Tuesday, November 26, 2024
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New Year – Old Realities

By
Michael Kuttner
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As predicted, all the unsolved challenges from the old year have reappeared with a vengeance in the new year.

They were never going to go away and instead are present with an increased virulence and potential to cause major upheavals. Israel, unlike some other countries at this time of the year, does not have the luxury of shutting down for the holiday season and suspending normal Government activities. Even during the “chagim” season of Jewish Festivals, the country cannot relax its vigilance.

October 7, last year, demonstrated what happens when the country’s guard is down. Threats from those dedicated to Israel’s demise and the murder of Jews remain constant. Those who naively believed that there were partners for peace were shockingly reminded that their illusions were fatally flawed.

It is, therefore, with a sense of incredulity that one can witness the continuing flights of total fancy on the part of many in Israel, the Diaspora and in the corridors of power in world capitals.

The battle to make sure that the real news is disseminated is an unceasing struggle. Most of the main international media sources which supply reports, commentaries and opinions are controlled and staffed by individuals whose knowledge and understanding of Jews, Jewish history and Israel is minimal. That is the most positive scenario. More often than not, ignorance is reinforced by an ingrained aversion to the Jewish State emanating from a far-left political bias and a knee-jerk belief that Israel was born in original sin. In addition, local Arab “stringers” are employed, thus ensuring totally unbalanced reporting.

The inevitable result is that news outlets, whether printed versions or online websites, source their material from these select sources, thus presenting uniformly distorted news to the uninformed public.

To make matters even worse, Jewish news sites regularly reprint or post these distorted items from these same providers. It is extremely frustrating for those trying to counter the misinformation circulating to read time after time the recycled slogans and misreported facts made worse by being published on Jewish news sites.

Giving space to conflicting opinions is, without doubt, an important feature of free and democratic media. However, when the same sources are endlessly used to denigrate and misinform, then the end user, the public, must be made aware.

Some media sources are worse than others, but inevitably, the same names crop up when it comes to spreading calumnies about Israel or omitting vital facts about a particular topic.

A perfect example of how this works is provided by reports claiming that Israel deliberately targeted “innocent” Palestinian “journalists” in a drone strike which killed them. Omitted from the news item, however, was a significant fact that these two “innocents” were, in reality, themselves terrorists belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Needless to say, this omission was ignored in favour of whipping up anti-Israel fervour. Proof that this tactic is successful is provided by the fact that US Secretary of State Blinken joined in the knee-jerk condemnations of Israel.

Strangely missing from most international news sources is the revelation made by Gaza civilians that Hamas steals food and humanitarian aid from them and takes over their homes to use for terror purposes.

It has been revealed that Hamas is using North Korean weapons. This is another piece of information successfully kept under wraps.

Like cigarettes, you should be warned that believing material from some news organisations is likely to be injurious to your health.

If you come across items from AP, AAP, AFP, Reuters, The Guardian, BBC, New York Times, Sky UK, CNN, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, be wary and careful. Ha’Aretz, Israel’s post-Zionist and ultra-left newspaper, is home to many self-loathing journalists and Israel bashers. The international media love to reproduce material from them because they love nothing better than discovering Jews who hate their compatriots and the Zionist cause.

The consumer should always be aware, especially in these times when lies and incitement, in particular, are running rampant.

Another example of how to successfully sell a lie is the endlessly repeated assertion that the PA/Fatah/PLO “moderates” are the only suitable candidates for a peaceful future. The media sources detailed above (and others not mentioned) are furiously peddling this snake oil rubbish. Just because it has the seal of approval of the UN and the Vatican does not make it an infallible article of faith.

There are plenty of alternative news sites that are not afraid to publish the true facts, yet despite this, too many Jewish newspapers and websites continue to reprint fables as though they are actually true.

Take, for example, these facts supplied by PMW, an undoubted authority on exposing PA deceptions.

PA goal: Unity with Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organisations

  • Speaking in the name of Mahmoud Abbas, top PA official calls on terror organisations to unite with PA
  • PA and Fatah’s “hands are extended, hearts are open” to Hamas to unite
  • PA won’t rule Gaza without Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organisations
  • Hamas is “part of the fabric of our struggle”
  • The Oct. 7 massacre was “a great earthquake” and “battle of heroism”
  • Terror organisations will unite under the PLO/PA
  • PA Chairman Abbas asked for meeting with Hamas

Have you seen this reported elsewhere?

You never will see it widely reported because it exposes the myths peddled by the main media outlets. Scandalously, it is also shunned by many Jewish news sites, no doubt because it does not fit the prevailing narrative.

The same amnesia also prevails when it comes to the asinine slogans being screamed at demonstrations and paraded on posters and banners.

The media has succeeded in making slogans such as “from the river to the sea” and “free Palestine” an acceptable endorsement of genocidal intentions. This is perfectly exemplified by the ludicrous statement by a spokesperson for something called “Dayenu – New Zealand Jews against the occupation” who explained to the media that “the call by Palestinians to return to occupied land did not mean that Israel could not exist.” If this totally befuddled and clueless person took the time to read the Hamas charter and other pronouncements, she would have discovered that as far as these terror groups are concerned, all of Israel is occupied. The October 7 pogrom proved this fact.

It’s about time that Jewish advocacy groups publicised their own alternative slogans. “From the river to the sea Israel will always be” and “Free fake Palestine from the grip of the terrorists” are just two examples of what could easily make media headlines. The time has arrived, in fact, it is long overdue, when a more assertive fightback is required.

