How UK gives support for hate-filled PA education

Video Of The Week - Norway to Cut Palestinian Authority Funding Over Textbook Incitement https://tinyurl.com/3326sm2d

For the full article go to - https://tinyurl.com/ytjkkk37

British taxpayers are continuing to pay for a Palestinian education system in which school pupils are routinely taught incitement, hatred of Israel and glorification of terrorism. Many of the textbooks are written by vetted officials, whose salaries are paid by the UK.

Despite numerous assurances from the Palestinian education minister, detailed reports from the Israel-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) show that as recently as September last year, Palestinian school students were still learning maths by adding up the number of ‘martyrs’, including those who have led suicide bombings on buses and shopping centres. The curriculum is taught in Palestinian Authority and UNRWA schools in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.

Not only does Britain continue to pay – in the past five years it has spent an estimated £105 million on Palestinian education professionals, including on the salaries of teachers who write the textbooks – but it appears to have a blind spot when it comes to challenging the Palestinians on the content of those

The UK and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have a Memorandum of Understanding, or MoU, which supposedly commits the Palestinians not only to “uphold the principle of non-violence”, but to take action against “incitement to violence, including addressing allegations of incitement in the educational curriculum”.

Money paid by Britain to the Palestinian partner is supposedly contingent on the PA’s performance on “curriculum reform”.

However, the UK’s criteria for judging the PA’s performance appear narrow. It deemed an internal government target in the 2017-18 MoU for the PA to carry out “curriculum reform” was met, but then admitted it did not include the actual contents of the curriculum. 

In a letter written shortly before his resignation in March 2019, Alistair Burt, then Middle East Minister, said: “DfiD [Department for International Development] assessed that the PA did meet this KPI [key performance indicator] as the Grades 5-10 pilot textbooks were rolled out by the agreed deadline.” 

But he added: “The content of the textbooks was not covered by a KPI, and DfID was not involved in the selection of material.” 

Ministers have refused requests to publish the government’s annual internal reviews of the PA’s compliance with the MoU. However, they have repeatedly stated that, as Middle East Minister James Cleverly told Labour Friends of Israel chair Steve McCabe last November: “We continue to judge that the PA is demonstrating a credible commitment to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s partnership principles.” 

It is not the first time Cleverly or his predecessor, Burt, has responded in this way. LFI MPs Ian Austin and Joan Ryan, both of whom have now left Parliament, asked on four occasions what Britain was doing. Each time, the government said it judged the PA to be in compliance.  Britain insists that “UK aid does not pay for textbooks in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”, a line critics call “civil service speak”.

NEW ,VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.WEEBLY.COM

The Palestinian Lie about Jerusalem Has Legs

 Video Of The Week - How Did Islam Get Involved with the Temple Mount? https://tinyurl.com/epwg88q5

For the full article by Nadav Shragai go to -  https://tinyurl.com/1cmugufb

 “A lie,” according to the well-known saying, “has no legs,” but that does not mean lies do not need them.

 The “Al-Aqsa is in danger” libel rests on a huge false leg that, in the end, will collapse. The lie would not have survived so long without it. Today, the Palestinians and many Muslims charge that Israel “seeks to destroy al-Aqsa” and build the Temple in its stead on a site where no Temple ever stood; that the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount is al-miza’um, that is, “supposed,” “fraudulent,” “invented,” or “imaginary;” that the Jews have no connection to the Temple Mount or, for that matter, to the Western Wall.     

 This is a libel on top of a libel, a double lie. The many Muslims who are convinced that al-Aqsa is in danger are now also convinced that “their” al-Aqsa stands on a place where “our” Temple never stood – the latter being nothing but a fabrication.

 Some of the legitimacy that terrorism draws from the libel rests on that added lie. It is more legitimate to libel and murder Jews, so as “to protect the captive al-Aqsa and free it from the Jews who are plotting to destroy it,” if Israel and the Jews who “conspire to attack the site,” have only a false and concocted connection to it. Thus, the lie that undergirds the libel also bolsters the legitimacy to murder in its name.

 From the standpoint of the “Al-Aqsa is in danger” terrorists and their supporters, they do not murder only those who seek to wrest the Mount from their hands. As they see it, they are also murdering the falsifiers of history, who have no link to the site at all. They also want the Mount to be “liberated” psychologically so that their historical and religious narrative will prevail. This chapter (the appendix of the book) aims to refute this lie as well and to prove that it is nothing but a broken prop.

