Poisoning Palestinian Children (includes video)

Sorry to disappoint any Israel-haters who may have wandered in; this is not about some supposed crime of da Joos.

The poisoning referred to is the antisemitic and extremist poison which some UNRWA teachers are administering to the children entrusted to their care.

The eponymous report by the admirable UN Watch can be accessed here. Its subtitle is "UNRWA Teachers' Incitement to Jihadist Terrorism and Antisemitism"

And here's the video that goes with it:

The Colonel & The Council (video)

See http://rt.com/news/270541-israel-un-human-rights/

In the wake of the recently issued outrageous Israel-demonising UN Report on last year's Gaza conflict which has made Israel contemplate leaving the UN Human Rights Council  (for recent relevant short reports see here and here) here's a man who's a true hero in more senses than one.  In this footage by the intrepid Hillel Neuer's UN Watch, Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, tells the UN Human Rights Council a few home truths about Hamas.

Transcript here
More here

Bibi below:

CANCELLED: “People, Book, Land – The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel”

This article, by Australian pro-Israel activist Shirlee Finn (who is no stranger to regular readers of my blog) is cross-posted, with her permission,  from News and Views from Jews Down Under here

 

Yet another organisation that is part of the ineffective, racist, antisemitic organisation known as the ‘United Nations’  has bowed down to Arab demands.

This time UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, it appears, is trying to hide the 3,500 or so history of Israel from the world, as if it never existed.

With no advance warning UNESCO pulled the Jewish exhibit two years in the planning and making, entitled “People, Book, Land – The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel,” after a last minute protest from the Arab League.

The exhibit, was created by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) together with UNESCO and  was scheduled to open on January 20th, 2014, at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters. The invitations had been sent out and exhibition was already in place. The display was co-sponsored by Israel, Canada and Montenegro.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, told The Algemeiner that the move was an “absolute outrage.”

“The Arabs,” he said, “don’t want the world to know that the Jews have a 3,500-year relationship to the Land of Israel.”

Hier said that his organization, which is accredited by UNESCO as an NGO, worked in intimate co-operation with the international body on the project, which his center initiated after the Palestinian Authority was unilaterally accepted as a UNESCO member state in 2011.

“We made a clear attempt to work with them and the system, they can’t say they were blindsided, they commented on every sentence (in the exhibit’s materials) and still, in the end, the Arabs protested and they kicked us out.”

“It is not supposed to be a place of censorship,” Hier said, “It is not supposed to deny one nation the right to their history.”
“The Arab world doesn’t know that Isaiah didn’t live in Portugal, Jeremiah didn’t roam France and Ezekiel wasn’t from Germany.”

UNESCO informed the SWC of the change on January 14th in a letter to the Center’s Shimon Samuels, asserting the Arab League’s claim that going ahead with the show

“could create potential obstacles related to the peace process in the Middle East.”

 In a letter to Irina Bokova, president of UNESCO, President of the Arab group within UNESCO, Abdulla al Neaimi, from the United Arab Emirates, expressed “deep worry and great disapproval” over the program showing the age-old connection between Israel and the Jewish people.

“The subject of this exhibition is highly political though the appearance of the title seems to be  trivial. Most serious is the defense of this theme which is one of the reasons used by the opponents of peace within Israel,”

the Arab League wrote.

“The publicity that will accompany… the exhibit can only cause damage to the peace negotiations presently occurring, and the constant effort of Secretary of State John Kerry, and the neutrality and objectivity of UNESCO.”

“For all these reasons, for the major worry not to damage UNESCO in its… mission of support for peace, the Arab group within UNESCO is asking you to make the decision to cancel this exhibition,” Al Neaimi concluded.

 Why isn’t it surprising that the Arab League is opposed to anything that suggests that Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East has any legitimacy. However,  the surprising part is that prior to the Arab League’s objection, the State Department withdrew the US as a sponsor of the exhibition, using language almost identical to that of the Arab League! Here is the US position:

“At this sensitive juncture in the ongoing Middle East peace process, and after thoughtful consideration with review at the highest levels, we have made the decision that the United States will not be able to co-sponsor the current exhibit during its display at UNESCO headquarters,”

wrote Kelly O. Siekman, Director at the Office of UNESCO Affairs of the State Department, in an email seen by The Algemeiner.

