Thursday, November 14, 2024
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The world does not understand: UNRWA must be dismantled

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
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View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.

Once upon a time, the United Nations launched a refugee agency called UNKRA, distinct from UNRWA. While similar, UNKRA was established as the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency in October 1950, aiming to aid Korea’s recovery and address the needs of three million war-displaced refugees. In practice, UNKRA only started its operations in 1953, after the war ended, with a budget of under $200 million (less than $2 billion in today’s currency) and wrapped up its mission by 1958.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA was born a year earlier, under UN General Assembly Resolution 302 passed in December 1949. This resolution partially hinged on Resolution 194, which allegedly conferred a “right of return” to the refugees. It’s worth remembering that all Arab nations opposed both the partition resolution and Resolution 194, due to their resistance to a Jewish state and the return conditional upon recognizing such a state. This hasn’t stopped Palestinians from zealously backing Resolution 194 – focusing only on the aspects that suit them.

Regardless, UNRWA was supposed to rehabilitate the refugees and resolve the issue, according to repeated UN General Assembly resolutions. The majority of refugees, both those who fled and those expelled, ended up in regions where they shared the same language, culture, religion and often familial ties. Furthermore, most found themselves in the exact areas – the Gaza Strip and the West Bank—designated for the Arab state (which only years later became known as “Palestinian”), according to the UN partition plan.

Yet, none of the original UN resolutions materialized. Today, refugees have become a matter of lineage rather than immediate crisis. Arab states resisted any efforts to integrate these Arabs, who were their kin. The decision effectively became one of perpetuating their refugee status.
Here and there, attempts at rehabilitation did occur. In their insightful book “The War of Return,” Dr. Einat Wilf and Dr. Adi Schwartz recount the initiative by Musa Alami, a leading figure among Palestinian Arabs, who in the early 1950s established a prosperous farm near Jericho. This farm supported hundreds of families, housed a school and a center for orphaned children, and even secured international export agreements. However, the creation of a flourishing farm was viewed as a betrayal of the victimhood narrative. Following incitement, an Arab mob descended upon it, leaving destruction and ruin in their wake. The farm, in a much diminished form, still exists today.
UNRWA succumbed to Arab pressure. There was no rehabilitation, resettlement or economic initiatives, and no exit from the refugee camps. Quite the opposite, in fact. Journalist David Bedein has conducted numerous investigations revealing how UNRWA’s educational institutions have become breeding grounds for indoctrinating hatred against Israel, by nurturing illusions about the “right of return.” Tens of millions became refugees in the last century. They did not receive a “right of return.” Jews, too, endured a harsh Nakba in Europe, and another in Arab countries. They were expelled, their properties confiscated. But they lacked an agency of their own to foster hatred and support destruction and terrorism. The Palestinians, however, have had just that.
No one needed to wait until October 7 to realize that under UNRWA’s auspices a monster of terror support had been established. A series of testimonies have been gathered regarding UNRWA employees’ involvement both in the massacre on October 7 and in Hamas terrorist activities, as well as Hamas’ use of UNRWA facilities. In September, Israel neutralized Fathi Al-Sharif, a man who served as the coordinator between Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, yet his salary was paid by UNRWA, where he was magnanimously called principal of an UNRWA school and president of the UNRWA Teachers Union in Lebanon. An exemplary educator indeed.
This backdrop sets the stage for two legislative proposals by Knesset members Boaz Bismuth and Yulia Malinovsky, aimed at severing Israel’s ties with UNRWA and revoking the agency’s international immunity. Even opposition members have signed onto the second proposal. However, there is doubt whether these laws will pass, as both the U.S. and the European Union are exerting unbearable pressure to prevent their passage. Even in a letter threatening an embargo from U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense Blinken and Austin, there is a clear demand to freeze the legislative processes against UNRWA.
It’s unfortunate, because time and again it’s not just progressive circles but also leaders of Western countries, including the U.S., that contribute to the perpetuation of the refugee problem, propaganda against Israel, and essentially fund a UN agency that aids terrorism. Western countries advocate for a two-state solution for two peoples. How can peace be achieved when UNRWA institutions educate for the eradication of Israel?
How can one support a UN agency whose facilities have been used by Hamas? How can one endorse an agency that perpetuates misery? Israel has failed miserably in presenting its rightful stance, yet relenting is not an option. This terror-supporting agency must be dismantled – not to hinder the prospects of a peace agreement, but rather to eliminate one of the main obstacles to any accord, paving the way for an agency like UNKRA to replace UNRWA.

