From Ian:
Melanie Phillips: The Hamas Formulation
UNRWA Spreads False Notion that UNRWA will introduce new curriculum of peace
US State Dept. designates Hamas commander as global terrorist
Melanie Phillips: The Hamas Formulation
Why is everyone so shocked by the Labour party’s decision not to expel Ken Livingstone? I wasn’t the slightest bit surprised. Indeed, I would have been amazed had it done so.Douglas Murray - Ken Livingstone and the Decay of Labour
Of course, his claim that Hitler had supported Zionism was a grotesque and profoundly Jew-bashing untruth. The only overtures between Zionists and the Nazis were for the Jews a desperate manoeuvre to save some from extermination, and for the Nazis a way of getting rid of them. The ludicrous claim that Hitler supported the national self-determination of the very people he wanted to wipe off the face of the earth is a malevolent distortion which Livingstone appears either to have got from sources who are themselves driven by hatred of the Jews or is his own misrepresentation of other accounts.
Having already been suspended from the party for twelve months over these remarks, Livingstone has now been suspended for a further year. Far from being repentant, however, he has doubled down and repeated the calumny, thus compounding the general outrage and the deep distress of the Jewish community.
There are three main reasons, though, why it was never likely he would be expelled.
1) Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn is opposed to expelling someone for antisemitism, because to Corbyn it is simply impossible for someone on the left to be an antisemite.
2) Labour plays heavily to the Muslim gallery and many Muslims believe Jews and Nazis are virtually synonymous, particularly in Israel.
3) If Livingstone were thrown out, similar action would become necessary against other Labour members who have displayed anti-Jewish attitudes. This the party has already refused to do – as over incidents in the Oxford university Labour club — effectively whitewashing Labour party antisemitism and refusing to acknowledge that the Labour party is riddled with it, not least because of 1) and 2) above.
UNRWA Spreads False Notion that UNRWA will introduce new curriculum of peace
Over the past week, UNRWA spread the word that UNRWA intends to introduce a new curriculum for peace and tolerance in the UNRWA school system.
However, UNRWA reports widespread popular opposition to such an initiative.
The fact that UNRWA admits that there is a problem in their schools represents a newsworthy development in itself.
However, the Center for Near East Policy Research checked all public and private sources in UNRWA. No intention, initiative or program exists in the UNRWA Department of Education for any change in the UNRWA curriculum.
UNRWA curricula in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Gaza remain under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education, which makes it clear that no plans are afoot for any change in the Palestinian Authority Education System.
US State Dept. designates Hamas commander as global terrorist
The State Department gave a “global terrorist” designation to a Hamas military commander who it accused of being involved in the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
On Thursday, the State Department declared Abu Anas al-Ghandour a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” under a 2001 executive order that imposes sanctions on foreigners who have committed or pose “a significant risk” of committing terrorist attacks.
The US and its citizens will generally not be allowed to conduct business with Ghandour, and any assets he has in the US will be frozen.
According to the State Department, the Israel-born Ghandour leads a Gaza brigade for Hamas, which the US considers a terrorist organization. In the kidnapping of Shalit at an Israeli border crossing, two Israeli soldiers were killed and four were wounded.
Shalit was released in 2011 in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.






