Hillel Neuer, the Executive Director from the tireless organisation UN Watch writes:

Days before the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was to launch a landmark exhibit at its Paris headquarters this Monday on “The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel,” curated together with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the world body reneged.

The surprise here isn’t that UNESCO chief Irina Bokova surrendered to the Arab League’s protest,
rudely cancelling an event for which invitations were already sent out, and which involved painstaking work over two years by renowned Hebrew University scholar Robert Wistrich.
                                                                                 
 The surprise is the fact that Bokova ever gave her approval in the first place; and that it took this long for the Arab states to wake up, given that the Wiesenthal Center for over two years had been loud and clear that the exhibit was designed to counteract

“malicious lies being spread, particularly in the Arab world,” and would be shown
“not in a synagogue or Jewish community center, but rather at UNESCO headquarters in Paris and the United Nations where this historic truth [the Jewish connection to Israel] is too often buried under an avalanche of lies.”

UNESCO  was the first UN body, in November 2011, to deem “Palestine” a state — surrender to Arab pressure on this matter was inevitable.

Despite the repeated claims of the Obama Administration that UNESCO is God’s gift to the Jews, and to humanity, the opposite is true: it is arguably the most anti-Jewish body in the entire United Nations.

If the notorious UN Human Rights Council dedicates a full 50 percent of its resolutions to demonizing the Jewish state, at UNESCO the numbers are 100 percent.
That’s right: all of UNESCO’s condemnatory resolutions are against Israel.

• In 2009, the UNESCO Executive Board adopted eight resolutions against the Jewish state at its 181st session and 182nd session, and then another two resolutions against Israel at the 35th session of the General Conference.
• In 2010, the UNESCO Executive Board adopted 10 decisions against Israel at its 184th session and 185th session.
• In 2011, the UNESCO Executive Board again adopted 10 decisions against Israel at its 186th session and 187th session, and another two resolutions against Israel at the 36th session of the General Conference.

Bokova justified her cancellation of Monday’s Jewish exhibit by invoking UNESCO’s alleged concern not to endanger the fragile Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Yet somehow this noble principle of caution for peace never stopped UNESCO from excoriating Israel incessantly.

Finally, consider the tragedy: founded after World War II with the express purpose of combating the doctrine of the inequality of men and races, UNESCO today has sadly become a serial perpetrator of inequality.

In conclusion:  In its formal response to UNESCO’s Bokova after the suspension of the program, the SWC said,

“we insist that you live up to your responsibilities and commitments as the co-organizer of this exhibition by overturning this naked political move that has no place in an institution whose mandate is defined by education, science, and culture — not politics.”
“Let’s be clear, the Arab Group’s protest is not over any particular content in the exhibition, but rather the very idea of it – that the Jewish people did not come to the Holy Land only after the Nazi Holocaust, but trace their historical and cultural roots in that land for three and a half millennia,” SWC wrote. “If anything will derail hopes for peace and reconciliation among the people of the Middle East, it will be by surrendering to the forces of extremism and torpedoing the opening of this exhibition — jointly vetted and co-organized by UNESCO and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.”
“Madame Director General, we hope you have the courage to do the right thing and we are still looking forward to cutting the ribbon on the exhibition with you next Monday night, January 20, at UNESCO headquarters,” SWC concluded.

In a letter seen by The Algemeiner written in response to the decision, Nimrod Barkan, Ambassador of Israel to International Organizations, recounted the degree to which the SWC co-operated with UNESCO on the project over two years, and blasted the decision.

“This unjust and outrageously last moment decision is biased and discriminative towards Israel. In the past UNESCO hosted numerous events and exhibitions accentuating the relations between Muslim and Christian religions with the Holy Land, and of course it holds and annual ‘Palestine Day,’” he wrote.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter?ref=ts
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Web site: http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=6212365#.UtnBhbR9Kcw

Falk Down Under: A Stern Warning

The Israel-bashing crowd Down Under are evidently delighted at the prospect of having the notorious Israel-demonising Richard Falk among them.

As this page shows, Professor Falk is coming to Canberra as a keynote speaker at the "Human Rights in Palestine" conference scheduled for 11-12 September, which is sponsored by the Australian National University and the British Academy.

Also set to address the conference are Professors Hanan Ashrawi and Jeff Halper, and Dr Sara Roy.  Master of ceremoniies will be Sydney Morning Herald journalist Paul McGeogh, foe whose anti-Israel credentials see here and here.

