Israellycool

UNRWA have sprung into action, calling for an investigation into the death of one of their palestinian teachers.

No, not that one.

A United Nations agency called on Israel on Sunday to investigate the death of a Palestinian teacher employed by the agency who was killed in her home during an Israeli raid last week in the Gaza Strip.

“We’re calling on the Israelis for an impartial investigation,” said Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), for which Wafa al-Daghma worked as a teacher at an elementary school for refugee children.

‘We want to see accountability’

A spokesman for the Israeli armed forces said they were looking into the matter. Dozens of civilians have been killed in Gaza this year in air and ground attacks that Israel says are directed against militants who fire rockets into its territory.

Immediately after the violence near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the army said troops attacked militants. Islamic Jihad said one of its fighters was killed and six were wounded in an Israeli air strike in the area.

Palestinian medics and relatives at Abassan, a village east of Khan Younis, said Daghma, 32, was at home with three of her children when Israeli troops with tanks approached.

Gunness said inquiries by UNRWA suggested Daghma was killed when troops blasted open the door of her home in order to take the building as an observation post.

Meanwhile, it begs to be asked why haven’t we heard any more about UNRWA’s promised investigation into their terrorist teacher?

It would seem that the UN does not just employ people who are either friendly with terrorists or sh*t-scared of them. They also employ the terrorists themselves.

One person was killed and three were wounded Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a metal shop in Rafah, according to Palestinian security and medical sources.

Israel Defense Forces confirmed the airstrike.

The person killed was the deputy commander of the Islamic Jihad military wing, according to the Palestinian sources, who said he also served as a school headmaster at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school.

What’s the bet they’re using PA textbooks at that school?

And what’s UNRWA’s response to this?

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunnes said he could not immediately confirm that the person was employed by the United Nations, and added that staff members who bring politics into U.N. institutions are fired immediately for violating staff rules.

Because we all know the politics is the problem here, and not the fact he was a freakin’ terrorist.

It looks like I owe UNIFIL a big apology.

I have long maintained that UNIFIL troops stationed in south Lebanon pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1701 don’t do much more than sit on their bums.

Well, I am man enough to admit I was wrong.

It seems they also do quite a bit of running.

Hizbullah gunmen chased away UNIFIL inspectors in south Lebanon who identified a truck carrying arms belonging to the guerrilla group, a report published twice a year by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon revealed Tuesday.

The incident was the first time UNIFIL troops confirmed the presence of Hizbullah gunmen south of the Litani River, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Channel 1 reported.

The resolution, which enforced the ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah after the Second Lebanon War, calls on the terror group to disarm and also forbids its members from operating south of the river in the southeastern part of Lebanon.

Israel has claimed on more than one occasion that Hizbullah was not abiding by their end of the deal.

The incident, on the night between March 30 and March 31, is cited in the report in reference to a different resolution - UNSC Resolution 1559, which calls on all Lebanese militias to disarm.

Sources in Jerusalem said the incident was a source of great embarrassment for UNIFIL. The troops trailed the truck and stopped it, but when the troops approached the truck, armed Hizbullah members jumped out and threatened to hurt them if they would not leave the area. The source said UNIFIL’s men turned back and left the scene.

This serious disregard of UN resolutions is reason for much disconcert, the report claimed. The incident was not previously published and similar incidents were not recorded.

Will someone please enlighten me as to what exactly UNIFIL are doing in southern Lebanon?

Hizbullah has raised its alertness in southern Lebanon to a “high level” following Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s threat to avenge Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh’s assassination on Tuesday, which Nasrallah claimed Israel was responsible for.

According to the Lebanese newspaper, A-Saphir, Hizbullah has positioned roughly 50,000 “fighters” along the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Oh wait, never mind. I think I know the answer.

UNIFIL has reported to the UN of Israeli violations of the Lebanese territories, and has also sent a letter to Israel denouncing those violations, Lebanese newspaper the Daily Star reported Saturday.

According to the report, UNIFIL commander, Major General Claudio Graziano, said on Friday following a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, that his organization sent the UN a report outlining Israeli violations of Lebanese territories and airspace.

“UNIFIL has also sent a strong-worded letter to Israel denouncing violations,” Graziano told Siniora, according to the Daily Star.

“We discussed the situation in South Lebanon, in addition to bilateral ties with the Lebanese Army, and we informed the premier that everything was under control in the southern region,” the paper quoted Graziano as saying.

