[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 8/29 Links Part 2: UN Agencies Prevent Peace in Israel, Ethiopian Wins Israeli Big Brother

From Ian:

---

UN Agencies Prevent Peace in Israel

As Palestinian "refugeeness" above all is synonymous with Palestinian national identity it has been worn as a "badge of honor" and an evergreen reminder of the Nakba – the supposed catastrophe of Israel's birth. In this story the Arabs of Palestinian are blameless and have no responsibility whatsoever for their unfortunate destiny; their own decisions and those of their leaders, go unmentioned.
In fact historically, the Arab world has a significant amount of responsibility for the situation, having encouraged and facilitated the refugees' flight – to a large degree. But in this narrative it is none other than the UN and UNRWA who are the toxic enablers who are now helping fuel this story for generations.Why UNRWA does this is evident: Its continued existence is at jeopardy. It has every reason to entangle itself into Palestinian society and to become more of an obstruction to a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
It is exactly for this very reason that if these renewed talks are going to have any chance of success both Washington and Jerusalem need to learn from past mistakes and leverage the significant amount of dollars we have poured into UNRWA which only perpetuates the problem and look for real solutions starting with ending the right of return.

Elliott Abrams: Mere state-building in Palestine

That is an extraordinary statement, and should not pass without notice. What he derides as "falling back into the comfort of an internationally subsidized state-building effort" is in fact the greatest challenge facing Palestinians now, and one they have not met. Nor have donors -- Arab, American, European -- met the challenge of providing adequate political and financial support for state-building, focusing instead for decades on repeated failed efforts at leaping to final status agreements. Those efforts have produced little for Palestinians, while state-building efforts can offer them pragmatic gains and real improvement in their lives -- and can show Israelis that their security needs can be met in an independent Palestine.
Put another way, Eide continues the failed policy of wanting to create a Palestine whose borders might be known, before we have any idea what will be within those borders: a failed state or a successful economy? A democracy or a terrorist base? This has not worked and will never work. To find that the chairman of the donors' committee now dismisses mere state-building as an activity not worth supporting in its own right suggests that nothing has been learned from the experience of recent decades.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Visits Israel

The Norwegian FM agreed with Elkin that "the fact that a large percentage of the PA budget goes towards the funding of salaries of Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails is problematical."
In response, the Deputy Foreign Minister said, "the educational message is troublesome, especially in the eyes of the young generation that understands that the most worthwhile job in the Palestinian Authority is that of terrorist," continuing that, in comparison, the salary of an employee in the security service is approximately one quarter of that of a terrorist residing in an Israeli prison.

Time for Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) to Change its Name

It is time for some truth in advertising. It's time for Churches for Middle East Peace to change its name.
CMEP, as the organization is often called, does not promote the cause of peace and human rights in the most troubled region on the planet.
It promotes the cause of Palestinian statehood and that's about it.

Abraham Cooper: The absence of outrage

Videos depicting the gruesome death of 1300 men, women and children by poison gas in Syria were posted online. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood torched several scores of churches, some dating back 1500 hundred years, while nuns were paraded in the streets like captured POWs.
Even as President Obama seems to finally doing something to degrade Assad's capabilities, it is hard to say if Americans were shocked more by the twin towers of evil spiraling out of control in the Middle East, or by Lady Gaga's latest outfit.

The World Treats Israel With a Double Standard

And finally, much as some may conveniently choose to forget, the Palestinians are not the first, last, and only refugee population in the history of the world, far from it.
But they are the first, last, and only refugee population deliberately kept in limbo for as long as 65 years in order to nurture hatred and revanchism.
Wouldn't it be nice if there were a bit more honesty, and less hypocrisy, coming from those who profess to care about the Palestinians' well-being?
For them, is it really all about the Palestinians, or is it rather about Israel, pure and simple? And if the latter, what does it, in fact, tell us about their underlying motives?

Ben Cohen: Roger Waters and BDS Movement are an Embarrassment

Here's the rub, though: 10 years ago, when the BDS movement was a relatively new phenomenon, statements like these would have set off a minor panic in the Jewish world. These days, we're far more sanguine, and we've learned that the State of Israel can survive and flourish no matter how many graying prog-rockers like Roger Waters dedicate their lives to removing the world's only Jewish state from the map.
A hashtag on Twitter that's popular with pro-Israel activists, #BDSFail, neatly encapsulates my point. Responding to Waters, the Israeli model and actress Bar Refaeli, who normally sets pulses racing for other reasons, demanded that the singer remove her picture from the multimedia show that accompanies his live set. "If you're boycotting," she teased, "go all the way."

