David Singer: PLO Humiliated for Denying Free Speech and Elections

Photo credit: Al Jazeera

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

He writes:

Frustration with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has surfaced at a Conference in Istanbul on 25 and 26 February attended by 6000 Palestinian Arabs living abroad in more than 50 countries.

The organisers established a new political entity to represent Palestinian Arab diaspora communities.

The new organisation – as yet unnamed and to be based in Beirut – called for:

1. the end of the Oslo agreement signed between Israel and the PLO in 1993,

2. the restructuring of the PLO on a more representative basis for all Palestinians, and

3. the formation of a democratically elected Palestinian National Council - the PLO's legislative body in exile.

Photo Credit: Ma'an

The conference established a General Commission headed by Palestinian historian Salman abu Sitta and Majed al-Zeer, a Britain-based activist, Naela al-Waari, a scholar and women's rights activist, and Saif Abu Kishah, a youth activist, as his three deputies.

The new organisation does not aim to replace the PLO – which has been representing the Palestinian Arabs since 1964 and been their sole spokesman since 1974. Ribhi Halloum – a former PLO Ambassador stressed:

"We are trying here to create a supporting structure to be an asset to the PLO, not against it"

Fatah – the main faction in the PLO did not agree – issuing a statement attacking the conference and accusing it of being an:

“attempt to divide the Palestinian people.” 

 PLO member Ahmad al-Majdalani said that the motives behind the conference were “suspicious” – echoing accusations that the event was organized to export internal Palestinian political divisions abroad.

A member of Hamas’s politburo, Izzat al-Rashq, expressed support for the conference on behalf of Hamas – adding that:

“those who claim that Hamas is behind the conference are mistaken.”

No matter whose viewpoint one believes – the Conference is surely evidence that the Palestinian Arabs living abroad want to have a say in their own future and have formed an organisation that will allow them to do so – because they consider that the PLO as presently structured is not meeting their aspirations.

Conference spokesman Said Ziyad al Aloul supports this conclusion:

“We as Palestinian diaspora have the right to organise and tell the traditional Palestinian leaders what we think is the best way forward"

Anees Fawzi Kassem – the head of the conference – said the Oslo Accords were the worst deal possible and had resulted in Palestinians being unable to represent Palestinians.

"We are gathered here today to demand that we the people of Palestine be given our voice back,"

 Khalid Turaani, another spokesperson for the conference reportedly claimed:

"It is high time that Palestinians come together to ensure that a weak donor-bondaged [PLO] doesn't give away any more of our legal historic and moral rights in Palestine"

Kassem’s and Turanni’s sentiments will resonate with those Palestinian Arabs living under PLO rule whose voices have been silenced whilst being denied free, fair and transparent elections since 2006.

Negotiations between Israel and the PLO under the Oslo Accords were always destined to founder since the PLO Charter states that:

1. Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan are:

(i) An indivisible territorial unit and

(ii) An indivisible part of the Arab homeland

2. The 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1922 Mandate for Palestine and everything based on them since then are null and void.

3. Jews do not constitute a single nation with an identity of its own

Jordan and Israel’s 1994 Peace Treaty rejected these PLO deal-breakers.

Oslo’s demise opens the possibility of Jordan and Israel redrawing their existing international boundary to mutually divide the West Bank between their respective States.

President Trump should jump to seal the deal.

Al Beeb's Savage Look at Malmö

See Tundra Tabloids here

Yesterday's BBC article about the Swedish city of Malmö, written by Maddy Savage,  is a model example of dishonest reporting.

In saying "Swedish city" I of course use that term loosely, since  the place in question is the archetypical example of the slow suicide Abbaland committed in 1975 when it decided to reinvent itself as a satellite of the Third World.

But being a Beeboid (as the "Biased BBC" website would term her) Maddy Savage is not politically incorrect, and so her article begins:

'Malmö’s international image is in need of a makeover — one that matches the genuine experience of its resident expats and citizens alike.

Saddled with a reputation for crime, the grittier neighbourhoods within Sweden’s third-largest urban hub have gained notoriety in recent years after appearing in global smash-hit Nordic Noir drama The Bridge, while more recent international debates have questioned safety amid large-scale immigration. US President Donald Trump has suggested that media and the authorities have hushed up how bad tensions are in the city, while UK politician Nigel Farage claimed it was the rape capital of Europe....'

With no attempt to discuss why Trump and Farage harbour such jaundiced views of Malmö, and to examine whether they may just have a point, Ms Savage warms to her appointed task: to present Malmö as a marvellous multicultural melting pot where everything in the garden's lovely.

The genuine experience of its citizens?

How about the genuine experience  female victims of sexual assault by, er, savages?

Not only in Malmö but in other parts of Sweden.

Look, for instance, at the post a visitor to Sweden put under this recent video of high jinks in Malmo:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AReNfqqGsb8

 I was lucky enough to spend New Year's in Stockholm with my girlfriend and I must say it is a fantastic city everyone should visit! The the Swedes are real friendly  and we really enjoyed it but what let it down for me was New Year's Eve travelling to the fireworks going through central station and the hordes of young North African/Arabic men hanging around staring disgustingly at every blonde girl that walked past including my girlfriend and when we took the the underground to return to our hotel after the fireworks we saw a different Stockholm, not a single Swede was on the tube, just Arabic-looking men all crowded in and wanting to stand as close to my girlfriend as possible  and staring disgustingly at her and when we arrived at our stop (Solna Strand) and we got off some of them started shouting in their language at my girlfriend and harassing her as we walked off the tube. It really opens my eyes to these primates that Europe is allowing in.  So thanks Sweden for your hospitality but f*ck you for allowing this scum into Europe and allowing them to reign free.  I feel real sorry for your wives and daughters that have to put up with that kind of sh*t everyday." [Emphasis added]

Here's Swedish journalist Ingrid Carlqvist.  She could teach Maddy Savage a thing or three:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv75JP2BGbs

How about the genuine experience Jewish victims of seventh-century antisemitism imported into twentieth and twenty-first century Malmö?

See my post about the plight of Malmö's Jews here
Here too (video)
Breitbart here with video
Ingrid Carlqvist here

It seems the experiences of Malmö's Jews don't count in Beeboid Maddy Savage's view.

She mentioned the drama series The Bridge but avoided telling of the disquiet a Jewish actor in that series felt about antisemitism in the city it was made in, leading him to quit.  She made no attempt to interview people who have had bad experiences in that city owing to their gender or their Jewishness.

Needless to say, there's no doubt, no doubt at all, that the reverse would apply if the perpetrators of those rapes and those antisemitic crimes had been white men and right-wingers respectively.

Itching for the Itchen, Vicar?

Image: media_camera

Our old friend the Vicar of Virginia Water's new outfit, Peacemaker Mediators, has apparently changed its registration address.

No longer, it seems, is it headquartered in Windsor but in a part of Southampton that fronts the River Itchen.

Woolston, to be precise.

That our old friend is itching to swap his pulpit for the new venture by the Itchen is suggested in a sermon of his that he has linked to on Facebook.

Although by agreement with his diocesan overlord, the Bishop of Guildford, he's supposed to desist from referring to the Middle East until he relinquishes his pulpit (on Easter Sunday) or immediately resign, there's a reference there to the contemporary situation, as well as an overt plug for Peacemaker Mediators (which the vicar is plugging separately on social media now):

"[T]he most valuable piece of real estate in the world, is the Haram al Sharif, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The site on which Abraham offered Isaac, on which Solomon and Herod built their temples. The Temple Mount is sacred to 16 million Jews as well as 1.6 billion Muslims, and of interest to 2.2 billion Christians.... Were it for sale, there would be no problem getting a deposit Orthodox Jews pray 3 times a day that the Temple will be rebuilt in their life time.

More ME. The vicar shares a video.

Many Fundamentalists are dedicated to destroying the Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock to achieve it. And millions of Bible-believing Christians are convinced it must happen for Jesus to return....  [T]hose who advocate the rebuilding of the Temple are regressing into a pre-Christian sacrificial system, superseded, made redundant and annulled by the finished work of Jesus Christ....

What are the implications? What was the Temple intended for? What is the Church intended to be? Open or closed? Inclusive or exclusive? The Temple was the place of mediation. It still is! And what are we called to be? Mediators. What is our primary ministry as a church? Peacemaking. That is why we are launching a new charity, Peacemaker Mediators, on Saturday 6th May here at Christ Church. This is your invitation...."

 Wouldst that the likes of David Collier might be there, to report the details of the launch!

Balfour, Beasts and Bartolotti

They've been gearing up for quite a time now, the Israel haters behind the Balfour Project (it has been claimed, rightly or wrongly, that the person who registered the domain name was a certain soon-to-be-ex-vicar).

Here's a photograph of two members of the Scottish Parliament, posing gleefully outside Holyrood with  anti-Balfour propaganda.  Both are in favour of a unilaterally recognised state of  Palestine.

On the left of the picture as we face it stands Sandra White MSP, of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP).

Got into a beastly spot of bother a while back did short and and perhaps not so sweet Sandra, co-convenor of the cross-party group on Palestine at Holyrood. 

She retweeted an antisemitic cartoon showing a porcine beastie with wee porcine beasties representing Israel, Isis, Al Qaeda and so on suckling at its teats and the word "Rothschild" written across its belly.

This caused outrage in many quarters, including calls for her prosecution, but with the SNP's backing Sandra weathered the storm.  The retweet had been made "accidentally".  Apparently.

Standing on the right of the above photo is Benenden-educated Labour MSP Claudia Beamish, who's prone to call the Arabs the indigenous people of Israel.  Her Jewish great-grandma knew better.

Claudia's father, you see, was one of the Big Beasts of the Israel-hating movement, and a Tory backbencher at that.  He was  none other than Colonel Sir Tufton Beamish (l917-89), made a life peer as Lord Chelwood in 1974.  Outspokenly hostile to Israel's creation, he was a member of CAABU's general council (I blogged about that particular nest of vipers here) and later formed a pro-Arab pressure group within the Tory Party.

Sir Tufton was halachically a Jew, though he seems to have concealed the fact. His mother was the sister of Sir Ernest Simon and his maternal grandmother was an active shul member in Manchester and a Zionist, no less!

At least he didn't call himself an as-a-Jew!

Now that the centennial year of the Balfour Declaration has arrived a number of anti-Balfour initiatives besides the Balfour Project are in existence.

We read here that former Lib Dem (now independent) life peer Jenny Tonge, former Lib Dem MP David Ward, and Labour life peer Lord Ahmed

'are fronting the Balfour Apology Campaign, led by the London-based Palestinian Return Centre, which is seeking an official apology from the British government for issuing the Declaration “which has caused so much damage”....'

We all know what would happen to Israel if the Return Centre had its wicked way.  And all members of that trio have form when it comes to Jews and Israel: all, as that article reminds us, have made antisemitic remarks. It adds:

'Simon Johnson, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said it was “a ridiculous argument” and “a futile and hate-filled campaign”.

He added: “What they are doing is asking for an apology for issuing a non-binding statement of commitment that was the first step towards the establishment of a Jewish homeland. That is as close to denying the right of Israel to exist as I can think of, and should be called out as anti-Semitic.”'

And here's someone who should be called out as antisemitic, Pippa Bartolotti, formerly leader of the Welsh Greens and now, to quote her official Facebook page, their "deputy spokesperson".

 She has displayed her antisemitic credentials before, as I have shown, with references to the "Roth[s]childs".  (Google Daphne Anson Pippa Bartolotti for my previous posts on this lady).

Pippa Bartolotti has given her ten pence worth on the Balfour Declaration.

Here she is on 2 March this year:

 A conspiracy theorist gets into the act:

And who hastened to "Like" that 9/11 Israel did it conspiracy theory? Step forward the lady herself:

David Singer: Trump and Putin Must Co-operate to Defeat Islamic State

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

He writes:

President Trump made his intention to destroy Islamic State crystal clear in his stirring address to the Congress on 28 February:

"As promised, I directed the Department of Defense to develop a plan to demolish and destroy ISIS -- a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians, and men, women, and children of all faiths and beliefs. We will work with our allies, including our friends and allies in the Muslim world, to extinguish this vile enemy from our planet.”

The Department of Defense plan had already been delivered to members of the National Security Council's Principals Committee – and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was due to brief the committee on 27 February.

Whether this plan recommends co-operation with Russia still remains under wraps.

Certainly President Obama’s decision in September 2014 to degrade and destroy Islamic State by forming a broad international coalition of 68 States without:

1. Including Russia and

2. first securing a Security Council resolution endorsing such action

has proved both catastrophic and very expensive.

The State Department trumpeted that the breadth and diversity of America’s coalition partners demonstrated the global and unified nature of Obama’s endeavour.

Yet Islamic State today remains undefeated in Syria and Iraq. Support for – and pledges of allegiance to – Islamic State by over 30 radical Islamic terrorist groups world-wide are creating horrific humanitarian problems – some far removed from the Middle East.

Defeating Islamic State in Iraq and Syria will see these “lawless savages” joining such disparate groups in their drive to establish the restoration of the Caliphate and the implementation of Sharia law world-wide.

Members of the US-led Coalition have not been contributing their fair share towards dealing with Islamic State – leaving the burden to fall squarely on America. Australian Prime Minister – Malcolm Turnbull – declared last week that Australia was in fact the second largest international contributor to the US led coalition after the United States – shaming NATO countries like Germany, France and the United Kingdom and Middle East members Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

The remaining 125 UN member States have escaped sharing the cost and responsibility of confronting and defeating Islamic State.

Trump’s reprimand of NATO would indicate he considers the Obama-led coalition has been a very bad deal for America.

Trump can rectify this situation by jointly co-sponsoring with Putin a United Nations Security Council resolution authorising the use of force against Islamic State under Chapter V11 of the UN Charter.

Russia and America have previously expressed their willingness to involve the Security Council. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made this clear on 18 November 2015:

“The Security Council needs to give preferential attention to the task of creating a solid legal foundation for the fight against this evil [Islamic State] and for the mobilization of an actual global coalition in response to this common uncompromising challenge for us all.”

President Obama preached a similar mantra in St Petersburg on 6 September 2013:

“And I respect those who are concerned about setting precedents of action outside of a U.N. Security Council resolution. I would greatly prefer working through multilateral channels and through the United Nations to get this done.”

Mentioning any relationship with Russia is a very sensitive issue in American politics today. However Trump may well have had Russia in mind when he told Congress:

“America is willing to find new friends, and to forge new partnerships, where shared interests align. We want harmony and stability, not war and conflict.”

Defeating Islamic State is a shared interest of Trump and Putin.

Co-operation in the United Nations Security Council will materially advance that objective.

"You Stupid Women Who Still Applaud This Invasion" (video)

Here's a message that you won't see on the BBC or in the Guardian.

Pat Condell very justifiably warning European women that for the sake of themselves, their daughters and granddaughters, they must resist the Islamic invasion of Europe by voting against it at the ballot boxes.

Thank you, Mr Condell.

Forgotten Something, Vicar?

As I understand the matter, our old friend the soon-to-be-ex Vicar of Virginia Water gave an undertaking to his bishop that he would cease to mention the Middle East on social media or immediately resign his pulpit.