I feel so much safer now.

During the discussion around yesterday’s routine UNHRC one-sided condemnation of Israel came this exchange, which pretty much says it all about how serious one should take that august institution:

HILLEL NEUER, of United Nations Watch , said that the proposed draft resolution constituted a case of psychological projection. It was Hamas which deliberately fired rockets into Israel. They were the ones rejecting the very notion of distinction between combatants and civilians. Israel did the opposite by protecting its citizens. It should also be considered who had initiated this session. They included the lowest possible rated States in the annual world survey released by Freedom House. Were these the arbiters of human rights in the world today?

JUAN ANTONIO FERNANDEZ PALACIOS ( Cuba ), speaking in a right of reply in response to the statement of United Nations Watch, said the organization was a lucrative organization amply funded by the CIA and Mossad aimed to degenerate certain States on the Council. There was nothing more barbaric than the occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

When one cannot tell the difference between websites written by loony conspiracy theorists and official UN delegates, perhaps it is time to rethink the legitimacy of the latter.

Comedy gold from the UN, with the Security Council issuing a “harsh” condemnation in the wake of Tuesday’s Katusha rocket attack on Israel, while praising the Government of Lebanon.

The UN Security Council, headed by its new Libyan president Giadalla A. Ettalhi, issued a harsh condemnation of the Katyusha rocket attack on northern Israel last Tuesday.

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In the statement, the Security Council mentions the strong complaint filed by Israel, in which the country said the rocket fire constituted a violation of Resolution 1701.

The Security Council condemned the rocket launching at Israel, as well as any violation of Resolution 1701. The statement also censured the attack on UNIFIL forces on the same day, in which two Irish soldiers were wounded.

The Council further commended “the determination and commitment of the government of Lebanon to bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack.”

Now that’s funny.

But the real comedic moment is this one:

Libya’s efforts to curb such a statement, claiming that the Security Council should instead denounce Israel’s sorties over Lebanon, were rejected, and Ettalhi was forced to read out the statement himself.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

Update: On second thoughts, no need. I’ve found the footage here (requires Real Player).

You can tell he’s hating every second of it.

Excellent.

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the UN vote for Resolution 181, which recommended an end to the British Mandate in Palestine and a partition plan that called for the creation of two states - one Jewish and one Arab. And as usual, the UN General Assembly conducted a discussion marking the anniversary. Well, actually, an annual discussion under the title “the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,” which constitutes nothing more than yet another opportunity to bash and demonize Israel.

The man I believe to be Israel’s best public speaker, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman, once again delivered a fantastic speech to the General Assembly, in which he claimed back this day as the anniversary of the day there could have been a palestinian state, had the Arabs not been bent on destroying the Jewish one.

There are just so many pearls in this speech that I am reproducing the entire thing, with my favorite quotes highlighted in red.

You can also view the speech here (it starts at 1 hr 35 mins and lasts approximately 16 minutes)

Happy Birthday, Mr. President.

I know these words evoke a different voice and a different precedent. But with all seriousness, Happy Birthday. On this day, 60 years ago, the Jewish State was born out of the historic 1947 General Assembly session, where two extraordinary gifts were given to humanity: the gift of a modern state for the Jewish people and the gift of Israel to the world.

I have just come from a commemorative ceremony at Lake Success, where that United Nations, met 60 years ago. You see, throughout history, nations traditionally have been created through war and conquest. Israel, however, was created by UN decree and by the nations of the world. To be there today – representing my Government and my People – was indeed a joyous occasion. So, I wish you all, a Happy Birthday.

Mr. President,

Late last night, I returned from Annapolis. It was a memorable occasion, with representatives from over 40 nations – chiefly among them moderate states of the Arab and Muslim world – committed to supporting the bilateral process between Israel and the Palestinians. The air in Annapolis was filled with the hope that by working together we can realize a peaceful and better tomorrow. I have no doubt that this sense of optimism was felt by all those in attendance.

Yet, back here in New York, standing before this august Assembly – in a place so distant from Annapolis in body, mind, and soul – I cannot help but wonder whether today’s debate will contribute to the spirit, promise, and hope of Annapolis.

After all, this Assembly hall is also the birthplace of the annual 21 resolutions defaming Israel – with a litany of predetermined, impractical, and completely biased conclusions – that have only given the Palestinians a fictitious sense of reality and a discourse of rights without responsibilities, both of which render the United Nations completely incapable of playing a meaningful role in addressing the conflict.

