni Muslims and the more liberal-minded Alevi Muslims. However, Alevi Muslims only represent between fifteen and twenty million people throughout the world, which means that they represent only a tiny percentage of the world Muslim population.

In any case, my question above stands.

Are the Europeans who will be voting for right-wing political parties likely to do so, as Tillman suggests, because they were already attracted to the "radical right" or will they do so out of a moderate and reasonable concern over how this mass migration will alter the nature of Europe?

The question is important because if the answer is the former they can easily be dismissed as radical right-wing bigots. However if the answer to the question is the latter then their politics will have significantly greater weight among opinion makers, policy makers, and the general public going forward.

Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.

We are doing everything we can to fight for Israel with hard work, research and - above all - the truth. I could sure use your help. Please donate today. If you have other skills you can volunteer for EoZ, send an email to volunteer@elderofziyon.com

From an UNRWA job posting:

The Director of UNRWA Operations acts as UNRWA’s representative in the West Bank where s/he directs UNRWA’s programmes... for a population of more than 750,000 registered Palestine refugees.

The Director leads UNRWA’s responsibility for addressing the needs of Palestine refugees in the West Bank whose limited rights, restricted movement and an Occupation contribute to their marginalized existence.

The job description itself says that Israel oppresses Palestinians whose lives are miserable.

Employees are required to take the Palestinian side of the issues:

Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect...

But, the posting emphasizes:

UNRWA is a United Nations organization whose staff are expected to uphold the highest standards of integrity, neutrality and impartiality.

How, exactly, can people be neutral when they are explicitly told to empathize with one side?

While UNRWA employees are told to push the narrative of how awful life is for Palestinians, the UNRWA website that tries to attract employees completely contradicts the description of "limited rights, restricted movement and an Occupation:"

Working for UNRWA in the West Bank is challenging and rewarding. Jerusalem is a family-friendly duty station.

Public transportation is very common in the West Bank. Local residents use either buses, taxis, or their private cars when commuting to the various locations in the West Bank, which are generally easily accessible.

... An increasing number of cafes, restaurants and hotels have wireless internet connections.

Generally speaking for international staff, living in the West Bank is a remarkable experience with many highlights including the kindness and generosity of the people and the incredible array of sites to explore that are of historical and religious significance. ... This duty station is otherwise known for its accessibility to modern facilities including shopping centres, gyms, and swimming pools in Jerusalem and Ramallah. There are also many coffee shops and bars that provide special menus in a fabulous atmosphere.

While UNRWA writes reports about how terrible the water situation is in the West Bank, they tell employees to enjoy the fabulous swimming pools available to all Palestinians.

While UNRWA tells the world that checkpoints are oppressive, it tells its employees that travel through those checkpoints for local residents is easy.

The entire reason that NGO workers love to work in the West Bank is because it is safe, because they have easy access to all the amenities of modern life - and because Israel won't do anything to them when they write report after report on how terrible life is there.

Three Arabs from east Jerusalem were arrested near Heichal Yaakov, a synagogue in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood, while worshipers were saying their morning prayers.

The Arabs were found in possession of makeshift knives that were obviously created by taking pairs of scissors apart and duct-taping the handles for easier gripping.

Look how desperate these poor Arabs are in order to create their knives! Look how thrifty - turning one pair of scissors into two weapons!

Perhaps some enterprising NGO can help them by donating proper knives so they don't have to go through this humiliation.

TOI says police have not yet determined if their intent was to stab Jews or simply to steal cars. However, scissors have been used in stabbing attempts over the past several months.

(h/t Yenta)

Qatar completes phase 1 of huge (and beautiful) apartment complex in Gaza

Somehow, despite that "siege" we keep hearing about, Qatar managed to build this in Gaza:

The first 1060 units are available now, and 1200 more coming soon.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said that these apartments were a "victory for the Palestinians in the face of the occupation and the brutal aggression" of Israel.

I am a little surprised that Mahmoud Abbas' picture is so prominently displayed in Gaza.

01/16 Links: Palestinian Acts of "Peace"; A wakeup call for the left; Iran frees 4 US prisoners

From Ian:

Palestinian Acts of "Peace"

Because terrorist acts against Israelis are almost never described as terrorist acts, Israel is the only country that is found guilty of defending itself against terrorism. Israel is the only country living next to a terrorist entity, and asked not to treat it as a terrorist entity.
The illusion of the Oslo Accords was that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) could become a respectable, law-abiding government, renounce violence, and abide by an agreement. The lies of the Oslo Accords were that the PLO, representing the "Palestinian people," was ready to exchange "land for peace" and actually desired to create a state living in peace side by side with Israel.
Many Europeans are falling for Joseph Goebbels's formula, that "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." Israel is now -- solely from propaganda and the falsification of history -- possibly the most unjustly demonized nation in history.
Israel is the only country that is always supposed to make "more concessions" to enemies who do not even hide their destructive intentions.

Ben-Dror Yemini: A wakeup call for the left

To my friends on the left-wing, this is a wakeup call. Ezra Nawi's story was supposed to set off the warning bells. It didn't. If you keep on with the regular chorus of "this is an attack on left-wing organizations," you will be doing a great service for the extreme right-wing.
When did anyone level relevant criticism against you? If your automatic reaction has been for many years to cry out "fascism" or "a danger to democracy," and never really address the issue at hand, then something has gone completely wrong with you, because this is the way to close yourselves off, it's not the way to deal with it. After all, most of the automatic reactions to the "Uvda" investigative report focused on the program itself and not the things it exposed. You've been praising exposés for years, and all of a sudden you're against them? What happened?
Zehava Galon, the political leader of the left, paid lip service by condemning Nawi, but claimed that "Uvda on Thursday joined the orchestrated and institutionalized campaign against the left and against left-wing organizations." Nawi, let us assume, does not represent you. Galon does. From here on out, every uncovering of price tag activities will, according to Galon's logic, turn into a "campaign against the right and right-wing organizations." That's a shame. Such logic does not distance Nawi from the left, it brings them together.

Fred Maroun: Next year in Jerusalem: The history of the people of Israel

In the late 1800’s, Herzl started a movement to reclaim sovereignty in the Land of Israel.
It was the home where many had been killed and from which many had been banished.
A few decades later, the world acquiesced, and they started their journey back home.
They started rebuilding their nation on arid land, getting ready for independence again.
However before they could complete their task, Europe decided that they had to die.
The world ignored their pleas and refused them sanctuary, so they died by the millions.
In 1948 they reclaimed the beloved land that some had never left for 3000 years.
But soon after tolerating the killing of six millions, the world betrayed them yet again.
The world allowed their neighbors to abuse them, expel them, and isolate them.
The world permitted their neighbors to wage an endless string of wars of annihilation.
These wars continue today with limitless supplies of hate and of willing collaborators.
The 4000-year-old hate burns still, with shameless demands for more massacres.
But the descendants of Jacob are now on their own land, resilient, sovereign, and free.
They will not let hate, lies, or violence deter them because they are home in Israel.