UNRWA, the special dedicated agency devoted to the descendants of Palestinian Arabs who left Israel, markets itself to the world as a humanitarian agency. It claims that Israel spreads disinformation about its work and attempts to portray the agency as a partner of the genocidal political-terrorist group Hamas, when it is just trying to care for unsettled Arabs.
The two faces of UNRWA were on display on May 14, 2024, as Israel celebrated its 76th birthday amid the war with Hamas in Gaza.
UNRWA’s website related stories of a death of a staff member in Gaza and “arson at UNRWA’s East Jerusalem office.” The article described how “Israeli extremists” were protesting and vandalizing UNRWA offices and intimidating the staff. Meanwhile, Palestinian Arabs who were seeking “shelter and safety in UNRWA schools” only found blown out buildings.
What UNRWA failed to report on that same day was that Hamas soldiers were embedded in its infrastructure, including its schools and hospitals.
As reported in other non-United Nations news sources, on May 14, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “struck a Hamas command center embedded in a school in Gaza run by” UNRWA. The attack on a “Hamas war room” inside an UNRWA facility killed “at least 15 terrorists.” The building was in “Nuseirat, about 15 miles away from Rafah“, where the IDF is preparing to root out the last four Hamas battalions
It begs a question as to who is really supplying the “misinformation and disinformation, including about [UNRWA’s] staff and operations,” Israel or UNRWA itself?
Jews have enemies, and they are public and proud about gunning for Jews. Some are deranged individuals but others are members of organized groups like American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) with thousands of supporters and growing power.
HAMAS
Hamas is the ruling authority of Gaza and a political party which controls 58% of the seats of the Palestinian parliament. They are considered a terrorist group by much of the West, and just a political party by the United Nations.
Hamas’s stated goal is the eradication of the Jewish State of Israel. It has a religious calling, infused with a radical jihadi philosophy.
Hamas’s 1988 Foundation Charter is the most antisemitic political document in history, a sick combination of Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf and the Russian forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It’s goal of killing Jews with global support is found throughout the charter:
“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.” (Opening)
“Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious.” (Preamble)
“raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors, so that they would rid the land and the people of their uncleanliness, vileness and evils.” (Article 3)
“raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine” (Article 6)
“Moslems fight the Jews(killing the Jews)… there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him” (Article 7)
“Nothing in nationalism is more significant or deeper than in the case when an enemy should tread Moslem land” (Article 12)
“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time” (Article 13)
“In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised…. the Palestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis.” (Article 15)
Zionist “organizations, hostile to humanity and Islam, will be obliterated.” (Article 17)
“In their Nazi treatment, the Jews made no exception for women or children… [Jews] attack people where their breadwinning is concerned, extorting their money” (Article 20)
“With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein…. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.” (Article 22)
“The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion… using all evil and contemptible ways… infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations… aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam. It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate its control and expansion…. Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people.” (Article 28)
“the ferocity of the Zionist offensive and the Zionist influence in many countries exercised through financial and media control.” (Article 30)
“Peace and quiet would not be possible except under the wing of Islam… It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region… The Zionist Nazi activities against our people will not last for long.” (Article 31)
“The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.… here is no way out except by concentrating all powers and energies to face this Nazi, vicious Tatar invasion. The alternative is loss of one’s country, the dispersion ofcitizens, the spread of vice on earth and the destruction of religious values… fight with the warmongering Jews.” (Article 32)
“everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty while loudly proclaiming: Hail to Jihad. Their cry will reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation is achieved, the invaders vanquished” (Article 33)
“Moslems were able to retrieve the land only when they stood under the wing of their religious banner… This is the only way to liberate Palestine… Nothing can overcome iron except iron.… confront the Zionist invasion and defeat it… rid themselves of the effects of ideological invasion.” (Article 34)
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
CAIR should in theory, be a non-violent or toxic organization that advocates for Muslims in the United States. Alas, it is headed by antisemites who wish to attack Jewish institutions and run them out of the public square, as well as to destroy the only Jewish State.
The head of CAIR, Nihad Awad, defended the October 7 savage butchering of Israeli civilians. He has long said that “Zionist organizations” are “enemies of the Muslim community” and that “Zionist organizations make up the core of the Islamophobia network in the United States.”
