Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Elder of Ziyon
Revisiting “From The River to the Sea”
1 day ago
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Elder of Ziyon
Atlas Shrugs has photos of a BDS protest and pro-Israel counterprotest at NYU today.
One of the counterprotesters decided to use my advertisement that has been making the rounds in some California papers as a placard - something I never really thought of.
Here are the pro-Israel rally-ers:
And a close-up of the person who is holding my poster:
Nice to know that my efforts are paying off!
(h/t BH in Iowa)
One of the counterprotesters decided to use my advertisement that has been making the rounds in some California papers as a placard - something I never really thought of.
Here are the pro-Israel rally-ers:
And a close-up of the person who is holding my poster:
Nice to know that my efforts are paying off!
(h/t BH in Iowa)
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
From The New Universal Gazetteer; or, Geographical Dictionary. [With] Atlas, By Clement Cruttwell, 1792, under the entry for Palestine:
The population of this country is also greatly diminished; but at present no certain calculation can be given of it, as the number of inhabitants continually varies, on account of the Bedouin Arabs, who always come hither at certain periods from Arabia, and the country beyond the Jordan, in. order to feed their flocks.
If this country has lost its ancient splendour by the destruction of its cities, and the decrease of its population, it still retains its natural advantages, being beautifully variegated with mountains, hills, and delightful plains.
Its climate is exceedingly good. It seldom rains here ; but this deficiency is supplied by most abundant dews. The cold is never excessive; and if the summer heats are great, they are, however, mitigated by a periodical breeze, which renders them supportable.
Palestine abounds with every thing almost that is useful or necessary for the life of man. It produces wheat, barley, pulse of all kinds, fruits, wine, and oil, in such plenty, that though a part only of the country is cultivated, great quantities of these articles are distributed in the neighbouring provinces of Syria, and even transported to Europe, particularly wheat, barley, and pulse.
With regard to domestic and wild animals, it produces various kinds, many of which are not known in Europe. Cotton grows bere in great perfection, particularly in Samaria and Galilee. Among its productions may be reckoned also silk, tobacco, drugs, and aromatic herbs. The fields and woods, m the proper seasons, abound with flowers of every species ; but notwithstanding those advantages which it enjoys, all Palestine is not cultivated with the fame care as the vast plains of Galilee and Samaria. I observed that the mountainous country towards Jerusalem was more barren than any other part; but there is no reason to suppose; that it has always been in the same condition. The cause of its being at present neglected is, the want of population; for the inhabitants have abandoned the mountains, and retired to the plains, where agriculture is attended with less labour, and where they find mor econveniencies for their cattle.
Even in Galilee and Samaria there are many parts still uncultivated; but, as they abound with grass, they afford pasture to the cattle, which form the whole riches of the Arabs. These people, therefore, would quarrel much sooner for a sheep-fold than for a large tract of country; and, indeed, the only wars which they carry on are undertaken in order that they may rob each other of their oxen, camels, sheep, horses, or goats.
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
From FARS News:
It is certainly heartwarming that Egyptians are so unified on one issue: how much they hate their peace partner.
Why do I have the impression that the US will continue to give $2 billion a year to Egypt even if they completely abrogate Camp David?
Secretary-General of Egypt's Amal Party Magdi Hussein said confronting Israeli plans in occupied Palestine and supporting the Palestinian nation stand atop his agenda for presidential campaign.Perhaps he is trying to outdo ElBaradei.
Speaking in an interview with FNA on Tuesday, Hussein announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in Egypt to help establish democracy in his country and materialize people's demands.
Hussein said "confrontation against the Zionist plans in occupied Palestine", among others, is his top priority on the scene of foreign policy.
He viewed Egypt's relations with the Zionist regime as detrimental to his country.
He said "contents and clauses of the agreements signed between Egypt and Israel will certainly be revised" if he is elected president.
It is certainly heartwarming that Egyptians are so unified on one issue: how much they hate their peace partner.
Why do I have the impression that the US will continue to give $2 billion a year to Egypt even if they completely abrogate Camp David?