Timidity and an aversion to rocking the boat is a lost cause.

UNRWA Exposed by David Bedein at Knesset January 9, 2024

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
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PERSPECTIVE ON UNRWA’S WAR ON THE JEWS

By
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With American/Israeli investigative journalist David Bedein, who produces IsraelBehindTheNews.com, the best source available on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

David is the author of “UNRWA: Roadblock to Peace,” which gives a concise history of the creation and functioning of UNRWA.

David has covered UNRWA since 1987, producing studies and movies, all shot on location. He will be showing clips from films he shared with the Knesset last week. If you’d like to see all of his movies go to https://www.cfnepr.com/205640/movies

ZOOM REGISTRATION https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtduyqqz8tG9cN9Wy5pvklzLHFTFrda6y9

Fueling online antisemitism is China’s new tool against the West

By
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Since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, the quantity and virulence of antisemitic content on China’s tightly controlled internet — especially on its social media — have skyrocketed. This unprecedented surge in antisemitism online in China could be possible only with the blessing of the Chinese government, which appears to be using anti-Jewish hate as a tool of its anti-U.S. and anti-Western diplomacy.

Comments comparing Jews to Nazis are pervasive on videos relating to the Israel-Gaza war on one of China’s largest video-sharing platforms, Weibo. State-controlled media outlets have been spreading conspiracy theories about the American Jewish community online as well, including the idea that a small number of Jewish Americans control the vast majority of power and wealth in the United States. A false statistic along those lines, originally posted on Oct. 10 by state broadcaster China Central Television, went viral online, becoming a Weibo trending “hot topic.”

Of course, not all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, and antisemitism existed in China before Oct. 7. But via its internet censorship regime and state-controlled media, Chinese authorities have been fueling the flames of anti-Jewish hate online. Now, the U.S. government is starting to publicly push back on China’s promotion of antisemitism.

“What we saw after October 7 was a drastic change in the social media within China. The antisemitism became more unplugged, more free-flowing,” the State Department’s deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Aaron Keyak, told me in an interview. “And because we know that the Chinese internet is not free, that’s a conscious decision by the Chinese government to allow that kind of rhetoric to be greatly increased.”

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The Chinese government denies it promotes or even allows antisemitism online. When Keyak gave an interview last month in Brazil calling out China for using antisemitism as a tool of its anti-U.S. diplomacy, the local Chinese Embassy protested loudly. But a mountain of evidence shows that on China’s internet, where no opinion is allowed to flourish without government approval, antisemitism has surged.

“This is not some kind of uptick; this was a tsunami of antisemitic rhetoric that was allowed to spread on China’s social media,” Keyak said. “This sort of drastic increase that has been sustained since October 7 coming out of China does not happen by accident.”

China, after all, is far more actively involved in what its citizens post and see online than we are used to in the United States. Freedom House reports that China has the “world’s most sophisticated internet censorship apparatus,” whereby internet platforms implement strict monitoring and removal of content or face severe punishments. Moreover, once the government signals its support for a particular opinion or narrative, Chinese netizens know that promoting that line brings clout and benefits.

“The government created an environment where it is easy for antisemitic content to thrive,” Yaqiu Wang, Freedom House’s research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, told me. “And people know if they amplify what the government says, it’s safe. And the more nationalist they go, the more clicks they get.”

There’s a parallel rise on China’s internet of pro-Hamas and anti-Israel content. The Chinese tech companies, which operate under strict instructions from Chinese government censors, have played a big role. Chinese internet search giants Baidu and Alibaba went so far as to actually temporarily erase the country of Israel from their maps.

Some of this grows out of what has been Beijing’s largely pro-Palestinian position since the Israel-Gaza war broke out. Beijing has long relationships with Palestinian groups and sees the Palestinian issue in the context of its overall anti-Western, anti-imperialist worldview. But China never had a long history of antisemitism and targeting of Jews as state policy, as Russia has.

“Right now, it is very dangerous to be pro-Israel inside China without suffering some kind of punishment. That’s the environment,” former State Department official Miles Yu said in testimony last month to the select committee on the Chinese Communist Party. “The reason why China chose this moment to take a decisively anti-Israel position is because China regards Israel as a close ally of the West.”

But Beijing’s promotion of antisemitism is not only about its Middle East policy. By putting forth the old conspiracy theory that Western democracies are secretly run by a small cabal of Jews, rather than subject to legitimate elections, Beijing seeks to convince its domestic audience that China’s system is superior.

Obviously, these policies are distorting the news and seeding resentment among those inside China. But hateful content from China doesn’t stay in China. The Chinese government’s state media and propaganda reach is worldwide, and sowing distrust in Western democracy is a core pillar of China’s international diplomacy.

“They see pushing antisemitism as a tool of promoting their national interest,” Keyak said. “And that’s a problem for the United States, and it’s a problem for anybody who cares about the well-being of Jews anywhere, because it spreads.”

A great way to fight bad information is with good information. The State Department has published much of what it knows about Russia’s use of antisemitism as a tool of diplomacy and propaganda; it should do the same for China. And leaders in Beijing should be told clearly that its policy of fueling antisemitism is not only harmful to Jews but also a dangerous manipulation of its own people.