CAIR-San Francisco Bay Area Executive Director Zahra Billoo, addressing an American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) conference, made clear that all Zionists are enemies. “Know your enemies, and I’m not going to sugar-coat that. They are your enemies. There are organizations and infrastructure out there who are working to harm you. Make no mistake of it. They would sell you down the line if they could, and they very often do behind your back. I mean the Zionist organizations, I mean the foreign policy organizations that say they’re not Zionists but want a two-state solution. I’m not a Palestinian myself but it’s my understanding that that is laughable. So know your enemies.” Billoo listed some of them: “We need to pay attention to the Anti-Defamation League. We need to pay attention to the Jewish Federation. We need to pay attention to the Zionist synagogues. We need to pay attention to the Hillel chapters on our campuses. Because just because they’re your friend today, doesn’t mean that they have your back when it comes to human rights. So oppose the vehement fascists but oppose the polite Zionists too. They are not your friends.“
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
The far-left DSA has long been against Israel and its “platform proudly states continued support for and involvement with the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and efforts to eliminate U.S. military aid to Israel, while resisting the “normalization” of relationships between the Israeli government and other governments.”
The DSA chapter in New York City asked candidates to pledge to not even visit Israel and see firsthand what is happening, and blindly follow Palestinian propaganda. The questionnaire asked “Do you pledge not to travel to Israel if elected to City Council in solidarity with Palestinians living under occupation?”
The organization went further and stated that EVERY Israeli Jew is fair game for violence in a June 2023 tweet that said “in a settler colonial context there are no such things as “civilians”, but disregarding that even, it’s total folly to honestly compare settlers perpetuating pogroms to resistance groups deploying violence to liberate themselves.” Note that the Palestinian narrative considers all of Israel to be a settlement, and thereby calls the presence of any Jew to be a member of the military and fair target for violence. Rep. Ritchie Torres was apoplectic and rebuked the DSA for “declaring them [Jews] fair game for violence and terror.“
Within Our Lifetime (WOL)
Within Our Lifetime is a group that creates loud rallies calling for the destruction of Israel and calling to confront every group that supports Israel everywhere, including the United States. They insist that every Jew must be routed from “Palestine,” “We don’t want no two states. We want all of it!”
In their call to “Globalize the Intifada” they have a map of “Zionist organizations” in New York City (4:30) with a call for people to visit each of the locations.
In the immediate aftermath of October 7, the group chanted support for the killing of Jewish civilians in New York City’s Times Square in what they hoped was a war to destroy the “Zionist entity.”
SJP, within Our Lifetime and Palestine Youth Movement celebrate the killing of 1,200 Israelis in the immediate aftermath of the massacre
SJP is a hate group with about 300 groups on college campuses around the United States. It believes that every Israeli Jew and Zionist is an enemy to be confronted “by any means necessary,” which means burning families alive, as Gazans did on October 7.
In the aftermath of the Gazan barabrity, SJP said this is a “historic win for the Palestinian resistance,” and “This is what it means to Free Palestine: not just slogans and rallies, but armed confrontation with the oppressors.
Israeli Jews have other enemies, such as the Palestinian Authority. The PA is headed by a Holocaust denier who has demanded a country devoid of any Jews. Palestinian Arabs are the most antisemitic group by far, with 93% holding antisemitic beliefs according to the ADL.
But these days, one has to put the garden-variety Jew-haters on the back-burner and focus on the antisemites who want to do Jews harm and have the means to do so. Those with weapons like Hamas must be fought with weaponry. Those with political clout like CAIR and the DSA must be fought politically. And those inciting violence like WOL and SJP must be fought legally.
Jihadis and the alt-left declared Zionists as sworn enemies and to be confronted “by any means necessary.” On October 7, the world learned what that means. How will Jews, Zionists, their supporters and governments protect them?
Amid the alarming rise of antisemitic incidents happening at schools across America, liberal mainstream media decided to call the issue #FakeNews, and a fabricated Republican spectacle to make liberals look bad.
That is no exaggeration.
CNN’s coverage started with a headline that Republicans were simply conducting a “‘gotcha’ antisemitism hearing.” The article – not an opinion piece but a news story by Matt Egan (who normally writes about business) – wrote that “It’s no coincidence that the witnesses at Wednesday’s hearing represent school districts in liberal cities. Republicans have sought to score political points by attacking “woke” policies that they say allows for hate speech.”