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
Hamas' Palestine Times website reports that according to Gaza's Ministry of the Interior, 1142 children were born in Gaza last week.
And the same source claims 100 people died during the week.
(Historically, many Palestinian Arabs would cover up deaths in UNRWA camps in order to get more food and services for their families. Because the only way to lose your refugee status, according to UNRWA, is to die.)
And the same source claims 100 people died during the week.
(Historically, many Palestinian Arabs would cover up deaths in UNRWA camps in order to get more food and services for their families. Because the only way to lose your refugee status, according to UNRWA, is to die.)
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
Al Masry al Youm is quoted in Arabic media as saying that there has been an increase in the number of girls who are being snatched in Egypt since the revolution.
Five girls have disappeared in recent weeks.
Five girls have disappeared in recent weeks.
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
The Spring 2011 issue of Young Israel Viewpoint has just come out, and it deals with Zionism today.
It has many well-known contributors: Danny Ayalon, Yudi Edelstein, Nobel-Prize winner Prof. Yisroel Aumann, Melanie Phillips, the people who run LatmaTV, StandWithUs, Honest Reporting, Camera...and one other guy:
It is funny to see my anonymous self in print:
The PDF of this issue is now online but why should you have to wait to read what I wrote? Here's my article:
It is no secret that Israel has a severe problem with hasbara. Over the past forty years, the Jewish state has been slowly but surely been transformed in the public eye from a tiny nation proudly defending itself from annihilation into a state that is perceived as an oppressor, a human rights violator, and – to many of its detractors – to one of the most evil regimes on the planet.
It has many well-known contributors: Danny Ayalon, Yudi Edelstein, Nobel-Prize winner Prof. Yisroel Aumann, Melanie Phillips, the people who run LatmaTV, StandWithUs, Honest Reporting, Camera...and one other guy:
It is funny to see my anonymous self in print:
The PDF of this issue is now online but why should you have to wait to read what I wrote? Here's my article:
It is no secret that Israel has a severe problem with hasbara. Over the past forty years, the Jewish state has been slowly but surely been transformed in the public eye from a tiny nation proudly defending itself from annihilation into a state that is perceived as an oppressor, a human rights violator, and – to many of its detractors – to one of the most evil regimes on the planet.
Most Zionists who follow the news know how absurd these characterizations are. We also know that Israel is, to put it charitably, inconsistent in getting its message across properly to the world. Everyone complains about it, and everyone has their own ideas on how to fix it – but very few people are actually doing anything about it themselves.
This is a shame, because everyone who is reading this article can help Israel, starting today.
I have a pro-Israel blog, Elder of Ziyon. I have written thousands of articles about Israel and the Arab world over the past six years, and I get a fair number of readers. Lately, I have been using my blog as a laboratory to test out different ways of getting the message across. I can track the number of readers for any particular post, how many times people “tweet” the post and how many link to it on Facebook and other social media sites. Using these methods I can see what works and what doesn’t. The lessons are valuable not only to bloggers but to everyone who cares about helping Israel.
One problem that we Jews have is that we are too logical. Thousands of years of studying Gemara may have made us good at arguing, but it also convinced us that anyone can be swayed by a good argument. So we happily read and write long texts explaining why the “settlements” are legal, why US Resolution 242 does not imply that Israel must stay within the Green Line, and why a blockade of Gaza does not flout international law.
Our enemies, on the other hand, spend their time reaching people on an emotional level. They show photos and videos of crowded camps, of bombed out buildings, of old women crying.
In the real world, the emotional argument wins.
As much as we like to pretend that everyone shares the Jewish love for an innovative and logical thought process, in reality people usually make up their minds about Israel (and everything else) based on their gut. If a person who is not already emotionally invested in the argument one way or the other sees a tear-jerking film that pushes one side of the story, nine times out of ten that person will instinctively gravitate towards the side that pulled at his or her heartstrings.