Facing Another Inconvenient Truth: The Misuse of Foreign Aid

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View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building during a strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 26, 2018. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** אונר"א
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בניין
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A little review of history sheds some light on the predicament that Israel now finds itself facing.

In the beginning comments of Chapter 9 of Nathan C. Belth’s book A Promise to Keep (Times Books, 1979), an apparent devastating conclusion of a 1968 UNESCO study of the textbooks used in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools attended by Palestinian children was determined. UNESCO’s conclusion was that “a majority of the 127 textbooks reviewed by the Commission employed the deplorable language of anti-Semitism, distorted history, incited to violence, and were educationally destructive because student exercises (were) often inspired by a preoccupation with indoctrination against Jews rather than by educational aims.” In response to the report, the Syrian Minister of education wrote, “The hatred which we indoctrinate into the minds of our children from their birth is sacred.”

One would think the UNESCO report would have stimulated an abrupt change in how Palestinian children were taught and a replacement of the textbooks that promoted vile falsehoods. It did not. The democracies that funded UNRWA, of which the United States of America contributed the most, continued to provide their annual contributions. Oversight over what was taught, or the teaching materials was not exercised. A study by Arnon Gross and David Bedein referenced in a Jerusalem Post article (June 20, 2020.17:39) documented the ongoing demonization of Jews in the UNRWA “educational system.”

It is not just UNRWA schools that are involved in the indoctrination. In 2005, the Foreign Press and Public Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel, Dr. Raanan Gissin, wrote a reply to me, after reading my paper that classified the teaching of hatred to children as a form of psychological abuse, since it resulted in an imposed arrest of moral development (G. Katzman. A Bioethical Analysis of a Form of Psychologic Abuse: Teaching Hatred to Children. Clin Pediatr. 2005;44:143-150 ). A portion of the Adviser’s letter stated, “The Palestinian communications and education systems – electronic media, newspapers, textbooks, etc. have been mobilized to instill hatred and enmity among Palestinian children, youth and adults, and to preach for “the liberation of Palestine with blood and tears”, and the destruction of the Jewish State. These harbingers of hatred and unrest are constantly adding fuel to the flames and inciting the

Palestinian masses to violence and martyrdom, through the murder of innocent people.” Please be assured that the Prime Minister considers a cessation of incitement to be a primary pre-requisite to any political progress.” Unfortunately, for a large segment of the Palestinian community, such a cessation has not been achieved.

A word about UNRWA-sponsored “summer camps” that have been operating for decades provides further understanding of the incitement to violence instilled in Palestinian youth. David Bedein who leads the Center for Near East Policy Research in Israel mentioned to me that there was no problem getting crews into the Hamas summer camps and filming them. Intense military training goes on in these camps with a specific message that the goal is to kill Jews and liberate “Palestine.” An October 9, 2023 article in 7 Israel National News (7INN, Arutz Sheva), contained a recommendation to “Watch and see the breeding ground of the savage murderers who attacked Israel” on October 7, 2023. The reader can view the video on the 7INN Arutz Sheva site or Google “The UNRWA Child Soldier” on vimeo. In the video, one sees the radical Islamic concept of Jihad introduced to the youth and vigorously, malevolently promoted.

In the context of the indoctrination to hate and the incitement to kill Jews, the October 7, 2023 massacre is put into perspective. It is interesting that many participants in anti-Israel rallies on college campuses often wear patterned Kaffiyehs representing Palestinian solidarity but also often associated with militancy by groups such as Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Although multifactorial, it is quite clear that the UNRWA “educational system” has played a major role in the violence perpetrated by Arabs against Jews. There have been multiple efforts over the years to inform countries funding UNRWA schools to influence what is taught, so as to take action against the cancer of hate that has now metastasized to other countries around the world. There are efforts in Israel by groups such as the Abraham Initiatives, where Jewish and Arab children go to school together, to stem the tide of festering malevolence. Seeds of Peace is another group that promotes non-violence with the difficult task of changing attitudes and approaches held by older children. And there are other efforts to promote peace. Clearly, there is much work to be done in this regard. In the meantime, the United Nations and those countries that criticize Israel for its manner of conducting a very difficult military campaign should understand their own culpability for over 60 years of funding UNRWA’s significant contribution to the causation of the present dilemma.

UNRWA Misinformation on Hamas-Israel War

By
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As a supposedly neutral UN agency, UNRWA should be promoting peace pursuant to the UN Charter. Yet, time and again, we see the UN’s refugee agency for Palestinians doing the very opposite—spreading misinformation and fueling conflict—enabling Hamas terrorism.

Following October 7th, UNRWA teachers cheered the Hamas massacre on social media. When UN Watch exposed this in a new report, instead of addressing the issue, UNRWA dismissed our human rights organization as “extremists trying to undermine the agency.” When journalist Almog Boker of Israel’s Channel 13 reported that one of the released Israeli hostages had been held captive by an UNRWA teacher, UNRWA’s first reaction was to lash out at Boker, accusing him of spreading “misinformation” based on “unsubstantiated” information. Boker rejected the accusation, reaffirming that the report was the direct testimony of a survivor.