Message from Jonathan Pollard to US Jewr

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
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Little Hitler: Sinwar’s ‘mini-Holocaust’ could have been much worse

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
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In the harsh light of history, the Simchat Torah massacre of last year stands as a Holocaust-like event, a “mini-Holocaust” that shook Israel to its core. The elimination of its mastermind, Yahya Sinwar, represents nothing less than the eradication of a modern-day “Little Hitler.” This Palestinazi leader – whose ambitions, according to Hamas documents, included overrunning 221 southern Israeli communities and enlisting Iran and Hezbollah to conquer the Galilee and topple Tel Aviv’s skyline – had blueprinted a Holocaust-like massacre far exceeding the horrors that actually unfolded.

The atrocities witnessed in southern Israel a year ago – the cold-blooded murder of infants, women, and the elderly, beheadings, rape of women and corpses, and other unspeakable acts – were merely a fraction of what was planned. Sinwar and Hamas’ meticulously crafted strategy aimed at Israel’s complete annihilation within a mere two years.

Mirroring his patrons in Iran and Turkey, this “Little Hitler,” the Palestinazi Sinwar, saw the world in stark binary terms: Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam) encompassing areas under Islamic control, and Dar al-Harb (the House of War) comprising regions yet to be conquered. Sinwar’s Hamas, viewing itself as a vanguard of the Muslim Ummah, believed it had a divine mandate to wage war, expanding Dar al-Islam’s frontiers “to the utmost limits.”

For Sinwar and his cohorts, guilty of crimes against humanity, the Jewish people, and the State of Israel, Israel’s very existence was an intolerable affront. They saw it as a double transgression – not only was it land once part of Dar al-Islam, but it also represented a perversion of the natural order where Jews, instead of being subservient dhimmis under Islamic law, dared to govern Muslims.

The Hamas charter – both in its original form and the supposedly revised 2017 version (to which Sinwar clung with unwavering devotion) – unequivocally commits to the conquest of all Palestine as its ultimate objective. Their rallying cry of “from the river to the sea” leaves no room for ambiguity – it’s a clarion call for a world without Israel. The October 7 atrocities, horrific as they were, represented merely the opening salvo in Sinwar’s diabolical masterplan. He made no secret of this, brazenly declaring on November 30, 2023, that the massacre was but a “dress rehearsal” for the final, more devastating act to come.

Sinwar’s toxic ideology seeped deep into Gaza’s social fabric, indoctrinating a significant portion of its population. The grim reality is that many Gazans actively participated in the massacre and subsequent looting. The majority of Gaza’s residents chose Sinwar and Hamas as their leaders, with hundreds of thousands entangled in Hamas’s intricate web of terror. This “Little Hitler” transformed Gaza into a modern-day Sodom – a land consumed by evil, wickedness, terror, and crime, singularly focused on the slaughter of Jews and, ultimately, the obliteration of Israel. He laid bare this vision at the ominously named “End of Days Conference” held three years prior to the massacre, where he meticulously outlined his blueprint for the day after Israel’s destruction, and the dystopian alternative Hamas would erect upon its ruins.

While the full ramifications of Sinwar’s elimination are yet to unfold and be thoroughly analyzed, one thing is certain: the world today, unburdened of his presence, is undeniably a cleaner, better place. And indeed, it is not only permissible but necessary to find solace and even rejoice in this fact.

Are you kidding me?! Western countries racing to save terror-infested UNRWA

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
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The United States and several western countries are racing to save UNRWA from being banned from operating in Israel or working with government agencies, according to Jewish Insider.

Israel’s effort against UNRWA began following October 7, when a number of UNRWA employees were found to have participated in the massacre. Further investigation revealed hundreds if not thousands of UNRWA members with terrorist ties, and multiple cases of UNRWA material and structures being used for terrorism.

