WHY ISRAELI RULE OF GOLAN IS LAWFUL -- AND WISE

By Peter Berkowitz

February 19, 2016

For the full article go to: http://tinyurl.com/hh8tkxq

TEL AVIV—In exercising its right of self-defense in the Six Day War, Israel seized from Syria the Golan Heights, a strategically important plateau that looms over northeastern Israel, rising sharply from the eastern bank of the Sea of Galilee to a height of more than 3,000 feet. Since June 1967 a powerful consensus has prevailed in the international community, including the United States, that the Golan is occupied territory.

The Syrian civil war, which has been raging for almost five years, has done little to disturb the consensus. But the chaos in Syria has weighty legal and political ramifications that should impel the international community to revise its understanding of the Golan’s status.

Modern Syria, which was born in 1946, has ceased to exist. Bashar al-Assad—who hails from the minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shia Islam—retains the title of president of Syria though he now controls less than 25 percent of his former country. Despite recent advances by government troops, the Islamic State and other Sunni Islamists continue to dominate much of the territory Assad once governed.

Assad’s quest to retain power has produced carnage of epic proportions. When the dictator moved to crush the anti-regime, pro-democracy protests that broke out in Syria in early 2011, the country’s population numbered approximately 22 million. Since then violence has taken at least 250,000 lives, with more recent reports putting the figure significantly higher. Between 1 million and 1.5 million people have been wounded. More than 5 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries and to Europe. The Economist estimated in September 2015 that an additional 7 million people have been forced from their homes but remain within Syria’s official borders. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs believes that more than 13 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Few informed observers think that a functioning nation-state can be reconstructed out of the warring Alawite, Shia, Sunni, Kurd, and Druze factions into which Syria has collapsed. The termination, shortly after they began in early February, of peace talks in Geneva suggests that much blood is still to be spilled.

Foreign funds and fighters sustain the killing. With much of the Syrian army having crumbled, Assad is propped up by Shiite Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon; the newly cash-flush Iranians who are pocketing $100 billion or more as a result of the U.S.-brokered deal over their nuclear program; and the Russians, whose air power has inflicted punishing blows on Assad’s enemies. Saudi Arabia continues to support Sunni rebels.

In these dramatically transformed circumstances, Israel has the strongest legal claim to the Golan Heights. Its political claim is stronger still.

Until the Six Day War, Syria used a heavily fortified Golan as a platform to fire at Israeli villages below. Damascus also permitted the Palestinian Liberation Organization to use the Golan as a staging ground for terrorism. In the immediate aftermath of the Six Day War, Israel offered to negotiate the status of all the territories it had seized—which included the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. Syria, along with Israel’s other Arab neighbors, emphatically rejected the offer.

  

It addition to approximately 20,000 Jewish Israelis, the Golan is home to about 20,000 Druze, who speak Arabic and practice their own distinctive religion. The Golan Druze reside in four towns in the northernmost part of the territory. Unlike the Druze living in the Galilee region of pre-1967 Israel who are citizens and serve in the army, the vast majority of Golan Druze declined Israeli citizenship. Since the Syrian civil war, however, they increasingly view life in Israel as preferable to the alternatives. Today it is rare to see a picture of Assad in a Golan Druze restaurant or store, although they still hang in private homes.

At a restaurant on the edge of the town of Majdal Shams, which lies at the foot of the snow-capped Mount Hermon, a veteran Golan Druze tour guide explained to me that there were two main reasons for his community’s historic support for Assad. First, the president of Syria has provided protection for Syrian Druze against Islamic State jihadists, who see the Druze as infidels. Also, the Golan Druze fear that should Israel strike a deal with Syria, Assad would punish them. He noted, however, that younger Druze are increasingly open in their preference for Israel.

He also stressed that his people generally regard the question of who should rule the Golan as a matter for Syria and Israel to decide. And then, with a shining smile, my Druze companion—who was already in his mid-twenties when Israel took the Golan in 1967 and so has living memories of life under Syrian authority—added that he was quite confident that there is not another group in Israel, including the Jews, who have life as good under the Israeli government as do the Golan Druze.

Meanwhile, Israelis across the political spectrum realize that had a return of the Golan been negotiated, Islamic State jihadists would now control the plateau. The Golan Heights, moreover, does not raise the difficult questions for Israelis posed by the West Bank and its restive population of approximately 2.8 million Palestinians, because the Golan Druze are a small community pleased with their condition and entitled by law to full Israeli citizenship.