We need to prioritize our emotional arguments. We need to talk about our deep connection to the land of Israel. We need to emphasize how we have cried every year over the destruction of the Temples. We need to show the human toll that would result from hundreds of thousands of Jews who the world wants to uproot from their homes. We need to describe the pain that would result from losing Har HaZeitim again, and what happened to it during those tragic 19 years that Arabs had control.
Not only is our emotional connection to the Land far deeper than anyone else’s, but no one can argue against love and fear. Emotions are our most potent weapon, but one that we are ceding almost completely to those who hate Israel. We know that we are right from a legal, historical and moral perspective – but we need to humanize the message.
It is not only the message that must hit emotional chords – but also the media that the message is communicated in. People respond to messages that are visceral, and that hit all of their senses. Powerpoints, posters, songs, poetry, film, novels, plays, even cuisine - all need to be employed to impact people on every possible level. Text alone generally does not have the same impact as more visual media.
On the Internet, the goal is to create something that will “go viral” – that ordinary people will see and want to forward to their friends. Videos do better than written articles, and humor is possibly the biggest weapon of all. Most of us have seen Latma’s “We Con the World” video created last year, and it was hugely effective with millions of views on YouTube. Why? Because it was funny, timely, and visceral.
While defending Israel is important, it is vital to go on the offensive. No one wins any games by only playing defense. The fact is that every accusation made against Israel – true or false – can be made much more plausibly and effectively against Israel’s neighbors and enemies. Attack the abysmal human rights records of the Arabs themselves. Publicize how nearly every Arab country has laws that specifically deny citizenship to Palestinians alone.
Arab nations constantly attack Israel to distract their people from their own human rights violations. The recent riots in Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen Egypt and Jordan – and the deadly police responses – prove that Israel is not the problem in the Middle East, not by a long shot. The Arab and Islamic dictatorships, where there is no freedom of expression or of the press, are the ones who need to be put on the defensive.
Beyond that, we need to publicize the good things that come out of Israel every day. Art, dance, fiction, scientific achievements, medical advances – we know it is amazing, but the world doesn't get to see these parts of the country.
So how can you, personally, help?
There are two basic ways to help: by creating pro-Israel content, and by publicizing the best content that is made by others.
For those who have the ability, creativity and time, by far the best thing to do is to apply the concepts of emotional and visceral media to the creation of pro-Israel videos, songs or song parodies, articles, comics, or even video-games and phone apps. One of my readers says that a good romance novel with a strong, masculine Zionist protagonist could do wonders to change Israel's image among those that read them.
Challenge yourself to distill a pro-Israel argument into a 140-character tweet (or even a bumper sticker.) Think outside the box and use your talents! Then send your efforts to popular Zionist websites to get publicized.
Think of ways that Zionist messages can be made available to the world. Do you have interesting video of your last visit to Israel that shows a side of the country that the news media ignores? Upload it to YouTube!
Once one of my readers sent me a photo taken in the Rami Levy supermarket in Gush Etzion, showing a smiling religious Jew joking with an Arab woman. I put it on my blog, to show how life really looks in Judea and Samaria, and a number of European websites picked up the story. A simple thing like that humanizes the “settlers” that the world regards as faceless, evil creatures.
Are you going to a fundraising dinner with a terrific speaker? Take video of the speech and upload it to YouTube. I did this with a speech by Mike Huckabee and thousands of people viewed it – people who would never have even known about it otherwise.
Don’t just write letters to the editor of a local paper – post them on the Internet, too. Make sure that everything you write remains somewhere permanent on the web so that search engines can find it. Put them on a blog (easy to set up) or email them to influential sites, so your points can be seen by many more people.
If you are multilingual, translate the best pro-Israel articles you see into other languages and post or forward them to spread the message. There is a real hunger for pro-Israel content in Europe, and if you can break the language barrier, it can make a big difference.
If an anti-Israel article bothers you, take the time to examine where the logical fallacies are - they are often subtle and such an exercise can hone your own ability to defend Israel. Learn how to take apart an argument from anti-Israel writers, point by point (called “fisking” on the Internet) and expose the lies that they build their essays on. When a good criticism is written quickly after an influential anti-Israel article, it can blunt the effect considerably – but speed is of the essence.