Consequently, the Knesset was presented with two bills, one to ban UNRWA activity within the country and the second to prohibit Israeli government agencies from working with UNRWA.

But the US and Europe, who donate a substantial amount of UNRWA’s funds, have expressed fears that UNRWA’s collapse could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe with winter coming. While the US acknowledged the problem of UNRWA terror ties, European countries do not even do that in their pressure campaigns.

The day after Sinwar: The expected successor, negotiations on a deal, and a possible solution for humanitarian aid distribution

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
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A day after the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was identified (Thursday), the prevailing assessment with Israeli leadership is that his brother, Muhammad Sinwar, will assume control of the terrorist organization in Gaza, including managing the Israeli hostage situation. This is according to a senior Israeli source speaking to Israel Hayom.

The source noted that Sinwar’s elimination opens up new possibilities for rescuing the hostages, stating that “efforts are ongoing to bring them home by any means possible.” However, they expressed pessimism regarding the chances of reaching a deal with Muhammad Sinwar, saying, “He is no less a redical than his brother and is an arch-terrorist like him.”

Footage of Muhammad Sinwar, head of the tunnel construction project and brother of Yahya Sinwar, traveling in a tunnel (archive), Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

In light of Sinwar’s elimination, White House spokesperson John Kirby stated today that there are currently no negotiations for a hostage deal or a ceasefire in the Strip.

The senior official revealed that in the two weeks leading up to Sinwar’s elimination, signs had emerged suggesting a certain willingness within Hamas to compromise on the terms of a potential hostage deal, including backing out of their demand for Israel to withdraw from the Philadelphi Route. The official assessed that this flexibility was driven by the reduction in supplies entering northern Gaza, which made it difficult for Hamas to maintain its civilian control in the area.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, eliminated.

According to the official, Israel understands that dismantling Hamas’s civilian control over Gaza, and its control of incoming supplies from the world in particular, is key to achieving its war objectives. Against this backdrop, a new idea has emerged in the Prime Minister’s Office.

After previous attempts to distribute supplies through local hamulas (clans) and international aid organizations faced difficulties, the new proposal being considered involves private American companies being responsible for bringing aid through Israeli border crossings and distributing it to civilian centers in Gaza.

According to this model, the IDF would be responsible for security issues, ensuring that Hamas terrorists do not harm the employees of these private companies. However, soldiers themselves would not be involved in the actual food distribution.

IDF soldiers in a Namer APC in the Gaza Strip (Archive), Photo: IDF Spokesperson.

On the broader issue, the senior official stated that Sinwar’s elimination would not bring an end to the war. “The objectives have not yet been achieved. Hamas still has military strength in the Strip, civilian control, and there are 101 hostages that need to be brought home.”

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official abroad, Mahmoud Mardawi, told Qatar’s Al-Araby channel, “Our conditions for negotiating a hudna (ceasefire) will not change after Sinwar’s death. We will elect a new leader, and after that, we will consider all the ceasefire proposals. Our procedures will govern the selection of Yahya Sinwar’s successor at the head of the movement. The current situation is pushing to shorten the leadership election process. The election is a natural process and will not take long.”

AFSI To Dennis Ross: Retract False Israel Claim

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
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A leading pro-Israel group is demanding that former U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross retract his false allegation regarding Israel’s goals concerning Hamas.

Ross, a longtime U.S. envoy who is now a widely-quoted commentator on Mideast affairs, claimed to the New York Times on October 19 that Israel previously promised to stop firing at Hamas when its top leaders are dead.

“For Netanyahu and the Israeli military, this has always been the emblem of victory,” Ross claimed, referring to the elimination of Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar. “When you asked back in December or January, ‘What would victory look like?’ the Israeli government said, ‘When Sinwar and five or six other Hamas leaders are dead.”

But an exhaustive review by Americans For A Safe Israel (AFSI) of statements by Israeli government spokespeople during the past year has not uncovered any such assertion. On the contrary, the Israeli government has consistently said that the total defeat of the entire Hamas terrorist army is necessary to prevent Hamas from continuing to murder Jews.

