Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Lawsuit: Male nurse fired for treating Muslim women in Dearborn

A former medic in Dearborn, Michigan is going after his old employers with a sex discrimination suit. According to John Benitez Jr, he lost his job with the city’s Department of Health because he provided medical care to Muslim patients.

Benitez, 63, has spent half his life as a registered nurse. In September 2010, he joined the ranks of Dearborn’s Health Department to assist patients in one of the largest Muslim communities in America. Even with a booming population of immigrants practicing Islam, the nurse says that his supervisor told him that they were off limits.

Benitez says that his former employer lectured him against providing care to female Muslim patients that sought help, and instead asked him to send them to her, a Muslim, for treatment. According to the suit recently filed, the Muslim supervisor told Benitez that “conservative” Muslims, specifically women garbed in hijab head scarves, would not want to be touched by a male nurse. Benitez followed the instruction until November 17, when according to the legal filing, a doctor questioned him "about the cumbersome and unusual practice of taking women wearing a head scarf to the nursing supervisor for care.” As a trained, licensed medical professional — and employee of the city — Benitez should have been providing care to anyone in need. After the doctor confronted him about it in November and said the supervisor’s instructions were “improper,” Benitez went back to treating everyone that came in.

Only two weeks later, Benitez was fired.

According to the legal papers, the nurse was explicitly told that the termination was "not because of any performance problem, but was instead carried out because the clinic's conservative male Muslim clientele did not want a male treating female patients." More than 30 years after entering the practice — a tenure which included a stint asVietnam war Army medic — the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission gave Benitez the go ahead to sue last month and on Wednesday he filed the discrimination suit in Detroit U.S. District Court.

City officials have not offered any comments to the media just yet, though Benitez’ attorney says that their client is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as his job reinstated and lost wages and benefits.

I would have no problem if the patients requested a woman nurse in non-life threatening situations, but this is simply a bigoted woman who is trying to push her own interpretation of Islamic law in a public heath facility.

(h/t Callie)

Anti-Zionist Christian ethicists never responded

I noted over a week ago about a pair of Christian ethicists who claimed that Genesis 15 and 17, both used as proof-texts by Christian Zionists that Jews were promised the Land of Israel (with nebulous borders), in fact were referring to all children of Abraham. I brought a number of texts besides those that showed otherwise, and wondered why they looked at those texts in a vacuum.

It turns out I violated my own rule for always looking at the source if possible, because it is clear that they cherry-picked their quotes, and other quotes in the same chapters show their interpretation is wrong.

They note:

[T]he promise looks very different if we take seriously all of the offspring of Abraham. Genesis 15:4-5 has God taking Abram outside and telling him that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars of the heavens. Genesis 17:4, probably the pivotal text, has God saying to Abraham: “This is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.” Many nations, a multitude of nations; many offspring, many kings—read Genesis 17 again and see the plural nouns here.

Close readers of Scripture will know that in fact Abraham did become the father of many nations. With Sarah he became the father of Isaac and the ancestor of all in his line, via Jacob and Esau. With Hagar he became the father of Ishmael and all in his line. And with the long-forgotten Keturah (Gen. 25:1) he became the father of Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The Old Testament clearly positions Abraham as the father/ancestor of not only the Jewish people but of a vast number of other peoples, all scattered through the territories promised in Genesis 15. Abraham becomes the father of dozens of peoples, exactly as the Bible says! It is certainly true that the Old Testament primarily tells the story of the line of Isaac and therefore of what became the Jewish people, but that cannot cancel the significance of the promises to Abraham and the many peoples credited to him in Genesis.

But Genesis 15 says:

And He said unto Abram: 'Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance. ...And in the fourth generation they shall come back hither; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.'

This is an obvious reference to the children of Israel in Egypt, using the same phrase "thy seed" that the authors refer to.

Likewise, Genesis 17 proves that the covenant goes only to Isaac, not Ishmael:

And God said: 'Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee; behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.'

