David Singer: Bibi's Claim of Palestinian Ethnic Cleansing of Jews is Certainly Justified

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

 It's entitled "United Nations Rebuked for Promoting Palestinian Ethnic Cleansing of Jews".

Writes David Singer:

United Nations member States need to examine their own consciences and policies following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu castigating them for promoting a Jew-free Palestinian Arab State in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and East Jerusalem. In a video presentation last week Netanyahu declared:

“Israel's diversity shows its openness and readiness for peace.

Yet the Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one pre-condition: No Jews.

There's a phrase for that: It's called ethnic cleansing.

And this demand is outrageous. It's even more outrageous that the world doesn't find this outrageous.

Some otherwise enlightened countries even promote this outrage” 

 The Oxford Dictionary defines “enlightened” to mean “having or showing a rational, modern, and well-informed outlook”

Enlightened United Nations member States lost their moral and humanitarian compasses when supporting United Nations Resolution A/67/L.28 passed on 29 November 2012 (“the Resolution”) which reaffirmed:

“the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967”

Among the 138 countries voting for the Resolution were enlightened States such as:
Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Russian Federation, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Uruguay and Venezuela

Canada, the Czech Republic, Israel, and the United States voted against the Resolution, whilst 41 others – including Australia – abstained.

800,000 Jews currently live in Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem under rights vested in them by:

* Article 6 of the 1922 Mandate for Palestine,

* Article 80 of the 1945 United Nations Charter, * Israel’s 1967 annexation of East Jerusalem

* The 1993 Oslo Accords.

 Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared in 2010:

“We have frankly said, and always will say: If there is an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, we won’t agree to the presence of one Israeli in it,”

Like Hitler – Abbas made no secret of his racist plan to create a Jew-free State.

Member States of the United Nations remained silent. In voting for the Resolution they chose to march to the same tune.

Abbas repeated his evil message in 2013: 

“But when a Palestinian state is established, it would have no Israeli presence in it.”

Enlightened States still said nothing.

Jews forced from their Jerusalem homes in 1948

They had said nothing after every single Jew had been ethnically cleansed from Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem following Jordan’s conquest of these areas between 1948 and 1967 when the following events happened:

“After the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem was captured, the destruction, desecration and systematic looting of Jewish sites began and continued. 57 ancient synagogues (the oldest dated to the 13th century), libraries and centers of religious study were ransacked and 12 were totally and deliberately destroyed. Those that remained standing were defaced, used for housing of both people and animals. The city’s foremost Jewish shrine, the Western Wall, became a slum. Appeals were made to the United Nations and in the international community to declare the Old City to be an ‘open city’ and stop this destruction, but there was no response.”

The independent Jew-free Palestinian State promoted by the United Nations in 2012 could have been created between 1948 and 1967 with the stroke of an Arab League pen when not one Jew lived in Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem. That 19-year window of opportunity will not return.

Netanyahu’s rebuke was certainly justified.

Enlightened – and unenlightened – States need to affirm their total opposition to any settlement of the Jewish-Arab conflict involving the ethnic cleansing of any Jews from Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem.

(Note from Daphne. Full text of Netanyahu's speech below):

 I'm sure many of you have heard the claim that Jewish communities in Judea Samaria, the West Bank, are an obstacle to peace.

I've always been perplexed by this notion.

Because no one would seriously claim that the nearly two million Arabs living inside Israel – that they're an obstacle to peace. That's because they aren't. On the contrary.

Israel's diversity shows its openness and readiness for peace. Yet the Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one pre-condition: No Jews.

There's a phrase for that: It's called ethnic cleansing.

And this demand is outrageous.

It's even more outrageous that the world doesn't find this outrageous. Some otherwise enlightened countries even promote this outrage.

Ask yourself this: Would you accept ethnic cleansing in your state? A territory without Jews, without Hispanics, without blacks?

Since when is bigotry a foundation for peace?

At this moment, Jewish schoolchildren in Judea Samaria are playing in sandboxes with their friends.

Does their presence make peace impossible?

I don’t think so.

I think what makes peace impossible is intolerance of others. Societies that respect all people are the ones that pursue peace. Societies that demand ethnic cleansing don't pursue peace.

I envision a Middle East where young Arabs and young Jews learn together, work together, live together side by side in peace.

Our region needs more tolerance, not less.

So the next time you hear someone say Jews can't live somewhere, let alone in their ancestral homeland, take a moment to think of the implications.

Ethnic cleansing for peace is absurd.

It's about time somebody said it.

I just did.

