United Nations convenes to gather donations for UNRWA

New York – The UN General Assembly Committee will hold a meeting at United Nations Headquarters on Friday in a bid to bolster countries’ donations for the agency.

The UN refugee agency for Palestinians is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that solving the “chronic financial problem” facing the agency requires political will to match the support of the various parties to the UNRWA mission.

In a press conference in New York,  Lazzarini said that the problem “lies in the contradiction between what UNRWA is expected to do and the resources available to it,” pointing to “the unique nature of UNRWA’s work, as it is the only agency mandated to provide services similar to government services.”

The UN official stressed the importance of keeping up with the resources to the needs, warning that “UNRWA will not have funding or cash as of next September to continue operating its schools, and the resources necessary for the operation of its health centers and other vital services are running out.”

UNRWA supports about 5.9 million Palestine refugees in its five areas of operations: Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Lebanon and Syria.

Weekly Commentary: What If Bernard Lewis Was Right About Nuclear Iran Welcoming Apocalypse Rather Than Seeking Deterrence?

Weekly Commentary: What If Bernard Lewis Was Right About Nuclear Iran
Welcoming Apocalypse Rather Than Seeking Deterrence?
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 1 June 2023

“mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so well during the
Cold War, would have no meaning. At the end of time, there will be general
destruction anyway. What will matter will be the final destination of the
dead — hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers. For people with
this mindset, MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement.”
Bernard Lewis – The Wall Street Journal Aug. 8, 2006

It would appear that the overwhelming majority of Israelis participating in
policy discussions relating to the Iranian nuclear challenge think that Iran
seeks nukes to protect their leadership from regime change.

Unfortunately, these policy makers and analysts simply cannot comprehend
that Iranian Twelvers could actually welcome an apocalypse set into motion
by an Iranian nuclear strike and the response that would follow. Without
saying it explicitly, they are arguing that there is some set of universal
values that has some kind of veto power over belief systems when adhering to
those beliefs can have unsavory results when judged by these “universal
values”.

This is not an inconsequential academic disagreement.

The attitude of policy makers and analysts towards the threat of a nuclear
Iran would be radically different if they thought that there was even a 25%
chance that Bernard Lewis is correct.

I daresay that if they gave Bernard Lewis the weight his opinion deserves
that we would have already “pulled the trigger” on a massive operation long
ago.
________________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis

Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on
Arab-Israeli relations

Website: www.imra.org.il

Deciphering the headlines

According to the Oxford language website, deciphering is defined as “succeeding in understanding, interpreting or identifying something.”

Having the ability to do this is a requirement these days, especially as the print and online media revel in producing misleading headlines and news reports. Reading between the lines and deciphering ambiguous and contradictory narratives is essential if one hopes to discover real intentions and agendas.

Politicians love to speak in riddles and, where possible, to hide their true aims from the befuddled masses.

Quite often, their rhetoric reveals the whole story but more often than not the press releases will result in confusion.

This ability to scatter red herrings has been perfected, especially when it concerns Israel.

The following headline appeared in the 19 May edition of the Jerusalem Post: “Washington wants to make Jerusalem feel safe by showing it is serious about military co-operation (re. Iran) but also wants to discourage the Jewish State from actually using force against Tehran’s nuclear program.”

If you read this more closely, you will rapidly perceive that what it actually means is that the Biden Administration hopes to create a false sense of security so that Israeli decision-makers will be lulled into believing that the USA has its back. In actual fact, of course, if you decipher the real meaning, you will see that the Americans have no intention of doing what really needs to be done.

Naturally, if and when Israel decides that there are no other options to stop Iran’s rush to the nuclear missile threat, the US will wash its hands of any involvement.

There are already reports that some sort of sanctions relief may be in the works, and if these turn out to be correct, you can be sure that once again State Department experts will have sold us down the river. After all, if North Korea could acquire nuclear weapons thanks to US waffling and empty threats, then why can’t Iran do the same?