 To grasp the magnitude of the lie, one must go far back on the path the Muslims themselves trod over the past 1,350 years, the path from which they have strayed only in recent times. Despite the misrepresentations and the sweeping denial that many Muslims now adopt regarding the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and to the Temple that stood there, they themselves were the ones who, up until the Six-Day War, identified the Mount – unequivocally – as the site of Solomon’s Temple and as the place where David said his Psalms.

 Furthermore, Solomon and David, as important prophets in Islam, are seen as the ones who laid the foundations on the Temple Mount for the building of the mosques there. Nevertheless, today, Muslim clerics and leaders remove the Jewish Temple from the Mount and “transfer” it to places like Mount Zion, Nablus, and even Yemen.

 Moreover, many of the names and terms the Muslims have used over the years for the Temple Mount, particularly “Beit al-Maqdis,” which is a translation of the Hebrew name Beit haMikdash, derive from the Jewish designation for the site, where the two Muslim shrines were built around 1,350 years ago. 

Today, Muslims commonly use the name Beit al-Maqdis for Jerusalem, but in the ancient past, they used the name for the Temple Mount itself. The Jewish people and the State of Israel do not, of course, need the Muslim sources – which, for more than 1,350 years, have identified the Temple Mount as the site of the Temple – to prove their connection to the place.

 Given, however, the dispute on this issue and the resolutions hostile to Israel in the international arena, which espouse the new Muslim narrative, it is worth presenting the primary Muslim documentation and sources for the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and the Temple. 

Today, many Muslims erase this reliable documentation from memory. From such forgetfulness, the path is short to denial, and this gives rise to a lie. On this lie now rests the libel from which the “Al-Aqsa is in danger” terror derives its inspiration and legitimacy to murder Jews.

NEW ,VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.WEEBLY.COM

ICC Gives Itself Authority to Adjudicate Israeli "War Crimes:"

 Video Of The Week - ICC - MK. Bennet says "Charge me First" https://tinyurl.com/1egc9tmn

For the full article by Daniel Pomerantz go to -  https://tinyurl.com/i5c70jic 

Last Friday the International Criminal Court (also referred to as “the Hague”) announced its decision to exercise jurisdiction over Israel and within “Palestine” for the purpose of prosecuting Israel for alleged war crimes.

Despite the legalistic sounding name of the “court” it actually functions as a political body: in this case a body that on Friday granted itself the authority to bring politically driven prosecutions against any country in the world, whether or not that country has agreed to be a part of the ICC’s activities.

This prosecution will set a dangerous precedent not only for the Jewish state, its leaders, soldiers and private citizens, but also for citizens of all nations that may potentially become the next victims of this growing international populism. Friday’s decision may change the very nature of international law in a manner that stands to harm our growth as a global community.

The International Criminal Court is not a “court”

The words “International Criminal Court” are seductively misleading: they give the impression that the ICC is a body that interprets legislative law. It is not.  Certainly, in theory, the ICC is supposed to perform like a court. In practice, however, it functions as political body that carries out decisions based on the interests of its members.

Case in point: prosecutor Fatou Bensouda came to the ICC after her tenure as Minister of Justice of Gambia, where she presided over and enforced the country’s laws and practices in favor of torture, arbitrary arrest, legal rape, sex trafficking and female genital mutilation.  Despite a 2018 US State Department report detailing these practices, and despite the fact that Gambia is a signatory to the Rome Statute, prosecutor Bensouda has not seen fit to prosecute the leadership of her homeland, including herself.

Other parties who have never been prosecuted at the Hague include leaders of Syria who are responsible for the largest loss of human life in recent history, Turkey, which in the last decades murdered thousands of Kurds; China, which is holding millions of Muslims in “reeducation” camps; Iran, which is behind the war crimes being perpetrated in Yemen, and many more.

The sheer number of human lives that might have been saved by a proper application of the ICC’s mission is in the millions.  Instead,  the ICC, an unelected, undemocratic political body is attempting to apply unchecked global power based on political agenda. This stands to injure global trust in international institutions and the very nature of international law, thus posing serious and long-term harm to our world’s growth as a cooperative global community.

NEW ,VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.WEEBLY.COM

Arab Medical Apartheid - Where Is the Outrage?

Video Of The Week-Israel’s Mosaic Patchwork of Religions https://tinyurl.com/njmowhf6

  For the full Article by “Bassam Tawil” go to tinyurl.com/4f5nh4lf

          a)     Lebanese citizens have launched an online campaign that says that they have the  right to be vaccinated before any foreigner living in the country. The term "foreigner" mainly refers to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in Lebanon.   

b)     The campaign, which is being condemned by Palestinians and others as "racist" and "discriminatory," has evidently failed to attract the attention of all those individuals and organizations who are making false, libelous accusations against Israel. They do not care about this racist campaign because an Arab country, and not Israel, is discriminating against Arabs (the Palestinians).      

c)      Israel, in fact, has vaccinated more Palestinians than any Arab country.... Given that tens of thousands of Arab Israelis and residents of east Jerusalem have received the vaccine without any problem, means that Israel is the only country that actually has so far given the vaccine to Palestinians.

While Israel has been falsely accused by some international media outlets and human rights organizations of "refusing" to vaccinate Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against COVID-19, no one seems to be paying attention to what is happening in Lebanon, an Arab country that has long been hosting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Syrians and other Arabs.

First, the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement states that "powers and responsibilities in the sphere of health in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip shall be transferred to the Palestinian side."

According to the agreement, "the Palestinian side shall continue to apply the present standards of vaccination of Palestinians and shall improve them according to internationally accepted standards and shall continue the vaccination of the [Palestinian] population."

Second, the Palestinians said they had refused to accept vaccines from Israel, and that the Palestinian government was working to get the doses from the World Health Organization and companies around the world.

Third, despite the Palestinian denial, Israel recently acknowledged that it gave 100 vaccine doses to the Palestinians, with another delivery expected shortly.

Fourth, the Palestinian government announced that it has signed in the past few weeks agreements to purchase vaccines from four different companies.

Fifth, Israel recently facilitated the delivery of 5,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik vaccine to the Palestinians. The Palestinians were easily able to import it, as they said they preferred to do.

Sixth, Israel is in fact giving vaccines to Palestinians – those living in east Jerusalem and who, as holders of Israeli ID cards, enjoy access to the same healthcare system as Israeli citizens. (The majority of east Jerusalem Palestinians are residents, not citizens, of Israel).

All these facts have failed to convince anti-Israel journalists and organizations around the world that the Palestinian government, and not Israel, is responsible for obtaining vaccines for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Israel-haters are bringing up the issue of vaccines not because they care about the Palestinians, but because they seek to hold Israel responsible for Palestinian suffering that, as usual, is being caused by their own leaders.

The Palestinian leaders had a great deal of time to ask Israel to help them get vaccines. Instead of doing so, however, they announced in May 2020 that they had decided to sever all relations with Israel to protest Israeli government policies on settlements. In late 2020, the Palestinian leaders reversed their decision and decided to restore their relations with Israel. They had wasted precious time that could have been used planning how to get vaccines for the Palestinians.

NEW ,VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.WEEBLY.COM

Elbit Systems trains UK Royal Navy

Video Of The Week- Elbit Trains UK Armed Forces  https://tinyurl.com/y4lhuqoa

 From CALCALIST by Udi Etsion 11-01-2021

For the full Article go to; https://tinyurl.com/y5ep5fnd

The contract, that runs over a 12-year period, will see Elbit aid in the transformation and modernization of the shore-based training of the Royal Navy including the establishment of the Future Submarine School

Elbit Systems Ltd's subsidiary, Elbit Systems UK Ltd., has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $166 million from the UK Ministry of Defence for the Royal Navy Future Naval Training Program as part of the Fisher consortium led by Capita plc.

 The contract, that runs over a 12-year period, will see Elbit aid in the transformation and modernization of the shore-based training of the Royal Navy including the establishment of the Future Submarine School. As the provider and integrator of training solutions for the Consortium, Elbit Systems UK will develop and deliver a new Combat Systems Operator Trainer in the Future Submarine School and modernize and manage legacy synthetic training systems across the Royal Navy. Elbit Systems UK will provide new training technologies that will improve Defence Operational Training Capability (Maritime) (DOTC(M)), while facilitating availability and efficiency of legacy capabilities.

  This is the first time Elbit has signed a deal with the Royal Navy, but it has previously provided the Royal Air Force with training aircraft, and has also sold drones to the British Army. Employing over 500 people in 10 sites across the UK, Elbit Systems UK provided the British Army with the Watchkeeper UAV and has also recently been selected by the UK MOD to provide the MORPHEUS Battlefield Management Application for the British Army and networked simulators to train mounted and dismounted Joint Fires teams and Joint Fires Cells.

 "The Program will be a pathfinder for the Royal Navy's transformation agenda, with the introduction of enhanced training capabilities at the forefront of personnel achieving their potential and arriving at the front line quicker," said Martin Fausset, CEO of Elbit Systems UK. "We are proud to be a part of the team to deliver next-generation training capabilities to the Royal Navy, following on the success of the Company's provision of advanced training capabilities to the British Army and the Royal Air Force."