Appalled at the British Academy's association with a conference that includes Professor Falk, the executive director of the Geneva-based NGO UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, has written as follows to Lord Stern of Brentwood, the distinguished economist who's president of the British Academy:

'UN Watch is shocked that the British Academy, whose purpose is to support excellence in the humanities, is funding a September 11th platform for Mr. Richard Falk, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who was just condemned by your own government for racism, and who was denounced by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and world leaders for his vile comments blaming the Boston terrorist attack on “the American global domination project” and “Tel Aviv.”

According to a website called Human Rights in Palestine, the Australian National University in Canberra will soon host a "groundbreaking conference" on Palestinian human rights, on September 11. Mr. Falk is listed as a keynote speaker at this event.

This highly problematic event prominently displays a large British Academy logo throughout the website.

Notwithstanding a barely legible footnote on one of the pages containing a disclaimer written in tiny, faded grey letters, the website clearly implies the endorsement and support of the British Academy on its "Home", "Program", "Speakers", "Exhibition" and other pages.

We understand that this British Academy endorsement may be related to your 2009 grant of £29,836 to Dr. Victoria Mason -- a convener of the Canberra conference whose avowed specialties include "Israeli State Terror" -- in order to study "Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the West Bank."

In that regard, please note that while the conference program claims to address human rights, Mr. Falk is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing who uses the language of human rights to absolve terrorists of culpability. He is the only UN expert in history to have been condemned for racism by Britain, or any other member state of the European Union.

We are sending a copy of this complaint letter to the attention of UK Ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall Grant -- and to Ms. Philippa Thompson, Deputy Team Leader of the Equality and Non-Discrimination Team within the Human Rights & Democracy Department of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who recently examined and addressed Mr. Falk's racism.

The UK Non-Discrimination Team determined that Falk's recent writings are “resonant of the longstanding antisemitic practice of blaming Jews (through the State of Israel by proxy) for all that is wrong in the world.”

As the British Academy, you may also wish to take note that:

1. British Prime Minister David Cameron “strongly condemned” Falk's 2011 publication of an antisemitic cartoon, showing a dog wearing a Jewish head-covering urinating on a depiction of justice and devouring a bloody skeleton. Falk was also condemned by British MPs David Burrowes and Theresa Villiers.

2. The British Foreign Office last year condemned Falk for providing the cover endorsement of a book that asks whether "Hitler might have been right after all." The UK Mission in Geneva protested to the UN human rights office, expressing London's “serious concerns.” The book endorsed by Falk, “The Wandering Who,” also accuses "the Jews" of being "the only people who managed to maintain and sustain a racially orientated, expansionist and genocidal national identity that is not at all different from Nazi ethnic ideology."

3. The British Mission to the United Nations condemned Mr. Falk’s April 19, 2013 remarks on the Boston bombing as “anti-Semitic,” highlighting it was the third time the British Government had to do so.

In addition we note:

•  That Falk is so extreme in his support for the Hamas terrorist organization that even the Palestinian Authority—as revealed in a Wikleaks cable, and which Falk himself admits—has sought to remove him, on grounds that he is a "partisan of Hamas";

•  That Falk recently published an article attempting to downplay, reinterpret and justify the latest call by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to destroy Israel;

•  That Falk accused Israel of planning a "Palestinian Holocaust,"prompting a bloc of dictatorships, including Bashar al-Assad's Syria and Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, to sucessfully nominate him as the UN Human Rights Council's expert on Palestine;

•  That Falk is one of the world's most high-profile supporters of the leading 9/11 conspiracy theorists, lending his name to those who accuse the U.S. government of orchestrating the destruction of the Twin Towers as a pretext to launch wars in Iraq and Afghanistan;

•  That Falk actively promotes the writings of David Ray Griffin, a disciple and close friend of Falk who has produced 12 books describing the World Trade Center attack as "an inside job";

•  That Falk not only contributed the Foreword to Griffin's 2004 "The New Pearl Harbor"—praising the author's "patience," "fortitude," "courage," and "intelligence"—but Griffin credits Falk for getting the book published, and also specially thanks Falk's wife, Hilal Elver, someone who remains a member of Human Rights Watch's Santa Barbara Committee, and who is also speaking at the upcoming Canberra conference