Our old friend has seemingly forgotten that undertaking in his eagerness to bring this tribute to Sweden's ghastly foreign minister Margot Wallstrom to the attention of his faithful.  After all, the article says, inter alia:

'....It is a sign of how upside-down modern politics has become that one assumes that a politician who defends freedom of speech and women’s rights in the Arab world must be some kind of muscular liberal, or neocon, or perhaps a supporter of one of Scandinavia’s new populist right-wing parties whose commitment to human rights is merely a cover for anti-Muslim hatred. But Margot Wallström is that modern rarity: a left-wing politician who goes where her principles take her.

She is foreign minister in Sweden’s weak coalition of Social Democrats and Greens, and took office promising a feminist foreign policy. She recognised Palestine in October last year — and, no, the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Co-operation and Gulf Co-operation Council did not condemn her ‘unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Israel’. I confess that her gesture struck me as counterproductive at the time. But after Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a Palestinian state as he used every dirty trick he could think of to secure his re-election, she can claim with justice that history has vindicated her.

She moved on to the Saudi version of sharia law. Her criticism was not just rhetorical. She said that it was unethical for Sweden to continue with its military co-operation agreement with Saudi Arabia. In other words, she threatened Swedish arms companies’ ability to make money. Saudi Arabia’s denial of business visas to Swedes threatened to hurt other companies’ profits too. You might think of Swedes as upright social democrats, who have never let worries of appearing tedious stand in the way of their righteousness. But that has never been wholly true, and is certainly not true when there is money at stake....'

But it's not that apparently forgotten undertaking that I refer to in the header.  It's the fact that the vicar, like Jenny Tonge, who also likes the tribute to Wallstrom, has apparently forgotten that Iran (whose PressTV propaganda channel both he and the baroness have appeared on with, pardon the phrase, gay abandon, is every bit as oppressive to women as Saudi Arabia is.)

Wallstrom, like the other feministas in the Swedish government, whose hijabbed heads and swathed bodies were bowed before the mullahs recently, have of course conveniently forgotten it too.

I suppose that's because Saudi Arabia is an ally of America and a de facto ally of Israel.  Eh, vicar?

Talking of Islam and women's rights (or lack of them), a topic that has been making headlines in Australia over the past fortnight, as apologists for Islam present it as a harbinger of feminism (!), the VladTepes blog reminds us today of this Toronto imam, making sick, outrageous claims against Israel back in 2013.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdtANAF1bxk

To quote the uploader: 

Shaykh Saed Rageah (الشيخ سعيد راجح) was born in Somalia and in the late 80sn moved to North America. Rageah has a Bachelor's in Islamic studies and a Masters in Shari'ah and he has had several posts over the years, including: founder of Masjid Huda in Montreal and Masjid Aya in Maryland, advisor for Muslim Youth magazine, and member in the Aqsa Association.

He is also the founder of both Muslim Magazine and Al Aqsa Association, and served as the Chaplain at both the University of Calgary and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). Currently, he serves as Imam at the Abu Hurairah Mosque in Toronto, the Chairman for the Journey of Faith Conference and as an instructor for the AlMaghrib Institute.

In a lecture delivered in Denmark (posted on Youtube on April 15, 2013) dealing with women's right Shaykh Rageah asserted that Islam, unlike the Christianity and Judaism, dignifies women. Referring to Israel and the Jews in this regard Shaykh Rageah said the following:

"In Europe... there is something called sex slaves. What did they do? They steal little girls. Glory be to Allah (سبحان الله), You know number one in the world who does that? Number one country in the world? Israel. They are number one in sex salve, which means they gonna steal little girls and they gonna sell them, and these little girls have no hope."

http://jonathanhalevi.blogspot.ca/201...

Note that this is an excerpt of the original full length video which may be viewed here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBROa...