Palestinian Media Watch recently uncovered an ad that ran on official Palestinian Authority television by a Palestinian youth organization, PYALARA (Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation), funded by UNICEF, showing an axe destroying a Star of David. The UNICEF logo was displayed on the ad.

The large Star of David that has been destroyed has on it pictures of stars and stripes, presumably representing the U.S.A., and an additional smaller Star of David, presumably representing Israel.

PYALARA has been funded by UNICEF since the year 2000: “PYALARA has been chosen by UNICEF as a major strategic partner in Palestine.”

On the axe that destroys the Star of David is the word: “Boycott!” in the imperative tense. Youth are invited to watch the Palastinian Authority (P.A.) TV program calling for a boycott of Israel.

<!–
AdSys ad not found for news/world:instory –>

The program started as follows: “The program Speak Up has decided to dedicate this program to a theme which is a national obligation upon each of us – the topic of boycotting Israel in all ways.” (PA TV March 21, 2010.)

The ad read that the weekly youth program Speak Up is “produced in cooperation with PBC (PA TV) with the support of UNICEF.”

The Bulletin brought this to the immediate attention of UNICEF, which immediately issued a condemnation of PYALARA.

In a statement dated March 23, UNICEF president, Caryl M. Stern, denounced the “incorrect use of the UNICEF logo” and stated that “UNICEF was not consulted by PYALARA about the use of its logo in a poster announcing a youth broadcast and it condemns the use of its logo to imply endorsement of political opinions. Neither the poster nor the television program it advertises reflect UNICEF’s policies or its views.” Ms. Stern added that “UNICEF’s partnership agreement with PYALARA ended in January 2010” and that “UNICEF will be carefully reviewing any proposed future partnerships with PYALARA.”

There are times when a U.N. agency shows accountability.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Previous articleShould People Reconsider Support for the Infrastructure of an Entity at War with the State and People of Israel?
Next articleTHE INCITEMENT REPORT VOL. I, ISSUE III: Incitement by the Palestinian Authority
David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR