Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Egypt seems REALLY upset at idea of teaching the Holocaust

I recently mentioned that UNESCO had completed a study of which nations' schools teach about the Holocaust.

In the wake of that report and its recommendations, Egyptian newspaper Vetogate has no less than seven articles that are against the idea of Egyptian schools teaching the Holocaust.

Besides the main article about the UNESCO report, it published:

Dr. Sana Juma, a curriculum development expert at the Ministry Center of Education, said adding the Holocaust to the Egyptian school curriculum was "nearly impossible" since it would take so much effort.

Dr. Nawal Shelby, a former director of the Center for Curriculum Development of the Ministry of Education, said "there is no need" to add the Holocaust to the curriculum.

Mohammed Fathallah, "educational expert," called UNESCO's guidelines an interference into Egypt's affairs, adding that UNESCO must respect that each state has the full right to determine their own curricula which are part of its sovereignty, and that Egypt has a capable experts to determine the required curriculum according to scientific studies. He added that UNESCO's report is a kind of cheap political trade, saying that "Israel committed numerous massacres and holocausts in Palestine and the Arab states and still practices it, and UNESCO and other organizations are not taking into account the feelings of the Arab countries."

A second interview with Fathallah, this time called a "parenting expert," said that any subject taught should be subject to the curriculum experts and review by reliable educational leaders. He added thateducation should not be politicized.

Reza Massad, "educational expert," said that the Ministry of Education can not permit teaching the Holocaust, particularly as the Holocaust id disputed by historians and teaching it would lead the ministry into political controversy.

Dr Hassan Shehata, an "expert educator and professor of curriculum" at Ain Shams University, said that the goal behind teaching of this "incident" is to promote sympathy with the Jews and show that they have suffered. This is, he says, inconsistent with the reality of the Arab in his struggle with the Jews throughout the ages, noting that they are performing many massacres every day against the Palestinians and no one calls for the teaching of such facts in history.

The UNESCO report sure seems to have touched a nerve in Egypt.

02/03 Links Pt2: Jewish connection to Hebron cannot be denied; French soldiers attacked at Jewish center

From Ian:

'Jewish connection to Hebron cannot be denied'

President Reuven Rivlin visited Kiryat Arba and Hebron on Monday, becoming the first Israeli president to do so in 17 years. Rivlin attended the inaugural ceremony of a new visitors center at the Jewish Heritage Museum in Beit Hadassah and also visited the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
During Rivlin's visit, dozens of Meretz party activists protested against the president's visit and the opening of the new visitors center. At one point, there was an altercation between the activists and local Jewish residents.
In his speech at Kiryat Arba, Rivlin said, "We are allowed to disagree, but we must not disrespect each other, whether we are on the Right or on the Left."
From there, Rivlin continued to Hebron, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and the visitors center's inaugural ceremony with Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau.
"The museum tells a 3,800-year story," Rivlin said. "Even those who have different opinions regarding the presence of the Jewish community in Hebron cannot deny the deep connection of the Jewish people to the city."

UN Watch: UN rights chief who ignored anti-Semitism to address Holocaust Museum

Is UN rights chief Zeid the right person to address the Holocaust Museum this week?
Last week he issued a statement on the Holocaust that — unlike the remarks of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — noticeably refused to mention the word anti-Semitism once, neither in relation to the Nazi genocide, nor in relation to the continuing attacks and incitement against Jews today in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.
Today’s UN press release follows below.
High Commissioner Zeid today begins the first official visit by a UN Human Rights Chief to Washington D.C. to meet senior U.S administration officials and Members of Congress since 2007, when former High Commissioner Louise Arbour made a similar visit.
Zeid, who took up his position as the fifth UN High Commissioner for Human Rights last September, will hold meetings with State Department and other U.S. Government officials, including National Security Adviser Susan Rice, to discuss a wide range of overseas and domestic issues. He will also meet with around eight senior members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
On Thursday, at 10:00 a.m., Zeid will deliver an address entitled “Can Atrocities be Prevented? Living in the Shadow of the Holocaust” at a public event at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington. He will also attend two round-table events with Civil Society organisations.

Richard Millett: Investigations and media coverage in aftermath of LSE Palsoc/Femsoc event.