Aussie Greens See Red, Over Islamophobia "Racism"

There go the Aussie Senate's Greens this afternoon. Showing their attachment to democratic freedom of  speech by walking out on a senator's maiden speech because they don't agree with what she is saying. Yep,on the far right of the picture is Greens leader Richard di Natale,  and on the far left (seemingly unable to resist a parting peep at the cynosure of the assembly) is Lee Rhiannon.

The red-haired lady all eyes and ears are on is, of course, Pauline Hanson.  I hold no brief for her or her political views in general, but the boycott reflects more on the Greens than on her.

How about hate speech against Jews and Israel, Senator?

As reported by the Australian Associated Press:

'Pauline Hanson has declared Australia is in danger of being swamped by Muslims and is calling for a halt to all immigration.

Echoing her first speech to parliament 20 years ago when as the member for Oxley she made the same warning about Asians, Senator Hanson warned Australia would be living under Sharia law if it didn't act.

How very democratic of you, Senator Rice

Muslim neighbourhoods were suffering from an escalation in crime and decline in social cohesion, she said.

She used her first speech to parliament as a Senator on Wednesday night to call for a ban on Muslim immigration, as well as a halt to all immigration.

"We are in danger of being swamped by Muslims who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own," she said.

"If we don't make changes now there will be no hope in the future.

"Have no doubt we will be living under Sharia law and treated as second-class citizens with second-class rights if we keep heading down the path with the attitude 'she'll be right mate'."

Greens senators walked out half way through her speech, with Liberal senators yelling "stunt" as the minor party left the chamber.

Senator Hanson offered to personally take to the airport anyone not willing to become Australian and give their undivided loyalty to the nation.

She declared Islam was partly a religion but had a political agenda, saying Muslims were imprisoned at almost three times the average rate and unemployed at two to three times the national average.

She warned of radicalisation on the streets and slammed political leaders for urging Australians to be tolerant, insisting more Muslims were going to fight with Islamic State than the Australian army.

"How should we tell the difference? There is no sign saying good Muslim or bad Muslim," she said..

"How many lives will be lost or destroyed trying to determine who is good or who is bad?"

She called for a ban on Muslim immigration, the burqa and construction of new mosques or Islamic schools while insisting existing ones be monitored.

All immigration should be halted until Australia cleaned up its own backyard, she said, insisting Australians were suffering from massive migrant intake....

Greens senators later took to Twitter vowing to call out Senator Hanson's "racism".

Liberal senator Linda Reynolds hit back, tweeting: "we may not all agree with what she says but in Aust she has the right to say it".

Senator Hanson joked about the walk-out in her speech.

"I can feel the Greens cringing - no they've left - at the thought that I could possibly be here for six years."'

Far better, of course, had the Greens, instead of boycotting Hanson's speech from at least the hallfway mark, remained in their place to hear all of what she had to say with a view to rebutting her points in a fair and civilised manner.  But they are too agenda- and gimmick-ridden a bunch to conduct themselves like Liberal former prime minister John Howard.

Reports the ABC:

'John Howard told Lateline that Senator Hanson was "entitled to be treated in a respectful fashion by the rest of the Parliament".

 In response to the Greens walking out, Mr Howard said: "I think that reflects poorly on them".

He told 774 ABC Melbourne earlier that it would be a mistake to generalise Ms Hanson and her supporters as bigots.

"When I was in politics I always thought it was a mistake and it was inaccurate and it was unfair to brand her supporters as racist and it remains my view, and I don't think anything is gained by those allegations," he said.

Mr Howard said the Parliament should deal with the newly elected senator on the merits of individual issues.

"When she was wrong I said so and when she wasn't wrong I didn't say anything," he said.'

Of course, despite their radicalism, despite their feminism, the Israel-bashing Greens are shtum regarding Islam's benighted practices,  lumping all criticism of Islam, even the un-Western misogyny lurking within Islamic teaching and sharia, under the "Islamophobia" veil.
 
 Just another aspect of their sheer hypocrisy, of course.

For Andrew Bolt's thoughts on the speech see here

UK Israel-Haters Lilt New (& Not So New) Lyrics

A sweet and gentle ballad from Scottish PSC chief Napier's forces:

Maybe it will be translated into Spanish, to the rhythm of castanets.

Don't miss, by the way, Khaled Abu Toameh's article on a brave Palestinian Arab friend of Israel here

Meanwhile, rather disturbing, yet so utterly predictable in a way which supports the writer's point, is the suspension from Britain's Labour Party of a prominent Jewish donor, Cornwall-based Michael Foster, who in the Mail on Sunday last month forthrightly denounced the hard left antisemitism gripping the party.