AFSI National Chairman Moshe Phillips said:

“If Dennis Ross has evidence that Israel considered the elimination of seven Hamas leaders sufficient for victory, he should disclose it—otherwise, he should publicly apologize for his implausible allegation.

“Ross’s track record concerning Israel is deeply troubling. He has admitted that he pressured Israel to let Hamas import cement—the very cement that was used to build the Gaza terror tunnels. He claimed in 2014 that Hamas would soon ‘stop firing rockets’ at Israel because ‘its arsenal [will be] depleted.’ Now Ross is falsely depicting Israel as breaking its word regarding its war goals. He has demonstrated that he is too biased to be taken seriously as a commentator on Middle East affairs.”

 * * *

Established in 1970, Americans For A Safe Israel / AFSI is one of the oldest and most influential pro-Israel organizations in the United States. Its advocacy and education campaigns serve as a potent counterweight to the rising tide of Arab propaganda. AFSI is not affiliated with any political party in the United States or Israel.

Israel is being sacrificed to hand Kamala Harris’ failing campaign a few extra votes

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

The Biden White House’s latest intervention against Israel is nothing short of an abomination. In the middle of a war, it is threatening America’s closest ally in the Middle East with cutting off arms supply in 30 days’ time if its demands are not met. This is clearly not being done for any strategic, moral or diplomatic advantage. It appears designed merely to scrape together a few extra votes for Kamala Harris’s faltering election campaign.

The US administration is demanding an improvement in the humanitarian situation in Gaza, ordering Israel to facilitate increased aid delivery. But I have witnessed first-hand the Israel Defense Forces’ efforts to get aid into Gaza. Since soon after the war began, huge quantities have entered the Strip and continue to do so.

Any shortage of vital commodities should not be blamed on Israel, but on the failure by the UN and other agencies to actually deliver the aid to the people who need it. The UN’s efforts will have been impeded by inefficiency, but even more by Hamas’s seizure of aid. Media reports have shown Hamas terrorists proclaiming that their warehouses are full.

Hamas is reported to have sold aid donated by the international community in order to help sustain its terrorist capabilities. Stolen aid seems to have become a major source of income, with some estimating that the terrorist group has profited by at least half a billion dollars. It also uses aid distribution as a weapon to control the population, in a desperate effort to cling on to its authority. If you don’t do exactly what Hamas says, you are likely to go hungry.

Joe Biden’s attempt to pressure Israel by effectively blaming it for the humanitarian crisis rewards Hamas, empowers its continuing terrorist campaign, and will help prolong the conflict, further endangering both Palestinians and Israelis.

Israel is unquestionably winning its seven-front war, including in Gaza and Lebanon. Nevertheless, it does depend on US weapons and military equipment to finish the job. Should the United States follow through with an embargo, the consequences for Israel and the West could be catastrophic.

The administration’s threatening letter to Israel also speaks about growing health risks, especially in the over-crowded humanitarian areas in the south, where Gazans have sought refuge from the conflict. These concerns are real. But where are the demands on Egypt to allow refugees across onto their side of the border? The silence on this from the US, the UN and the international community is in stark contrast to the blame constantly being heaped on Israel, the country doing its best to defend its people against terrorist aggression.

Not only that, but earlier this year the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza was shut. Where are the demands on Cairo to re-open the crossing if the US is indeed so deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation?

Israel’s policy has been to flood Gaza with aid. Any restrictions imposed are designed to limit the entry of weapons and dual-use commodities. That is absolutely necessary and a policy any other government would apply. Among other measures, Israel has created new aid crossing points and built roads inside Gaza specifically for aid delivery. I am not aware of any other conflict in which one of the combatants has taken such steps, or anything like them, to get aid to its enemy’s population at the same time and place as it is actively involved in combat operations and when it does not fully hold or occupy the territory that it is fighting over.

But as with so much else in this conflict, different rules and standards are expected of Israel by the US than it would even consider applying to itself or any other country. The United States’ latest demands are utterly unreasonable: Joe Biden and his officials will know very well the reality that I have described. It’s all about the election and the hope that turning on Israel will benefit Harris.