LSE’s Israel Society immediately lodged a complaint against the LSE Student Union over Baker’s remarks (Why not over Agha’s remarks also?) and the Feminist Society immediately apologised:
“Having reviewed the statements, regarding applauding an attack against Israeli soldiers, made by a speaker at our event we apologise unequivocally on behalf of the Feminist Society. We give platforms to oppressed peoples, including those under violent occupations, but that does not mean that their views always reflect our own. The Feminist Society is truly regretful that we have caused offence.”
Shamefully, the same cannot be said of the Palestine Society which stated:
“Although the LSESU Palestine Society does not necessarily share the views held by the speaker, we maintain that she is entitled to them and is free to express her analysis on the issue, whatever that may be.”
Incredibly, the chairperson of last week’s event Aitemad Muhanna-Matar, a research fellow at the LSE’s Middle East Centre, then took the issue to new depths with her equating of Israelis and Nazis. She said to the online newspaper:
“These resistance military actions were done in the western history by the IRA, during the American and French revolutions. At a lesser extent, Jews resisted against the Nazist (sic) kidnappers, but faced certain death, the same as Palestinians who committed violence against the Israelis certainly face certain death.”

OneVoice Palestine campaign implies destruction of Israel (update)

We've mentioned OneVoice, the foreign-funded, supposedly moderate organization that is actively campaigning to defeat Netanyahu in the upcoming elections.

Here is the logo of a campaign that was started in October by OneVoice Palestine called The Land Is Ours:

Was the keffiyehed man intentionally drawn to resemble the entire British Mandate of Palestine - meaning that is OneVoice advocating the destruction of Israel?

Normally I would discount this sort of theory. However, when you watch the video that accompanies it, twice in the first three seconds of the introduction the entire Palestine map part of the drawing flashes (with thunder), to draw attention to it. Nothing else is illuminated by this "lightning."

Given how much importance Arabs attach to symbolism, this seems to be no coincidence. (Remember, Yassir Arafat used to arrange his keffiyeh to resemble a map of British Mandate Palestine.)

While I doubt that the funders of OneVoice want to get that message across, the Arab producers of this film ensure that the Arab viewers get the real message loud and clear.

OneVoice Palestine also has had as one of its honorary board members Sheikh Taysir Tamimi. At the time he was appointed, around 2005, they defended their choice of having him, saying that his intolerant remarks were over a decade old. Since then, Tamimi has engaged in regular incitement, often predicting that Jews would destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque or massacre worshipers, in order to start a religious war. Tamimi also managed to upset, of all people, the Pope with his antics.

(h/t Yoel, Ronn)

UPDATE: A number of readers point out that the image is reworked from a famous Soviet anti-Nazi propaganda poster, "Motherland Calls":

It clearly is, but I still maintain that the decision as to what portion of the body to colorize in the otherwise monochromatic poster was to mimic the map of the British Mandate.

Hasby Award:Best Pro-Israel Speech

The nominees for the 2015 Hasby Award for Best Pro-Israel Speech are:

George Deek in Oslo

Rachel Frenkel, Bat Galim Sha'er & Iris Yifrah at UNHRC

Canadian PM Stephen Harper at the Knesset

Bibi at the UNGA

Ben Shapiro at UCLA

Col. Richard Kemp on the Gaza war

This is another very difficult category.

And the winner of the Hasby for Best Speech is...

02/03 Links Pt1: New Chair Can’t Salvage UN Gaza Travesty; Captain Kangaroo Covers His Behind

From Ian:

New Chair Can’t Salvage UN Gaza Travesty

It should be recalled that the UNHRC’s investigation of the 2008 war in Gaza—the Goldstone Commission—was a travesty that was focused almost entirely on delegitimizing Israeli self-defense while largely downplaying the actual war crimes committed by the Hamas rulers of Gaza. Ultimately Judge Richard Goldstone, the South African Jew who had been appointed to chair that commission, repudiated its findings. But that recantation came too late. The damage was already done. Whereas the UNHRC thought to put a more acceptable face on its Star Chamber investigation of Israel with Goldstone, naming Schabas showed it no longer thought it worth the bother to even put up a pretense of objectivity.
That’s why Schabas’s withdrawal changes nothing about the UNHRC’s prejudice or its methods. No one who is likely to be named to this post would be objective and anyone who was would quickly discover, as Goldstone eventually did, that the UNHRC’s staff has one objective with respect to Israel and it is not fairness or the truth.
But rather than focus solely on what is, in effect, a pro forma effort that will produce a raft of slanders and distortions no matter what evidence is presented to the panel, observers should be directing their attention to the UNHRC itself. Despite efforts to reform it, this agency remains one of the worst examples of UN bias against Israel and the Jews. Rather than helping to stem the rising tide of anti-Semitism around the world, the UNHRC is aiding and abetting it. Rather than wring its hands about the likelihood of an unfair attack on Israel about the Gaza war, the United States ought to be pulling out of the UNHRC and leading efforts to isolate it so as to prevent the world body from doing even more damage. But since the Obama administration is led by a president who is infatuated with the UN and often enraged by the temerity of Israel’s leaders to both defend their country and to urge others to speak out against threats to its security—such as the Iranian nuclear threat—don’t expect common sense or courage from Washington on the UNHRC.
In the meantime, decent persons both here and elsewhere should be denouncing the UNHRC’s latest attempt to smear Israel, no matter who is at its head.

UN Watch: Backstory: Schabas quit UN inquiry following growing pressure from colleagues

Why did William Schabas finally step down as chair of the UN inquiry on Gaza?
The latest revelation that he was paid by the PLO for legal advice in 2012 was the last straw, but the decision came in wake of a sustained campaign by UN Watch starting from the day of his appointment, which included videos of Schabas calling for the indictment of Israeli leaders, a formal UN Watch legal brief demanding his recusal that was submitted to the UN in an official filing, and UN Watch op-eds urging legal scholars to speak out against the absurd appointment of Schabas. Many did so.
Over the past several months of the campaign, some of the world’s most prominent international lawyers and human rights activists around the world—jurists well known to Schabas because he cites them as authorities in his works, or they are professional, faculty or law review colleagues—called for him to step down.

Hillel Neuer argues before U.N. plenary: "Schabas must step down"

NGO Monitor: Schabas Resignation: What Else Has Not Been Disclosed?

The revelation that Schabas previously did legal work for the PLO raises numerous questions, which should be publically and transparently addressed by the UNHRC.
- What other conflicts of interest did Schabas not disclose?
- What connections and consultancies did Schabas have with politicized NGOs such as Amnesty International and what role did these NGOs have in the UN “investigation”?
- How did the UN’s vetting process fail? According to news reports, Schabas “was not asked to detail his consultancy work when he was appointed.”
- If UN officials were previously aware of Schabas’ connections to the PLO, why was this information not disclosed earlier?
Journalists also have a responsibility to pursue these avenues of inquiry.
“Before there is further embarrassment, the Commission should disband immediately,” continued Prof. Steinberg. “From the beginning, the Commission’s mandate was part of the campaign to single out of Israel through the exploitation of human rights and international law. The Human Rights Council failed to learn the lessons from Judge Goldstone’s denunciation of his own pseudo-investigation in 2009.”

Independent (UK) calls Netanyahu "sinister" in his "Bibi-sitter" ad

Let's review and insult an Israeli TV campaign ad without knowing a thing about the context!

Here's a real description of this ad meant for a non-Israeli audience from Arutz-7:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is getting excellent reviews from commenters following the release of his latest campaign video.

The video features a young couple that is about to leave for a night out when the baby-sitter knocks at the door. “You asked for a babysitter? You got a Bibi-sitter,” says Netanyahu.

"Look, it's either me or Tzipi [Livni] and Buji [Herzog],” he explains to the bewildered couple. The couple immediately protests that their children would need to babysit Herzog, and not the other way around. In addition, “by the time we return we'd have no house... he'd even hand over the carpets” – a play on the Hebrew words “shtichim” (carpets) and “shtachim” (territories).

As for “Tzipi” – the woman says she doubts that she would stay in the same place for two hours, and Netanyahu agrees she would probably have gone over to the neighbors' by the time they returned. This, of course, is a swipe at Livni's frequent migration from one political party to another.

At one point in the video, Netanyahu can be seen sitting in the couple's living room, watching Likud's earlier, banned campaign video, which featured Netanyahu as a kindergarten teacher trying to control rowdy children, who played the roles of Livni, Yesh Atid's Yair Lapid, Jewish Home's Naftali Bennett and Yisrael Beytenu's Avigdor Liberman. The video was banned because of the illegal use of child actors, but it seems the new video is a spin-off of sorts.