CNN opinion piece masquerading as news that antisemitism hearings were spectacles fabricated by Republicans
The New York Times wasn’t much better. In articles posted throughout the hearing, the liberal outlet inserted ‘Republican’ everywhere as if the issue of Jews being harassed, intimated and attacked was something that both political parties and every American shouldn’t care about.
Despite what someone might infer from the disgraceful coverage by CNN and The Times, the antisemitism is very real and immediate.
The Brandeis Center and the Anti Defamation League have filed complaints against the Department of Education about the districts brought to the hearing, including the Berkeley Unified School District. The latest letter is dated May 6, 2024 and served as a supplement to the original complaint of February 28, 2024.
In the latest Brandeis letter, numerous examples of antisemitism were listed including: violent antisemitic graffiti such as “Kill Jews”, bullying by peers, celebrating a suspended teacher who had created a hostile environment for Jewish students, vilification of parents who brought civil rights claims, use of anti-Israel propaganda in classrooms, pro-Hamas walkouts and posters, and antisemitic hostility at school board meetings.
The breadth and depth of antisemitism at the school is not in question.
Has belittling Jew hatred become a mainstream media value?
Antisemitism in society is a major and growing problem, as is liberal media’s attempt to whitewash it as a Republican political stunt. Lawsuits and new laws may help fix the former but only boycotting the papers, including withholding and redirecting advertising dollars, can fix the latter.
On September 15, 2023, the United States Treasury Department sanctioned 29 individuals and companies in Iran. In taking the action, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson said “As we approach one year since Mahsa Amini’s tragic and senseless death in the custody of Iran’s so-called ‘Morality Police,’ we recall that the movement of men and women across Iran, inclusive of different faiths and ethnic groups, was met with horrific violence, mass incarceration, and systemic internet disruption by the Iranian regime. The United States, alongside the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and our other international allies and partners, will continue to take collective action against those who suppress Iranians’ exercise of their human rights.”
On June 21, 2021, the United States seized 33 websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) and three websites operated by Kata’ib Hizballah (KH). The Department of State designated KH a Foreign Terrorist Organization. According to Reuters, “the sites seized included Press TV, the Iranian government’s main English-language satellite television channel, and Al Alam, its Arabic-language equivalent. Both came back online using Iranian domain addresses Alalam.ir and Presstv.ir.”
There was no brouhaha about the US actions against the lead state sponsor of terror. American media accepted the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)’s position that “that components of the government of Iran, to include IRTVU and others like it, disguised as news organizations or media outlets, targeted the United States with disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations.”
But the US government and media reveal blatant hypocrisy when it comes to Israel’s actions against Qatar’s Al Jazeera, which Israel is closing after the Qatari-backed terrorist group Hamas savagely massacred 1,200 people in their homes.
The New York Times’ Serge Schmemann wrote an opinion piece on May 7, 2024 that started with “the Israeli government’s decision to kick Al Jazeera out of Israel says more about the government than the TV network.” This is the mantra of the Times: vilify the Israeli government as right-wing fanatics and don’t write about the antisemitic terrorism of Arab Muslims in the region, and their backers.
The piece would go on to belittle Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s worries about the security threat of Hamas by stating “the network was hostile to the messaging of Netanyahu’s right-wing government.” This is an insane inversion, turning the mouthpiece of a terrorist group which is waging a genocidal war against Israel, into a condemnation of Israel’s “right-wing government.”
New York Times opinion piece on May 7, 2024
Israel is engaged in an active war against a number of terrorist groups supported by Iran, Qatar and Turkey. In addition, roughly 25% of Israel’s population is Arab. It is fully understandable that the country would try to stop the “disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations” of terrorist groups to avoid a multifront war, including from supporters inside of Israel.
When people hold Israel to a wildly different double standard it is the mark of antisemitism. When they do it about a terrorist group in the midst of fighting a genocidal war against the Jewish State, it’s the sign of dangerous antisemite.
Some phrases get adopted by a wide range of co-fanatics. Something like “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free,” is echoed by a range of anti-Israel agitators like Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Code Pink and others.
The call to attack Zionists and Jews has now come to New York City, home to the largest Jewish diaspora community by Within Our Lifetime.
Within Our Lifetime is a radical Muslim group which has called to set New York City aflame with a “citywide day of rage” at Hunter College in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It has urged students to “organize an action on your campus” and then descend on Hunter.