Later, Isaac makes it clear that the covenant is passing only to Jacob, not Esau (Gen 28, today's Torah reading:)

And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a congregation of peoples; and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings, which God gave unto Abraham.'

I brought most of these to their attention in their blog, after their follow-up post where they said how "We are sincere in raising these biblical questions and hoping for a sincere answer. We are deeply serious about biblical authority."

But they never responded, not even on their own blog.

Now, I do not know if Christian Zionists are advocating that Israel conquer all land between the Nile and Euphrates; as the authors seem to imply. The boundaries of the land God is promising the Israelites seems to change in different chapters and I imagine that this is an issue that needs to be grappled with from a Christian perspective. But to facilely declare that God must have been talking about Arabs and dismiss everything else in those same chapters seems more an exercise in wishful thinking than in serious Biblical interpretation. I also do not believe that Israeli policy is made in response to Christian Zionist demands.

I may be completely wrong, as I am not a Christian and maybe there is a glaringly obvious error I am making in the literal interpretation of these verses. But if not, then based on their argument and the lack of adequate answers, the state of Christian Biblical scholarship has gone way downhill since the 19th century.

Stupid Arab rumor of the day: Mossad threatened to kill Abbas

Palestine Press Agency quotes Egypt's Moheet newspaper as saying that Arab League sources allege that Mahmoud Abbas received death threats from the Mossad - unless he scuttles his unity agreement with Hamas.

Sure. Spy agencies always send threats to their intended targets, like 1920's era mobsters.

Then again, in a world where even Israeli media give credibility to bizarre conspiracy theories floated by a pathetic anti-Israel blogger in Seattle who claims to have super-secret Mossad sources, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on Moheet.

Islamists win Morocco elections

From Al Arabiya:

The Moroccan government confirmed Saturday that the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (PJD) had won biggest share of seats in parliament.

The party captured 80 seats in the 395-seat assembly, the most of any party, in Friday's polls according to provisional results, Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui told a news conference.

A party in Morocco's ruling coalition recognized the win PJD’s win in the parliamentary elections.

“I congratulate the PJD for this win and I would like to say as well that Morocco won in these legislative elections,” sports and youth minister Moncef Belkhayat and a leader of the National Rally of Independents party told AFP.

The PJD, supported largely by Morocco’s poor, would be the second moderate Islamist party to lead a North African government since the start of the region’s Arab Spring uprisings, following Tunisia.

But the party, which hopes to push Islamic finance but vows to steer clear of imposing a strict moral code on society, will have to join forces with others to form a government.

The king revived a reform process this year hoping to sap the momentum out of a protest movement and avoid the violence-ridden revolts in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Syria.

He has handed over more powers to the government, although he retains the final say on the economy, security and religion.

The king will pick the next prime minister from the party that wins the biggest number of seats. But whichever party or bloc comes first is unlikely to be able to form a government on its own.

PJD has said it aims to obtain a majority by joining forces with three parties in the current governing coalition, including the left-wing Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) and the nationalist Istiqlal of Prime Minister Abbas al-Fassi.

Well, that takes care of most of North Africa.

Ofir Gendelman is the Israeli Prime Minister's spokesperson to the Arab media. He was interviewed by pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat. It mentions that he is 40 years old and learned Arabic in Haifa, starting in primary school and going on through college.

Excerpts:

* Why do you enjoy your job?

- Communicating with the Arab world is critical for me... I serve my country and my people, and serve the cause of peace.

* How?

- I do not limit myself to dealing with the Arab world through traditional media, but also with forums and social networks as well. I try to probe the depth of Arab societies, by giving a true picture of Israel not one that is superficial. I want to [combat] the distortions and lies that are published about us.

* Give us an example of that.

- Arabs in general put the Israeli and in one of three categories: soldier, settler, or religious. As you know, and I'm neither of them. I am not religious and I'm not a settler and I'm not a soldier, and I'm trying to say is that Israel is a state where there is a plurality of other characters, and I try to give a true picture of it.