In fact, it is UNRWA that is spreading misinformation. Since October 7th, UNRWA has repeatedly disseminated pro-Hamas propaganda that criticizes any Israeli military action—be it attacks on Hamas military assets or calls on the Gaza civilian population to evacuate—while at the same time refusing to hold Hamas accountable for any violations. For example, Hamas weapons and tunnels have been found in or under UNRWA schools, including under UNRWA crates and in UNRWA sacks and Hamas has attacked from inside UNRWA schools. Nevertheless, UNRWA always blames strikes on UNRWA facilities on Israel, either directly or by implication. UNRWA never holds Hamas responsible and almost never even mentions Hamas.

UNRWA’s tweets are filled with outright lies and highly misleading information designed to generate international condemnation for Israel while giving Hamas a free pass. Naturally, this serves Hamas’s goal of increasing international pressure on Israel to stop its military campaign prematurely, before Hamas is destroyed so that Hamas can continue its campaign of terrorism against Israel.

Below is our response to a sample of UNRWA’s tweets in the twelve-days leading up to Christmas containing lies and misinformation that aid Hamas.

UNRWA Misinformation on Twitter from December 13-24, 2023

 

1. 20,000 Civilians Killed (@UNRWA, December 24, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: @UNRWA mourns 142 colleagues killed in #Gaza, alongside over 20,000 civilians killed since the war began…

UN Watch Comment:

UNRWA relies on the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health for its casualty numbers, which does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas combatants, so it is misleading for UNRWA to label all 20,000 reported casualties as “civilians.” According to the IDF, at least 8,000 Hamas terrorists have been killed as of December 23rd, 2023.

Additionally, a close review of the UN’s official Gaza casualty count reveals that, unsurprisingly, the data is being falsified. The count of children and women casualties on some days increased more than the total casualty count. It is in Hamas’ interest to inflate children and women casualty numbers, blaming Israel to incite global antisemitism and to build diplomatic pressure against IDF operations.

Regardless of the veracity of the numbers, every civilian casualty is a tragedy. However, Israel does not target civilians and actively seeks to minimize civilian casualties. The IDF’s policy of Tohar HaNeshek, or “Purity of Arms,” enshrined in its Code of Conduct, explicitly forbids soldiers from targeting civilians.

On the contrary, Hamas intentionally targets Israeli civilians every time it fires indiscriminate rockets into Israel with the goal of killing as many Israelis as possible, while at the same time endangering Palestinian civilians by using them as human shields—a double war crime. An estimated 10 to 20 percent of the 12,000 rockets fired at Israel since October 7th have fallen short within Gaza. While we do not know what percentage of the 20,000 reported casualties are due to the 1,200 to 2,400 indiscriminately fired Hamas rockets falling short on Gazans, or due to Hamas attacks on Gazan civilians evacuating south, or seeking humanitarian aid, one thing is clear: Every civilian casualty in Gaza is the responsibility of Hamas.

2. Only a Ceasefire Can Prevent Killing and Destruction in Gaza (@UNRWA, December 23, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: “We need a ceasefire that will stop the killing of civilians & destruction of civilian infrastructure in #Gaza…

UN Watch Comment: A ceasefire can be achieved immediately if Hamas lays down its arms and returns the remaining Israeli hostages. UNRWA has never called for this.

On December 25th, 2023, it was reported that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad rejected an Egyptian proposal for them to relinquish power in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire.

3. Difficulty in Distributing Aid in Gaza is Caused by Israel (@UNRWA, December 23, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: “We are not able to distribute as much food as we should – simply because it’s a sky full of airstrikes & there’s very little supplies we’re allowed to bring in”

@JulietteTouma @RTERadio1: It’s been 10 very long weeks of brutal, brutal war in #Gaza

UN Watch Comment: This tweet directly blames Israeli airstrikes for difficulties distributing aid in Gaza. It fails to mention that Hamas actively prevents distribution of aid. Specifically the tweet omits that Hamas gunmen stole humanitarian aid as they beat the Gazans attempting to get the aid and that Hamas operatives commandeered aid trucks carrying food, water, medicine, and fuel. UNRWA tweets never name or condemn Hamas. According to a Gazan civilian, Hamas itself controls UNRWA inside Gaza and steals humanitarian supplies for itself.

4. Israeli Evacuation Orders Put Gazans in Danger (@UNRWA, December 23, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: Evacuation orders issued by Israeli authorities move people to areas where @UNRWA shelters are beyond capacity & there are ongoing airstrikes

UN Watch Comment: This tweet suggests that Israeli evacuation orders endanger Gazans. In fact, it is Hamas that endangers Gazan civilians by embedding itself in the civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, mosques, and homes. Not evacuating civilians from active combat zones would result in much higher civilian casualties. By providing advance warning to civilians of areas where its battles against Hamas will soon take place, the IDF is fulfilling its obligation under international law at the expense of its military edge.

5. High Number of UN Workers Killed in Gaza Implies Israeli Wrongdoing  (@UNRWA retweeting Antonio Guterres, December 23, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: 136 of our colleagues in Gaza have been killed in 75 days – something we have never seen in @UN history.

UN Watch Comment: UNRWA retweeted Secretary General Antonio Guterres paying tribute to the 136 UNRWA employees killed in the war. The tweet expresses outrage at the fact that so many UN staff have been killed in Gaza, commenting “something we have never seen before.”

The reason for that, which is omitted from the tweet, is that of all the conflict-affected areas in the world (Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Myanmar, etc.), only the Palestinians have their own UN agency that hires 30,000 mostly local people—more than 10,000 in Gaza alone—to provide basic government services like education and healthcare. Nowhere else in the world does the UN have that amount of staff on the ground, let alone local staff. By way of comparison, UNHCR has a total of approximately 30,000 employees covering the entire rest of the world.