On social media yesterday, the left-leaning Zionist David Hirsch, of the Engageonline website, summed up Corbyn in able terms:

When Corbyn is challenged about antisemitism he does not respond in a straight and honest way. The thing is, he usually understands the issue better than the journalist or the member of the public who is asking him and he takes advantage of that fact to shimmy round it.

So he does three things. (1) he reassures everyone that he is against antisemitism and all racism. *obviously*. (2) acts all hurt and angry and he explains that there is a difference between support for the Palestinians, backing the peace process and criticizing Israel on the one hand, and antisemitism on the other. And (3) he implies that he is being asked in bad faith by Tories and Zionists; that the people who worry about antisemitism are only pretending to be worried and they know very well that the charge is disgraceful and dishonest. 

What Corbyn knows very well but pretends not to is that the issue is about his political support for antisemitic movements and individuals. When he said that he believes Hamas and Hezbollah are forces for peace and justice in the Middle East, he did not mis-speak, that is what he believes. He believes that Zionism and imperialism are the primary oppressive forces in the world and he sides with those who oppose Zionism and imperialism, no matter how unpleasant they may be and no matter how he may find this or that thing they do or believe to be distasteful. Corbyn is not only critical of Israel; he supports some of those who hate Jews, he supports the exclusion of Israelis from the human community and he encourages people to regard the overwhelming majority of Jews as enemies.

Corbyn knows that there is a relationship between his political support for those who want Israel wiped out and the incidents of open antisemitism which he is asked to 'deal with'. He knows that there is a political problem of antisemitism in the Labour Party and he knows it begins with him and his own faction. But he does not respond to this challenge straightforwardly and honestly.

The Chakrabarti inquiry was this pantomime of obfuscation played out on a formal and public stage. 

See too a recent thoughtful article on the Engageonline website here

Hamas MP: "Palestine is occupied by the vilest nation in history"

Since inveighing in classic antisemitic fashion against the Jews here, this fiery fellow, Hamas MP and hate preacher Marwan Abu Ras, shows last month in this Memri.org video that he sure hasn't lost any of that unloving feeling.

He also flings a few unkind words at Saudis:

"You are a supporter of the Jews, and Allah will punish you the way you deserve"

To quote the uploader, Memri.org:

Hamas MP Marwan Abu Ras in a Friday Sermon: The Jews Are "the Vilest Nation in History"
In a Friday sermon delivered in Gaza on August 26, Hamas MP lambasted the Saudi delegation, headed by retired Saudi general Dr. Anwar Eshki, which had visited Israel in July.

David Singer: United Nations Must End Hamas and PLO Stranglehold On Power

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer. 

He writes:

The United Nations' effort to create a second Arab State in former Palestine – in addition to Jordan – has suffered another death blow following the Palestinian Supreme Court ordering the suspension of local elections in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Gaza Strip scheduled for October 8.

Hamas win, 2006: BBC image

No parliamentary elections have been held since the 2006 – which Hamas won – but which the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) refused to accept.

A bitter internecine struggle saw Hamas end up governing the Gaza Strip and the PLO controlling areas “A” and “B” in Judea and Samaria.

No Palestinian presidential election has been held since PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was elected in 2005.

Hamas boycotted the last Palestinian municipal elections in 2012 – but was due to participate this year.

In the absence of a popularly elected Government exercising complete authoritative and legislative control over the Gazan and West Bank Arab populations – any prospects of reaching a binding agreement with Israel in relation to Gaza and Judea and Samaria remains an impossible pipedream.

Both the PLO and Hamas have used the slogan “End the Occupation” to demand that Israel totally withdraw from Area “C” in Judea and Samaria over which Israel exercises complete administrative and security control under the Oslo Accords.

The United Nations has repeatedly reinforced that slogan by maintaining its flawed position that building in Area “C” by Israel is illegal in international law – completely ignoring that Jews have the legal right to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Judea and Samaria under article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the United Nations very own Charter.

The United Nations has allowed the conflict between Hamas and the PLO to career out of control for the last 10 years – allowing Hamas and the PLO to:

* consolidate their power structures and political dominance within their own separate fiefdoms

* allow corruption and nepotism to become entrenched and

* pursue policies of confrontation with Israel that have proved disastrous for their respective long-suffering populations.

The United Nations has failed to insist that elections be held to enable such stranglehold on power to end and allow the people to have their say on who should govern them – the “self-determination” the United Nations has long been demanding but is being denied by Hamas and the PLO.

Ramzy Baroud – editor of PalestineChronicle.com – summed up the hopelessness of the political stalemate between Hamas and the PLO as long ago as 12 November 2013:

“In an initially pointless exercise that lasted nearly an hour, I flipped between two Palestinian television channels, Al Aqsa TV of Hamas in Gaza and Palestine TV of Fatah in the West Bank. While both purported to represent Palestine and the Palestinians, each seemed to represent some other place and some other people. It was all very disappointing.