•  That Falk has repeatedly appeared on the "TruthJihad.com" show of Kevin Barrett, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist and Holocaust skeptic who rails against the "ethnic Jews" who he says run Washington and the media, a show on which Falk has endorsed Barrett's "good work" while also praising Iranian tyrant Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

•  That in 2011 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took the floor of the Human Rights Council to issue an unprecedented condemnation of Falk's 9/11 remarks, saying they were "preposterous" and "an affront to the memory of the more than 3,000 people who died in that tragic terrorist attack";

•  That U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice in 2011 denounced Falk's comments as "despicable and deeply offensive," and condemned Falk's "one-sided and politicized approach," saying his words were "so noxious that it should finally be plain to all that he should no longer continue in his position," and that "the cause of human rights will be better advanced without Mr. Falk and the distasteful sideshow he has chosen to create";

•  That in reaction to Falk's April 19, 2013 justification of the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks UN chief Ban Ki-moon's spokesman said: “The Secretary-General rejects Mr. Falk’s comments" which “undermine the credibility and the work of the United Nations”

•  That U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice stated that “Someone who spews such vitriol has no place at the UN.” The U.S. Mission to the United Nations condemned Falk’s “provocative and offensive” remarks, and the “absurdity” of his service as a UN human rights expert;

•  That Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird slammed Falk’s “mean-spirited, anti-Semitic rhetoric” and called for him to be kicked out of the UN, saying “The United Nations should be ashamed to even be associated with such an individual”; and

•  That U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and numerous members of the U.S. Congress condemned Falk's remarks.

We urge you to act swiftly to remove the good name of the British Academy from any association with Mr. Falk, and to deny such a promoter of hatred and racism this undeserved honor and legitimacy. The cause of human rights requires no less.

Thank you for your urgent attention to this matter.'

Read and see more here

UN Watch Campaigns Against Jean Ziegler

That admirable NGO UNWatch is campaigning vigorously for the cancellation of Switzerland's nomination (for the election scheduled to occur on 27 September) of the anti-Israel, anti-American leftist Jean Ziegler to the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council.

A public letter of protest on the UN Watch website, jointly addressed to Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter and Swiss President Ueli Maurer (all who share UN Watch's concern are urged to click on the link on the website to send the letter themselves) outlines why: 

'.... I deeply regret that your country, which sees itself as a supporter of UN principles and human rights, is promoting a backer of oppressive dictators who only brings the United Nations into disrepute.

If elected, Mr. Ziegler—who has written books advocating “reasonable hatred of the West”—would absurdly occupy one of only three seats allotted to Western countries.

The official criteria for the position are expertise in human rights, high moral standing, independence and impartiality. An analysis of Mr. Ziegler’s record raises serious questions as to his satisfaction of these requirements.

Concerns include:

• Mr. Ziegler’s abuse of his former UN Mandate: When he served as UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Mr. Ziegler ignored many of the world’s most starving populations, instead focusing attention on his personal political agenda. As documented in the UN Watch report “Blind to Burundi,” during 2000 to 2004, Mr. Ziegler systematically failed to speak out for numerous food emergencies, in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone and elsewhere.

• Mr. Zieger’s support for serial violators of human rights: In 1986, Mr. Ziegler served as advisor to Ethiopian dictator Colonel Mengistu on a constitution instituting one-party rule. In 2002 he praised the Zimbabwean dictator, saying, “Mugabe has history and morality with him.” According to Le Monde, he paid visits to Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and Kim Il-Sung in North Korea. Mr. Ziegler is also a long-time supporter of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, whose regime Mr. Ziegler hailed during an official visit in October, while he refused to meet Cuban dissidents. Also this year, during an interview in Lebanon, Mr. Ziegler said, “I refuse to describe Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. It is a national resistance movement. I can understand Hezbollah when they kidnap soldiers…”

• Mr. Ziegler’s involvement with Libyan propaganda: In 1989, shortly after Libyan agents blew up Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Mr. Ziegler went to Libya to co-found the “Moammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize,” and served as its Geneva spokesman. The prize has since been awarded to anti-Western dictators such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. It has also been awarded to notorious racists and anti-Semites such as Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Muhammad. Bizarrely, although he once boasted of it, Mr. Ziegler now denies any involvement with the prize. Ziegler’s cover-up was exposed by your own country’s media, including Swiss TV, the Neue Zurcher Zeitung, and Le Matin.