Write your own articles for so-called "citizen journalism" sites that already have a built-in audience. Such sites are often indexed prominently by Google and Bing, and they often lean against Israel so that pro-Israel articles can make a splash.
I don't think that on-line comments on articles in newspapers is necessarily the best way to spend your time, but it is worthwhile to put short pro-Israel messages in the comments if only to show that not everyone agrees with the haters who flood these sites. And don't only put Zionist messages in political sites – if it is appropriate, mentioning Israeli companies in financial sites or Israeli novelists in book sites is very powerful.
If you love to read, Amazon book reviews are a very good way to reach an intelligent, articulate audience.
If you don’t have the time or talent to create content, you can still be a wizard at publicizing good pro-Israel articles and videos. Twitter and Facebook are the major tools you cannot ignore, and they can help make good material get tons of views. Grow your “friend” lists so that your own influence grows, and copy or link to the best articles and videos on Facebook and Twitter.
It is also worthwhile to join social bookmarking sites like Reddit, PopURLs and Delicious. If some material is interesting, people will read it, rate it and link to it themselves.
Similarly, take good material you find and post them to popular message boards. Old fashioned email is essential as well – share your discoveries with friends.
The important point is to publicize the best material. This amplifies the effectiveness of the pro-Israel message immensely - and it only takes a few seconds to retweet or click a Facebook "Like" button that most websites and online magazines have.
Don’t complain about how others aren’t doing enough to help Israel. The Internet allows you to do it yourself, and you can make a real impact!
UPDATE: The magazine is online and you can download it as a PDF.
UPDATE: The magazine is online and you can download it as a PDF.
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
The Arab and far left press has been abuzz the past few days with allegations that Israel has been supplying weapons to Libyan forces to fight the rebels.
The original source for this version of the rumor came from this photo that was posted on the Al Manara Facebook page, showing weapons that Libyan rebels captured:
The weapon has a six pointed star imprinted on it, hence, it was assumed to be from Israel.
Based on this, a Libyan rebel leader has accused Israel of sending weapons to Libya via former Fatah leader Muhammed Dahlan, a much reviled figure. And idiot moonbats are happily spreading this rumor. Fatah has called for an investigation.
However, in a fascinating Twitter thread, the entire basis for this rumor was demolished in minutes.
The upshot is that this is a universal symbol for an illuminating flare (star) that uses a parachute (umbrella symbol). From a NATO manual:
The original source for this version of the rumor came from this photo that was posted on the Al Manara Facebook page, showing weapons that Libyan rebels captured:
The weapon has a six pointed star imprinted on it, hence, it was assumed to be from Israel.
Al Jazeera also showed video of these weapons and highlighted the six-pointed star as proof that they came from Israel (go to 0:22)
Iran's Press TV jumped on the bandwagon:
The opposition forces in the Libyan city of Misratah displayed weapons that they have seized from the forces supporting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Al Jazeera reported Thursday.
They said that some of the confiscated rockets and bombs had signs imprinted on them, clearly indicating that they are manufactured in Israel.
However, in a fascinating Twitter thread, the entire basis for this rumor was demolished in minutes.
The upshot is that this is a universal symbol for an illuminating flare (star) that uses a parachute (umbrella symbol). From a NATO manual:
The six-pointed star has been used for identifying illumination rounds since at least World War I.
The rumor is completely and provably false. And not one of those who spread the rumor will ever recant, because truth is not their objective.
(What has not been proven false is whether Dahlan had been involved in weapons smuggling for Libya in general. I have no information either way on that.)
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
From Ma'an:
Israel's home ownership rate is 71%. The US is at 68%.
I think we need to give them a few billion more dollars. After all, only 0.9% live in "large manor homes."
I also wonder how they define "large manor homes." Because from a drive through Judea and Samaria, one can see many large Arab houses. Do those qualify?