* How do you find in yourself the ability to defend the policy of Netanyahu. This man is a hate figure among the Arabs in the world; from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf. He is seen only negatively.

- I think that the perception in the Arab world of our Prime Minister Netanyahu is the wrong impression. Wrong and very distorted. He actually wants to make peace with the Palestinians and other Arabs. And his position is constantly moving towards peace, [he has] accepted the principle of two states for two peoples.

* It is natural to defend him, you are his spokesperson. But this talk does not convince any Arabs. They only understand the results. Here we are approaching three years of his reign he did not further the peace process at all. On the contrary, the settlement and Judaization [has accelerated].

- I served under the three Israeli governments, led by Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu, and I bear witness that there are no fundamental differences among them.

* Do you want to tell me that Netanyahu, who does not move a muscle, is like Olmert, [who offered] the withdrawal of the majority of the West Bank and the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital Jerusalem?

- Netanyahu focuses more on security issues, terrorism and the Iranian threat, because these are the fundamental concerns of Israeli society.

* And when you say this to the Arabs in the media or in social networks, how do they react?

- Responses are varied, there are supporters and opponents and [also] attacks and insults.

* In general, do you get more negative responses than positive or vice versa?

- The majority of responses are negative. But this is due to the accumulation of hostility and influence of the anti-Israel propaganda for years. There are also positive responses from people who understand our positions or parts of them. It is an important beginning.

Q: What is the volume of interest in the Arab world to hear your positions or the positions of Netanyahu?

- In the Arab media, it is always there. In cases of hot events, I've conducted many interviews, as many as 15.; during the Shalit deal I conducted interviews with 22 media outlets. As for the Facebook, the page opened by Prime Minister Netanyahuhas almost 6000 people from the Arab world. In Twitter there are 36 thousand.. In my page there are about 3,200 people.

* From the Arab countries?

- The majority are from Egypt, but there are people who communicated with us throughout the Arab world, including Syria, Yemen and the Gulf States and all of the Maghreb.

* Where do the insults come from, in particular?

- From Egypt. I have read insults and curses I have not heard of before, so I told them thanks, I have learned new words in colloquial Egyptian dialect.

Get Pinkwashed! "Palestinian Queer Parties" are held in - Tel Aviv!

I have received a lot of feedback about my essay on the sheer hate that Sarah Schulman exhibited in the New York Times this week, where she downplayed Israel's gay rights achievements as mere "pinkwashing" of Israeli crimes, which she believes is the real reason Israelis are more accepting of gays than their neighbors.

One correspondent, Scott Piro, wrote another excellent response to her essay on Ray Cook's blog. He points out that one of the Palestinian Arab gay groups that Schulman extols, AlQaws, has held its parties in Tel Aviv.

Sure enough, a Google search of "AlQaws Palestinian Queer Party" finds that this is a bi-monthly event, and has been held for the past year at the Comfort 13 club in Tel Aviv. The next event is on December 2:

And they had the same party, at the same venue, in April, June , July and October.

In fact, alQaws' headquarters is in Jerusalem, on the western side of the Green Line.

Even so, they also argue against so-called "pinkwashing" and support Sarah Schulman's organization, "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. "

The hypocrisy is stunning. They are against events such as "Out in Israel," a celebration of Israeli LGBT culture in San Francisco last year, because they dislike the politicization of their cause in ways that make Israel look good. But QuAIA's entire reason for existing is as a politicization of their cause to demonize Israel! Their hate trumps any desire they have for gays to be treated equally worldwide.

Even their arguments are silly. This is the pinnacle of their logic, used by Schulman as well as at the alQaws site:

It doesn’t matter what the sexual orientation of the Soldier at a checkpoint is, whether he can serve openly or not....The apartheid wall was not created to keep Palestinian homophobes out of Gay Israel, and there is no magic door for gay Palestinians to pass through.

In other words, Israelis, as opposed to Palestinian Arabs, have a concept of equal rights. Terrorists are treated the same whether they are straight or gay, and so are soldiers.