Hamas is in New York. This is no longer a campus issue for security guards or even local police. This is a federal matter requiring the National Guard.
On May 1, 2024, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Virginia by a group of victims of the October 7 Palestinian Arab heinous terrorist attack, against American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP). The suit asserts that AMP and NSJP work in the United States as collaborators and propagandists for Hamas, a US foreign terrorist organization.
Far-left extremist Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York’s 16th District thought that the date was an ideal time to leave his district, and go to Virginia to solicit support and money from those same terrorist supporters.
Through NSJP, AMP uses propaganda to intimidate, convince, and recruit uninformed, misguided, and impressionable college students to serve as foot soldiers for Hamas on campus and beyond. – Lawsuit filed May 1, 2024 against NSJP and AMP
So why would Bowman have supporters of Hamas terrorism headline a fundraiser? Why did Bowman leave his constituents in New York and fundraise in Virginia? Is this connected to Bowman’s refusal to attend a single event in a synagogue in Westchester since the October 7 massacre? Is it part of the rationale for his absence from attending the scene of an antisemitic hate crime in Scarsdale where his challenger Westchester County Executive George Latimer came and loudly rebuked antisemitism?
Through threats, violence, and vocal support for “globalizing” attacks against Jews and anyone who dares to support them, AMP and NSJP have intentionally instigated a mass culture of fear, threats, violence, and overt hatred to intimidate politicians and institutions for Hamas’s substantial benefit. – Lawsuit filed May 1, 2024 against NSJP and AMP
Bowman has decided to wear his Hamas shield proudly and fundraise from terrorist supporters outside of his district, while Americans and Israelis fight and sue for justice against the genocidal group.
On April 30, 2024, while many pro-Hamas students at Columbia University chanted for an “intifada revolution” to destroy the Jewish State and kill diaspora Jews, and as other students broke into and took over one of the school buildings, the university issued a statement about the takeover being disruptive and “a noisy distraction that interferes with teaching.” In taking action, the university said “this is about responding to the actions of the protestors, not their cause.” The full statement is here:
Early this morning, a group of protestors occupied Hamilton Hall on the Morningside Campus. We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions. Our top priority is restoring safety and order on our campus.
We made it very clear yesterday the work of the University cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules. Continuing to do so will be met with clear consequences. Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation–vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances–and we are following through with the consequences we outlined yesterday.
Students occupying the building face expulsion.
Protesters were informed that their participation in the encampment violated numerous university policies. We gave everyone at the encampment the opportunity to leave peacefully. By committing to abide by University policies, they would be allowed to complete the semester.
Students who did not commit to the terms we offered are now being suspended. Those students will be restricted from all academic and recreational spaces and may only access their individual residence. Seniors will be ineligible to graduate.
This is about responding to the actions of the protesters, not their cause.
As we said yesterday, disruptions on campus have created a threatening environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty and a noisy distraction that interferes with teaching, learning, and preparing for final exams, and contributes to a hostile environment in violation of Title VI.
The safety of our community remains our top priority.
As we prepare for a commencement to honor our students’ achievements, we continue to urge the protesters to remove the encampment and voluntarily disperse so as to not deprive their fellow students of this momentous occasion.
We have followed through on our very clear warnings of consequences and are initiating disciplinary action against those who continue to violate our rules.
An “Intifada” banner waves over Columbia University after students seize Hamilton Hall on 116th Street in New York City, April 30, 2024. (photo: JESSICA SCHWALB)
Imagine the university downplaying racism if students chanted that gay people should be kicked off campus or Hispanics should be sent to wherever they came from. What if people chanted that Muslims are pathological killers and the United States should bomb Iran and neighboring Muslim countries out of existence. Imagine thousands of students denying that Black people were ever slaves in America and inventing an entire new origin story for African-Americans in the center of campus.
Would protestors’ free speech rights be prioritized? Would the university’s statements be packed with excuses that the school does not have any issue with the protestors chants? Or would the university clearly denounce the slogans and give priority to the mental health of the targets of the venom?
Columbia University well understands mental health and has a page on its website devoted to it called CopeColumbia. One section is devoted towards “Racism, Stress and Coping.” It discusses systemic racism faced by African-Americans, and impacts on health outcomes. It is copied here – except edited to address rampant Jew-hatred taking place at Columbia today – to show the disparity in how little the universe has extended itself for its Jewish faculty and student body.