Hamas’ world is fixated on their hate of Fatah and other factional personal business. Fatah TV is stuck between several worlds of archaic language of phony revolutions, factional rivalry and unmatched self-adoration. The two narratives are growingly alien and will unlikely ever move beyond their immediate sense of self-gratification and utter absurdity.”

Nothing has changed.

These irreconcilable differences between Fatah – the dominant faction in the PLO – and Hamas – not a member of the PLO – are still omnipresent in 2016.

photo: almanar.com.ib

The United Nations should be demanding that Hamas and the PLO end their decade-long occupation of power by allowing their respective populations the right to vote in internationally supervised elections.

“End the Occupation” would then become a meaningful metaphor rather than a meaningless signpost that continues to lead nowhere.

"BDS Works": Aussie BDSers Claim A Victory & Skew An Online Poll

More on this below

Paul Elliott is an official of the Health Services Union in Australia.

He's a bigshot in its national leadership

And in the leadership of its No 4 branch in the state of Victoria, of which he's secretary.

As reported by Anthony Galloway in the the Herald Sun on 25 August,

'The embattled Health Services Union has invited its members to embrace the anti-Israel boycott movement, prompting a furious response from Jewish leaders....

A motion passed by the union’s Victorian No. 4 Branch offers its support for the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich called on all union members to reject the “divisive” and “misguided” motion.

“It is alarming that the HSU, instead of advocating in matters of concern for their members, has decided to promote a fervently vicious and one-sided resolution that ­unfairly lays all of the blame at the feet of Israel,” Dr Abramovich said.

The branch’s secretary, Paul Elliott, defended the ­motion, saying he hoped it would help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [Emphasis added]

“The union movement has a long and proud history of supporting international affairs and being involved in international affairs, including being instrumental in the international campaign against apartheid,” Mr Elliott said....'

As a commenter on the Herald Sun article noted: 

'I think the HSU needs to make sure those supporting this boycott are given a list of things they need to boycott - starting with the life saving devices and medicines developed and produced in Israel. so when some life saving medicine is needed, they can then say 'sorry, not using that, we are boycotting all Israeli technology and inventions'

And as pro-Israel stalwart Michael Danby, Labor federal member for Melbourne Ports, observes of this sordid little affair: 

'Nearly half a million people have been killed in Syria in the last four years.300,000 civilians are trapped in Aleppo – surrounded by Iranians and Hezbollah and being carpet bombed by the Russian and Syrian governments – yet hypocritical far-Left unionists like Paul Elliot remain completely silent on the slaughter in Syria.

Displaying their entrenched hypocrisy, Elliot’s far-Left unionists show there are no limits to their attacks on the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, by adopting a ‘boycott, divestment and sanctions’ (BDS) policy against Israel.

The medical scientists, pharmacists and phycologists who pay their union subscriptions to the ultra-left HSU No 4 branch will need to ask whether the union’s discriminatory BDS policy instructions mean they will have to rip out the Israeli-made computer chips from their computers and cease prescribing medications which were developed or produced in Israel.

[T]hey (the union) should be more concerned with the fact that the general public think they are a union of crooks, rather than taking up the insignia position of the Nazis and boycotting Israeli and Jewish businesses.”

Mr Danby said that the motivations of the people who run the international BDS campaigns are very clear; what they are on about is the elimination of Israel, not some critiquing of its internal politics.'  [Emphasis added]

Meanwhile, the Australian Jewish News's just closed online poll this week concerning trade union activity in the light of the disgraceful HSU motion has been skewed by BDSers.

Sheer ignorance, sheer malice

More BDS shame in Australia, as told by a jubilant BDSer in Adelaide, where BDS activity has been particularly consistent and fanatical:

In the wake of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's invitation to Bibi to visit Australia next year, more nastiness from a fervent Israel-demoniser:

What, I wonder.is the reaction of these lefty females for Palestine to the misogyny within Palestine now being outwardly preached ("women are witches"), as the Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh reveals here?

Girls' Day Out in Yemen: "Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews" (video)

“Allah is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam”.

With that proud Houthi slogan prominent in the background, female fighters in Yemen strut their stuff.

Explains the uploader:

"A brigade of all-female Houthi fighters held a parade in front of a school in Sanaa on Tuesday.Hundreds of girls reportedly joined the fighters, who were heavily armed carrying machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The Houthi fighters reportedly received food and gold jewellery from supporters at the end of the parade."