When the couple returns and greets him with the word "Shalom" - hello - but also the word for "peace", Netanyahu responds "but not at any price."

Here is how the clueless Independent describes it:

Few sights are as unnerving as seeing a giggling Benjamin Netanyahu throwing popcorn into his mouth under a duvet as he watches a video of himself shouting at children.

According to the Israeli Prime Minister, this is what constitutes as child care, at least in the context of the new political party advert he posted on Facebook ahead of Israel’s general election in March.

In it, he plays mildly sinister babysitter, who turns up at one couple’s house entirely uninvited.

They are delighted, but panicked, presumably as they’d expected a 16-year-old wearing loose-fitting jeans and expression of mild disdain and instead got a grey-haired 65-year-old in a loose-fitting suit wearing an expression of mild lunacy.

He then announces to the pair that he is the “Bibi-sitter” – the only one in the nation who can look after the country’s children – while Zionist Camp Party leaders Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog, his political opponents, are not to be trusted.

“This election, vote for who will care for your children,” he says to camera.

The parents leave, only to return to their house moments later to find Netanyahu nesting on the sofa and their children no-where to be seen.

“Shalom (Peace)!” they shout with glee.

“Not unconditionally,” Netanyahu replies

Here's the actual video with English captions.:

Nah, no media bias there!

William Schabas has linked to his letter of resignation from his blog.

His spin is interesting enough:

On 13 January 2015, the Jerusalem Post reported that attempts to discredit the Chair will be part of Israel’s campaign against the Commission of Inquiry on the Gaza Conflict. Two weeks later Israel made a formal complaint to the President of the Human Rights Council calling for my removal. On 2 February 2015, the Bureau of the Human Rights Council, which operates as its executive or standing committee between regular sessions, decided to examine the complaint and to request a legal opinion from United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The complaint concerns the fact that in October 2012, I prepared a legal opinion for the ‘Negotiations Affairs Department/Palestinian Negotiations Support Project’ of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. The legal opinion was to consider the consequences of a UN General Assembly resolution upgrading Palestine’s status to that of a non-member state on the declaration that was lodged by Palestine with the International Criminal Court in January 2009. It also addressed whether accession should include acceptance of the amendments to the Statute adopted at Kampala and how the territorial jurisdiction of the Court might be applied. These are matters on which, as one of the academic specialists on the subject of the Rome Statute, I have frequently expressed myself in lectures and in publications. A 7-page opinion was provided on 28 October 2012 and I received remuneration of $1,300, as previously agreed. I have done no other consultation and provided no other opinions for the State of Palestine, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation or any other related body.

The complaint about my brief consultancy, as I understand it, is not about the content, which is of a technical legal nature, but the implication that in some way I am henceforth beholden to the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Perhaps there is also the suggestion that I might tailor my opinions in one direction in order to generate more such consulting for remuneration. If I were indeed motivated by financial gain, it would be hard to explain why I would have accepted the position as Chair of the Commission of Inquiry, to which I have gladly devoted several months of work and for which there is no remuneration whatsoever.

THis is dripping with his condescending attitude. Schabas cannot even allow that being paid by one of the parties under investigation, no matter how small, is enough to disqualify any judge; instead he pretends that his using the commission as a platform to attack Israel is simply a humanitarian gesture on his part.

His claim that his lack of remuneration proves that his motives are pure is as close to hogwash as one can imagine. His consultancy business would be expected to soar after a high profile UN commission of inquiry, and his fees for public speaking would easily go up by a factor of ten.

This part of the letter alone proves how little Schabas cares about truth and fairness. In a sane world, this in itself should be enough to ensure that his opinions are tainted forever more. Israel didn't discredit Schabas; he discredited himself.

But the most telling part of his letter actually isn't what it reveals about him, but what he unwittingly reveals about the UN Human Rights Council:

In early August 2014, when I was asked if I would accept a nomination to the Commission of Inquiry, I was not requested to provide any details on any of my past statements and other activities concerning Palestine and Israel. Of course, my views on Israel and Palestine as well as on many other issues were well known and very public. My curriculum vitae was readily available indicating public lectures and writings on the subject. My opinions were frequently aired on my blog. This work in defence of human rights appears to have made me a huge target for malicious attacks which, if Israel’s complaint is to be taken at face value, will only intensify in the weeks to come.

