The whole 20 minute drone can be found here, but I’ve snipped out the end where he starts railing against the US for being pissed off that China and Russia vetoed the condemnation of Syria and where, of course, he directly compares this to all those times the US has had to veto revolting anti-Israel resolutions.

The UN is over, go read Melanie Phillips.

"When it comes to helmets, I certainly like the color green. But will it protect against shoes and stones?"

Photo by Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images.

Background here.

Significance of a green helmet here.

The UN General Assembly granted a request from North Korea to hold a moment of silence Thursday for Kim Jong-il, the country’s former leader who died Saturday, though Western envoys said they would boycott it.

Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, president of the 193-nation General Assembly, said the moment of silence would take place before a meeting of the assembly Thursday.

North Korea’s UN mission made a similar request to the UN Security Council, though Western diplomats said it was rejected.

“We didn’t think it would be appropriate,” a diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Several Western diplomats said Pyongyang’s request for Kim to be honored was highly unusual. They voiced surprise that Nassir had granted it and added that their delegations would most likely boycott the moment of silence in the assembly.

Speaking at a news conference, Nassir cited “protocol” as the reason for agreeing to the request from North Korea, a full UN member.

The sure-fire way to ensure there is no silence for this evil deceased dictator: have someone suggest the time be used instead to condemn Israel.

Statement by

Ambassador Ron Prosor, Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN

29 November 2011

Mr. President,

A great Jewish sage once wrote, “The truth can hurt like a thorn, at first; but in the end it blossoms like a rose.”
His words came to my mind today. His insight could really benefit many in this hall.

It takes a well of truth to water the seeds of peace. Yet, we continue to witness a drought of candor in this body’s discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. On this historic day, real facts in the General Assembly remain few and far between.

For any who have been here on November 29th before, today is déjà vu. Some of you may have noticed that some minor changes have been taking place in the Middle East lately, but any changes in this body’s resolutions condemning Israel are very, very rare.

Indeed, it didn’t take a creative writer to craft the language in these resolutions. The exact same text is copied and pasted, year after year – much of it dating back five decades.

The account we heard today is one-sided. It is unilateral. It is unjust. And it is unhelpful. It presents a distorted and impartial version of history.  It transforms the cause of Palestinian self-determination into a deliberate attempt to denigrate, defame, and delegitimize the State of Israel.

The political dynamics in this body are sadly predictable. Every November, the leaves change color in New York, but the automatic anti-Israel majority never changes its votes.

Each and every responsible member of the international community that affixes its seal of approval on this exact same set of resolutions – which are irrelevant at best, and damaging at worst— should do a little soul searching. Is this the message that you want the General Assembly to send to the world?

Mr. President,

Let me take a moment to remind this Assembly about what actually occurred on this day 64 years ago – and in the days that followed.

On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to partition then British-Mandate Palestine into two states: one Jewish, one Arab. Two states for two peoples.

The Jewish population accepted that plan and declared a new state in its ancient homeland. It reflected the Zionist conviction that it was both necessary and possible to live in peace with our neighbors in the land of our forefathers.

The Arab inhabitants rejected the plan and launched a war of annihilation against the new Jewish state, joined by the armies of five Arab members of the United Nations.

One percent of Israel’s population died during this assault by five armies. Think about that price. It would be the equivalent of 650,000 dying in France today, or 3 million dying in the United States, or 13 million dying in China.

As a result of the war, there were Arabs who became refugees. A similar number of Jews, who lived in Arab countries, were forced to flee their homes as well. They, too, became refugees.

The difference between these two distinct populations was – and still is – that Israel absorbed the refugees into our society. Our neighbors did not.

Refugee camps in Israel gave birth to thriving towns and cities. Refugee camps in Arab Countries gave birth to more Palestinian refugees.

We unlocked our new immigrants’ vast potential. The Arab World knowingly and intentionally kept their Palestinian populations in the second class status of permanent refugees.

In Lebanon for many years and still today, the law prohibits Palestinians from owning land – and from working in the public sector or as doctors and lawyers. Palestinians are banned from these professions.

In Kuwait, the once significant Palestinian population was forcibly expelled from the country in 1991. Few remain.

In Syria, thousands of Palestinians had to flee refugee camps in Latakia last August when President Assad shelled their homes with naval gunboats.

In the vast majority of Arab Countries, Palestinians have no rights of citizenship. It is no coincidence that the Arab World’s responsibilities for the “inalienable rights” of these Palestinians never appear in the resolutions before you.

Mr. President,

The basic question underlying our conflict for 64 years has not changed. That question is: has the Arab World – and particularly the Palestinians – internalized that Israel is here to stay and will remain the Nation-state of the Jewish People?

It is still unclear whether they are inspired by the promise of building a new state, or the goal of destroying an existing one.

Two months ago, President Abbas stood at the podium in this very hall and tried to erase the unbroken and unbreakable connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.

He said the following:

“I come before you today from the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the birthplace of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him).”
This was not an oversight. It was not a slip of the tongue. It was yet another deliberate attempt to deny and erase more than 3,000 years of Jewish history. The Arab leaders from those two nations that sought peace have offered a different message.

For example, in 1995, King Hussein came to the United States and said (quote): “For our part, we shall continue to work for the new dawn when all the Children of Abraham and their descendants are living together in the birthplace of their three great monotheistic religions.”

In 1977, President Sadat came to Israel’s Knesset and quoted this verse from the Koran: “We believe in God and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes and in the books given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets from their lord.”

President Sadat and King Hussein spoke of THREE monotheistic religions, not ONE or TWO.

Mr. President,

The resolution that gives the 29th of November significance – General Assembly resolution 181 – speaks of the creation of a “Jewish State” no less than 25 times. We still do not hear Palestinian leaders utter the term. 
The Palestinian leadership refuses to acknowledge Israel’s character as a Jewish state. You will never hear them say “two states for two peoples”. If you ever hear a Palestinian leader say “two states for two peoples”, please phone me immediately. My office has set up the equivalent of a 9/11 number in the event of such an unprecedented occurrence.

Palestinian leaders call for an independent Palestinian state, but insist that the Palestinian people return to the Jewish state. This is a proposition that no one who believes in the right of Israel to exist could ever accept.
The idea that Israel will be flooded with millions of Palestinians is a non-starter. The international community knows it. The Palestinian leadership knows it. But the Palestinian people aren’t hearing it. At this very moment, the gap between their perception and reality remains the major obstacle to peace.

Let me repeat that: the so-called right of return is and will remain the major obstacle to peace. It is not settlements. It is not the laundry list of baseless accusations launched against Israel in today’s resolutions.
I’ll repeat it again: the so-called right of return is the major obstacle to peace. Everyone knows it.
Yet, all of those who were so vocal today in telling Israel what is has to do for peace – mumbled, stuttered and conveniently lost their voices when it came to telling the Palestinians that the so-called right of return is a non-starter.

For decades, this body has rubberstamped nearly every Palestinian whim, no matter how counter-factual or counter-productive. What has this accomplished? The lip service of this body has only done a disservice for peace.

Mr. President,

True friends of the Palestinians have a responsibility to tell them the truth. 

They will stop promoting the distorted version of history that characterizes this day, and start delivering the real lessons of history that the Palestinian leadership now refuses to heed.

These lessons are clear: bilateral negotiations are the only route to two states, for two peoples – living side-by-side in peace and security; negotiations that resolve the outstanding concerns of both sides.

While bypass maneuvers may work for heart surgery and highway construction, they will not bring peace or security to our region.

Direct negotiations were the way of President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin, the way of Prime Minister Rabin and King Hussein. It has been the framework for advancing peace between Israel and the Palestinians for the past two decades.

Time and again, we have extended our hand in peace to the Palestinians. Prime Minister Netanyahu stood in this very hall last September and declared his commitment to the cause of Palestinian self-determination – and his vision for establishing a Palestinian state, alongside the Jewish State of Israel – two states for two peoples.
Yet, today we wait for the Palestinians to give up the false idol of unilateralism – and get back to the real hard work of direct negotiations.  And – as they continue to run away from the negotiating table, the Palestinian leadership continues to move closer into their embrace of Hamas – an internationally recognized terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

This development brings to my mind Groucho Marx’s famous line: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them … well, I have others.” The Quartet has long applied three principles that Hamas must adopt.  It must renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by prior agreements. At no point has Hamas satisfied these conditions – or indicated any intention to do so.

Those who advocate recognizing a Government that includes Hamas are urging a Groucho-Marxist policy in a complex, unstable region. If Hamas is too extreme to accept these principles, they argue, we must tailor our principles to match Hamas’s extremism.

The bar has been set very low. On these basic requirements for peace, there can be no adjustments. There can be no bargaining. There can be no Holiday Season discounts – in this hall or anywhere else.
Mr. President,

Even more than the words spoken in the speeches here today – or the words in the resolutions before you— it is the words not spoken that speak volumes. This Assembly has made clear that it does not stand in solidarity with many people in our region today.

In this hall, I hear no solidarity with the one million Israeli men, women and children who live under the constant rain rockets, mortars and missiles from the Gaza Strip.

I hear no solidarity with the 16-year old boy who was killed last April when a Hamas anti-Tank Missile struck his school bus. Or the thousands of other Israeli civilians who have been killed and injured.

I hear no solidarity with the Israeli children who learn the alphabet at the same time that they learn the names Kassam, Grad, and Katyusha – the rockets that keep them out of school for weeks at a time.

I hear no solidarity with the Palestinians who are victims of brutal Hamas rule – with the political opponents who are tortured, the women who are subjugated, or the children who are used as suicide bombers and human shields.

And – Mr. President, today I hear no solidarity with the many people in the Middle East who are being repressed and slaughtered every single day for demanding their freedom. From Syria to Iran to Yemen, these people are no longer content with their leader’s explanations that Israel is to blame for all the problems of the Middle East – a fiction that is advanced through resolutions like those before us today.

Today the People of the Middle East demand real answers for their plight.

I also heard no discussion today about the incitement that continues to fill the West Bank and Gaza, where the next generation of Palestinian children is being taught that suicide bombers are heroes, that Jews have no connection to the Holy Land, and that they must seek to annihilate the State of Israel.

From cradles to kindergarten classrooms; from the grounds of summer camps to the stands of football stadiums; from the names of public squares to the public pronouncements of Palestinian leaders, these messages are everywhere.

Just last month, President Abbas declared that the Palestinian Authority would provide a grant of up to $5,000 to every terrorist released in exchange for Gilad Shalit, Israel’s kidnapped soldier.

These are people like Ibrahim Shammasina, who helped to murder four Israelis, including two teenagers. People like Walid Anajas, who planned bombings in the heart of Jerusalem and Rishon Lezion, which killed 32.

People like Wafa-al Bis, who unsuccessfully tried to blow herself up in an Israeli hospital.
Washed in the blood of innocents, these terrorists are being held up as role models for the next generation of Palestinian children.

Palestinian Authority television broadcast President Abbas’ remarks to these released terrorists last October. He said, “You are people of struggle and Jihad fighters for Allah and the homeland… Your sacrifice and your effort and your actions were not in vain.”

Mr. President,

Sustainable peace must take root in homes, schools, and media that teach tolerance and understanding so that it can grow in hearts and minds.

It must come from a Palestinian leadership willing to tell its people about the difficult compromises that they will have to make for statehood.

It will come through the hard work of state-building, not the old habit of state-bashing.

Today none of these truths have been spoken.

Today I hear no solidarity with the principles of peace.

I know that the truth can be a burden. I know that old habits die-hard. I know that the convenience of the moment sometimes weighs heavy on the interests of the future.

Yet, only the truth will set us free. After years of darkness, I call on this Assembly to bring new light to this debate.

I call on each and every delegate in this hall to embrace pragmatic solutions, not automatic resolutions; to speak with candor, and not slander; to grapple for a new vision, and not old divisions.

I call on this Assembly to finally glean truth from this historic day, nourishing the seeds of peace in our region that can blossom into a brighter future. 

Thank you, Mr. President

It would appear that a very large “secret” weapons dump of Hezbollah has gone bang.

Isn’t it comforting that UNIFIL, the UN agency that is supposed to watch out for Israel’s security by preventing Hezbollah from re-arming, “heard about the explosion on the news”.

THE DAILY STAR :: News :: Politics :: Huge blast rocks Hezbollah stronghold in south Lebanon.

SIDDIQIN, Lebanon: A huge explosion shook a Hezbollah stronghold near Siddiqin in the southern coastal city of Tyre overnight, a security source told The Daily Star Wednesday.

The source said the cause of the blast, which was heard shortly before midnight, could not be determined due to the heavy security blanket by Hezbollah.

Lebanese security forces were unable to access the scene of the explosion after the resistance group set up a security perimeter around the blast site, which is located in a valley called Wadi Al-Jabal al-Kabir between Siddiqin and Deir Ames, the source added.

Local media said the explosion likely took place at a Hezbollah arms cache.

“There are no comments so far,” Hezbollah’s office said when contacted by The Daily Star.

As four Israeli warplanes flew over Siddiqin at around 10.00 a.m., patrols by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon were active in the area, where village life has returned to normal. A UNIFIL helicopter could also be seen flying over the village.

A spokesman for U.N. peacekeeping force said UNIFIL had heard about the explosion on the news.

“We have no information at the moment. We are checking this report,” Andrea Tenenti told The Daily Star by telephone.

h/t the sorely missed Challah Hu Akbar

A UN agency has reacted to the release of over a thousand terrorists like the above – by praising it and demanding more concessions!

In reaction to the Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange announced this week, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees on Saturday welcomed the breakthrough and urged Israel to reconsider its blockade of Gaza.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said the deal offered “an ideal opportunity for Israel to conduct a thorough review of the policy of blockading Gaza. It is surely time to think again about policies that have driven the Gaza economy under ground and into tunnels.

“We must all work to create an economic model in Gaza that is based on legality, full employment, prosperity, stability and peace. That is surely what most Israelis and people in Gaza want. A prosperous Gaza, like a prosperous West Bank, is in the interests of all.”

The sad thing is I can’t say something like “Not what you would expect from the UN.” Because it is precisely what I would expect.

The U.N. has placed as many as half a dozen security guards on administrative duty pending an investigation into their involvement in a violent brawl on Friday with the security detail for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, U.N. sources told Turtle Bay.

The melee began after the Turkish prime minister was blocked by U.N. security guards as he sought to walk from a meeting room outside the General Assembly hall to the General Assembly chamber, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was preparing to deliver his historic speech announcing plans to declare its bid for membership in the United Nations as a state.

The brawl, which landed at least one U.N. official in the hospital with badly bruised ribs, involved a misunderstanding over the route Erdogan and his entourage took to reach the General Assembly, officials said. The exit they were trying to proceed through, according to U.N. officials and sources close to the Turkish delegation, didn’t actually lead to the General Assembly. But Erdogan and his security staff insisted on pressing ahead.

It remains unclear exactly what happened next, but a Turkish journalist, Kahraman Haliscelik, of Turkish Radio Television (TRT), said two of his colleagues, who were traveling with the Prime Minister, claimed that U.N.  guards threatened “to stop them with force,” and that the two sides began pushing. “There was some physical contact with the prime minister and so that set off the Turkish security” agents, Haliscelik said.

—-

But the U.N.’s response to the incident has infuriated U.N. rank and file security guards, according to several U.N. sources, who claim that the Turkish security agents have bullied their way around the Turtle Bay headquarters during the General Assembly session.

—-

The email, which was written by the second vice president of the U.N. Staff Union, Timothy J. Kennedy, and obtained by Turtle Bay, said the “entire Security and Safety Service has been dealing with the aggressive nature of the security apparatus of this particular detail all week long. It has shoved many officers, fraudulently utilized ministerial ID’s for access, and assaulted at least one of our officers (previously, as well as today). I have advised our officers who’ve been injured and/or assaulted to make police reports to the 17th [precinct], and have themselves checked at the hospital; as well as take picture of their injuries.”

Sounds to me like the Turkish security have been acting like thugs, and an apology is in order. 

Meanwhile, on a more positive note, Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer club has written the following letter to thank UEFA, the Turkish team they recently played, as well as Turkish authorities.

Getty

Brian of London here. Over at New English Review’s Iconoclast blog, Hugh Fitzgerald picked up my post about Netanyahu’s speech to the UN and ran with it in a direction I wholy agree with. Here’s an extract, but please read the whole thing:

Brian of London has pointed out the most important part of Netanyahu’s speech at the U.N.

It was not all the talk about “peace”

….

No, it was, I repeat,  that mention of  “militant Islam.”

That’s the most important part of his speech. the theme that has now been introduced, been adumbrated in the shadow-war of words that, little by little, will become, not because the Israelis will do it, but because many others will do it, and keep doing it, the major theme of the age, and many will come to understand, if they do not already, that the war against Israel is a classic Jihad, and all this business about the “Palestinian” people merely a useful invention for the propaganda and diplomatic campaign the Arab Muslims have been conducting, with great success, since late 1967. But as the observable behavior of Muslim states into which we have poured hundreds of billions, behavior that we will regard with fury as a blend of treachery and deep ingratitude — think of Pakistan — as the mistreatment of so many different kinds of non-Muslims in so many different lands where Muslims dominate becomes ever more obvious, ever more impossible to hide or explain away (in Nigeria, in the Sudan, in Pakistan, in Bangladesh, in Malaysia, in Indonesia, in Egypt, in Iraq, in this place and in that), and as the disruption, and expense, and daily unpleasantness, that the millions of Muslim migrants, with their aggressive behavior, have brought to the insufficiently vigilant people of Western Europe — all of this will change, is changing, the understanding of the war against Israel.

"Protect me!"

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan a personal apology on Saturday over his assault at the UN building.

Erdogan was assault by a man the Turkish media identified as a member of the UN Guard during Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.

Erdogan’s bodyguards immediately stopped the man and Erdogan himself was unharmed.

“I’m afraid there was an unfortunate incident,” the Turkish prime minister was quoted as saying by Ankara’s daily newspaper Sabah. Erdogan did not elaborate on the incident, saying only that he was kept out of the General Assembly Hall during Abbas’ speech by security guards.

The Turkish media underscored the fact that Ban offered his personal apology to Erdogan for the incident because his assailant was a UN Guard officer.

Minister of Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein, who witnessed the attack, described it as a “very violent incident. Like a scene out of a movie.”

Who does the UN guard think he is? This horse?