Would Al Qaws prefer that such a discriminatory magic door exists? Are they saying that they should be treated better by Israel than their straight neighbors?

Apparently, they want to be treated as special, to use their cause specifically to demonize Israel. (Al Qaws at least tries to work to fix Palestinian Arab society, QuAIA has no interest in that.)

In a perfectly equal society, gays would not be considered more or less special than any group of people, like stamp collectors or fans of Twilight. If people created an organization called, for example, Quilters Against Israeli Apartheid, it would be blatantly obvious that the group is not pro-quilter but simply haters of Israel. And that is what QuAIA is, as they hijack the very real issues that gays face and try (very unconvincingly) to shoehorn them into their own loathing of the Jewish State.

(By the way, the Goldstone Report used the exact same bizarre logic in accusing Israel of violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women during Cast Lead - as if Israel was specifically targeting and discriminating against Gaza's women! When one wants to attack Israel, apparently no argument is too crazy.)

Latest Latma

Nice Dylan/Arab Spring parody.

Impressive Jerusalem flash mob dance

More details on the event here.

(h/t CiFWatch)

Med-washing: Doctors worldwide, including Muslims, study for year in Israel

From the Rambam Medical Center, not sure what date:

Last month, Rambam’s Spencer Auditorium resembled the UN in New York. Fifteen doctors and scientists from throughout the world – graduates and participants in the hospital’s International Fellowships and Training Program – came together, and were joined by Rambam department directors and administrators.

A Nablus doctor at Rambam

Operating for four years, this program has drawn some 20 doctors from different countries, who have come to reap Rambam’s experience in orthopedics, pediatrics, oncology, neuro-surgery, surgery, anesthesiology, plastic surgery, gynecology and other areas. Participants stay at Rambam for roughly a year.

According to Dr. Zohar Keidar, deputy director of the Dept. of Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT, and Chairman of the International Fellowship Committee, Rambam’s knowhow and experience will be disseminated by these doctors. “Despite the fact that they come from different cultures, religions and backgrounds and work in different departments, they are here for one reason: the desire to be better physicians,” he says. “Rambam helps them acquire knowledge, which they apply in their home countries.”

These activities also serve diplomatic purposes. After a year-long stay at Rambam, the doctors know Israel, far more than the average person who derives information from foreign news networks. “Project participants act as ambassadors of Israel,” says Dr. Keidar.

Among those who take part are citizens from neighboring areas: from Hebron, Nablus and Jenin, as well as from Cyprus and Jordan. Others come from the European countries of Moldova, Bulgaria and Italy, from Ghana in Africa and from the Asian nations Vietnam and Nepal.

Arabic media is quoting the Israeli MFA site saying that there have been 28 doctors in the program so far, including Muslims from Indonesia. Israel gave the doctors tours of Yad Vashem and other places. They don't sound too happy about it.

In the wake of the "pinkwashing" charge, this must be a classic case of med-washing.

Look out also for examples of sand-washing, classical-music-washing, history-washing, religion-washing and bikini-washing as Israel keeps coming up with its evil schemes to distract the world from its single-minded determination of ethnically cleansing Arabs from the Middle East.

In fact, I think the Rambam hospital was built specifically to institute this one program just to act as a hasbara mouthpiece and to embarrass Muslims worldwide.

Those Zionist Jews stop at nothing to make themselves look human, and we need clear thinking progressives - Mearsheimer's "righteous Jews" - to inform the world of the truth that they are nothing of the kind.

Heralded Cairo "unity" meeting was a dismal failure

From the NYT:

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and the leader of the rival Islamic group Hamas met Thursday and the sides agreed to go ahead with elections in the Palestinian territories next year, according to officials, even as they failed to resolve differences over an interim unity government to prepare for the vote.