   

Following World War II, international law prohibited the acquisition of territory by force, even in the case of a defensive war. The general tendency is to preserve existing boundaries.

What happens, however, when the party with the claim favored by international law disintegrates? The precedents are few and ambiguous. However, James Crawford’s authoritative work, “Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law,” 8th edition, declares that “title prevails over possession, but if title is equivocal, possession under claim of right matters.” Syria’s disintegration renders title over the Golan equivocal.

Israel’s territorial claim arises in part from the principle of “effective occupation,” which provides that territory can be acquired through the exercise of sovereign power on a peaceful and extended basis. Israeli law has applied to the Golan for almost 35 years and Israel has exercised authority in a manner that suits all the residents of the territory.

Moreover, public international law favors stability, order, and peace; it aims to avoid resolutions that expose individuals to death or injury. Accordingly, it should prefer Israeli sovereignty over the Golan to the grim alternatives for the Golan Druze: the tyrannical rule of Shiite Islamist Iran’s puppet Assad, or the tyrannical rule of Islamic State Sunnis.

The international consensus that the Golan belongs to Syria no longer fits the facts and the law. Nor does it coincide with America’s interest in checking the spread of Islamist violence throughout the Middle East and in bolstering a democratic ally. At the first opportunity—unlikely to come before the next president’s inauguration in January 2017—the United States should affirm Israel’s lawful and just exercise of sovereignty over the Golan Heights and urge the international community, particularly U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East, to do the same.

Peter Berkowitz, a member of the board of the National Association of Scholars, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

Video of the week: Israeli and Syrian Call for Safe Zone -  http://tinyurl.com/j528z2v

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"What do we really know about Israel"

This week we have a totally different “Article of the week”.  Test your knowledge and enjoy this delightful quiz

It's an online quiz checking how much we all actually know about Israel: See below.

http://www.playbuzz.com/jewishtelegraphicagency10/birthright-questions-quiz

It comes from a study done by Brandeis University called the Israel Literacy Measurement Project demonstrating that most US college students really know nothing at all about Israel.

Video of the week: Alan Dershowitz Addresses Israel-haters http://tinyurl.com/zeyhe6f

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ISRAEL'S ARABS: A TALE OF BETRAYAL

                    

By Khaled Abu Toameh, 11-02-2016
For the full article go to: http://tinyurl.com/z8eynab

During the past two decades, some of the Israeli Arab community's elected representatives and leaders have worked harder for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip than for their own Israeli constituents.

◾These parliamentarians ran in elections on the promise of working to improve the living conditions of Israeli Arabs and achieving full equality in all fields. However, they devote precious time and energy on Palestinians who are not citizens of Israel. They vie for the distinction of being the most vitriolic provocateur against their country.

◾Such provocations make it more difficult for Arab university graduates to find jobs in both the Israeli private and public sectors.

◾The big losers are the Arab citizens of Israel, who have once again been reminded that their elected representatives care far more about non-Israeli Palestinians than they care about them.

The uproar surrounding a recent meeting held by three Israeli Arab Members of Knesset (parliament) with families of Palestinians who carried out attacks against Israelis is not only about the betrayal of their country, Israel. It is also about the betrayal of their own constituents: the 1.5 million Arab citizens of Israel.

Knesset members Haneen Zoabi, Basel Ghattas and Jamal Zahalka managed to accomplish several things at once with this controversial meeting. They certainly seem to have provoked the ire of many Jewish Israelis. Perhaps they violated the oath they made when they were sworn into parliament: "I pledge to bear allegiance to the State of Israel and faithfully to discharge my mandate in the Knesset."

One thing, however, they have accomplished without question is acting against the interests of Israeli Arabs.

Zoabi, Ghattas and Zahalka met with Palestinian families who are not Israeli citizens and do not vote for the Knesset. As such, none of these families voted for the three Knesset members or the Arab List party to which they belong. Of course, as part of a democratic government, any member of the Knesset is free to meet with any Palestinian from the West Bank, Gaza Strip or Jerusalem.

It is worth noting that not all Arab Knesset members are involved in fiery rhetoric and provocative actions against Israel. However, there is good reason to believe that some Arab Knesset members deliberately engage in actions and rhetoric with the sole purpose of enraging not only the Israeli establishment, but also the Jewish public.