The vast majority of Palestinians own their homes, living with an average of 1.6 people per room, while those who rent pay an average of 115 Jordanian Dinar ($162) per month, a housing survey found.This would make the PA #2 in the world in the category of home ownership, and Gaza would be tied for #1 with Singapore.
Only 0.9 percent of households lived in large manor homes, while 48 percent said they lived in a house, with 50 percent in apartment buildings. Home ownership in the West Bank was at 82 percent, and at 87 in Gaza.
Ninty-seven percent of homes had refrigerators, 94 percent had satellite dishes, and 47 percent have computers.
Israel's home ownership rate is 71%. The US is at 68%.
I think we need to give them a few billion more dollars. After all, only 0.9% live in "large manor homes."
I also wonder how they define "large manor homes." Because from a drive through Judea and Samaria, one can see many large Arab houses. Do those qualify?
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
I mentioned that the UC-Davis student newspaper, the California Aggie, had placed two conditions on publishing a pro-Israel ad I designed:
In a later email to the ad's sponsor, written on Saturday, the editor of the paper wrote:
Yesterday, the Aggie published this ad:
Needless to say, this ad did not adhere to either of the two conditions that the editor promised - even though Amnesty International is hardly an uncontroversial organization.
Again, for comparison, here is the "controversial" ad that is being subjected to restrictions by the newspaper:
As I mentioned previously, I have no problem with the first condition. The second condition, however, is insulting. It is insulting both to the pro-Israel community and to the Aggie community. I would hope that college students would be smart enough to know the difference between an ad and an editorial, and also smart enough to know that ads can be responded to. The very idea that a pro-Israel ad needs to be specifically highlighted so that people who want to bash Israel are given every possible opportunity to do so is in itself evidence of bias. What other newspaper makes such a demand for a paid ad?
1) We put the words "Paid Advertisement" at the top of the ad.
2) The Aggie will run a box next to the ad giving readers their response options (Where to buy an ad of their own, where to send a guest opinion, etc...)
In a later email to the ad's sponsor, written on Saturday, the editor of the paper wrote:
In the future, as long as I'm Editor in Chief of The Aggie, any advertisement regarding such an important issue will need to be fair, as yours is, and must meet these two conditions. Whether it's a politician running for office or a direct response to your ad, these conditions will be enforced consistently from this point forward.
Yesterday, the Aggie published this ad:
Needless to say, this ad did not adhere to either of the two conditions that the editor promised - even though Amnesty International is hardly an uncontroversial organization.
Again, for comparison, here is the "controversial" ad that is being subjected to restrictions by the newspaper:
As I mentioned previously, I have no problem with the first condition. The second condition, however, is insulting. It is insulting both to the pro-Israel community and to the Aggie community. I would hope that college students would be smart enough to know the difference between an ad and an editorial, and also smart enough to know that ads can be responded to. The very idea that a pro-Israel ad needs to be specifically highlighted so that people who want to bash Israel are given every possible opportunity to do so is in itself evidence of bias. What other newspaper makes such a demand for a paid ad?
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch is predictably perturbed at Goldstone's Washington Post op-ed. Almost as predictably, he writes a letter about it - not to the Washington Post, but to the New York Times.
Here's one part that shows how disingenuous Roth is:
Yet HRW did not have a single real military expert doing its investigations. It came up with these conclusions based not on knowledge, but on ignorance. Their one "expert" they loved to trot out as a fig leaf for their pseudo-investigations has left HRW in disgrace, he had no real-world experience in how urban warfare is waged, and even so his concerns about how HRW was "sexing up" military claims against Israel were reportedly disregarded by his supervisors.
A comparison between how Goldstone (and HRW) investigated specific incidents of the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the IDF's report on the same incidents, shows conclusively that Goldstone and HRW both know next to nothing about military matters - yet they both made false conclusions about how Israel must have had a policy violating Geneva conventions because they couldn't imagine otherwise.
Israel has been spending the past two years painstakingly investigating not only HRW and Goldstone's claims, but hundreds of other complaints about Cast Lead. Yet somehow we have not heard about any deliberate Israeli policy to target civilians. So is HRW saying that the investigations are a huge cover-up for an immoral and illegal Israeli policy that they are sure exists but that no one has been able to produce?