The fact that so many UN employees in Gaza have been killed does not prove that this war is any more deadly than other wars around the world or that Israel is deliberately targeting UN staff. It is indicative only of the fact that the UN devotes far more resources to the Palestinians than to any other conflict-affected population.

6. Gaza is Worse Than Other Conflicts (@UNRWA, December 20, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: “All of this is unprecedented: the level of destruction, the displacement of people, the grief this has brought on the agency with the loss of colleagues, the hits on our own facilities”

UN Watch Comment:

What makes the situation in Gaza unprecedented is that a terrorist regime has had 16 years and billions of dollars of international aid to embed its terror operations into the civilian infrastructure for the purpose of attacking the liberal-democracy next door, Israel, from across the border. Hamas’s tactics are designed to achieve maximum levels of civilian casualties and destruction despite Israel’s best efforts to avoid that. The level and extent of Hamas entrenchment among the civilian population hasn’t been seen in any other conflict in the world.

UNRWA’s choice of the very dramatic word—“unprecedented”—to describe the situation is clearly intended to generate condemnation of Israel, the party carrying out the strikes. The tragic reality is that millions of people in the region from Syria to Yemen are displaced and in dire need of humanitarian assistance due to conflict.

7. Death of Gaza Children is Evidence of Israeli Violations (@UNRWA, December 19, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: Nowhere, and no-one, is safe in #Gaza. The killing of thousands of children cannot be collateral damage.

UN Watch Comment:

The reason Gaza is unsafe at the moment is because Hamas has turned it into a war zone by embedding itself in the civilian infrastructure. Knowing how dangerous Gaza is, one has to wonder why UNRWA is intent on keeping Gaza’s civilians in Gaza instead of advocating for neighboring countries to temporarily host the displaced until these hostilities are over? Since Hamas refuses to surrender, continues to attack Israel, and hides behind the Gaza civilian population, Hamas is fully responsible for all civilian deaths in Gaza.

From a legal perspective, this tweet is also wrong. “Collateral damage” is a legal term that comes from the IHL proportionality rule, which the tweet suggests is violated based on the result of the Israeli military strikes, i.e., the number of casualties. However, as military law expert Professor Geoffrey Corn explains, “proportionality is not defined by attack outcome, but instead by asking whether the individual launching the attack made a reasonable proportionality assessment when the trigger was pulled.”

8. Percentage of Destruction and Displacement Make Gaza Situation Unprecedented (@UNRWA, December 19, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: Over 60% of the infrastructure in#Gaza has been destroyed or damaged.

More than 90% of the Gazan population have been displaced.

This is a staggering and unprecedented level of destruction and forced displacement, taking place in front of our eyes.

UN Watch Comment: The reason there is a high level of destruction and displacement is because Hamas has spent its 16 years of rule of Gaza spending billions of dollars in international aid embedding its terror operations within the civilian infrastructure. It has built over 500 kilometers of subterranean tunnels running under homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques from which it conducts military operations.

9. Israeli Evacuation Orders Constitute Forcible Transfer (@UNRWA, December 18, 2023)

Since the war started, Israeli Authorities have forcibly moved 1.9 million Gazans from their homes- the largest forced displacement of Palestinians since 1948

UN Watch Comment: UNRWA falsely accuses Israel of the international crime of “forced displacement.” The rules of customary international law prohibit the deportation or forcible transfer of the civilian population of an occupied territory “unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand.” Evacuation of civilians from an active war zone is not “forced displacement.” Suggesting otherwise is misleading and intended to demonize Israel. Moreover, Israel has not forced any Gazan civilians to evacuate, they have merely issued warnings as to which areas will soon see fighting. The decision of civilians to evacuate thereafter is voluntary.

The warnings are provided by the IDF as a courtesy to civilians, to give them ample time to flee the dangerous area, in the interest of saving innocent lives. These areas have been made dangerous because Hamas embedded its terror operations into civilian infrastructure, so Hamas is entirely to blame for the need for civilians to evacuate.

10. UNRWA Ensures Stability in the Region (@UNLazzarini, December 18, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: UNRWA’s presence has been pivotal in preventing #Gaza, and the region, from descending into chaos. The high standard of @UNRWA‘s educational system has been widely admired globally.

Undermining @UNRWA undermines international efforts in #Gaza & beyond.

UN Watch Comment: UN Watch recently documented how UNRWA staff celebrated Hamas’s October 7th massacre on Facebook. Since 2015, UN Watch has exposed more than 150 UNRWA staff who posted antisemitism and incitement to jihadi terrorism on Facebook. Our March 2023 report also showed how UNRWA staff routinely incite against Israel in the classroom and encourage impressionable students to follow a path of violence and martyrdom. As it stands, UNRWA’s education derails future prospects for peace by raising another generation of Palestinian children on hate and false dreams. In fact, it is UNRWA that “undermines international efforts in #Gaza & beyond,” by ensuring the perpetuation of the conflict.

11. Gaza Becoming a Graveyard (@UNRWA, December 17, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: #Gaza is becoming the graveyard of a population trapped between war, siege and deprivation.