Today – 29 of November – is perhaps the greatest example of how this Assembly continues to stifle hope and faith for peace in our region. According to the calendar of the United Nations, today is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which by definition precludes Israel.

Let me be clear: Palestinian self-determination is a cause Israel wholeheartedly supports. Indeed, at the Annapolis meeting, just two days ago, my Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Olmert said “we will find the right way, as part of an international effort in which we will participate, to assist these Palestinians in finding a proper framework for their future, in the Palestinian state which will be established in the territories agreed upon between us”.

Over the years, however, the proceedings held in this Hall and at UN centers around the world have corrupted the cause of Palestinian self-determination and transformed it into a denigration and defamation of the Jewish state.

I have been listening carefully to the statements delivered this afternoon. They all focused on Israel, and I know many will focus on Israel later.

The narrative is the same: it is unjust, draining, grossly erroneous, misleading, and – I dare say – viciously boring. It is sadly, yet again, déjà vu, all over again.

The penchant for blaming Israel for the repeated Palestinian failures is so widespread and contagious that the absurdity of it goes completely unnoticed. And today reminds us why: the Palestinian addiction to the culture of victimhood is fed by this world body and specifically many of its Member States – as we just witnessed – who day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, use this international forum for their rhetorical theatrics. Broadway might have been on strike, but the theater on the East River is always open for business.

It is time to close the gap between the reality on the ground and the rhetoric in this Hall now, forever, once and for all.

For us – for Jews and for Israelis – today is not a bitter day at all. We are not downtrodden or haunted by vanquished dreams. Today is a day of great victory and success – victory over oppression and tyranny, and success over the painful tragedies and suffering of Jewish history. Today, we celebrate the resilience of the Jewish people and our eternal bond to the land of Israel, where after so many years of yearning and longing in exile we merited the return to our homeland.

The joy felt on 29 November 1947 is recounted by Amos Oz, one of Israel’s most celebrated writers, and a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature:

“There was dancing and weeping … Bottles of fruit drink, beer and wine passed from hand to hand and mouth to mouth, strangers hugged each other in streets and kissed each other with tears, … frenzied revelers … waved the flag of the state that had not been established yet, but tonight, over there in Lake Success, it had been decided that it had the right to be established”.

Travel to any city in Israel, and you will no doubt find a street named for this very day – כ”ט בנובמבר – the 29th of November – a testament to its importance and significance to our people.

In fact, I live in Tel-Aviv, just yards from a street named after the 29th of November, and my eldest grandson, Ron, as born on this very day nine years ago. It is on his behalf and on behalf of all children of Israel and the children of the region that I stand before you here today.

Distinguished Excellencies, think of the past 60 years, and consider Israel’s many contributions to the world in the fields of science and technology, medicine, art, and culture. A country that has discovered ways to stop deserts from receding; a country that has engineered critical advancements in medicine, cures for illnesses and limbs for the disabled; a country that has endowed the world with rich treasures of art and culture, through its Nobel Laureates, poets, artists, and writers.

Think about where the world would be today without the State of Israel – and I know some in this Hall perversely dream about such a question. But Israel is here to stay, to flourish, and to continue contributing to the advancement of man, progress, and human civilization.

It is then the greatest insult to us, to history, and to this Assembly that while Israel celebrates, others at the United Nations mourn.

Some Member States will note my delegation’s absence from past 29th of November proceedings. We stopped addressing this session because some Member States hijacked and abused the forum for their own political interests and turned it into yet another venue to demonize Israel. We cannot allow that to happen any longer. Today is our day.

It is high time for Israel and for all those committed to peace in our region, to reclaim this day for what it truly means: the peaceful coexistence of two independent states in the region, a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, living side-by-side in peace and security, each fulfilling the national aspirations of its respective people.

Mr. President,

In this regard, it is all the more bewildering that of late the Jewish character of the State of Israel has been called into question. Last week, as Israelis and Palestinians set out for Annapolis, a veteran Palestinian negotiator said “the Palestinians will never acknowledge Israel’s Jewish identity”.

The resolution that gives the 29th of November significance – General Assembly resolution 181 – speaks of the creation of the “Jewish State” no less than 25 times. Even before that, the notion of a Jewish state in the land of Israel was cemented in the 1922 League of Nations British Mandate on Palestine, which put into effect the Balfour Declaration of 1917 to establish a national home for the Jewish people.

The Arab refusal to recognize the existence of our Jewish state has been at the core of the Palestinians’ inability to achieve a state of their own. When the Jews accepted the UN partition plan, the Arabs made a fateful – and indeed fatal – choice to reject it and invade the newly borne Jewish state, rather than coexist with it.

Had the Arabs accepted the UN’s decision, there would have been two states, one Jewish and one Arab, all this time, for the past 60 years. Had the Arabs not rejected the decision, my Palestinian colleague who spoke earlier would have represented a Member State, not just as an Observer entity.

The wrong choices did not end in 1947. We saw them again in 1967, 1973, 2000, and 2005, when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip only to have the Palestinians bring the Hamas terrorists to power. The wrong choices of the Palestinians continue until this very day, when, on average, Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip fire rockets at Israel every three hours.

For their brutal violence, arrogance, and intransigence, Israel has paid an enormous price: with the lives of our people – the Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism: men, women, and children, young and old, doctors and lawyers, artists and scientists, all who would have contributed so greatly to life in Israel and to the betterment of the entire world.

The terrorism we still see today stems from an innate refusal to recognize Israel, a refusal to recognize the Jewish state, and a refusal to recognize the value of our lives. So long as there is a denial of the existential issues, I fear, there can never be an agreement on the territorial ones.

Mr. President,

Annapolis – I hope and believe – represents a new wind of change. Moderate Arab and Muslim states today recognize that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the cause of instability in our region and that the conflict can and will end. They also recognize that the real dangers come directly from Islamic extremism and its champion Iran, who sponsors terrorism around the globe, tries to attain nuclear weapons, denies the Holocaust while preparing for the next one, relentlessly defying the will of the international community.

The Coalition for Peace, which the world saw assembled in Annapolis just two days ago, will support the process between Israel and the Palestinians. But it is also a coalition that will hopefully counter and confront the extremists in Teheran.

I hope that the winds of Annapolis will blow to the north, to this very Hall. For there could be no better time for the nations of the world – and in particular the moderate Arab and Muslim states in this Hall today – to show their commitment to the Israeli-Palestinian process. And there could be no better place than here at the United Nations –where for decades Israel has been discriminated against and singled out, contrary to the fundamental principles of the UN Charter – for Members States to tell Israel and the Palestinians that they support our dialogue.

Mr. President,

Allow me to take you back once more to sixty years ago, to 2 October 1947, when David Ben-Gurion, founding father and first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, two months prior to the General Assembly’s historic vote, said in Jerusalem:

“We will not surrender our right to free Aliyah, to rebuild our shattered Homeland, to claim statehood. If we are attacked, we will fight back. But we will do everything in our power to maintain peace, and establish cooperation gainful to both. It is now, here and now, from Jerusalem itself, that a call must go out to the Arab nations to join forces with Jewry and the destined Jewish State and work shoulder to shoulder for the common good, for the peace and progress of sovereign equals”.

Mr. President, sixty years later, today here, Israel’s message to the Arab nations and the Palestinians has not changed. Shoulder to shoulder for the common good. Now, more than ever, with the winds of change blowing strong from Annapolis, to New York, to the Middle East, to all corners of the earth.

Thank You.

Meanwhile, Hamas could not better illustrate Ambassador Gillerman’s point - they are calling on the UN to rescind the 1947 decision to partition Palestine into two states, one for Jews and one for Arabs.

The group said in a statement, released on the 60th anniversary of the UN vote, that “Palestine is Arab Islamic land, from the river to the sea, including Jerusalem… there is no room in it for the Jews.”

Regarding the partition decision, Hamas said that “correcting mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of, but prolonging it is exploitation.”

I just love this headline: Israel fears UNIFIL’s power might shrink

Because G-d knows how more ineffectual they could be with a smaller force.

But let’s be honest here. The problem is the not with the size of the UNIFIL force. It’s the relatively small amount of daylight hours.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman has ripped the UN Human Rights Council a new one, further justifying his place in my list of all time favorite Israeli spokespeople.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman on Tuesday slammed the UN Human Rights Council, saying that its “ritualistic and virulent campaign against Israel is abhorrent and intolerable.

Don’t hold back, big guy.

“Equally troubling is the Council’s resulting disregard for serious human rights violations in many other parts of the world, including among its own members,” Gillerman added in his speech.