The meeting, in Cairo, was the first between Mr. Abbas, chief of the mainstream Fatah movement, and his rival, Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, since the two men signed a reconciliation accord in May. Even since then, the leadership of the Palestinian territories has remained divided, with Mr. Abbas’s authority confined to the West Bank while Hamas controls the coastal enclave of Gaza.

It remained unclear even after the meeting on Thursday whether the two sides were indeed committed to a further narrowing of their differences, and whether they would take any tangible steps toward power sharing soon or at all.

The May accord, brokered by Egypt, called for a transitional unity cabinet of unaffiliated technocrats to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections within a year. Despite rosy public statements after their meeting on Thursday, the two men remained deadlocked over the makeup of that government, according to officials.

Neither of the leaders directly addressed the deadlock over the appointment of a unity government.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said by telephone from Cairo that the sides had agreed to continue the discussions in committees. Azzam al-Ahmad of Fatah said that consultations would continue and that Mr. Abbas and Mr. Meshal would meet again to determine the makeup of the government and other issues.

But differences between the sides clearly prevailed.

The Arabic media had trumpeted the meeting for weeks, and even afterwards it tried to spin it as wonderful. But when you actually read the details, it is all fluff and nothing concrete. They agreed on a date for elections and they pretended to agree to stop making political arrests.

As I tweeted yesterday, Hamas and Fatah are like a separated couple who hate each other but try to keep up appearances for the kids. They see the Arab uprisings and know that their division upsets Palestinian Arabs, so they make cosmetic changes to hold on to power but they do nothing to share it.

And within an hour of the meeting, Palestine Press Agency reports, Hamas police arrested three student leaders associated with Fatah. They also raided and took over the pharmacists' syndicate, which was pro-Fatah.

Unless there is a single security force with a single command structure across the West Bank and Gaza, the word "unity" is meaningless. And that is not going to happen.

The moderate sheikh of Hebron

I posted about a proposed alternate to the PA that Israeli leaders are mulling if the PA continues to go down its path of intransigence and rapprochement with Hamas terrorists. This alternative is centered around moderate local leaders, particularly Sheikh Zaid al-Jabari of Hebron.

A week ago, thousands of religious Jews from all over Israel and elsewhere descended on Hebron to celebrate the Torah reading of Chayei Sarah, as is done every year.

These religious Zionists are the people the left-wing media love to portray as Islamophobic, machine-gun wielding Jewish-supremacist fanatics who want to ethnically cleanse Hebron and all of the territories of Arabs. This hateful stereotype is also incessantly pushed by the Arab media.

Which makes this following story from last week's Hebron event all the more remarkable.

From David Wilder, leader of Hebron's Jewish community:

A number of years ago, a group of Arabs, together with Israeli leftists and anarchists, planned on burning down the Hazon David Synagogue, just outside the gates of Kiryat Arba, on the eve of Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year. The event was stopped at the last minute when it came to the attention of Sheikh Jabari, leader of Hebron’s largest clan. He told Hebron Arabs that he didn’t agree to destruction of a ‘holy place,’ especially on a Jewish holiday. He told them that this was a place of prayer, and prevented the destruction.

Following his intervention, a meeting was arranged between several Hebron leaders and the Sheikh, thanking him for his involvement. Since then, the Sheikh and Hebron-Kiryat Arba leaders meet relatively frequently, discussing relevant issues. He has publicly declared his opposition to unilateral declaration of a ‘palestinian state’ in the UN and also acknowledged the right of Jews to live in Hebron. Last summer he met at his Hebron home with Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Pastor John Hagee.

This past Friday afternoon he met with almost 70 Americans and a few Hebron residents in a large tent, just outside Hebron. Welcoming the group, he asked those attending to be ambassadors to his message of peace ‘in the land of peace.’ He also spoke of Shabbat Chaye Sarah, Abraham and Ma’arat HaMachpela, saying that Machpela should unite all of us together, that we are one family, from one father, Abraham. He blessed the group ‘from all his heart, on this holy Shabbat.’ He thanked the group for visiting him, saying he appreciated that they came from so far away for this holy occasion.