• Ziegler’s support for convicted Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy: In 1996, Mr. Ziegler publicly defended Roger Garaudy, the French Stalinist whose book, “The Founding Myths of Modern Israel,” denies the Holocaust. “All your work as a writer and philosopher,” Mr. Ziegler wrote on April 1, 1996, “attests to the rigor of your analysis and the unwavering honesty of your intentions. It makes you one of the leading thinkers of our time.” In 2002, Mr. Garaudy was awarded the Qaddafi Prize—the same year that Mr. Ziegler received it as well.

Many have expressed strong objection to Mr. Ziegler’s actions:

• In 2005, both UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and High Commissioner Louise Arbour publicly denounced Mr. Ziegler for having compared Israeli soldiers to concentration camp guards. He was the first UN expert in history to have been so reprimanded.

• Seventy U.S. congressmen wrote to the UN, citing Mr. Ziegler for anti-Semitism. The Canadian government filed an official protest.

• Senior lawmakers from the European, Norwegian, and Canadian parliaments protested Ziegler in 2008.

• An international coalition of 15 non-governmental organizations, including victims of Cuban and Libyan abuses, protested Mr. Ziegler’s nomination as a UN expert in 2006, citing his disturbing record.

• Scholars question Mr. Ziegler’s academic credentials. When he was made professor at the University of Geneva, eminent historian Herbert Luthy returned his honorary doctorate in protest.

• In 2011, 45 NGOs demanded that Switzerland apologize and investigate its role in promoting Ziegler to UN positions.

• The Salzburg Festival disinvited Ziegler in 2011 on account of his Qaddafi ties.

We note that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nominated Mr. Ziegler for the same post in 2004, but that he failed to win election.

In order to protect the credibility of the world’s highest intergovernmental human rights body we urge you to withdraw this nomination. '

Hat tip: reader Rita

"A One-Sided Mandate That Finds Israel Guilty In Advance": UN Double Standards & Richard Falk (video)

A typically great video by the marvellous Geneva-based UN Watch:

'Top UN Human Rights Council official Richard Fak is furiously lobbying the 47-nation body to "investigate" UN Watch in retaliation for what he calls a "smear campaign" that sparked a firestorm of world leaders condemning the anti-Israel oficial. Falk's new report to the Council opens with a scathing and unprecedented attack on UN Watch, which he accuses of "demeaning" and "defaming" his character, and of "diverting attention" from his message.'

  Hat tip: reader Ian

Richard Falk Fired From Human Rights Watch (video)

Another notch in the belt of UN Watch's superb Hillel Neuer.  The hope is that the Israel-demonising Falk will ultimately be dismisssed from his UN post too.

A Little Light Amid the Darkness: UN's Biased Goldstone Report Enforcer Resigns After UN Watch Campaign

From that magnificent Geneva-based monitoring organisation UN Watch http://www.unwatch.org/ comes news of a triumph for truth and justice, bringing some brightness and cheer! Here's UN Watch's summary of this development:

Victory: Thanks to UN Watch, German law professor Christian Tomuschat, the anti-Israel and anti-American official heading the UN committee to enforce the Goldstone Report, has resigned. The biased UN probe is now headless, and is in disarray.


This unprecedented resignation follows a global campaign by UN Watch that exposed Professor Tomuschat's egregious bias and breach of his obligation under international law to be objective and impartial:

• UN Watch's team of researchers tracked down and translated Professor Tomuschat's German academic writings. We published a 30-page report revealing for the first time how he had frequently compared Israeli actions with the "barbarism" and "inferno" of World War II. This was reported worldwide, including in the Washington Times.

• When Tomuschat delivered his report to the UN Human Rights Council in September -- calling for the investigation of former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for alleged "war crimes" in Gaza – UN Watch was the only group to take the floor and directly challenge Tomuschat for his bias. We demanded he come clean about his legal work for Yasser Arafat and biased statements about Israeli "state terrorism." Our challenge in the plenary stirred angry reactions from an embarassed Tomuschat as well as the council president himself.

• When Tomuschat then appeared at a UN press conference, journalists followed up on UN Watch's campaign and challenged Tomuschat to defend himself.

Finally, thousands of UN Watch supporters worldwide have been taking action on our website every day to demand from the UN that Tomuschat resign. In the end, he gave in. Claiming suddenly that he did not have "enough time," Tomuschat resigned.

It's one more UN Watch victory for the genuine principles of human rights, international law, and Middle East peace and security.