The Israeli ambassador accused the council of having a specific section in its guidelines meant to examine “the state of human rights in Palestine and the other occupied Arab territories”.

Israel contends that the wording of the guidelines completely excludes any deliberation on grave human rights violation in other countries around the world.

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Gillerman accused the Commission on Human Rights of “moral bankruptcy”. He noted that “after all, the Council’s membership includes some countries whose own records on human rights fall markedly below the standards of the international community, and who cannot genuinely serve as a beacon for human rights when their respective performances are so dismal and poor.

“According to Freedom House, more than half of the Council’s 47 members are considered ‘not-free’ or only ‘partially free’ countries. More importantly and most flagrantly, many of these same countries share a political agenda that precludes the State of Israel, and utterly dismiss our inherent right to live in peace and security in our homeland.”

The Israeli ambassador noted that the Human Rights Council report had eliminated violations by countries like Cuba and Belarus.

“Countless others suffering around the globe, living under tyrannical rule and oppression and violated by human rights abusers, do not gain this Council’s attention.

“My delegation does not ask for special treatment. Israel, like any other country in this hall, should be subject to review and constructive criticism on a fair and impartial basis,” Gillerman said.

But as the famous Jack Nicholson character Nathan R. Jessep said “UN can’t handle the truth!”

Gillerman’s speech at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York was cut short, after the building’s emergency alarm sounded. All those present in the Assembly hall were asked to vacate the premises immediately, and were escorted to the building’s security shelters. The cause of the alarm has yet to be determined.

U-huh. “Technical difficulties” again.

In any event, I promise to post the YouTube video of this speech if and when it becomes available.

This is the joke of the day.

Despite its numerous calls for Israel’s destruction, and repeated denials of the Holocaust, Iran has been selected by the United Nations for a leading position in a committee that will plan the 2009 UN World Conference against Racism.

Fancy that….a story involving the words “Islamic States”, “head”, and “body”, which does not also include the words “severed” and “infidel.”

Other than that, there are no surprises here.

Islamic States Chide UN Head for Criticizing Human Rights Body

After ensuring that the U.N. Human Rights Council, in its first year of operation, produced numerous resolutions condemning Israel, the Islamic bloc on Wednesday criticized U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon for highlighting that fact.

At a meeting of the Geneva-based HRC, the representative of Pakistan — speaking on behalf of the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) — reportedly scolded Ban for his comments last month chiding the council for singling out Israel.

The Pakistani delegate was quoted as saying the HRC would have to “streamline its relationship” with the secretary-general.

Last month, Ban’s spokesman said in a statement that Ban was “disappointed at the council’s decision to single out only one specific regional item, given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world.”

Although the statement did not name the “regional item” concerned, the HRC has since its formation a year ago censured Israel 11 times — and no other country.

The spokesman added, “As regards the removal of mandates relating to two member states, [Ban] wishes to emphasize the need to consider all situations of possible human rights violations equally.”

The remark was a reference to a decision by the HRC to stop reporting on alleged human rights violations in Cuba and Belarus.

U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, decried the Pakistani envoy’s remarks Wednesday.

“We’re witnessing a dangerous attempt to censor the highest official of the United Nations, an effort to silence anyone who exposes the council’s repeated breaches of its own principles of equality, universality, and non-selectivity,” said the group’s executive director, Hillel Neuer.

Canada’s representative to the HRC was quoted as defending Ban during Wednesday’s meeting.

“We have to acknowledge that the secretary-general is entitled to his views, and it would ill behoove this council to appear to be constraining or discouraging the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression, a fundamental freedom we are committed to uphold,” he said.

The 47-seat council was established to replace the erstwhile Commission on Human Rights, which became a laughing stock after regimes accused of egregious rights abuses sought membership and used their positions to block scrutiny, while focusing disproportionately on their foes, notably Israel.

The new human rights apparatus was meant to be a crowning achievement of former secretary-general Kofi Annan’s effort to reform the world body, but Annan himself, a month before leaving office, criticized the council for focusing too much on the Arab-Israeli conflict while ignoring the atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region.

In line with a negotiated membership formula, the African and Asian regional groups hold 26 of the HRC’s 47 seats. And since OIC member states hold a majority in both of those regional groups, the Islamic bloc and its allies effectively dominate the council.

To those of you who feel I may have been unfairly singling out Spanish UNIFIL troops in my previous post, here’s some Italian troops being equally “useful.”