This meeting was the latest in a series of actions by Arab Knesset members that have severely damaged relations between Jews and Arabs inside Israel. Such actions have one clear result: colossal injury to Arab citizens' efforts for full equality.

During the past two decades, some of the Arab community's representatives and leaders have worked harder for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip than for their own Israeli constituents.

These parliamentarians ran in elections on the promise of working to improve the living conditions of Israeli Arab voters and achieving full equality in all fields. However, they devote precious time and energy on Palestinians who are not citizens of Israel. 

Their spare moments are spent vying for the distinction of being the most vitriolic provocateur against their country.

Instead of acting against the interests of the Palestinians -- by pretending they were sitting in a Palestinian parliament and not the Knesset -- there are alternative scenarios. These Arab Knesset members could be serving as a bridge between Israel and Palestinians living under the jurisdiction of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Decisions such as the one to join a flotilla "aid" ship to the Gaza Strip -- which was more a poke in Israel's eye than any attempt to help Palestinians -- turn the Jewish public against the Israeli Arab public, who are then viewed as a "fifth column" and an "enemy from within."

Such provocations make it more difficult for Arab university graduates to find jobs in both the Israeli private and public sectors. The deeds and rhetoric of these Knesset members have ensured a continuing gap between Arabs and Jews inside Israel.

Thanks to some Arab Knesset members, many Jews no longer see a difference between an Arab citizen who is loyal to Israel and a radical Palestinian from the Gaza Strip or West Bank who seeks to destroy Israel.

Of course, Arab Knesset members have the right to criticize the policies and actions of the Israeli government. But such criticism ought to be leveled from the Knesset podium and not from Ramallah, Gaza or on board a ship carrying a load of Israel-haters and activists.

Just to be clear: this is not a call for banning Arab Knesset members from meeting with their Palestinian brethren from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. Rather, this is a call for Knesset members to consider carefully their aims and the tone in which they are carried out.

The recent meeting in question began with a moment of silence for specific dead -- that is, the Palestinian attackers who murdered and wounded several people. Jewish Israelis are likely to have particular feelings about this choice of opening.

Things could have been different. Arab Knesset members could have used the meeting to issue a call for an end to the current wave of stabbing, vehicular and shooting attacks, which began in October 2015. They could have demanded that Palestinian leaders, factions and media outlets cease brainwashing young men and women, and cease urging them to murder Jews -- any Jews.

The Palestinian families who met with the three Arab Knesset members have nothing to lose. Nor do the other Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For them, these Knesset members are probably doing a better job representing them than the Palestinian Authority or Hamas.

The big losers are the Arab citizens of Israel, who have once again been reminded that their elected representatives care far more about non-Israeli Palestinians than they care about them.

Thus far, only a handful of Arab Israeli voices have had the courage to criticize their representatives in the Knesset. Yet it is precisely these citizens who need to punish their failed Knesset members, not the Israeli government or any parliamentary committee or court. The power is certainly in their hands.

If the Israeli Arab majority continues to waffle, allowing its leaders free reign, Arab Knesset members will lead their people only to nothing.

Video of the week: POWERFUL WORDS FROM ISRAELI-ARAB REPORTER http://tinyurl.com/hdd8rta  

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CHARLIE AND THE JEWS ONE YEAR LATER

By Jonathan Tobin, Jan. 6, 2016

For the full article go to: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0116/tobin010616.php3

This week is the anniversary of the attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo as well as of the assault on a Parisian kosher market by members of the same group of Islamist terrorists. The publication is marking the occasion by issuing a special edition that is reportedly full of its trademark profanity and blasphemy mocking religion in general, and the faith of those who slaughtered 11 of the magazine's staffers on January 7, 2015, in particular. 

But one doesn't have to agree with everything in the 32-page cartoon-filled polemic to accept that two assertions it makes are absolutely true. One is that, as its cover states, "the assassin is still out there." The other is that, as its editor writes, the world is still waiting for an explanation from its leaders as to why a run-of-the-mill Jewish target - the Hyper Cacher supermarket - was singled out along with the Hebdo staff.

The assassin in question doesn't refer to the Islamist cell that carried out the attacks since all of them were eventually killed. Rather it refers to the threat of radical Islamist terrorism, which is still flourishing in the form of an ISIS caliphate that controls much of Syria and Iraq as well as the Hamas and Hezbollah groups in Gaza and Lebanon, not to mention their Iranian sponsors. The Paris attacks in November carried out by ISIS and the mass shooting in San Bernardino last month illustrated that the Charlie Hebdo massacre wasn't a singular event but a warning that a war on the West was just beginning.