Indications that Israel is scheduled to be “sold down the river” are becoming clearer with every passing day. Biden’s top official dealing with Iran has within the last few days reiterated that diplomacy is the only way to resolve the Iranian headlong rush to nuclear weapons capability. It seems that Oman may be used as a convenient conduit to offer Iran inducements. Naturally, any thought that Washington may be embarking on a doomed appeasement path raises hackles. Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of history should instantly recognise the putrid odour of Neville Chamberlain’s futile attempt to placate a genocidal regime.

Unravelling the real meaning behind the headlines should be no great feat, yet so far, there has been stupefied silence from those who should be screaming from the rooftops.

Another example revolves around the statements issued on almost a daily basis by the internationally embraced “democratic” PA leadership, terror spokespersons and media commentators.

Two-faced UN and EU-sponsored pontifications abound where security forces actions to locate and punish terrorists are equated with the deeds of the murderers.

After Israel recently eliminated terror murderers, the Foreign Ministers of France, Egypt, Germany and Jordan, collectively known as the “Munich Group,” convened and expressed their “alarm at the new round of violence.”

The PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs had this to say: “Israel and its settler militias have NO sovereignty over Jerusalem or its holy sites.”

The PA Islamic Fatwa Council joined in: “Jewish tours of the Temple Mount are an open defiance of Muslims in various parts of the world.”

The senior political analyst at Al Jazeera wrote: “the Palestinians have every reason to hate Israel. It is a settler colonial apartheid State erected on the ruins of their homeland.”

If these expressions of “fraternal love” fail to register, the next two should hopefully clarify the real situation.

Abbas, our eternal “peace partner” had this to say: “the founding of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fifty-nine years ago is one of the most important achievements in Palestinian policies.”

Suppose someone did not quite understand his UN diatribe to the General Assembly. In that case, Abbas has this week signed a decree making denial of the Nakba a criminal offence punishable by up to two years of incarceration.

It should not be too difficult to discern the real intent behind all these utterances. Despite clearly branding Israel as a catastrophic illegal creation and a malignant presence, a significant number of individuals, groups, nations and self-loathers promote these poisonous canards.

These days the dirty words have mutated and now “Jews, Zionists, Israel and settlers” are words attracting condemnation and punishment.

The fact that Netanyahu has not received an invitation to the White House since his re-election as PM excites many observers of the political scene. One would think that there are more than enough challenges at home to keep him busy without traipsing to Washington and meeting with a President who professes friendship but, in actuality, heads a political party increasingly hostile to Israel.

Jill Biden will shortly be visiting Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Portugal. Apparently, Israel is not on her itinerary, and presumably, this is intended to send a message. Joe is busy meddling in Israel’s internal discussions about law reforms and its handling of Palestinian Arab terror all of which is not playing out according to the State Department script. It seems that even a royal wedding in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan cannot lure the US President to the region which is just as well because who knows what mayhem may result if he were to speak.

News reports surface on a weekly basis implying that Saudi Arabia is on its way to recognising Israel. When one deciphers the mixed messages and dispels the fog surrounding this supposed momentous event one soon ascertains that contrary to the wildly euphoric headlines, there are insurmountable obstacles ahead. Like all such mirages in the desert, full and genuine peace without conditions and tricks can only be achieved after illusions are shattered.

Shattering ingrained illusions on the part of Palestinian Arabs who demand Israel’s disappearance is nowhere in sight. Unless and until the deep-seated hate and denial of historical truth is uprooted in Arab and Islamic societies, one can forget about any sort of impending love fest.

As media watch groups can attest, when it comes to Israel, any sort of accurate reporting is hard to find.

 

UNRWA Donor Conference 2023

The Ad Hoc Committee to Announce Voluntary Contributions to UNRWA will meet on 2 June 2023 at 10am in Conference Room 4. The Secretary-General will be present and will make a statement to Member States on the vital role UNRWA continues to play in the delivery of humanitarian assistance and stability in the region.