 NEW ,VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.WEEBLY.COM

Israel a Reliable Power worth Copying

 Video Of The Week -Israel Innovations Saving Humanity - https://tinyurl.com/y6xl5spf

JPost, Full Article, By Yonatan Freeman  9-1-2021, go to; https://tinyurl.com/y3wsoycx

Whether through an icon such as Gal Gadot, or increased interest in her country’s battles against COVID-19, there has been an explosion of those in the US and around the world wishing to better understand Israel’s culture and values. Israel’s soft power is booming.

Historically, the concept of soft power, the ability a country has to project its value and appeal through ethics, legitimacy and culture, has infrequently been seen as an integral feature of Israel’s democracy, whether by its decision-makers or the international community. This has now changed.

·       Israel is no longer viewed as a liability by foreign actors but rather a reliable power worth copying and mimicking. Countries in the Arab and Muslim world, which have historically been distant, hostile or silent towards Israel, are even rethinking their policies and betting on Israel to give them solutions when it comes to challenges such as the novel coronavirus. It is no longer “Palestine First,” but rather Chad, UAE and Sudan first.

 There are many possible reasons for the growing positivity of Israel. Some point to the financial benefits of doing business with a strong economy not dependent on a natural resource, while others point to Jerusalem’s ability to face threats such as Iran. Nevertheless, perhaps what the world is more and more coming to terms with is Israel’s resilience in dire or changing times. The current battle against COVID-19 is one of those crucibles.

 The war against the coronavirus is global. And undoubtedly, it may be the first world war that Israel is experiencing since its independence. But unlike previous wars, there is still uncertainty as to who the enemy is, how he works and how he kills.

 That is why mistakes are still being made, even in Israel. That is also why it isn’t yet possible to proclaim who has succeeded or failed in the fight. After all, what constitutes being successful against the coronavirus? How can one make conclusions when the global fight isn’t yet over?

 Some point to the inability to stop the spreading of the virus as being a failure. Still, to what extent can one know for sure how to protect against an agent known and studied for less than a year? Others point to economic hardships as being a measure of failure. But is there really a country that has been financially less affected due to this pandemic? Even if a country could have stopped the spread of the virus, there may have been a continuing economic impact resulting from the increase in government spending to weaken its advance, the slowdown of international trade and travel and the increasing fights between the US and China. Although vaccines are coming off the assembly line, the implications of the war against the coronavirus may be far from over.

 This isn’t the first time that Israel has needed to adapt to a new threat. When buses or missiles began blowing up in her midst, many around the world feared coming to the country. It was argued that it wasn’t safe. In time, Israel proved that, sadly, the more it experienced attacks, the more there was a strengthening of her ability to defend against them.

 As these words are written, Israel is racing to gain more knowledge about the contagion, using available vaccines to curb its lethality, and investing resources to develop a vaccine of its own. It is precisely at these moments that Israel has an edge.

 The world is thus well aware of Israel’s resilience and wants to learn more about the tools at her disposal. They are betting on her to lead the fight to win this present war, because Israel’s capabilities have been molded and strengthened by emergencies of the past. Even in the face of threats, boycotts and immense changes, Israel has always been able to strengthen its economic, diplomatic and military might.

 That is what many see in Israel during these times. World actors see the potential that Jerusalem and her values have in making a difference in the global fight against the coronavirus, all while finding the right balance between security and liberty. These are the sort of times that cause friends, as well as current and past foes, not to write Israel off. They are well aware that if they did, they would be writing off one of the world’s best hopes for beating the virus.

 The writer holds a doctorate, is an international relations expert and a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

 NEW ,VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.WEEBLY.COM

Vaccine Success in a Small Country

Video Of The Week - Israel Wins Worldwide Praise for Vaccination Program - https://tinyurl.com/y44fp3ls

Anshel Pfeffer, 03- 1- 2021, The Sunday Times https://tinyurl.com/y5dsjqho

The almost deserted street outside the Misgav Ladach hospital in western Jerusalem belies the intense operation going on inside.

 Every other minute, an elderly person or couple, quietly walk in, swipe their electronic card and take a seat in a corridor on the ground floor. A supervisor checks them off on a clipboard and, within minutes, they are sitting in one of the six curtained booths, baring their arms for the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. 

Within minutes they are out, with an appointment, three weeks hence, for their second jab.