PA promotes religious hatred against Jews

As part of its promotion of religious hatred against Jews, the Palestinian Authority disseminates the libel that Israel and Jews were behind the 1969 arson. Since the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an important holy site for Muslims, accusing "senior Jews of high position" of trying to destroy it is clearly an attempt by the PA to promote religious hatred against Jews. This particular accusation appeared in a documentary film about the arson, and was shown at an event under the auspices of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Libel that Jews set fire to Al-Aqsa Mosque repeated at PA ceremony

PA cleric calls for genocide of Jews and killing of Americans VIDEO

'Collaborating' With Israel is Punishable by Death In Gaza

The man, who is only identified as B.H, was ordered to death by hanging by the Gazan court. A date for the execution has not been set. The court will also allow the defendant to appeal against the verdict.
The unidentified defendant was found guilty of "collaboration with the Zionist occupation against the Palestinian people." Under "Palestinian" law, collaboration with Israel is punishable by death.

Scandinavia: Jews Deserve Terror, Not Us

Whatever you may think about where Israel's borders should be drawn, by treating terror carried out by Palestinians against Jews as legitimate, Europeans are signaling not only that they approve of this cause but also that Jewish lives are less precious than their own. The families of the Utoya victims deserve our sympathy in their grief. But they, and other Europeans who are "seething" about any comparison between their children and dead Jews, have crossed the line into anti-Semitism.

S#!t debaters say about Israel and "the Jews"

It has become a tradition to hold a debate about Israel at Euros: this is the third in as many years. As such, the championship has become a fascinating place to see what the students of today – and the leaders of tomorrow – think and know about the Jewish state. Before you read on, you should know that the vast majority majority of debaters at Euros were conscientious, friendly and highly intelligent young people, who tackled the debate with knowledge and sensitivity. Others, however, were not, and did no such thing.

Biblically Based Classic Opera Twisted to Vilify Jewish Nation

This misuse of a classic artistic work, happening during an alarming rise in antisemitism in Europe, apparently is meant to indoctrinate people with the idea that Israel is the villain in its conflict with the Palestinian Arabs. Judging by audience reception, the attempt seems to have succeeded. All the music is from the great Italian opera composer Gioachino Rossini and the words sung are those of Rossini's librettist but everything else in this production of Rossini's nineteenth century masterpiece Mose in Egitto (Moses in Egypt) is from director/producer Graham Vick and set/costume designer Stuart Nunn.

NYPD Announces Measures to Protect Jewish Worshippers as High Holidays Approach

The New York Police Department plans to take precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the City's Jewish residents observing Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur next month, and will send extra police officers to synagogues and other potential targets, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday.

Sri Lankan-Born Student Wins HR Award Defending Israel

The winner of this year's $2000 Blankfeld Award for Media Critique has been chosen and comes from a most unlikely source. Sri Lankan-born Timon Dias was adopted in the Netherlands at the age of three months and is a Clinical Psychology Masters degree student at Leiden University.
His winning articles were all published in the Jerusalem Post and impressed the staff of HonestReporting above all of the other candidates.

Dr. Michael Belkin, an eye doctor with uncommon vision

One of his newest published studies shows that Israel is the only country to have reduced rates of preventable blindness by more than half in the past decade. It is likely that some of the methods and devices Belkin innovated helped to bring about that achievement.
The ExPRESS miniature glaucoma shunt implant, used by eye surgeons worldwide, was Belkin's idea and has dramatically advanced the way this condition is treated. "Before, we used to make uncontrolled holes in the eye to reduce the pressure and drain the fluid," he relates.

Ethiopian model is Big Brother champ

Hours before Israel completed the final phase of Falash Mura immigration from Gondar, the Ethiopian community had cause to celebrate after Ethiopian-born model Tahunia Rubel, 25, won Israel's Big Brother Tuesday night.
Rubel's win, coupled with the crowning of Ethiopian Yityish Titi Aynaw, 21, as Miss Israel earlier this year, can be seen as signs of growing acceptance of the community across Israel.

--
Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 8/29/2013 06:00:00 PM