UN Watch Comment: This type of exaggerated hyperbole and melodramatic language is intended to generate strong condemnation of Israel. While Gaza is now a war zone, it is not a “graveyard.” Moreover, every civilian casualty in Gaza is the responsibility of Hamas because Hamas’s strategy is to deliberately use Gazan civilians as human shields so that Israeli strikes targeted at Hamas will unavoidably cause civilian casualties, generating international condemnation and diplomatic pressure against IDF operations.

12. 2023 Israel/Hamas War is Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the Region (@UNLazzarini, December 15, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: Reassured by the decision from the Council of States this morning to keep supporting @UNRWA during one of the worst humanitarian crises in #Gaza and the region.

Critical that Switzerland expresses its solidarity to the victims of this brutal war.

UN Watch Comment: Without diminishing the seriousness of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, it is far from being “one of the worst humanitarian crises in…the region.” A quick survey of other ongoing conflicts shows this characterization is highly exaggerated. At least 306,000 Syrian civilians have been killed in the Syrian civil war and more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes. UNHCR describes Yemen as the world’s “worst humanitarian crisis” with 4.5 million people displaced and 21.6 million people “in dire need of humanitarian assistance” as of March 2023. In Iraq, more than 1.2 million people are currently displaced by conflict and 3 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. Moreover, the UN could end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza immediately by demanding Hamas unconditionally surrender and release all hostages.

13. UNRWA Collapse Would be Betrayal of Palestinians (@UNLazzarini, December 13, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: Told @baysontheroad it is of utmost importance that the members of the @UN General Assembly realise if @UNRWA collapses in #Gaza, the Palestinian community will feel this ad the last betrayal of the International Community.

UN Watch Comment: Actually, by keeping UNRWA alive, the UN betrays the Palestinian people and the long-term prospects for peace in the region. The sole purpose of UNRWA is to perpetuate the conflict by giving Palestinians false hope that they will one day return to homes inside Israel. Thus, it prevents them from settling and developing productive lives where they are—which for more than 2.3 million so-called UNRWA refugees is territory designated for the future state of Palestine, either the West Bank or Gaza.

Moreover, despite its name, UNRWA acts as a welfare agency for the Palestinians, rather than a refugee agency. This encourages a culture of dependency that prevents the Palestinians from taking responsibility for their own future. The UN doesn’t provide long-term healthcare solutions, education, or cash assistance for one of the parties in any other conflict. If the General Assembly genuinely cares for the Palestinians, it should end UNRWA and start demanding accountability from the Palestinian leadership.

14. Israeli Attacks on UN Facilities Violate Laws of War (December 12, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: Saw videos of an @UNRWA school in northern #Gaza blown up. It is outrageous. All public facilities, including hospitals & @UN schools are protected under international law. Parties to this brutal war have the coordinates of all our facilities in Gaza.

UN Watch Comment: Yes, civilian objects like hospitals and schools should be protected under international law. However, they lose their protection and become valid military objectives “when and for such time” as they are being used for military purposes. UNRWA should direct its outrage at Hamas which has used UNRWA facilities for military purposes, causing them to become valid military targets. With some 10,000 Palestinian Gazans on its payroll, many of whom have ties to Hamas, UNRWA cannot plead ignorance about Hamas misuse of its facilities.

During the current hostilities there have already been reports of Hamas operating from UNRWA schools, including through its tunnel network, weapons depots which have been found in UNRWA crates and in UNRWA sacks, and attacks from inside UNRWA schools. A released Israeli hostage recently testified that while in captivity she witnessed Gazan’s cheering Hamas with shouts of “Allahu Akbar” after it launched rockets at Israel from a school where they were sheltering. By failing to name Hamas, this tweet falsely implies Israeli responsibility for attacks on hospitals and schools even though Hamas is the party that converted them into military objects.

15. “There is nowhere for people to go.” (@UNRWA, December 23, 2023)

UNRWA Tweet: To expand ongoing military operations, Israeli authorities have issued MORE evacuation orders for people in Middle Area of #Gaza to move into areas where there are ongoing airstrikes.

More than 150k people impacted.

There is nowhere for people to go. Nowhere is safe.

UN Watch Comment: “Evacuation orders” from the IDF are merely warnings that the dangerous ground war against Hamas will soon expand into new territory. The warnings are provided by the IDF as a courtesy to civilians, to give them ample time to flee the dangerous area, in the interest of saving innocent lives. These areas have been made dangerous because Hamas embedded its terror operations into civilian infrastructure, so Hamas is entirely to blame for the need for civilians to evacuate.

The tweet also says that there is “nowhere for people to go.” It is true that the expanding battleground within Gaza has created a humanitarian crisis and leaves practically nowhere in Gaza safe for civilians. However, this is true for all war zones. If this were any other conflict zone in the world, the UN’s response would be to assist civilians in fleeing the war zone and finding refuge, either temporary or permanent, in a safe country. When war broke out in Syria, the UN never demanded that Syrian civilians remain in the line of fire. Instead, UNHCR assisted millions of Syrians in seeking refuge in 130 different countries. As of December 2023, there are 1.9 million Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon alone, and 3.7 million Syrian refugees registered in Turkey.

This begs the question: Why isn’t the UN facilitating a temporary evacuation of Gazan civilians out of the war torn Gaza Strip? For one, Gaza borders Egypt, which has heavily fortified its border and refuses to allow Gazan civilians through. But instead of condemning Egypt for this, the UN has supported Egypt’s position that no Gazan civilians should leave Gaza.

The answer is that the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, has a mandate to assist and resettle refugee populations of all nationalities in the world except one: Palestinians.

Instead, Palestinians are serviced by UNRWA, which has a different mandate and a different definition for “refugee.” UNRWA’s mandate is explicitly not to resettle Palestinians. Rather, UNRWA holds them in “refugee camps,” which today are simply urban areas in Gaza, for generation after generation.

So when UNRWA says that “there is nowhere for [Gazans] to go,” the reason is because UNRWA’s mandate is keeping them trapped in a war zone.

In order to save Gazan civilians, UN Watch calls on UNHCR to intervene to assist in the temporary evacuation of Gazans, either by land through the Rafah Crossing, or if Egypt refuses to cooperate, then by sea. Israel should provide guarantees to all Gazan civilians evacuated that they will be able to return to Gaza once Hamas has been eliminated. In the long run, UNHCR should assist Palestinians who wish to voluntarily leave UNRWA refugee camps and resettle elsewhere in the world.

Herzog reveals Hamas documents outlining directives for ‘terror summer camps’ in Gaza

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President Isaac Herzog revealed on Sunday evening what he said was a Hamas document discovered by Israeli troops in Gaza dealing with summer camp programs hosted by the terror group.

He presented the documents during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and told the news show that the recently discovered documents were “a directive by the commanders of Hamas as to how to manage summer camps for children in order to disseminate the values of jihad. It says it clearly — to disseminate the values of jihad, and the values of the resistance, meaning terror, and how to make it a militarized society.”

The president said that while normal summer camps are about enabling “youngsters, kids and adolescents to become citizens of the free world and with liberty, with happiness with joy, with sports — here their entire aim is to make them terrorists.”

Summer camps run by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip have been a well-documented phenomenon over the years, with both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad operating their own versions, featuring kids training in use of weapons and practicing activities such as fighting, kidnapping and killing Israelis.

During a press briefing earlier this month, the IDF showed reporters footage that it said depicted terror groups indoctrinating young people.

It accused the organizations of using minors to carry out tasks for them during the war, and asserted that children had been sent by the terror groups to battlefields in Gaza after an attack “to assess the damage and report it to the terrorists who are hiding in shelters.”

An undated image released by the IDF on January 3, 2024, showing Palestinian children playing on a mock tank next to Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces)

In 2021, a Hamas-run summer camp trained children to shoot soldiers at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque through computer simulations. Other activities the children were encouraged to participate in included a simulated kidnapping of an Israeli soldier.

At a similar camp operated by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in 2023, PIJ official Darwish al-Gharabli told AFP that “Hundreds have participated in the camps of the al-Quds Brigades, the camps of glory and pride, ensuring that jihad and resistance will continue.”

Rockets are seen next to children at an Islamic Jihad summer camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 22, 2023. (AP/Fatima Shbair)

Asked during “Meet the Press” about comments made by several right-wing government ministers in recent days in which they have advocated for encouraging the mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza, Herzog firmly rejected the notion that displacement is an official government policy.

The idea, he said, “is not the position of the Israeli government or the Israeli parliament or the Israeli public.

“But we are a democracy,” he continued. “And in a democracy, you have a variety of ideas in a variety of areas, and in a society where free speech is the basis of our national DNA, people can say whatever they want.”

“In a cabinet meeting of 30 ministers, a minister can say whatever he wants. I may not like it, but this is Israeli politics,” he added.

Comments advocating for the mass displacement of Palestinians which were made by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have received fierce backlash in recent days, including from the US State Department, which called their rhetoric “inflammatory and irresponsible.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads a faction meeting of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 1, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

For his part, Ben Gvir told reporters that the war in Gaza presents “an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration” of the coastal enclave’s residents, while Smotrich told Religious Zionism Party members during a faction meeting that the “correct solution” to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be to “encourage voluntary migration.”

Reiterating that “officially and unequivocally, this is not the Israeli position,” Herzog cautioned that Israel’s national psyche should be taken into consideration when interpreting what is being said.

“In the last three months, we have seen so much agony, pain and sadness,” he said, adding that there are still more than 130 Israelis held in Gaza, including Kfir Bibas, who is just one week shy of his first birthday, as well as several Holocaust survivors and other elderly people.

“Because of that, our nation is worried, is agonized, and we are doing whatever we can, to do whatever it takes to bring back these hostages.”

Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza erupted after the deadly terror onslaught on October 7 in which thousands of terrorists burst into Israel from Gaza, slaughtering some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — amid scenes of horrific brutality and seizing around 240 hostages.

In response, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip, which the terror group has ruled since 2007, and launched an aerial campaign and subsequent ground operation, which the United Nations estimates have displaced around 85% of Gaza’s population.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said that since the start of the fighting, more than 22,800 people have been killed, although these numbers cannot be independently verified. The figure does not differentiate between civilians and combatants and includes Palestinians killed by errant rocket fire from Gaza. Israel says it has killed 8,500 terror operatives inside the Strip since the start of the war.

This is a former Israeli foreign ministry official, Noga Arbell talking about destroying the UNRWA.

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This is a former Israeli foreign ministry official, Noga Arbell talking about destroying the UNRWA.
byu/hunegypt inPalestine

Israeli military discovers Hamas terrorist equipment hidden inside UNRWA bags in Gaza clinic

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Israeli Defense Forces discovered vests belonging to elite Nukhba forces of the Hamas terror group stashed inside bags belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The vests were discovered during a raid on a Gaza medical clinic over the weekend. The IDF also found weapons hidden in an adjacent building.