Can you imagine hiring anyone for any position where objectivity is a key component of the job, and not even asking a single question about such conflicts of interest?

On the contrary. Schabas' description of how he was chosen implies that the UNHRC chose him because of his well-known attitudes towards Israel, not in spite of them!

In other words, instead of his resignation letter showing that he is unfairly being attacked as he intends, it shows that the criticism of both him and the entire commission is more than justified. Schabas' letter proves not only his own unsuitability for the job; it shows UNHRC's bias that underlies the entire idea of a commission of inquiry to begin with.

Of course, the anti-Israel world will look at this differently. Schabas will still get his speaking gigs at CAIR dinners and at SOAS lectures. He will be a welcome guest on Al Jazeera and he will parlay this bit of supposedly pro-bono humanitarian work into a cash bonanza, now as a martyr that was mercilessly attacked by the Israel lobby.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

UPDATE: Israel's letter that caused this chain of events:

Al Hayat al Jadida, which is an official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper, published a cartoon of Mohammed this week.

The cartoon was complimentary, showing Mohammed on top of a globe spreading "seeds of love."

Mahmoud Abbas sprung into action, ordering an immediate investigation. He emphasized the need to take deterrent action against offenders , stressing respect for sacred religious symbols.

Al Hayat al Jadida panicked and issued an immediate apology, saying it had created an inquiry into the matter and saying that the point of the cartoon was to emphasize Islam's love of peace.

The artist, Mohammed Sabanneh, a Muslim, said he meant no harm. Backtracking from the caption of the cartoon, he wrote on Facebook that it was not a picture of Mohammad but "a symbol of humanity enlightened by what the Prophet Muhammad brought."

His life is becoming a living hell because of his attempt to show a message of how peaceful Islam is.

UPDATE: We've discussed this cartoonist before. He was arrested for taking money for Hamas in Jordan, but he told the world he was arrested by Israel because of his cartoons. This might get interesting... (h/t Vandoren)

The Schabas fiasco

From Reuters:

The head of a U.N. inquiry into last summer's conflict between Israel and Gaza said on Monday he would resign after Israeli allegations of bias due to consultancy work he did for the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Canadian academic William Schabas was appointed last August by the head of the United Nations Human Rights Council to lead a three-member group looking into alleged war crimes during Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

In a letter to the commission, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Schabas said he would step down immediately to prevent the issue from overshadowing the preparation of the report and its findings, which are due to be published in March.

Schabas' departure highlights the sensitivity of the U.N. investigation just weeks after prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague said they had started a preliminary inquiry into alleged atrocities in the Palestinian territories.

In the letter, Schabas said a legal opinion he wrote for the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 2012, for which he was paid $1,300, was not different from advice he had given to many other governments and organisations.

"My views on Israel and Palestine as well as on many other issues were well known and very public," he wrote. "This work in defence of human rights appears to have made me a huge target for malicious attacks (...)."

Everyone knew Schabas was biased. He referred to Zionists as "enemies." He participated in a kangaroo court against Israel. Even he admitted he was biased, but he claimed that he - unlike every judge on the planet - would be objective despite his having already formed his anti-Israel opinions.

This attitude was widely criticized by prominent lawyers, as are listed at UN Watch.

However, the sheer nerve that he shows here takes the cake. He finally decided to step down after Israel was ready to show evidence that he was paid by one of the sides that he was supposedly investigating. Instead of apologizing for hiding this very salient fact about his history when he was appointed to the commission, Schabas instead lashes out at those who exposed his utter contempt for the concept of impartiality.

Who just happen to be his "enemies."

The late-date move is a farce anyway. The commission has already written the majority of not the entire report by now. All of the evidence and testimony has already been slanted by Schabas' anti-Israel bias. If anything, his taking his name off of the commission might end up giving the slanted report a little more credibility after he has already poisoned it.

Here's one final question: If Schabas had planned from the beginning to be a new Richard Falk, and to use this UN commission to do everything possible to demonize Israel while paying lip service to the idea of fairness, would he have acted any differently than we have seen him act?