But the article by editor Gerard Biard in which he mentions the question about the Jews highlights another key element of the story. By refusing to call the enemy by its right name and pretending that religion doesn't play a key role in the threat, the United States is undermining the effort to roll back the Islamist tide. But by refusing to understand that the Jews are the canary in the coalmine, the Obama administration is also signaling to the world that it isn't serious about fighting the terrorists and what they stand for. Far from being tangential to the question of how to beat Islamist terror, the fate of the Jews is integral to the outcome.

It's worth recalling that in his initial reaction to the Hebdo attacks and in subsequent comments about the killings at the Hyper Cacher, President Obama demonstrated his unwillingness to address the issue of anti-Semitism. By first ignoring the anti-Semitic nature of the assault and then later still referring to the terrorists' decision to target the market as "random," the president showed that he had a blind spot when it came to Jew hatred.

This is critical since, as Biard notes, the Islamist war against the Jews isn't so much symbolic as it is part of the worldview that Jews represent the West. But since, as Biard writes, Westerners are so used to Jews being killed, they don't stop and think about why it was important that a run-of-the-mill kosher market would be singled out along with a magazine that specifically sought to offend Muslims.

A rising tide of anti-Semitism has made life difficult for Jews even in the capitals of Europe. But while elites and leftists have formed a strange alliance with Muslim immigrants to try to isolate Israel and stigmatize its Jewish supporters, they fail to understand that Islamist killers get to decide who is and is not a Jew. As Biard notes, the November mass attacks in Paris demonstrated that "the executioner had showed us that he had decided we were all Jewish."

That's an astute observation that most Europeans and even many Americans still haven't absorbed. They continue to treat the daily terrorism against Jews in Israel such as the New Year's Day shooting in Tel Aviv as somehow separate from the war against the West that we observed in Paris and San Bernardino. They think that if Islamists slaughter Jews it has no meaning for the West's own battle for survival against a fanatic foe. That's a critical mistake.

One year after Charlie Hebdo, France is fighting back against the enemy within its own borders. The French government has initiated extraordinary measures aimed at cracking down on Islamist targets to the point where liberals, like those that write the New York Times editorial page, are crying foul. But this determination not to be caught napping again is admirable and ought to be applauded by Americans.

A willingness to address the core element of Islamist theology and its relative popularity across the Muslim world doesn't require the West to wage war on all Muslims. It's worth noting again that a Muslim policeman was killed along with the Hebdo editors and it was a Muslim who helped save some Jewish shoppers at the Hyper Cacher. But neither can we ignore the power of Islamist ideology or fail to understand that its popularity is driven by a sense that it is winning rather than as a reaction to Western counterattacks, let alone the blasphemy of Charlie Hebdo or the utterances of Donald Trump.

But so long as the West thinks that the Islamist war on Israel and Jews is separate from the one they seek to wage against American and Europe it will fail to adequately defend itself. An America that believes it can insulate itself from more attacks by making deals with a terror-supporting Iranian regime or by "leading from behind" against ISIS while ignoring the anti-Semitism at the heart of its enemy's faith isn't one that can defeat the forces of terror that threatens the liberties of Americans, Christian, Jew or Muslim.

Video of the week : Birds in the Hula Valley http://tinyurl.com/jppvs4h

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Palestinian Leaders Promise a New Year of Violence and Death

by Khaled Abu Toameh January 4, 2016

For the full article go to: http://tinyurl.com/zxyawqe

• Instead of wishing Palestinians a happy and prosperous New Year, both Fatah and Hamas are asking their people to prepare for increased violence and "resistance," including suicide bombings, against Israelis.
• Fatah's armed wing used the occasion to issue yet another threat: "We will continue in the path of the martyrs until the liberation of all of Palestine."
• Masked Palestinians in Bethlehem attacked several restaurants and halls where New Year's Eve parties were supposed to take place. The assailants, eyewitnesses reported, were affiliated with Abbas's Fatah faction, not Hamas.
• Hamas banned Gazans from celebrating New Year's Eve, saying such parties are "in violation of Islamic teachings." Hamas does not want young Palestinians enjoying their time in restaurants and cafes. Instead, Hamas wants them to join its forces, armed and dressed in military fatigues, preparing for jihad against Israel.

After failing to offer their people any hope for the future, Fatah and Hamas are now telling Palestinians that they should expect more violence and bloodshed during in 2016.

