Question. Is It Only in Israel Where Human Rights Activists Fight Against Human Rights? - by Sheri Oz

...Close to two million people of all religions, from Israel and around the world, visit the Cave of the Patriarchs each year. There is no other site like it in the world that is not accessible! This situation is a disgrace. And it is a serious infraction of human rights.

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
21 August '20..

I wonder if it is only in Israel or concerning Israel that we find human rights activists fighting human rights. And our government does not seem to know how to deal with it. In this case, we have a supposed human rights organization fighting the human rights of the disabled, the elderly and young children to pray in the Cave of the Patriarchs; currently the prayer halls are totally inaccessible to them. In fact, Moti Ohayon and others have been seriously injured from falls while being carried up the steps in his wheelchair when all they wanted to do was pray at the site of the graves of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, and even, it is believed, at the burial places of Adam and Eve.

The committee responsible for overseeing the project to build an accessibility elevator is dillydallying and not convening to deal with the delay. And this is after all the documents were signed by the Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Finance Minister.

What a disappointment to all who saw their ability to safely pray at the holy site just over the horizon!

Background to the Elevator Project

In an article published in November 2019, I wrote:

The request to make the site accessible to all was first submitted in 2003 by the Hebron Jewish Community Committee to the military authority. This was followed by repeated attempts by a number of organizations to raise awareness of the dire need for an elevator. When no action was taken, supposedly because of security issues and concerns of changing the status quo between the Jewish and Palestinian populations in the city, Btzalmo took up the mantle and, for the last few years, [campaigned] tirelessly by writing letters to those with the power to carry out the project and by ensuring that the media keep the topic alive.

The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee is responsible for the project. At their meeting in July 2019, committee members agreed that this was a humanitarian project of utmost importance. It was also clear that the elevator was required in order to be in compliance with international law stating that all public buildings must be accessible. Repeated requests for coordination with the Hebron municipality, which was given authority over building permits as per the 1997 Hebron Agreement signed by Netanyahu and Arafat, were ignored. (Israel had offered to make the Muslim entrance accessible at the same time as they were working on the Jewish entrance.) At the committee meeting, members wondered aloud how long they would wait for the Hebron mayor to respond before deciding to proceed without his involvement. It was hoped that the prayer halls would be accessible by Passover 2020.

Finally, in February 2020, all the documents approving the project were signed by the requisite ministers — the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the Finance Minister. After years of attempting to coordinate the accessibility project together with the Hebron municipality and being ignored, the only way to move forward was for Israel to expropriate the land required to build the elevator (about 4-10 square meters) and a path from the parking area up to the base of the site (about 150 meters long).

(Continue to Full Post)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

UN human rights "experts" vs. Hamas War Crimes against Israel, Palestinians - by Bassam Tawil

Perhaps a small step, such as viewing easily available material, would set the record straight. These UN human rights "experts" might, for a change, glance at the videos and photos coming out of the Gaza Strip to see who is really responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity: Hamas. Its members are opening fire at peaceful protesters, who are taking their lives in their hands to end the harsh economic conditions created by their rulers' catastrophic policies in the Gaza Strip. It is the leaders of Hamas, and only Hamas, who are committing war crimes in and around Gaza. They are committing war crimes against Jews and they are committing war crimes against their own people.

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
18 March '19..

Hamas has again proved that it really is a terrorist group that oppresses its people and prevents them from expressing their opinions. It has also shown that when it is in trouble, it will do its utmost to divert attention from the problems it is facing at home.

As far as Hamas is concerned, one of the best ways to divert attention from the growing frustration with its rule is by attacking Israel and Jews. Then, Israel is forced to respond to defend itself. That will allow Hamas to tell its people that there is no room for internal fighting and disputes "because we are under attack by the Jews." No Palestinian would dare to criticize Hamas while Israel is supposedly "attacking" Hamas. Anyone who did so would be accused of being a "traitor" and "collaborator" with the "Zionist enemy."

That is exactly what happened this week, when two rockets were fired at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The rocket attack came shortly after thousands of Palestinians had taken to the streets of the Gaza Strip to protest the horrific economic situation there -- that funds intended for them had apparently been diverted to finance terrorism -- and demand an end to Hamas's repressive measures against its people.

The leaders of Hamas were apparently disturbed by the large protests that took place in the Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders also seemed disturbed by the photos and videos showing Hamas members beating, shooting at and arresting hundreds of peaceful Palestinian protesters whose only "crime" was to demand a dignified life, jobs and a better future for their children.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

.

The reality that Zionism is perhaps the ultimate root and repository of human rights - by Douglas Altabef

...Human rights is not the monopoly of the Left, nor of any other ideology. In a Zionist state, human rights concerns should be focused on those who have thrown in their lot with the Zionist mission: to normalize, protect and cherish the welfare of Jews, all Jews; and to be gracious, tolerant and respectful to those non-Jews who see in Zionism their own greatest opportunity for dignity and fulfillment.