02/02 Links Pt2: German judge rules: Anti-Zionism is code for anti-Semitism

From Ian:

German judge rules: Anti-Zionism is code for anti-Semitism

The wheels of justice move slowly, but they are inching forward in Germany. In a unprecedented case heard half a year after these violent anti-Israel demonstrations, last week in Essen, German Judge Gauri Sastry convicted 24-year-old Taylan Can for incitement against an ethnic minority for events at a July 18, 2014, anti-Israel demonstration in the town.
Eyewitness accounts report hostile anti-Israel chants and stones thrown from the anti-Israel camp to the smaller group of Israel supporters. According to the Anti-Defamation League, a breakaway group headed toward a local synagogue, intending to attack it.
A YouTube video of the demonstration shows fields of Palestinian flags and Turkish flags, and a motley group of young men running and chanting “Adolf Hitler” and “Death to the Jews.” In the video, popular Essen Muslim rapper Sinan-G speaks to the camera explaining this is a counter-demonstration against the Jews. “The Jews insulted us, man, this is crazy stuff,” he said.
Despite the large police presence, the crowd was clearly out of control. According to Die Welt, police arrested 49 protesters. Forty-five cases were dismissed in December.
Born in Germany to a Turkish family, Can is well-known for his anti-Israel activism. According to Die Welt, Can was caught on tape at a Copenhagen protest shouting into a borrowed police megaphone, “Death to the Jews,” “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas chamber.”
At his Essen hearing this winter Can was prosecuted for his use of the term “Zionist” as incitement against a minority.
During the hearing, Can claimed he was not an anti-Semite and had nothing against the Jewish people but only against the Zionist state. In response, Judge Sastry is quoted by Die Welt saying, “‘Zionist’ is the language of anti-Semites, the code for ‘Jew.'”

Getting Anti-Semitism Wrong at the United Nations

You have to hand it to the United Nations, I guess. It’s hard to think of another body that would organize a special meeting on the subject of rising anti-Semitism with anti-Semites not just in attendance, but making speeches as well.
For good measure, Levy also expertly dispensed with some of the myths that surround the current debate on anti-Semitism, notably the contention that Jew-hatred would go away if only the Palestinians had a state of their own. “Even if the Palestinians had a state, as is their right—even then, alas, this enigmatic and old hatred would not dissipate one iota,” Levy declared, as the assembled delegates scratched their heads in puzzlement and, one might add, a degree of nervousness.
But did Levy’s message—essentially, that anti-Zionism, the denial of the right of national self-determination to the Jewish people, is the principal pillar upon which today’s anti-Semitism rests—get through?
Sadly, it didn’t. After Levy left the podium, we were treated to a seemingly endless stream of anodyne statements from the various delegations, with a couple of noble exceptions—Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor, who had the guts to say that anti-Semitism “can even be found in the halls of U.N., disguised as humanitarian concern,” and American Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, who reminded those delegates sitting in the General Assembly that Holocaust denial remains a staple of official media across the Middle East and North Africa.
The lasting impression, however, was left by Arab and Muslim delegates, most of whom pushed the insidious—and deeply stupid—myth that because the Palestinians are “Semites,” they cannot be anti-Semitic. As far as I’m aware, no one countered these remarks by pointing out that first, there is no such nationality or ethnicity as a “Semite,” and second, that the term “anti-Semitism” was devised by anti-Semites to give their loathing of the Jews scientific respectability.

NGO Monitor: NGO Monitor to UN "Schabas Commission": Adhere to Fact-Finding Standards