Other members of the group addressed the Sheikh, expressing thanks for his hospitality, commenting and asking questions. The event concluded after the group was given a small cup of traditional Turkish coffee.

The significance of this meeting wasn’t so much the words spoken, rather its actual happening. A decade ago, Jews in Hebron were being shot at by Arabs from the hills surrounding the Jewish community. Years ago meetings between Jews and Arabs were common; yet following Oslo, the Hebron Accords, and the Oslo War – 2nd intifada, such meetings became a thing of history.

I don’t expect that all of us present agree on all issues. To the contrary, certainly we don’t. But the Sheikh represents an alternative to the palestinian authority, a terrorist organization overtly backing the expulsion of Jews from all Judea and Samaria, while covertly working for the liberation of all ‘palestine’ aka the State of Israel.

I found the meeting with the Sheikh to be a refreshing change from the normal animosity displayed between Jews and Arabs. I’m not living under any illusions. The gaps are very wide and Sheikh Jabari is only one person. However, there aren’t too many Arab leaders who would prevent destruction of a Jewish house of worship, who would publicly declare willingness to live with Jews in Hebron, and who would meet a large group of American Jews in his tent on a Friday.

Here's the video of the fanatic, tzitzit-wearing Jews happily chatting with the sheikh:

This is what real peace looks like.

The ironic thing is that so-called "peace activists" seethe when they see scenes like this, because it goes against everything they really want - a Judenrein "Palestine."

I don't know how anomalous Sheikh Jabari is, but this is the sort of thing that should be encouraged and pursued. I do know that other communities in Judea and Samaria have some friendly contact with their Arab neighbors, and that it was much more prevalent before the first intifada.

You can be sure that the "peace activists" do not want any such meetings between religious Zionist Jews and their Muslim neighbors - because they do not want real peace. They prefer rock throwing and Molotov cocktails, so-called "non-violent resistance," to cooperation between proud Jews and Arabs who live side by side. They prefer to post carefully edited videos of Israeli forces shooting tear gas at them without showing the violent attacks that immediately precede those events, and to write endless articles about how Jews are violent usurpers.

So who really wants peace?

Another recent article on Sheikh Jabari was written in Israel HaYom,

(h/t drk, Yoel)

The Jordanian "march to Jerusalem" is just an Islamist political rally

I noted earlier this week that a Jordanian group planned a "million man march to Jerusalem" today.

But as the Jordan Times reports, the march is really just an Islamist rally:

The Islamist movement has called on citizens across the country to amass at the Jordanian-Israeli border this Friday to urge for the “liberation of Jerusalem”.

Kathem Ayesh, who handles the Palestinian file at the Muslim Brotherhood, said the event aims to commemorate the partition of historical Palestine in 1947, a precursor to the Nakbeh, or catastrophe, in 1948.

“We want to show the world that the Jordanian people stand in solidarity with the Palestinians and we reject any attempts to Judaise Jerusalem,” Ayesh told The Jordan Times.

According to organisers, they chose the Jordan Valley town of Sweimeh, 50 kilometres south of Amman and two kilometres from the Jordanian-Israeli border, as the venue of the rally as it represents the closest point in the Kingdom to Jerusalem.

The event, which will not feature any speeches, does not aim to incite any violence, Ayesh said. “This will be a peaceful march and we will not be going near the border.”

The event comes one week after the Islamists returned to the streets, ending a six-week hiatus from the protest movement.

The march also marks a renewed focus on the Palestinian cause - long a staple issue for the movement - which Islamists have overlooked in recent months in favour of domestic issues as part of its reform drive.

Jamil Abu Baker, the Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, stressed that the march is not a departure from Islamists’ reform demands but rather an extension of the “atmosphere” of the Arab Spring.

“Week after week, people have demanded political reforms, public freedoms and an end to corruption,” Abu Baker said.

“Liberating Jerusalem is a basic part of these demands, and this Friday we will let the whole world hear them.”