At least Goldstone belatedly realized, to a small degree, his own limitations. HRW has too much hubris to ever issue a correction.
So-called "human rights organizations" cannot fairly judge how a war is waged without basic knowledge of how wars are fought. Ken Roth runs an organization that makes conclusions based on pure ignorance.
When will HRW become as transparent in its methodologies as it demands from those it loves to condemn? When will HRW ever admit that they perhaps didn't have all the information needed to draw their flawed conclusions?
We know the answer. HRW doesn't care about the truth as much as it cares about its own reputation and its own self-image as an arbiter of morality for (selected) nations of the world. So any legitimate criticisms of HRW will be denied, ignored, and downplayed rather than investigated and fixed. It's happened before and it will continue to happen, and we can expect Ken Roth to continue to dissemble rather than do what he demands of others.
Here's one part that shows how disingenuous Roth is:
Mr. Goldstone has not repudiated his panel’s findings that Israel committed numerous serious violations of the laws of war. Israeli forces, according to the Goldstone report, indiscriminately used heavy artillery and white phosphorous in densely populated areas and deliberately destroyed civilian buildings and infrastructure without a lawful military reason. That conduct was so widespread and systematic that it must have reflected policy.HRW's central thesis is that Israeli policy is to attack civilians. And their evidence is that based on their deeply flawed investigations, "it must" be so.
Israel has yet to investigate the policies behind the indiscriminate attacks that caused so much civilian harm.
Yet HRW did not have a single real military expert doing its investigations. It came up with these conclusions based not on knowledge, but on ignorance. Their one "expert" they loved to trot out as a fig leaf for their pseudo-investigations has left HRW in disgrace, he had no real-world experience in how urban warfare is waged, and even so his concerns about how HRW was "sexing up" military claims against Israel were reportedly disregarded by his supervisors.
A comparison between how Goldstone (and HRW) investigated specific incidents of the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the IDF's report on the same incidents, shows conclusively that Goldstone and HRW both know next to nothing about military matters - yet they both made false conclusions about how Israel must have had a policy violating Geneva conventions because they couldn't imagine otherwise.
Israel has been spending the past two years painstakingly investigating not only HRW and Goldstone's claims, but hundreds of other complaints about Cast Lead. Yet somehow we have not heard about any deliberate Israeli policy to target civilians. So is HRW saying that the investigations are a huge cover-up for an immoral and illegal Israeli policy that they are sure exists but that no one has been able to produce?
At least Goldstone belatedly realized, to a small degree, his own limitations. HRW has too much hubris to ever issue a correction.
So-called "human rights organizations" cannot fairly judge how a war is waged without basic knowledge of how wars are fought. Ken Roth runs an organization that makes conclusions based on pure ignorance.
When will HRW become as transparent in its methodologies as it demands from those it loves to condemn? When will HRW ever admit that they perhaps didn't have all the information needed to draw their flawed conclusions?
We know the answer. HRW doesn't care about the truth as much as it cares about its own reputation and its own self-image as an arbiter of morality for (selected) nations of the world. So any legitimate criticisms of HRW will be denied, ignored, and downplayed rather than investigated and fixed. It's happened before and it will continue to happen, and we can expect Ken Roth to continue to dissemble rather than do what he demands of others.
- Tuesday, April 05, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
Because a Hamas website tells us so!
Hamas' Palestine Times quotes Israel radio as saying that Jews were injured by stones thrown by Palestinian Arabs on Monday night near Qaryut, which appears to be near Shiloh. I can find nothing about this on any other website.
I guess that there aren't armies of international observers with cameras around to document Arab violence when Jews are the targets. And if they had witnessed it, they sure wouldn't admit it.
Hamas' Palestine Times quotes Israel radio as saying that Jews were injured by stones thrown by Palestinian Arabs on Monday night near Qaryut, which appears to be near Shiloh. I can find nothing about this on any other website.