It won’t work, though. Woke, anti-Zionist radicals will not be satisfied with a threat that is carefully timed to take effect soon after the election. They don’t want the US to limit support for Israel, but for Israel no longer to exist. If Harris wins in November, Jerusalem needs to brace itself for even greater hostility than it has seen from the Biden administration.

Biden team and Israeli talking heads push for Hamas and Hezbollah victory

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

With Sinwar dead, the Biden Team is scrambling for a Hamas and Hezbollah victory assisted by Israeli talking heads.

Even before final confirmation of the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the talking heads on Israeli television began to press to leverage this development for a deal which would end Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Now the Biden team, including Secretary of State Blinken, has announced that they are redoubling their efforts to end Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

To be clear: the window dressing of freeing the hostages is front and center.

But both the Biden team and their Israeli talking head comrades share the goal of ending Israeli operations with security concerns in the areas covered by various arrangements which only someone who hasn’t been awake for the last twenty years could take seriously.

The Biden team is convinced that everything will work out if the Palestinian Authority takes control of the Gaza Strip to be followed by the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state including the Gaza Strip, Judea, Samaria and the eastern part of Jerusalem with a transportation link between them which is not controlled by Israel.

What could go wrong!

As for Lebanon, as far as the Biden team is concerned, the solution is just a minor revision of UNSCR 1701 so that UNIFIL has the authority to enter private property in Lebanon. After all, that’s the excuse that a UNIFIL official shared, with a straight face, in an interview broadcast on Israel TV tonight.

Easy peasy!

Not.

Dr. Aaron Lernerheads IMRA, , Independent Media Review and Analysis, founded in 1992, by Drs. Aaron and his late father Joseph Lerner, as an ongoing analysis of developments in Arab-Israeli relations and an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events.

While Hamas Leader Gets Whacked. Hamas Inspired Jihadi Schools Rule the Roost

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
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While most people concerned today about Israel focus on the welcome whacking of the UNRWA teacher turned Hamas leader Sinwar, the time has come to  focus  on the Hamas legacy of the UNRWA and PA schools which have reopened in Bethlehem.
 
Their jihadi curriculum continues unabated:
 
 
Many people assume that the wide publicity we have given to UNRWA incitement has worked.
 
Quite the opposite. 
 
Reality : UNRWA cannot be closed down. That would require UNGA approval. However, UNRWA can be  rendered dysfunctional. 
 
Five-step solution for UNRWA. despite the fact that UNRWA will remain open
 
 
That means that we must force Israel and the donor nations to act. This means that we must prove that  Arab terrorists’ use of UNRWA facilities continues unabated and that UNRWA indoctrination continues:
 
 
How we plan to press criminal charges against UNRWA personnel:
 
 
Seeing is believing. We must now dispatch TV crews to cover the start of their  new school year.
Latest movie:
 
 
You Tube does not allow our movies on their server, thanks to directives from UNRWA, which was on the short list of candidates to receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year.
 
Earlier movies:
 
 
Latest report on UNRWA text books:
 

U.S. Should Declare Arms Embargo Against Palestinian Authority

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

A leading pro-Israel group is urging the Biden administration to stop sending weapons to the Palestinian Authority security forces, following the revelation that many of their members are involved in terrorism.

    A major Israeli think tank, Regavim, recently documented that the PA security forces list 2,000 of their members as “martyrs”—meaning they died while committing terrorism. In addition, fully 12% of all Palestinian Arab terrorists currently jailed in Israel are members of the PA security forces—approximately 500 out of the 4,500-5,000 jailed terrorists. Yet the Biden administration has been providing weapons and training for the PA security forces.

Moshe Phillips, National Chairman of Americans For A Safe Israel (AFSI), said:

“Instead of threatening America’s democratic ally, Israel, with an arms embargo, the Biden administration should be imposing an arms embargo on the Palestinian Authority. The PA has openly supported the October 7 massacres and many members of the PA security forces are involved in terrorism. That’s more than enough reason to stop giving them American weapons.”

Established in 1970, Americans For A Safe Israel / AFSI is one of the oldest and most influential pro-Israel organizations in the United States. Its advocacy and education campaigns serve as a potent counterweight to the rising tide of Arab propaganda. AFSI is not affiliated with any political party in the United States or Israel.

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