“I was a bit sceptical at first about being vaccinated,” says Kenneth Cohen, a retired rabbi from Jerusalem. “Two of my daughters said that there may be side-effects. But my brother had his vaccine last week and felt fine, so I guessed that since we both have the same DNA, I’d be fine. I didn’t even need an appointment.”

As the sun set on Friday afternoon and the Jewish Shabbat began, more than a million Israelis had received their first dose of Pfizer’s vaccine, in a drive that began less than two weeks earlier. That is more than 11% of Israel’s population of nine million, the highest proportion of any country yet to be vaccinated. In Britain, which was the first to begin vaccinations, only 1.5% have received their first jab.

The atmosphere now in vaccine centres across Israel is businesslike. But in the earlier days, there were ecstatic scenes. Most of those receiving vaccines so far are over 60 and have been sheltering at home for long, lonely months.

“At first, many people coming in were so moved at the thought that they could soon be with their families that we had incredible scenes,” says Yael Nitzan, normally manager of the hospital’s sleep lab but now supervisor of the vaccination centre. “Some of the old people started singing. One 80-year-old woman wanted me to dance with her.”

One million Israelis vaccinated in world-leading drive

One of the nurses, Manal Abu-Rhami, said: “I’ve had patients asking me if they could give me a hug. I had to tell them that it will take time for the vaccine to take effect and that they still have to be careful and avoid contact with others for a while yet.”

 Every two hours, a refrigerated van parks outside and a courier arrives with a blue padded carrier. Inside is a flat cardboard container. Within are further layers of padding and a small tray of glass vials with purple tops, containing the vaccine. They are placed in a fridge.

 The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is stored at deep sub-zero temperatures and once a tray has been removed from storage, the doses need to be used within a few hours.

 While Israel has prioritised those over 60 for the first phase, often, towards the end of the day, vaccine centres will have dozens, even hundreds, of doses still in hand. As word quickly gets around on social media, younger Israelis gather in the hope of getting an early jab.

 How has Israel, which does not manufacture the vaccine and has so far flown them in from Pfizer’s manufacturing hub in Belgium, become the world leader in vaccination?

 Israel is a relatively small country, with strong, centralised hubs that allow quick transport from the main store, near Ben Gurion airport in the centre of the country. The Israeli army has also provided refrigerated lorries.

 Then there are the health maintenance organisations (HMOs). Israelis enjoy free healthcare but, unlike in Britain where there is one HMO, the National Health Service, Israel has four public HMOs that compete for members and government funding.

 “The internal competition gives Israel a dramatic advantage now,” says Eyal Gabai, chairman of the Meuhedet HMO. “Since our budgets are determined by our ability to attract new members and keep those we already have, each HMO is constantly looking at what the others are doing, copying each other and looking for better ways to make services more accessible. That’s why every Israeli now has complete online access to all their medical files and can book video consultations with their doctors. And we all have nationwide networks of clinics, so every Israeli lives very near one.

 “The moment the vaccines arrived in the country, each HMO has been working to be the one who can get as many of its members vaccinated, as quickly and easily as possible.”

 The success of the vaccine drive is in stark contrast to other aspects of Israel’s handling of the pandemic. The country is in the midst of its third nationwide lockdown, due to spiraling rates of infection and hospitalisations — though across the country, many citizens seem to be ignoring the lockdown and travelling and socialising nearly as normal.

 Israel is now expected to have a surplus of vaccine doses, due to the orders it has placed with multiple manufacturers. At some point, public health experts believe, it will supply some of these to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza, which has yet to begin vaccinating Palestinian citizens.

 There is also a political angle to the vaccination drive. Israel originally signed on with the two other large pharmaceutical companies developing vaccines — Moderna and AstraZeneca. But when it turned out that Pfizer would be the first to have a tested vaccine on the market, the government entered negotiations with Pfizer, agreeing to pay a much higher price to ensure early shipments of four million doses.

 Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, was involved in the negotiations, speaking on the phone with Pfizer’s chief executive, Albert Bourla, and directing the Treasury to pay a premium. Netanyahu was at the airport to greet the first shipment. The next day he became the first Israeli to receive the vaccine. Since then he has visited a vaccination centre nearly every day, always accompanied by television crews.

 Israel is heading for another parliamentary election, its fourth in under two years, and Netanyahu’s ruling party, Likud, whose government has so far been blamed for haphazard handling of the pandemic, has been trailing in the polls. His campaign is based on portraying him as the man who saved Israel from Covid-19, by vaccinating its people before any other nation. And if the current rates hold up, a majority of Israelis will have received their vaccines just in time for election day on March 23.

 NEW ,VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.WEEBLY.COM