The Secretary-General urges all Member States to announce new or increased contributions, particularly to UNRWA’s program budget.

As a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949, UNRWA has a mandate to provide assistance and protection to more than 5.7 million registered Palestinian refugees. Its mission is to help Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full human development potential until a just and lasting solution to their plight is found. UNRWA services include education, healthcare, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, shelter and microfinance.

UNRWA expects UN Member States to:

  • Reaffirm your political commitment and solidarity with the Palestine refugees;
  • Mobilizing international support and advocacy for the Agency’s work and its relentless commitment to United Nations values, including achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and realizing the 2030 Agenda;
  • Resolving the Agency’s funding situation, which is currently unpredictable and unsustainable, to avoid recurring funding crises.

‘An ugly scar on Israel’s justice system’

Attorney Avigdor Feldman, who represented Amiram Ben Uliel before the Supreme Court, claims that Ben Uliel’s confession was obtained under torture and should be treated as such. Feldman was hosted on Arutz 7 Hebrew site against a backdrop of calls to allow Amiram to celebrate Shavuot outside his solitary confinement. Although this was agreed to, it did not happen.

“In my opinion, Ben Uliel’s verdict is an ugly scar on our legal system,” says Feldman. “The General Security Service admitted in this case, which it does not do in other cases, that they inflicted incessant physical torture on Amiram for two nights. I am forbidden to provide details of the torture, but it is the type that causes continuous physical pain. The court rejected the confessions made immediately after the torture, but accepted his confessions given 36 hours later.

“The court ignored the fact that Ben Uliel was prevented from meeting with a lawyer during those 36 hours and that he was completely under the authority of the Shin Bet, making the threat of continued torture a constant possibility. In my understanding, the court should have rejected ALL confessions made by Ben Uliel.”

Feldman emphasizes that aside from these confessions, there is no evidence linking Ben Uliel to the crime he is accused of (arson in the Arab village of Duma). As for the claim that there is sufficient evidence of his guilt due to the details that Ben-Uliel gave to his investigators, attorney Feldman states, “Absolutely not. The details in his confessions were public knowledge. There are no unique details in them that could have been known only to the person who committed the crime.

“There is absolutely no forensic or biological evidence that ties him to the crime.”

In Feldman’s eyes, Ben Uliel should be released immediately. “They had no evidence against him until they started torturing him. There is no evidence from the field that could support his confession made to the Shin Bet operative who was responsible for the torture.”

Ben Uliel was returned to the site of the crime for a re-enactment of the crime with a policeman and a Shin Bet agent who threatened that if he did not confess, they had other means of making him talk, implying that the torture would resume.

Feldman also pointed out that the defense argued that the confession might have been admissible if Ben Uliel had been allowed to consult with a lawyer between the confessions, and if the interrogation would have been conducted by the Israel Police and not by the Shin Bet. “But none of this happened. On the contrary. The Shin Bet was present in a threatening manner during the confessions. When Ben Uliel finally met with his lawyer, Itamar Ben Gvir (now a gov’t minister), he retracted the confession. Therefore, his confession is a confession that was extracted under torture and our experience shows that confessions obtained through torture are usually false. They are coerced confessions to satisfy what the torturer and provide him with what he wants to hear. ”

Attorney Feldman pointed out that it was clear to the investigators that there was more than one person at the scene of the incident, and for that reason, they interrogated a Jewish minor, trying to implicate him, but he did not confess. “The Shin Bet admits that the torture produced a confession that does not match the facts on the ground. “

“Everyone agrees that torture may be acceptable in the case of a ‘ticking bomb,’ where the suspect is aware of a person who is planning to commit an imminent terrorist act threatening human life. Even the Supreme Court, which ruled out torture as a means of obtaining confessions, ruled that any means can be used to extract information to prevent a terror attack.

“However, no one ever claimed that Ben Uliel knew about anyone intending to carry out a terrorist act against Palestinians or others,” says Feldman. ”Therefore, he was tortured without fitting the profile of a ticking bomb.”