Douglas Altabef..
Israel Hayom..
17 December '18..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/zionisms-embrace-of-human-rights/?redirected=326451

Human rights have appropriately been prioritized by many nongovernmental organizations, charities and movements seeking to elevate and ameliorate the condition of oppressed people.

That's the good news. The bad news is that human rights, as practiced by so-called HROs – human rights organizations – have become a conversation stopper. They are both a sword and a shield wielded by those whose political actions have often been rationalized or justified as being waged on behalf of certain beleaguered groups; as such, their actions are beyond reproach or analysis, not to mention criticism.

Inevitably, this has led to a prioritization of woe and distress. Who has it worse, who is more deserving of our pity and help?

When I was a child in the U.S., I remember watching a show called "Queen for a Day" in which a parade of housewives vied for having the most pathetic story. There was an applause meter based on the individual's plight, and of course a raft of prizes awarded to the one who tugged most at our heartstrings.

The Left's use of the cudgel of human rights is "Queen for a Day" writ large. It's also rather cynical, as one senses that victims are being used to further a political goal. In Israel, those goals inevitably seem to involve usurping the authority of the state and the government.

Yes, they would say all lives are important, at least in theory; however, in reality, some need to be protected more than others.

In practice, this leads to the fracturing identity politics gripping the U.S., whereby certain groups "matter," and are thereby deserving, while certain groups are "privileged," part of the repressive majority, and therefore have no standing, no vote, no voice.

The hypocrisy of this perspective is fully visible in Israel, as an industry of far-left NGOs sanctimoniously vilify and slander the only democracy in the Middle East all in the name of human rights.

Who would've thought? B'Tselem still counts Hamas terrorists as child victims of Israel - by Elder of Ziyon

Like Amnesty, B'Tselem has had years after the evidence came in to adjust its databases to reflect the hundreds of "civilians" who were proudly claimed by terror groups as one of their own. B'Tselem is more honest than HRW and Amnesty in how they report casualties, but a lie is a lie. And there is no excuse for them to continue to publish databases with false information that they know very well is false.

Elder of Ziyon..
27 November '18..


At Academia.edu, Jonathan Slosser had written a paper showing that over four years after the 2014 Gaza war, B'Tselem still inaccurately calls many Hamas terrorists "civilian."

And instead of the "human rights" organization decrying Hamas' use of child soldiers, it blames Israel for killing legitimate targets in a war.

Here is a selection of his findings.

B'Tselem:

Ahmad Salim Lafy 'Abdin
17 years old, resident of Gaza city, killed on 31 Jul 2014 in Gaza city by gunfire from an aircraft. Did not participate in hostilities. Additional information: Killed in his family's home in the a-Nasar neighborhood.

Hamas Al Qassam Brigades:

He loved to join the resistance and join the Mujahideen. He loved working in the ranks of the Qassam Brigades and was committed to all the duties required in order to serve the path of jihad.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

.

The Shafting of Palestinians and Human Rights by Pro-Palestinian Human Rights Organizations - by Bassam Tawil

...Each of the human rights organizations approached benefit immensely from the extremely generous support of foreign governments and charities such as the New Israel Fund and other well-known "liberal" foundations. The response the attorneys received speaks volumes.

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
21 May '18..

During the past 14 years, dozens of lawsuits have been filed in the Israeli judicial system by Arabs who have fled the Palestinian Authority (PA) and were given refuge in Israel. The sheer volume of cases and their remarkable similarity led the Israeli justice system to combine them and hear them as a unified case, heard in Jerusalem District Court, Justice Moshe Drori presiding, in 2017.

In each case, the victims, Palestinian Arabs living in PA-controlled areas, were suspected of collaborating with Israel -- a "crime" that can include anything from warning authorities of impending acts of terrorism to selling land to Jews.

These suspected "collaborators," after their abduction by the Palestinian Police, were imprisoned in the PA's dungeons and subjected to unspeakable torture. In their testimony before the court, the victims described brutal beatings, broken teeth, sexual assault, exposure to extreme heat and cold, being forced to sit on broken glass bottles, being hung repeatedly in various positions, and "medical treatment" by the Palestinian Authority's prison doctors that included injections of urine directly into their veins. In many cases, suspected collaborators were executed outright; other times, they were tortured to death and their family members raped and tortured. Even infants were not spared. These methods remain in force; this is how the Palestinian Authority deals with anyone suspected of cooperating with Jews: Death or torture.

During the trial, attorney for the Palestinian Authority changed their defense. First, they denied any involvement; later admitted that their police force had indeed "made arrests." They also tried to claim that due process had been adhered to throughout the period of incarceration.

A few months ago, Justice Drori found the Palestinian Authority directly responsible for the imprisonment and torture or murder of the 52 Palestinian plaintiffs, and required the PA to compensate the victims accordingly. In his decision, Justice Drori pointed to the overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence of torture, and the shocking similarity between the victims' testimony, which covers nearly 2,000 pages.

To collect compensation from the Palestinian Authority, however, the victims are required to submit a variety of medical and psychological assessments -- tests often expensive to run and which the Palestinians cannot afford. To help their clients, the Palestinians' attorneys, Barak Kedem and Aryeh Arbus, applied to 15 human rights organizations for assistance -- a "Who's Who" of human rights activism in the Israel-Arab conflict that are always the most vocal in the struggle against the Israeli "occupation," and regularly condemn the plight of Palestinian and Israeli Arabs under Israeli "occupation." These organizations are the greatest activists against demolition of homes belonging to terrorists' families, and the leaders of the fight against the "oppression" of Arabs by the Israel Police and the IDF, which they refer to as "occupation forces."

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

.

Do the Western governments, human rights organizations and journalists hear the screams of the tortured detainees?

...Among the thousands of Palestinians who have experienced incarceration in PA prisons and detention facilities during the past two decades, many are willing to tell their stories. But who is willing to listen? Not Western governments, human rights organizations and journalists. Most of them seek evil in Israel, and Israeli alone. Yet such a policy aids and abets the emergence of yet another Arab dictatorship in the Middle East. For now, the residents of Jericho will continue to hear the screams of the tortured detainees in their city. The rest of the world will close its eyes and ears and continue to pretend that all is rosy in the land of Abbas.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
30 January '17..

As Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies occupied themselves in the past two weeks issuing warnings to President Trump against moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, reports resurfaced concerning the brutal conditions and human rights violations in a Palestinian prison in the West Bank.

These reports, however, were buried, along with the abuse, in favor of attention to rhetoric directed against the Trump Administration. Anything uttered by Abbas and senior PA officials regarding the possible transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem made it to the headlines of major newspapers and TV networks around the world.

At one point, it actually appeared as if the mainstream media in the West was interested in highlighting and inflating these statements in a bid to pressure Trump into abandoning the idea of moving the embassy to Jerusalem. Western journalists ran to provide platforms for any Palestinian official interested in threatening the Trump Administration.

The threats included warnings that the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem would "destroy the peace process," "jeopardize regional and international security" and "plunge the entire region into anarchy and violence." Some Palestinian officials went so far as to state that such a move would be considered an "assault on all Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims." They also threatened to "revoke" Palestinian recognition of Israel's right to exist.

Regrettably, as Palestinian officials from across the political spectrum joined forces to broadcast sensational headlines in the mainstream media around the world, the reports about torture of Palestinian detainees in a PA prison failed to attract the interest of the many journalists covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The torture that takes place in PA-controlled prisons and detention centers is not new.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

.

Refugees and the travesty that the “human rights community” has become - by Evelyn Gordon

...If Israel can’t be blamed, Amnesty isn’t much interested. That’s also why Israeli organizations helping Syrian refugees in Greece discovered that while no Syrian ever refused their help, members of international “human rights” organizations did, even though the Israelis were among the few volunteers who spoke Arabic: These international “humanitarians” viewed boycotting Israel as more important than communicating with the refugees they ostensibly came to help. Such politicization of human rights never bothered most Westerners as long as Israel was the only victim. But now that it’s being turned against Europe, perhaps the West will finally recognize the travesty that the “human rights community” has become.

Evelyn Gordon..
Commentary Magazine..
04 April '16..

Israel and its supporters have argued for years that many “human rights” organizations are far less concerned with human rights than with pushing a political agenda. But as long as that political agenda consisted mainly of attacking Israel, most Westerners remained convinced that these groups still deserved their credibility and moral haloes. Even initial forays into political issues unconnected with Israel – like Amnesty International’s controversial assertion last year that upholding human rights requires decriminalizing prostitution – didn’t destroy the halo. But by demanding that the European Union accept millions of Middle Eastern migrants rather than returning them to Turkey, these organizations have picked a political fight that millions of Europeans actually care about. And in so doing, they may be dealing their own credibility a long-deserved death blow.

The “human rights community” is outraged by the EU’s recent deal with Ankara, under which all migrants entering Europe via Turkey will be promptly returned there. The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Nils Muiznieks, declared that such “automatic forced return” is “illegal,” and the only acceptable solution is for EU countries to “ramp up the relocation of asylum seekers” into their own borders. Human rights groups similarly asserted that the deal violates international humanitarian law, inter alia, because they claim Turkey is unsafe for refugees. Amnesty, for instance, termed the deal “abhorrent.”

Then, angry over the EU’s refusal to accept their view, the organizations halted assistance to tens of thousands of migrants already in Greece. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children all suspended operations in Greek refugee centers to protest the deal.

There are numerous problems with the “human rights community’s” response to this deal, but let’s start with the biggest: the claim that it somehow violates international law, in the form of the 1951 Refugee Convention.

This convention was intended to ensure that anyone with a “well-founded fear” of persecution could find refuge somewhere, so as to prevent a repeat of the situation in which six million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis because no country would let them in. But it never guaranteed anyone, much less tens of millions of people, access to the country of their choice.

Turkey, understandably, isn’t most refugees’ first choice. It’s an authoritarian country where basic rights like freedom of the press are ruthlessly suppressed; it has suffered numerous terror attacks in recent years; and it’s less wealthy than Europe. But all this makes it no worse than much of the rest of the world.

The one thing Turkey isn’t is unsafe for most refugees. It has hosted millions of Syrian refugees for years; the current tally exceeds 2.7 million. And unlike Syrians in Syria – where a brutal civil war has killed some 470,000 people since 2011 – the refugees in Turkey have survived. Turkey also grants full access to UN officials, so UNHCR could process refugee applications just as well in Turkey as it could in Greece.

When the world doesn't want the victims of these crimes to be considered deserving of basic human rights

...Human rights groups will bend over backwards to ensure that the most depraved people on Earth are treated like human beings. They will "courageously" defend the worst terrorists from being treated unfairly. Even when the victim's belief systems are abhorrent, these NGOs will ensure that there is pressure to stop them from being harassed, tortured, or otherwise treated as less than human. But not one supposedly liberal, progressive NGO will defend the human rights of Jews who dare believe that they should have equal rights in the land of their forefathers. No one will support Jewish rights to pray in their holy spots. No one will defend the rights of Jews to legally buy or build houses in the one part of the world that is most important to them.

Elder of Ziyon..
01 September '15..

Jews who believe in their right to live in their ancestral lands are vermin.

That is the only conclusion you can draw from several stories in Arab media today.

The first:

Dozens of Palestinians were hurt in clashes that broke out Tuesday after a group of Jewish settlers took over a building in Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, a local monitoring group said.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said in a statement that the group settlers, under have army escort, took over an empty building in the Batan al-Hawa area of the neighborhood.The Jews didn't evict any Arabs from the building that they legally bought.

But, to Arabs, it is better that an building remain empty and fall into ruin than have those subhuman Jews move into it.

The second:

A settlers’ car was burned on Friday night after Molotov Cocktails were thrown towards the vehicle in Al-Khilweh Street in the village of Al-Tur.

If you want to get rid of vermin, you must destroy anything associated with them.

The people who reported this are proud that they openly hate Jews. Because who likes vermin?

(Read Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work as well as a big vote to follow our good friend Kay Wilson on Twitter, 

.

Question. Why is the BBC definition of a ‘human rights activist’ different from all others?

...Perhaps the BBC would care to tell its funding public why its use of the term ‘human rights activist’ does not embrace the accepted principle of the universality of human rights.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
21 June '15..

The UN defines human rights as “rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status”. A person portrayed to BBC audiences as a human rights activist will therefore certainly not be understood to be a campaigner for the negation of the rights of a particular group of people.

If one happened to be in Fort Lauderdale last November one could have heard Susan Abulhawa speaking for an organization which negates the right of Jews to self-determination. If one happened to have attended the annual BDS-supporting ‘PalFest’ during the last couple of years, one would also have found Susan Abulhawa there – and subsequently promoting the notion that Israelis must apologise for “the most basic fact of Israel’s existence”. Or one could just take a look at her Facebook posts in order to understand that universal human rights are most certainly not at the top of Abulhawa’s activist agenda.

Nevertheless, listeners to the June 15th edition of the BBC World Service radio programme ‘The Arts Hour’ heard an interview with Abulhawa (available here from 27:38 for a limited period of time or here as a clip without the introduction) in which presenter Nikki Bedi introduced her as follows:

(Read Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work as well as a big vote to follow our good friend Kay Wilson on Twitter, 

.

Israeli ‘Human Rights’ Groups and How They Threaten Our Very Existence

...The appropriate name for these organizations is actually “organizations for the exploitation of the issue of human rights as a political objective.” Not only the State of Israel, but also its supporters all over the world, must understand the threat that hangs over it from foreign funding intended to prejudice the country’s identity.

Shimon Ohayon..
The Algemeiner..
12 May '15..

The State of Israel was established during a period of intense focus on human rights issues. All the leading political movements during that period dedicated a significant part of their platforms to human rights.

The institutions and laws established in Israel reflect the central place of human rights at the heart of the State’s ideological foundations. It is therefore not surprising that human rights organizations have always been prominent and active in Israeli society.
However, in recent years we have seen the rise of new organizations which, while they call themselves “human rights organizations,” are in fact of a completely different ilk from the tradition. Contrary to what one would assume, these organizations’ activities raise questions as to the sincerity of their concern with human rights, questions that are motivated by the agendas and goals that are guiding them.

These organizations constitute a coordinated coalition, and they have selected a limited number of core issues in which they have invested the greater part of their resources. One major issue is that of the migration of infiltrators into the State of Israel. ‘Human rights’ organizations are doing everything possible to eradicate the Israeli State’s ability to stop this flow of illegal migrants: petitions to the Supreme Court, demonstrations, information centers, and categorical opposition to any law that imposes sanctions on people who cross the border.

Masterminding these efforts is the New Israel Fund, which has created a forum in which members of organizations such as ASSAF (Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel), Physicians for Human Rights, the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, and others can work together and sometimes operate as a single entity. The stated purpose of the forum is to grant permanent resident status to these migrants. The funding for this forum comes from foreign entities such as the EU, the U.S. State Department, and from the budgets of various European governments.

The result has been the accumulation of approximately 100,000 illegal migrants in Israeli cities, living in poverty and dire conditions and turning entire neighborhoods into hubs of crime. Despite the clear evidence that indicates that these infiltrators were not being persecuted by the regimes in their home countries (for example, masses of migrants were guests at an event in their support held at the home of the South Sudanese Ambassador), these organizations have chosen to present them as “refugees,” and have demanded that Israel should grant them permanent status.

Ironically, recent findings only confirm the true ideological agenda of these organizations. In late march the British Home Office issued a report stating that Eritreans, by far the largest component of the infiltrator population, are actually not subject to persecution in Eritrea by virtue of their having left the country to escape military service.

They are able to return, subject to paying a tax for the service they missed. And since the infiltrators make far more money in Tel Aviv than they would in Eritrea (their real reason for being here), paying a tax is no impediment to their return.

This undercuts the idea that these people are endangered refugees, rather than economic self-seekers. Yet to Israeli NGOs they are stateless, helpless refugees. Of course, what they really represent to these NGOs are ways to diminish the Jewish character of Israel, the ultimate agenda of the NIF and its many funded human rights NGOs.

A Situation Where the ICRC Feels It Must Apologize for Telling the Truth

...So all the people worldwide who truly need humanitarian assistance – in Syria and “other places where many more civilians are dying” – will continue having their pleas for help go unheard, because the only “human rights” activists raising their voices are the ones obsessed with Israel. The others are too busy proving, yet again, that all that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

Evelyn Gordon..
Analysis from Israel..
11 May '15..

It’s not hard to find examples of double standards against Israel; COMMENTARY has published two examples, from academia and sport, just in the last two days. But it’s worth reiterating that such incidents are made possible not by the rabid Israel-haters, who remain a small minority, but by all the “good” people who know better yet are too intimidated to speak out. Nowhere is this more evident than in the so-called human rights community. And Exhibit A is the exception that proves the rule: Jacques de Maio, who heads the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in “Israel and the Occupied Territories.”

The ICRC has produced its share of Israel-haters, but De Maio certainly isn’t one of them. Not only does he realize that Israel isn’t the Great Satan it’s generally portrayed as by “human rights” activists, but he’s even willing to say so occasionally – which makes him far braver than many of his colleagues. Yet even this braver-than-average member of the human rights community feels so intimidated that whenever he does says something positive about Israel, he feels the need to apologize. So you get astounding statements like this tweet from last November: “It may seem provocative, but I would contend that humanitarian access in Israel & OT is, comparatively, outstandingly good.”

The mind simply boggles. It’s “provocative” to state the simple fact that Israel, like any Western democracy, allows humanitarian aid groups relatively unfettered access? In his next tweet, De Maio added, “I can think of no other context where we operate worldwide where access for humanitarian organizations is as good as it is here.” Yet if that’s the truth, why should it be “provocative” to say so? Shouldn’t it be as natural for human rights organizations to praise countries for enabling their access as it is to criticize them for not doing so?

But of course, when it comes to Israel, it isn’t. After all, in the “human rights” community to which De Maio belongs, the loudest voices are people like Human Rights Watch director Ken Roth, who famously criticized Israel last month for sending the world’s largest medical team, 30 percent of all foreign medical personnel, to help victims of Nepal’s earthquake. In a world where “human rights activists” slam Israel even for providing humanitarian relief – though Roth has yet to explain how he thinks the world would be better place had Israel failed to do so – it’s clearly not a given to praise it for enabling humanitarian access. So De Maio apologizes for telling the truth. And untold numbers of his less courageous colleagues choose the easier route of not telling it at all.

Palestinian ‘Human Rights’ Groups? Actually, Anything But.

...The underlying principle of human rights is, of course, that they are – as it says on the packaging – universal, applying to every person regardless of gender, color, religion, sexual orientation, wealth, ethnic background, and so forth. Hence, it is actually quite easy to distinguish organizations that are truly interested in promoting the human rights of the Palestinian people from those who merely exploit the halo of the term ‘human rights’ in order to co-opt its associated legitimacy for a political campaign.

Hadar Sela..
Algemeiner Journal..
11 december '13..

The misappropriation of the term ‘human rights’ by political campaigners, and the self-classification of various, often opaquely-funded anti-Israel groups as ‘human rights’ organizations, has not abated since the infamous events that overshadowed the Durban I UN conference more than twelve years ago.

The underlying principle of human rights is, of course, that they are – as it says on the packaging – universal, applying to every person regardless of gender, color, religion, sexual orientation, wealth, ethnic background, and so forth. Hence, it is actually quite easy to distinguish organizations that are truly interested in promoting the human rights of the Palestinian people from those who merely exploit the halo of the term ‘human rights’ in order to co-opt its associated legitimacy for a political campaign.

One simple litmus test for ‘pro-Palestinian’ organizations is the examination of their activity in the field of women’s rights. Do they speak out on subjects such as enforced dress codes and ‘modesty’ patrols, inheritance and child custody laws, domestic violence, and lenient sentences for so-called ‘honor’ killings? Do they promote women’s education and financial independence? Or do they – as is now sadly so often the case in the ‘liberal’ West – regard issues such as polygamy, gender segregation, forced marriage, and female genital mutilation as part of the untouchable ‘culture’ of a patriarchal society that their own cultural relativism prevents them from criticizing?

Evidently the thousands of dead Syrians mean little to the UN, the EU, the BDS people

...Where are the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) activists and supporters whose fixation at harming Israel and threatening performers who want to appear in Israel blinds them to all situations of utter and genuine cruelty and lawlessness in the world?

Amb. Alan Baker..
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs..
01 September '13..

It is questionable whether or not the U.S. and the international community will ultimately punish Syria for the indiscriminate and criminal use of chemical weapons against its own civilian population.

Whatever they decide to do, one striking fact nevertheless stands out. Over one thousand innocent civilians were cruelly murdered in Syria in one fell swoop on August 21, 2013. Thousands more were seriously wounded. Thousands of families have been destroyed and doomed, to the end of their days, to pain, suffering, and misery by one criminal decision so glibly and easily taken, to use poison gas against civilians.

Thousands more civilians have been systematically and indiscriminately killed over the past two years in the unending hostilities between the Syrian regime and its opposition from within.

Faced with all this, one may ask where are the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly? Where is the European Union? Where is the UN Human Rights Council?

Where are they all, together with the myriad non-governmental organizations that are so quick and eager to condemn any and every action by Israel to defend itself against Palestinian terror, and any and every plan or decision regarding Israel’s settlement policy?

Where are the EU sanctions and labeling policies that the EU’s Catherine Ashton and her European colleagues so enthusiastically and consistently impose on Israel and its products and institutions in the territories?

Where are the UN General Assembly Emergency and Regular Session resolutions that are so easily and automatically adopted year in, year out, to condemn Israel for anything and everything?

How much suffering does it take where there's no anti-Israel angle?

“PA president Mahmoud Abbas is too busy touring the world and fighting with his just-resigned prime minister, Salam Fayyad. The Hamas government is too busy inciting Palestinians and preparing for the next wave of terror attacks against Israel,” Abu Toameh notes. “Construction in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank is more urgent than the lives of thousands of Palestinians in Syria.”

David M. Weinberg..
A Citadel Defending Zion..
14 May '13..

The fighting in Syria once again proves the sad old adage that human rights organizations and their advocates in the mainstream Western media are essentially anti-Israel. There is no other way to explain the fact that all these high-and-mighty moralizers are ignoring the frightening plight of Palestinians and Christians in the Syrian civil war.

You see, there is no anti-Israel angle to the story of Palestinian or Christian suffering in Syria. That suffering can’t really be blamed on the Jews. So nobody cares.

The United Nations Work and Relief Agency (UNRWA) reports that approximately 235,000 Palestinians have been displaced inside Syria since the beginning of the conflict two years ago. Just two weeks ago, some 6,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes in Ein al-Tal, a refugee camp near Aleppo in northern Syria.

In addition, more than 55,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee Syria to Lebanon and Jordan over the past two years. In Lebanon, the Palestinian refugees join more than 500,000 other Palestinians who live in refugee camps and are subject to apartheid laws that deny them work, social and health benefits, and freedom of movement.

But of course, there has been no international uproar about this.

Now imagine if ten squatting Palestinian families were forced to move two kilometers out of an IDF firing zone in the southern Hebron hills. There would be UN investigations, international tribunals, condemnations from Western capitals, and much handwringing and moralizing by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and more.

Actually, this happened.

According to the brave Palestinian-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, more than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed in Syria, most in recent months, by both the rebels and the Syrian army.

But of course, you wouldn’t know about this from the Western press.

Mitigating terror attacks - Amnesty International's latest contribution to "Human "Rights"

Elder of Ziyon..
03 April '13..





From Amnesty:

The Israeli authorities must immediately remove a new outpost set up yesterday by Israeli settlers in the Nablus district of the occupied West Bank, Amnesty International said today.

The new outpost was set up following the killing of Evyatar Borovsky, a resident of the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, on Tuesday.

Borovsky, a civilian who was carrying a gun at the time of the attack, was stabbed and killed by a Palestinian man who was wounded and later arrested by Israeli forces.

By any definition, the murder of Evyatar Borovsky was a terror attack.

But look how Amnesty tries to mitigate it:

 - It was a "killing," not a murder

 - He lived in an "illegal settlement" - implying that he was somehow more deserving of death than someone else

 - He was "carrying a gun" - implying that he was a violent person, also more deserving of death than someone else

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook.

.

Ignoring real apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing but obsessed with Israel

Kasim Hafeez..
Israel Opinion/Ynet..
20 February '13..

Genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid; if you've ever had the pleasure of speaking with some of the more zealous haters of Israel you'll hear these phrases at some point, normally yelled at you by a delightful middle class keffiyeh-wearing student.

I guess to some extent, sadly, we have become slightly accustomed to these libels. The hypocrisy of those claiming to be pro-Palestinian and champions of human rights and their obsessive hatred of Israel has led to the abandonment of those who suffer true apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Detractors will undoubtedly be quick to ask why supporters of Israel point to other regimes to exonerate Israel. But this is not really what I'm doing. Israel needs no exoneration as, fortunately, Israelis are able to protest, challenge and choose their governments. That's democracy folks. But, just for the sake of argument, let us say all the malicious lies have some truth to them. Still the question remains: Why is Israel singled out for protests and global marches lauded by the 'enlightened' regimes in Tehran and Damascus, yet some of the world's human rights catastrophes carry on daily, completely ignored, by the same holier than thou activists?

For me, a particular source of pain and anger is the situation of minorities and women in my parents' homeland. In Pakistan, not a week goes by without a story of rape, murder, humiliation and torture. In this Islamic country, terms such as Jesus Christ are banned in text messages and a young girl is shot for demanding basic education. Yet apart from the attempted murder of Malala Yusufzai, these stories rarely make it to the press. The brutally oppressed Christian minority suffers at the hands of an archaic blasphemy law, yet, apart from small-scale protests held by Pakistani Christian groups, there were no calls to boycott Pakistan and no flotillas were planned. I guess murdered Pakistani Christians maybe not a trendy enough cause. I wonder if a British newspaper would publish a cartoon of a Pakistani mullah murdering minorities to pave the way for a Sharia state. Our journalists love freedom and liberty, but the love their lives a little bit more.

When My Country is Under Attack Do You Care?

Arsen Ostrovsky..
Huffington Post..
24 October '12..

I'm angry.

You see, as most Americans were waking up this morning, and those in Europe and elsewhere around the world were going about their daily routines, here in Israel -- over one million people were running for cover from a hail of rockets being rained down by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza. In the space of 24 hours, since Tuesday evening, 80 rockets have been fired on southern Israel. That's more than three rockets per hour. By the time I finish this article, odds are that count will have risen to 85 rockets.

Just to put things in context: one million Israelis is roughly 13 per cent of the population. Thirteen per cent of the U.S. population equates to about 40 million people.

A dozen Israelis have already been injured, with several of them seriously. The only reason more have not been hurt is because Israel has invested millions of dollars in bomb shelters and the Iron Dome defense system, while Hamas has invested millions of dollars in foreign aid in more rockets.

But here is why I'm angry.

I'm angry that in 2012, over 600 rockets have already been fired from Gaza with no end in sight. I'm angry that the world only notices when Israel undertakes its (sovereign) right to defend its citizens. Can you imagine if even one rocket was fired on Washington, London, Paris or Moscow? No nation on earth can, or should, tolerate such attacks on its people.

I'm angry that while the United Nations never hesitates to call a 'special emergency session' on the 'Question of Palestine' or pass the umpteenth resolution blindly condemning Israel, that I am still waiting for a session on the 'Question of Israel' and Palestinian terror. In fact, 24 hours after the rocket attacks started, I am still waiting for even one syllable of condemnation from the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly or Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

UN Watch - Gaza Activist Stabbed After Exposing Hamas Use of Human Shields

U.N. Must Condemn Latest Hamas Brutality

Mahmud Abu Rahma

UN Watch Briefing
Vol. 340
Jan. 17, 2012

GENEVA, Jan. 17 - The stabbing in Gaza of a Palestinian rights activist after he exposed Hamas' contempt for its own people by using them as human shields, and after he criticized the radical Islamic group for torture, abuse and trampling free speech, should be strongly condemned by the United Nations—both as an attack on the victim’s human rights, and on the idea of freedom of expression.

Masked attackers on Friday stabbed Mahmud Abu Rahma multiple times in the back, leg and shoulders, it was revealed today.

This latest attack on a rights activist underscores Gaza's brutally enforced intolerance for any discourse other the anti-Israel mantras of Hamas, which rules the area with an iron fist.

The attack only proves the simple truth of the victim's words.

Abu Rahma's crime was publishing an article in the Palestinian press that dared to criticize Hamas' "outrageous attack upon free expression and peaceful assembly" over the past year, and the "hundreds of cases of torture and abuse."

Abu Rahma also dared to publish basic facts about Gaza that completely contradict the Hamas narrative, and that of the UN's Goldstone Report, which repeatedly found "no evidence" that Hamas used civilians as human shields.

What is remarkable is that with all of the massive UN resources ostensibly dedicated to protecting Palestinians—the 16-member Division for Palestinian Rights, the 20-odd resolutions on Palestinians last year by the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council's special agenda item on Palestinians at every session, resolutions on Palestinians by UNESCO, the WHO and numerous other agencies, the full-time post of "Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Palestine" held by Richard Falk—still, with all that and more, the world body somehow managed to turn a blind eye to the massive violations of Palestinian rights described by Abu Rahma (click here for source):

Bernstein - Why do human rights groups ignore Palestinians’ war of words?

Robert L. Bernstein
Washington Post
Opinion
28 September '11

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-do-human-rights-groups-ignore-palestinians-war-of-words/2011/09/26/gIQAWU5y2K_story.html?wprss=rss_opinions

Two dominant forces have defined Arab nations in modern times: autocratic leadership that has denied basic freedoms to its own people, and a deeply ingrained and institutionalized anti-Semitism, centered on a hatred of Israel. Freedom is a growing possibility in light of the Arab Spring, but for this freedom to lead to peace, progress must be made in ending hate speech and incitement to genocide. This is particularly true in Gaza, the West Bank, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran. Yet at this moment of possibility, the United Nations is fueling discord and anti-Semitism.

The United Nations is doing this by granting legitimacy to Hamas, a terrorist Islamic group, and the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas. A vote to add to the United Nations a new member state that calls for the elimination of its neighbor and glorifies terrorism will make peace harder — not easier — to achieve. While Hamas’s calls for genocide most certainly should be condemned, those who would accept the position Abbas has taken, even as recently as Friday, when he submitted to the United Nations an application for statehood, should be aware of the work of Palestinian Media Watch. The group, an Israeli research institute focused on monitoring the messages of all aspects of Palestinian media, has detailed some of the deception of the Palestinian Authority, even during moments of peace talks. For example, while portraying himself to the West as a man of compromise, Abbas said flatly last October that “we refuse to recognize a Jewish state.”

Most shockingly, human rights groups have become the unwitting accomplices of the United Nations as almost every mainstream human rights group has ignored hate speech and incitement to genocide, not only against Israel but against all Jews. The call to genocide has been accompanied by a sophisticated arms buildup along Israel’s Lebanon border over the past five years, defying Security Council Resolution 1701, which called in 2006 for an end to hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. Even after the 2009 war in Gaza, particularly since the Arab Spring has opened up the Sinai, thousands more rockets continue to pour into Gaza, circumventing the Israeli blockade.

Human Rights Watch, which I founded 33 years ago, continues to attack many of Israel’s defensive measures during war, yet it says nothing about hate speech and incitement to genocide. To cite just one example, the speaker of the Hamas parliament, Ahmad Bahr, called in April 2007 for the murder of Jews, “down to the very last one.” Imagine what leading human rights groups would say if this same speech and incitement were coming from Israel, aimed at the Palestinians.

Gordon - The Hypocrisy of “Humanitarian Activists”

Evelyn Gordon
Commentary/Contentins
14 September '11



http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/09/14/aid-flotilla-gaza-syria/#more-767909

It’s now been two months since the UN officially declared a famine in Somalia; last week, it said the famine had spread to a sixth region of the country, and without aid, as many as 750,000 people are facing “imminent” death. Strangely, there have been no reports of humanitarian aid flotillas mobilizing to answer the call. Yet just two months ago, 10 boats from all over the world mobilized to try to relieve the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, where the UN has never declared a famine or warned that anyone risks dying of hunger; indeed, on key measures of humanitarian wellbeing like life expectancy and infant mortality, Gazans surpass even some OECD countries, not to mention much of the developing world.

It’s also now been one week since Syria’s opposition begged human rights activists to come to the country to monitor the government’s attacks on civilians, and thereby hopefully deter them. In Syria, unlike in Gaza, soldiers slaughter civilians on a daily basis; this week, the UN estimated that some 2,600 Syrian civilians have been killed since March. During this same period, Israeli forces killed 72 Gazans, according to B’Tselem; of these, 28 were civilians. In short, Syria’s civilian death toll is almost 100 times higher. But there have been no reports of any humanitarian flotillas organizing to help Syria either.

If anyone needed proof that “humanitarian concerns” are not what motivate the Gaza flotillas, this ought to provide it. But it also attests to something else: the relative safety of the ventures in question.