In separate messages to the Palestinians on New Year's Eve, the two rival Palestinian parties pledged to pursue, and even step up, "resistance" attacks against Israel. Needless to say, the messages did not make any reference to peace, coexistence or tolerance.

Instead of wishing Palestinians a happy and prosperous New Year, both Fatah and Hamas are asking their people in the Gaza Strip and West Bank to prepare for increased violence and "resistance" attacks against Israel. The two parties have nothing to offer the Palestinians besides more bloodshed and despair.

Hamas, which has been in power in the Gaza Strip for almost 10 years, is even reported to be preparing for a new wave of suicide bombings against Israelis. The last time Hamas launched suicide attacks in Israel was during the second intifada, 2000-2005, which wrought havoc and destruction to Palestinians.

Various reports have suggested that Hamas was now considering activating its West Bank "sleeper cells," in preparation for resuming suicide bombings against Israelis. Hamas, according to the reports, is also planning to target Israeli security and political figures.

Hussam Badran, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, painted a grim picture of what awaits Palestinians during 2016. In a message to Palestinians, Badran announced that the current wave of terrorism, which he referred to as the "Al-Quds Intifada," would escalate during the coming year. He also hinted that Hamas was indeed considering resuming suicide attacks against Israelis: "The year 2016 will witness a development and escalation of the intifada and all forms of resistance operations."

His message, like those of many Hamas officials, did not contain any reference to the harsh living conditions of Palestinians under the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. When Badran and other Hamas officials talk about waging "all forms of resistance" against Israel, they are actually referring to plans to launch suicide bombings and other terror attacks against Israelis.

The Hamas New Year's messages do not offer Palestinians in the Gaza Strip any hope that their leaders are working towards ending their misery and state of despair. There is no promise to help solve the problem of unemployment or poverty in the Gaza Strip. Nor is there any promise to help solve the crisis with Egypt, one which has resulted in the closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt for most of 2015.

As if that were not enough, Hamas last week banned Palestinians in the Gaza Strip from celebrating New Year's Eve. Hamas security officers warned owners of restaurants and hotels against holding New Year's Eve parties, saying that this practice is "alien to our traditions and values and in violation of Islamic teachings." Hamas also justified the ban by arguing that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip must show solidarity with their brothers in the West Bank, who have been waging a campaign of stabbing and vehicular attacks against Israelis since early October.

By banning New Year's Eve celebrations, Hamas is following the example of other Islamist terror groups such as the Islamic State, which have denounced such parties as "un-Islamic." These groups consider New Year's Eve celebrations as being part of the same Western culture they are seeking to replace with extremist Islam and Sharia law.

Hamas cannot tolerate scenes of Palestinians rejoicing and celebrating the arrival of a new year. It does not want to see young Palestinians enjoying their time in restaurants, cafes and hotels. Instead, Hamas wants young Palestinians to join its forces and prepare for jihad against Israel. Hamas prefers to see young Palestinians dressed up in military fatigues and carrying weapons. It wants the young men, instead of celebrating and rejoicing, to participate in digging more tunnels under Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt.

Similarly, President Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah faction in the West Bank, which this week celebrated the 51st anniversary of its first armed attack against Israel, is hoping that 2016 will witness more violence. Several Fatah officials and groups marked the anniversary by vowing to step up "resistance" against Israelis and urging Palestinians to join the "struggle" against Israel.

Fatah's armed wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, used the occasion to issue yet another threat to launch terror attacks against Israelis. "We remain committed to the option of an armed struggle," the group rote in a leaflet distributed in the West Bank. "We will continue in the path of the martyrs until the liberation of all of Palestine."

President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also head of Fatah, also had nothing to offer his people on New Year's Eve, other than more messages of hate and defiance towards Israel. In a messageto his people, Abbas once again justified the current wave of violence by saying it was the "result of the continuation of occupation and settlements, and the desecration of our holy sites." He added: "Our people won't capitulate, surrender or accept humiliation."

As Abbas was addressing his people, masked Palestinians in Bethlehem attacked several restaurants and halls where New Year's Eve parties were supposed to take place. Eyewitnessessaid that the masked men opened fire at the restaurants, halls and vehicles, to prevent Palestinians from celebrating. The assailants, eyewitnesses reported, were affiliated with Abbas's Fatah faction, not Hamas.

The leaders of Fatah and Hamas have once again shown they have nothing to offer the Palestinians other than violence, destruction and death. These leaders want their people to remain in a combatant mood in order to pursue the fight against Israel. As such, the year 2016 does not look very promising for Palestinians under the current leadership of Fatah and Hamas.

Video of the week: Christians celebrate Christmas in Israel http://tinyurl.com/zwhq9n8

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WATCHDOG CALLS FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST UNRWA

UN Watch's call on U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power to take action after UNRWA tried to use Christmas for partisan political ends has been widely shared on Facebook and featured in the following Algemeiner media report.

 WATCHDOG CALLS FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST UNRWA AFTER SPOKESMAN DEMANDS BBC USE WORDS ‘ISRAELI OCCUPATION’ IN REPORT ON CHRISTMAS.

For the full article go to: UN Watch Briefing http://tinyurl.com/gpacxt9  

                 

December 25, 2015 -- Geneva-based watchdog UN Watch, which monitors the United Nations, on Friday called for disciplinary action against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and its spokesperson after the latter demanded the BBC use the words “Israeli Occupation” in its news coverage of Christmas in Bethlehem.

The group called on U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power to “take remedial measures against UNRWA and its spokesman Chris Gunness for engaging in partisan advocacy— breaching its neutrality promise under the 2015 UNRWA-U.S. Framework for Cooperation.”

The watchdog said Ambassador Power should also condemn UNRWA for violating UN resolutions that require the agency to provide humanitarian services in line with the principles of “neutrality and impartiality.”

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness made the demand on Thursday on Twitter, claiming an “amazing lack of context” in the BBC report, and alleging that it “needs correction.”

UN Watch blasted spokesman Gunness, saying he “notably did not ask BBC to mention murder, persecution and ethnic cleansing of Christians in Palestinian areas and throughout the Middle East, as documented before the UN in compelling testimony by Father Gabriel Naddaf, who noted that ‘Israel is the only Mideast country not persecuting Christians.'”

The watchdog said its statement was part of a sustained effort to hold UNRWA accountable for its anti-Israel advocacy.

In October, the group released a report documenting at least 10 different UN staffers who used social media to incite racial hatred, antisemitism, and Palestinian stabbing and shooting attacks against Israeli Jews.

That same month UNRWA admitted that “in a number of cases” its employees were subjected to disciplinary action, and several were suspended.

Video of the week: ISRAEL AND SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID http://tinyurl.com/zl8gadf

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MORE LIES FROM ABBAS ABOUT THE "INTIFADA"

by Bassam Tawil December 17, 2015

For the full article go to: http://tinyurl.com/zpvst9p

§  We still have never encountered even one case where a terrorist complained about the absence of a two-state solution. Also, contrary to Abbas's claim, none of the terrorists has ever complained about checkpoints or settlements. This latest wave of terrorism is not about "despair," unemployment, poor living conditions or freedom of movement. Instead, it is another attempt by Palestinian "youths" to eliminate Israel, again using the false excuse that Jews are "desecrating" and "destroying" Islamic holy sites.

§  A review of the Facebook accounts of most of the terrorists shows that their main intention was to murder as many Jews as possible in order to become "martyrs" -- to impose a reign of terror Jews, to force them to leave Israel.

§  Abbas is well aware that the "youths" are not complaining about the "occupation." The "occupation" these " youths" have a problem with is the one that began with 

§  A new generation of Palestinians has once again been deceived into believing that the Jews are plotting to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Al-Aqsa Mosque stands, as always, unharmed in its place.

   

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas now wants us to believe that the Palestinian "youths," who are sent out to murder Jewish soldiers and civilians, are acting out of "despair." He wants us to believe that these "youths" decided to murder Jews because their dream of a two-state solution has not been realized. Abbas is also trying to convince us that these "youths" are upset about Israeli checkpoints, construction in settlements, and visits by Jews to the Noble Sanctuary (Temple Mount).

These latest statements by President Abbas show that he is either completely disconnected from reality, or else thinks that everyone will believe whatever he tells them. His claim -- that the Palestinian assailants who carry out stabbing and car ramming attacks against Israelis, are frustrated because the two-state solution has not yet been realized -- is, frankly, an insult. We still have never encountered one case -- ever -- where a terrorist complained about the absence of a two-state solution. Also, contrary to Abbas's claim, none of the terrorists has ever complained about settlements or checkpoints. In fact, these "youths" that Abbas is talking about are mostly affiliated with Hamas, and do not believe in any two-state solution. Like Hamas, these terrorists want to see Israel wiped off the map.