 

As for Ben Uliel’s chances of getting acquitted, Feldman says he doesn’t know.

“He was denied another hearing, which in my opinion, is very problematic and controversial. Regarding a retrial, this depends on whether additional evidence is found that will disprove his involvement in the matter.”

 

A version of this article by Yoni Kempinski appeared on Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew site and was translated and edited by Ms. Shulman.

Saudi Normalization Does Not Mean Peace

Saudi Arabia heads the Arab League of Nations, whose charter, adopted in 1945, calls for the liquidation of the Jews in Palestine. Notably, Saudi Arabia and the Arab League launched total war on Israel in 1948 – a war that remains in effect until today.

Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties with Israel; Syria and Lebanon agreed to an armistice with the Jewish state; Saudi Arabia, however, loyal to the Arab League, has never agreed to any armistice or any peace whatsoever with the Jews.

What should Saudi peace normalization look like?

Begin with four steps:

1. Since the Saudis continue to finance PA education, the Saudis could demand removal of violent PA texts, teachers, youth clubs and summer camps in the Saudi-financed curriculum, which promotes full- scale war against Jews. It would fly in the face of normalization for peace if the Saudis continued to underwrite the PA war curriculum. The Saudis refuse to reconsider their financing of UNRWA schools, which indoctrinate the next generation of Palestinians for total war.

2. Saudi Arabia remains a key funder of UNRWA, which maintains 6.7 million descendants of Arab refugees from the 1948 war in the squalor of 59 “temporary” UNRWA refugee camps, under the premise of the “right of return” to 1948 villages that no longer exist. If the Saudis truly sought normalization for peace, they would advocate the dignified resettlement of Arab refugees. Yet, the Saudis refuse to do so.

3. The Saudis help finance the unprecedented PA statute: Murder a Jew, get a salary for life. How can there be normalization for peace so long as the Saudis underwrite the enforcement of an incentive for murdering Jews?

4. The Saudis could demand the removal of PA maps that delete Israel in Saudi-financed PA schools. The PA has recently replaced names of all Jewish communities in Israel with names of Arab villages in all Saudi-funded schools of the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA.

Saudi normalization in the context of peace would necessitate the presentation of maps in all schools that would depict all UN members of good standing, including Israel.

These four steps would provide normalization that would lead to peace with Saudi Arabia.

Yet normalization for peace is not on the agenda of Saudi Arabia, whose genocidal war launched at the dawn of Israel in 1948 continues to this day.

For the Saudis, normalization is a tool of war.

Those who support such normalization focus on business opportunities. Why would veterans of the IDF support such a policy? Look no farther than their handsome Saudi investment portfolios.

Nothing like a little bakshish, a gratuity, to sweeten the deal.

Bakshish is acceptable in Arabic society. Everywhere else, bakshish is defined as a bribe.

People must remember that Israel is the land of prophets, not the oasis of their profits.

Hijacked by Hate

Anti-Muslim bigotry is a common and widespread feature of our country’s mainstream cultural and political landscape. However, it is important to remember that Islamophobic attitudes and policies are propagated by special interest groups with deep sources of
funding.

This decentralized group of actors is known as the Islamophobia Network, a close-knit family of organizations and individuals that share an ideology of extreme antiMuslim animus, and work with one.

The report fi nds that the Islamophobia Network has been drawing upon mainstream
American philanthropic institutions for fi nancial and political support for years.

Another to negatively infl uence public opinion and government policy about Muslims and Islam.
To provide a better understanding of how the Islamophobia Network operates, this report maps the fl ow of funding from charitable organizations to anti-Muslim special interest groups, and their negative impact on
public life.

CAIR-Islamophobia-Report

UNRWA donors gather- Will they place conditions on donations?

This coming Friday,  UNRWA donor nations  gather at UN headquarters, as reported in the Jordan Times*,  to discuss what UNRWA describes as a downfall in donations for UNRWA, operating 59 “temporary” refugee camps for 6.7 million descendants of the Arabs who left their homes in the wake of the 1948  war .