“IDF troops, directed by intelligence, conducted a targeted raid on an area in Gaza City from which shots were fired at the troops over the last few days. During the activity, the troops located Nukhba military vests that were concealed by Hamas in UNRWA bags in a medical clinic. In an adjacent building, the troops located RPGs, AK-47s, and ammunition,” the IDF said in a statement.

Hamas weapons found in Khan Younis, southern Gaza (Photo: IDF)

 

The Nukhba force played a leading role in the unprecedented Hamas massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis during its surprise invasion of southern Israel border communities on Oct. 7.

The UNRWA for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is officially tasked with providing education and health care to the residents of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The UN organization claims it is a non-political agency focusing on humanitarian work. However, Israeli and international critics have argued for years that the controversial UN agency has close ties to the terror organization Hamas. In addition, UNRWA-run schools have played a central role in spreading incitement and hatred against Israel and the Jewish people.

In December, Israeli Channel 13 journalist Almog Boker reported that a former Israeli hostage had testified that a UNRWA teacher had kept him imprisoned during his captivity in the Gaza Strip.

“’Uninvolved,’ they say, right? Well, read this story carefully. One of the abductees, held for nearly 50 days in an attic, reveals he was held by a UNRWA teacher – a father of ten children. This teacher locked the victim away, barely provided food, and neglected medical needs,” Boker wrote.

On Oct. 7, as the Hamas terror attack on civilians in Israel unfolded, UNRWA employees in Gaza celebrated.

UN Watch, the Geneva-based NGO that monitors the performance of the United Nations wrote in a November report:

“As soon as news of the horrific slaughter broke, which was live streamed on social media by some of the terrorists, United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff immediately celebrated and justified it on Facebook… UNRWA has been a breeding ground for Palestinian terrorists from its early days… The perpetrators of the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes were murdered… almost all were raised and educated in UNRWA schools… Likewise, Mohamed Deif, the commander of Hamas’ Al Qassem Brigades who masterminded the October 7th massacre, was also educated in an UNRWA school.”

Israel hopes to have UNRWA removed from the Gaza Strip once the war is over, according to a Times of Israel report last week.

 

Action to be taken against UNRWA

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David Bedein 

0587222661

IsraelBehindTheNews.com                          January 2024

TAKE UNRWA TO THE HAGUE

 

UNRWA does not hide the fact that its 30,000 workers act as soldiers  at war with the Jews.

This is the time to take into account the origins of  UNRWA, initiated by the 1948 UN mediator, , Folke Bernadotte, who first conceptualized the “Inalienable Right of Return to Palestine” as a contra to the Jewish aspiration of a the Return to Zion, later enacted by Israel as the  Law of Return.  

The time has come to take off the gloves and to finally define UNRWA as a hostile organization and to   investigate criminal responsibility of the Commissioner General of UNRWA, who bears direct responsibility for the daily discovery of immense quantities of weaponry  inside UNRWA schools,  

A criminal investigation of UNRWA will focus on its direct involvement in terror actions.

All it takes is for one member of theKnesset to request the research division of the  Knesset  to gather evidence to present to the UN Secretary General of with charges of war crimes committed by UNRWA. That will get the ball  rolling towards 

It would be appropriate to ask at least one UNRWA donor to reactivate the dormant RWG – REFUFEE WORKING GROUP   –  as the UNRWA donors to  oversee UNRWA 1.6 billion dollar budget, with the vast amount of funds received in cash and unaccounted for.

In that context a revitalized RWG would investigate the transparency of 1.6 billion dollars of annual donations from 68 donor countries and 33 organizations – most of it in cash – so that further funds for UNRWA will no longer  wind up in hands of the terror organizations that now control the UNRWA treasury i

In that context, a revitalized RWG vet  UNRWA employees associated with Hamas,  Islamic Jihad, or Fatah , in accordance with  the laws of donor nations which forbid assistance to any terror entity, 

Since UNRWA does bear responsibility for more than 5 million descendants of Arab refugees from the 1948 war, it would seem logical to eplicate working principles of the UNHCR – the UN High Commission for Refugees – to promote the permanent resettlement of 4th and 5th generations of refugees born after the 1948 war who have lived  the past seven 7 decades as “refugees in perpetuity”, because
UNRWA policy had always been that a policy of the resettlement of the Palestinian Arab refugees  from the 1948 war will harm their   “Right of Return”. 

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    1. Removal of thousands of graffiti spread all over UNRWA , which call for Jihad and the praise of martyrs and murderers,  while praising  “Right of Return” by force of arms.
  • Cancel the new UNRWA new school curriculum, based on Jihad, adulation of martyrs and incitement against  the Jews. . There is no  excuse for UN school indoctrination to violence,  “values” , at a time when the motto of UN education is  “Peace begins Here“.  58% of the UNRWA budget is spent on UNRWA “education”
  1. Conduct a thorough check for weaponry  in all UNRWA facilities.
  2. Cease any weapons  training of UNRWA students   
  3. Remove PA text that praises  mass murderer  Dalal Al Mugrabi from  all UNRWA schools.
  4. Strengthen  US- UNRWA Accord  which conditions UNRWA aid on cancellation of incitement

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