In a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict ("the COI"), NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based research institute, warned the COI of the implications of failing to apply the principles of objectivity, non-selectivity, balance, and universality, and the history of the HRC's disregard for legal and ethical standards. The submission also noted that the UN projected a $3 million budget for the politically motivated investigation of Israel. William Schabas, the head of the Commission, in alliance with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Palestinian Authority, seek to use the CIO as part of the campaign seeking to exploit the International Criminal Court (ICC) for "lawfare" attacks against Israel.
"While the Government of Israel has justifiably decided not to participate in another biased UN pseudo-investigation, as members of Israeli civil society we have a duty to communicate our concerns to the UN," said Anne Herzberg, NGO Monitor's Legal Advisor. "Our submission is a forceful reminder to the Schabas Commission: In order to avoid the abject failures of the past, particularly the 2009 Goldstone Report, the principles of impartiality, objectivity, and transparency must be applied. Unfortunately, we have no evidence or reason to expect that this COI will be any different from its predecessors in these core dimensions."
NGO Monitor's 79-page analysis documents numerous violations by NGOs and UN bodies of fact-finding standards and best practices. By design, UNHRC missions almost exclusively focus on the actions of Israel, while repeated and major violations committed by Palestinian actors or against Israeli citizens are all but ignored. Moreover, few, if any, mechanisms exist within the HRC (and the other UN) frameworks to verify and evaluate the allegations proffered by participating NGOs, resulting in a contravention of impartiality, objectivity, and non-selectivity.

Haaretz can't believe some West Bank Arabs prefer Israeli rule

Amira Hass in Ha'aretz is incredulous:

H., 24 years old, works at the SodaStream plant in the Mishor Adumim industrial zone. We met at his family’s home in a village near Ramallah. Nine people live off his salary (the Israeli minimum wage, nearly $1,200 a month).

His brother Abed was there too; he’s once again looking for work in the industrial zone that’s part of the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement bloc – even though he doesn’t understand why his salary slip always listed a higher amount than what he had actually been paid.

L., from a village in the western West Bank, is around 20 and did six months in an Israeli prison after being caught two or three times working without a permit in Israel. He now works in a store in Ramallah for one-third the (low) salary he made in Israel. He fantasizes about ways to return.

M., in his 50s from the village of Deir Istiya, is sorry he no longer works in the settlement supermarket where he worked for many years. Toward the end of the second intifada the rules were changed, Palestinians were not permitted to work there, so he found work in Israel.

It is good work, relatively, a bit more than the minimum wage. But he now has to leave home at 3 A.M. to make it through the checkpoint and arrive on time, while for the settlement he could leave at 6:30 A.M. and get to work in 15 minutes.

And the owner was nice, he stresses. He still calls – and they don’t rehash the anger over the land the settlements stole. Young people in the family work in the industrial zone of the settlement of Barkan.

As M. puts it: “Without Israel I couldn’t support my family and achieve what I’ve achieved” – a house, education for his children, a plot of land for his son to build a house on, and so on. ...

H., because he is only 24, says: “If only the [direct Israeli] occupation would return. It was better before the PA – there was freedom of movement.” He can’t remember how it was back then.

But for Israel’s convenience, he – like many others – is mistaken and blames the closures on the PA, not on Israel. An Israeli official told me this week (and, it seemed, took pleasure in the telling) that this is what he hears from Palestinians – that they miss Israeli rule. I can say to both of them that in Romania there are people who miss Ceausescu.

How come in this article Hass identifies all of the people only by their initials?

Because if they say their pro-Israel opinions publicly under that benevolent Arab rule, they could get killed!

Hass unknowingly proves their point for them - Israeli rule, even if they are not citizens, is better than Arab rule.

Chris Gunness trolling for dead babies to star in Pallywood production

Check out this tweet from UNRWA's Chris Gunness:

Can anyone put me in touch with a family in Gaza where a child died of hyperthermia? Thanks. @ChrisGunness
— Chris Gunness (@ChrisGunness) February 2, 2015

(That's hypothermia, not hyperthermia, Chris. You're welcome.)

There have been reports of a few children who "froze to death" in Gaza this winter. Their real causes of death are not so clear; for example a two-month old was diagnosed with COPD which is aggravated by cold weather but not caused by it. The specific causes of death for the other infants were not released so it is hard to know whether they died from hypothermia or something else.

Gunness is not interested in such trivia. He wants a dead body and crying parents. Gunness wants to use dead babies for fundraising.

This tweet sounds like pre-production for the next UNRWA Pallywood production.

Don't believe me? Check out this ridiculously staged video that UNRWA released three days ago on the topic of cold (in this case, in Syria):

Yeah, that doesn't look or sound staged at all!

It is also really interesting that the UNRWA spokesperson cannot locate any UNRWA employee in Gaza to find the appropriate dead baby props for him. He must have tried before resorting to using Twitter to find the dead infants. Because so many Gazans in freezing temperatures are still plugged into Twitter.