So it is just some muscle-flexing by Islamists, and Jerusalem is just an excuse to get people riled up.

Some Jordanian newspapers, like al-Rai, are openly supporting the rally.

And while it looks like there will not be violent clashes, that doesn't mean that the imagery on their posters don't advocate the military takeover of Jerusalem by brave Arab warriors.

Notice that for the purposes of this illustration, there are no Palestinian Arabs between Jordan and Jerusalem.

UNESCO elects Syria to "human rights" committees

From UN Watch:

UNESCO’s executive board, which includes the US, France, the UK and other Western democracies, unanimously elected Syria to a pair of committees – one dealing directly with human rights issues – even as the Bashar al-Assad regime maintains its campaign of violence against its own citizens.

The Arab group at UNESCO nominated Syria for the spots, and though the 58-member board approved the pick by consensus on Nov. 11, the agency has not yet posted the results on its website.

Syria’s election came just a day before the League of Arab States moved to suspend Syrian membership of that body.

“The Arab League’s suspension of Syria is stripped of any meaning when its member states elevate Syria to UN human rights committes,” says Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.

“It’s shameful for the UN's prime agency on science, culture and education to take a country that is shooting its own people and empower it to decide human rights issues on a global scale. Regrettably, the pressure to bow to consensus – part of the go-along-to-get-along tradition at the UN – can drag everyone down to the will of the lowest common denominator.”

Neuer highlights that the executive board’s decision should not be all that surprising, given the body “recently welcomed serial human rights abusers as new members, like Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Pakistan and Russia.” Syria was already on the executive board, noted Neuer, "as were other countries with poor human rights records, including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, China, Vietnam and Algeria."

The UN says Syria’s crackdown on opposition protests has left more than 3,500 people dead over the past eight months.

Syria will serve a second two-year term on the 30-member Committee on Conventions and Recommendations, which examines “communications … relating to the exercise of human rights,” according to UNESCO’s Web site. Syria also joins the 23-member Committee on International Non-Governmental Organizations, which is mandated to encourage approved activist groups to help further UNESCO’s overall goals.

In a bid to insulate UNESCO’s administration from criticism, the agency’s executive director, Irina Bokova, insists her hands were tied. She has even broken with protocol in commenting that the executive board’s choice was not a good one.

“The director-general and secretariat are bound by the decisions of member states and are not supposed to comment on them,” said Sue Williams, UNESCO chief spokesperson.

“Yet given the developments in Syria, the director-general does not see how this country can contribute to the work of the committees.”

Israeli media had the story last week but the UNESCO website had nothing on it. And it still doesn't.

I've seen the same lack of transparency at UNRWA where it ignores many Palestinian Arab strikes and threats on its website.

(h/t many but Ian for reminding me....)

Arab foreign ministers say all of Jerusalem is "occupied"

From Kuwaiti news agency KUNA:

The Council Arab Foreign Ministers warned Thursday against Israel's plan to hold the first conference of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe in occupied Jerusalem on November 28.

A statement issued by the Council at the conclusion their meeting here, said that move contradicts international resolutions that clearly states that the city is occupied territory.

The statement added that this is a dangerous precedent that should not be accepted.

The Arab foreign ministers urged the World Health Organization to immediately intervene to prevent Israel from holding the conference on occupied Palestinian lands, they cautioned against the process of this move on peace process.

They also asked United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and European countries to move the conference to another place.

I cannot find specifically where the conference is planned to place. However, most major conference hotels in Jerusalem are within the Green Line, and I am certain that a UN organization would not have allowed a conference to take place anywhere that was under Jordanian control for an anomalous 19 year period in the city's 3000 year old history.

We see that, according to Arab foreign ministers - which include those who represent countries with whom Israel is at peace - are claiming that all of Jerusalem is Palestinian Arab territory

Westerners who claim that the Green Line is an "internationally recognized border" are proven to be wrong once again. Arabs never accepted that, and they still don't.

(h/t Richie)