I guess that there aren't armies of international observers with cameras around to document Arab violence when Jews are the targets. And if they had witnessed it, they sure wouldn't admit it.
Monday, April 04, 2011
- Monday, April 04, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
My entry in the quarter-finals of the Pro-Israel Blog-Off has won over the very good entry from 7 Agorot, so I will next compete in the semi-finals. Thanks for those who voted for me, and the judges who liked my entry.And a thanks to Israellycool for this very cool contest.
Although I haven't seen the brackets, I imagine that I will next be competing against the winner of the current battle between CiFWatch and Ultimate Culture Clash. Go to Israellycool and vote!
I have a couple of weeks to plan my strategy for the next round. So far I have submitted a cartoon and a serious article. Next up.....?
- Monday, April 04, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
From the UN website:
Obviously, a GA vote that symbolically recognizes "Palestine" would increase pressure on Israel, but unless the US chooses to support a unilateral Palestinian Arab state, it will not exist based on the GA's say-so.
And the US doesn't even have to veto the application - it only has to vote "no," which even the UK might consider doing as well, especially since Hamas will almost certainly still be ruling Gaza in September which means that "Palestine" cannot be said by any definition to be a "peace-loving state" which is a pre-requisite for membership.
UPDATE: Apparently, a "no" vote by any permanent member is a veto all the time in the Security Council. (h/t deegee)
The recognition of a new State or Government is an act that only other States and Governments may grant or withhold. It generally implies readiness to assume diplomatic relations. The United Nations is neither a State nor a Government, and therefore does not possess any authority to recognize either a State or a Government. As an organization of independent States, it may admit a new State to its membership or accept the credentials of the representatives of a new Government.If I am reading this right, then the kerfuffle over the General Assembly recognizing "Palestine" in September is not as big an issue as it is being presented. (The NYT's article today that claimed otherwiset has issued a correction.)
Membership in the Organization, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, “is open to all peace-loving States which accept the obligations contained in the [United Nations Charter] and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able to carry out these obligations”. States are admitted to membership in the United Nations by decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. The procedure is briefly as follows:
- The State submits an application to the Secretary-General and a letter formally stating that it accepts the obligations under the Charter.
- The Security Council considers the application. Any recommendation for admission must receive the affirmative votes of 9 of the 15 members of the Council, provided that none of its five permanent members — China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America — have voted against the application.
- If the Council recommends admission, the recommendation is presented to the General Assembly for consideration. A two-thirds majority vote is necessary in the Assembly for admission of a new State.
- Membership becomes effective the date the resolution for admission is adopted.
Obviously, a GA vote that symbolically recognizes "Palestine" would increase pressure on Israel, but unless the US chooses to support a unilateral Palestinian Arab state, it will not exist based on the GA's say-so.
And the US doesn't even have to veto the application - it only has to vote "no," which even the UK might consider doing as well, especially since Hamas will almost certainly still be ruling Gaza in September which means that "Palestine" cannot be said by any definition to be a "peace-loving state" which is a pre-requisite for membership.
UPDATE: Apparently, a "no" vote by any permanent member is a veto all the time in the Security Council. (h/t deegee)
- Monday, April 04, 2011
- Elder of Ziyon
During the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, Iran has been on the front row, cheering these potential Islamic uprisings against Arab dictators.
But that support only goes so far, as the unrest has now morphed into a Zionist plot:
But that support only goes so far, as the unrest has now morphed into a Zionist plot:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the West on Monday of fomenting unrest in Syria and across the Arab Middle East to secure Israel's position, state television reported.Consistency? Who needs consistency?
Ahmadinejad accused his arch foe the United States and other Western nations of hatching a plot, singling out Tehran's ally Syria which is being rocked by anti-government protests.
"They want to save the Zionist regime (Israel) by interfering in the region aimed at creating discord among the regional nations and governments," he told a news conference.
"America and the Zionist regime want to weaken Syria's resistance by creating discord between the Syrian government and the Syrian nation," said Ahmadinejad
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