* https://www.jordannews.jo/Section-21/Americas/UNRWA-donor-conference-set-to-be-held-in-New-York-on-Friday-28891

This is the full list of nations and relief agencies  who donate to UNRWA:

https://www.unrwa.org/sites/default/files/pledges_2023_as_at_30_april_2023.pdf

As reported in this release, not all of the  donors have fulfilled their pledges to UNRWA.

The largest donor to hold back its pledge to UNRWA is the US, which signed an accord with UNRWA in July 2021 which mandated that revisions of the UNRWA curriculum, devoid of  incitement, would be the requirement for renewal of US funds to UNRWA

https://web.archive.org/web/20230330074716/https://israelbehindthenews.com/2021/10/08/after-approving-renewed-aid-to-unrwa-why-does-the-us-refuse-to-send-funds/

Saudi Normalization Does Not Mean Peace

www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

Saudi Arabia is the king pin of  the Arab League of Nations, whose charter, adopted in 1945, calls for the liquidation of the Jews in Palestine.

Notably, the Arab League of Nations  launched total war on Israel in 1948 – a war that remains in effect until today.

Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties with Israel; Syria and Lebanon agreed to an armistice with the Jewish state; Saudi Arabia, however, loyal to the legacy of Arab League, has never agreed to any armistice or any peace whatsoever with the Jews.

What would Saudi peace normalization look like?

Begin with four steps:

  1. Since the Saudis continue to finance PA education, the Saudis could demand removal of violent PA texts, teachers, youth clubs and summer camps in the Saudi-financed curriculum, which promotes full- scale war against Jews. It would fly in the face of normalization for peace if the Saudis continued to underwrite the PA war curriculum. The Saudis refuse to reconsider their financing of UNRWA schools, which indoctrinate the next generation of Palestinians for total war.

 https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/?s=GROISS

  1. Saudi Arabia remains a key funder of UNRWA, which maintains 6.7 million descendants of Arab refugees from 1948 war in the squalor of 59 “temporary” UNRWA refugee camps, under the premise of the “right of return” to 1948 villages that no longer exist. If the Saudis truly sought normalization for peace, they would advocate the dignified resettlement of Arab refugees. Yet, the Saudis refuse to do so.

https://israelbehindthenews.com/2019/09/27/a-solution-for-five-million-descendants-from-arab-refugees-from-1948-who-still-dwell-in-59-unrwa-refugee-camps/

  1. The Saudis help finance the unprecedented PA statute:  Murder a Jew, get a salary for life. How can there be normalization for peace so long as the Saudis underwrite the enforcement of an incentive for murdering Jews?

https://jcpa.org/paying-salaries-terrorists-contradicts-palestinian-vows-peaceful-intentions/

  1. The Saudis could demand the removal of PA maps which delete Israel in Saudi-financed PA schools. The PA has recently replaced names all Jewish communities in Israel with names of Arab villages in all Saudi-funded schools of the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA.

https://israelbehindthenews.com/2022/09/24/revealing-maps-the-palestinian-vision-as-taught-in-unrwa-schools/

Saudi normalization in the context of peace would necessitate the presentation of maps in all schools which would depict all UN members of good standing, including Israel.

These four steps would provide normalization that would lead to peace with Saudi Arabia.

Normalization for peace is not on the agenda of Saudi Arabia, whose genocidal war launched at the dawn of Israel in 1948 continues to this day.

For the Saudis, normalization is a tool of war.

Those who support such normalization focus on their business opportunities. Why would veterans of the IDF support such a policy? Look no farther than their handsome Saudi investment portfolios.

Nothing like a little  Bakshish, a gratuity, to sweeten the deal.

Bakahish is acceptable in Arabic society. Everywhere else, Bakshish is defined as a bribe.

People must remember that Israel is the land of prophets, not the oasis of their profits.