Abbas's "youths," who, since the beginning of October, have murdered 22 Israelis and wounded dozens of others, set out on their missions because their leaders have been telling them that the Jews are planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. These "youths" are driven by hatred, not by 'despair," as Abbas has been claiming. His allegation that the "youths" are "lone wolves" acting on their own initiative is also not true. What is true is that both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have publicly admitted that some of the terrorists were members of these two Islamist groups.

Similarly, Islamic Jihad also endorsed some of the terrorists who carried out the recent attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank -- again exploding the claim that the "youths" were acting on their own.

Abbas is well aware that the "youths" are not complaining about the "occupation" of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The "occupation" these " youths" have a problem with is the one that began with the creation of Israel in 1948. As recently as last month, official Palestinian Authority TV was stating this, adding that Israel would cease to exist: "The occupation must know... [Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Nazareth] - all of this land belongs to us... and will return to us."

Jewish visits to the Noble Sanctuary, or Temple Mount, are merely an excuse being used to proceed with the plan to eliminate Israel. The Al-Aqsa Mosque has not been destroyed or desecrated by Jews. The terrorists nevertheless continue to launch attacks against Israelis under the pretext that Jews are seeking to destroy Islamic holy sites.

The person who bears much of the responsibility for these attacks is Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. His ongoing lies and inflammatory, anti-Israeli rhetoric have contributed significantly to the poisoning of the hearts and minds of many of these "youths." It was Abbas who told his people, a few days before the current wave of terrorism erupted, that he would not allow Jews to "contaminate with their filthy feet our holy sites." It was also Abbas who announced that, "Every drop of blood that is spilled in Jerusalem is pure blood."

Today, history seems to be repeating itself, as a new generation of Palestinians has once again been deceived into believing that the Jews are plotting to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Palestinian youths were not driven by "despair," and they are not driven by "despair" now. They are driven by hatred and bigotry towards Israel and Jews. The generation of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, like the " youths" of today, believed that suicide bombings and drive-by shootings would ultimately lead to the destruction of Israel.

We are now witnessing the same scenario. Although the Al-Aqsa Mosque has neither been desecrated nor destroyed, the stabbings and car attacks continue almost on a daily basis. Would you like to know why? Because there is a new generation of Palestinians who believes that this from of terrorism will bring them closer to achieving their goal of destroying Israel.

President Abbas knows that he is lying when he talks about the "despair" of Palestinians because of checkpoints and settlements. The terrorists from east Jerusalem held Israeli-issued ID cards which gave them the right to travel around freely and work in Israel.

The only difference between these terrorists and an Israeli citizen is that they cannot vote for members of parliament. One of the east Jerusalem terrorists, Abu Jamal, was even working for the Israeli phone company, Bezeq, and was receiving a monthly salary of nearly USD $4500. He and the other terrorists were certainly not driven by "despair."

Some of the terrorists who came from the West Bank had Israeli-issued permits to work inside Israel. The permits did not stop these terrorists from setting out to murder Jews. Take, for example, the case of Raed Masalmeh, 36, who murdered two Israelis in Tel Aviv last month. He had a work permit and was employed at a restaurant in Jaffa. He was neither unemployed nor restricted in his freedom of movement. He is the last person who can be described as "desperate."

The current wave of terrorism against Israelis is not linked to settlements, checkpoints or a two-state solution. Nor, as Abbas falsely claims, does it have to do with the Al-Aqsa Mosque or a feeling of "despair" and "frustration." The terrorists have one thing in mind -- destroying Israel and killing as many Jews as they can.

What we are witnessing these days is an attempt by a new generation of brainwashed Palestinians to eliminate Israel. These "youths" want to replace Israel with an Islamist empire. We have not heard even one of them complain about a checkpoint or settlement, or that he or she is seeking a Palestinian state next to Israel. This latest wave of terrorism is not about "despair." It is not about unemployment, poor living conditions or freedom of movement. Instead, it is another attempt by Palestinian "youths" to eliminate Israel, by again using the false excuse that Jew are "desecrating" and "destroying" Islamic holy sites. This is something that President Abbas knows very well, but does not have the courage to admit. He prefers to continue lying not only to the international community, but even to his own public.

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Video of the week: Saving Israel's sea turtles, http://tinyurl.com/j95xwbp