The stress and trauma of racismantisemitism in our society for communities of colorJews is informed by a long history of violence and social injustice. Provided here are resources centered around racialreligious disparities and promoting healing, growth, and avenues for change.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated significant health disparities for Black and LatinxJewish communities in the U.S. Populations of colorhave been vilified as having caused and profited fromcontracted COVID-19 at higher rates than White individuals; with greater morbidity and mortality.1,2 We are learning that systemic racismantisemitism is a major factor in these disparate outcomes: a disproportionate number of African-American and LatinoJewish individuals work in settings in the medical professionthat are high risk for exposure, and they are more likely to be accused of profiting from the pandemic and medical treatment rather than thanked for efforts to turn back the global scourge oflack medical insurance, the means to be tested for coronavirus, to be adequately treated for underlying conditions, or to receive early treatment for COVID-19.2
The stress and trauma of racismantisemitism in our society for communities of colorfaith is informed by a long history of violence and social injustice. The effects of systemic racismantisemitism, especially on African-AmericansJews in our country, permeates our society with consequences including negative outcomes for physical and mental well-being. Images, media portrayals and public discourse have triggered post-traumatic stress symptoms across in many of us, with the heaviest toll being that on racialthe very small Jewish minorities. Protests have sparked a discussion most feel is long overdue to address the effects of oppression on African-AmericansJews after the senseless murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylorin the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue, Poway Synagogue and kosher store in Jersey City. We are aware that these conversations, although emotionally charged, are necessary for change; take courage and bravery to achieve a more raciallyreligiously just society.
The mentalemotional health effects of racismantisemitism are vast. The inability for communities of colorfaith to access mental healthprotective resources creates a barrier to basic safetythe path of treatment and recovery. Lack of resourcesa sizable population coupled with diminished political cloutdistrust of the medical field due to past transgressions towards African-Americans, in particular, and the stigma associated with mental health treatment in communities of color create a perfect storm for untreated intergenerational mental healthphysical and emotional illness.”
Columbia University understands that Jewish students on campus are deeply traumatized not only by the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust on October 7 in Israel, but that the barbarity is celebrated by Columbia faculty and students who gleefully taunt them as they try to attend class. While the school makes efforts to systematically change the school’s culture and curricula to address the mental and emotional impacts of racism, it dismisses vulgar antisemitic slogans as “a noisy distraction that interferes with teaching, learning, and preparing for final exams.“
Antisemitism is so deeply entrenched in America’s universities, they cannot even pause to recognize Jewish trauma even as they haul away protestors looking to destroy the Jewish State.
Some pro-Palestinian protestors have attempted to market their chants for “Free Palestine” as a call for everyone to live in peace, security and dignity. They claim that they harbor no antisemitic feelings and just want a civil society for everyone.
So here are three questions to test their assertion:
Are they in favor of Jews living throughout the land, including eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza? If Arabs can live everywhere “from the river to the the sea”, a call for mutual humanity would demand that Jews have those same rights. Are they in favor of abolishing United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 in a one-state scenario?
Are they in favor of open Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount? Millions of Muslims get to visit the al Aqsa Compound every year but Jewish visitation is limited. Worse, Jews are not allowed to pray at their holiest site, a glaring denial of their basic human rights. Are they in favor of allowing millions of Jews onto the Temple Mount and to openly pray at their holiest site?
Are they in favor of turning the Dome of the Rock into a Jewish Temple? Muslims have a holy shrine on the al Aqsa Compound – the al Aqsa Mosque. In an effort to achieve common dignity and humanity, Jews should build their Third Holy Temple nearly, at the site of the Dome of The Rock which sits on the location of the prior Jewish temples. Are they in favor of a new Jewish Temple on the Jewish Temple Mount?
If people calling to “Free Palestine” support the rights of Jews to live everywhere, to ascend en masse to the Temple Mount and pray openly at a newly built third Jewish Temple, I concede that they are not antisemitic and can join them in their chant. However, if they deny Jews common rights and dignities in the Jewish holy land, they are revealed as Muslim supremacists out to destroy the only Jewish State.
The Israeli government once again allowed tens of thousand of Muslim Arabs onto the Jewish Temple Mount / al Aqsa Compound during Friday prayers of Ramadan on April 5, 2024. The reported 65,000 Muslims who came to pray dwarfed the 50,000 Jews who visited the site OVER THE ENTIRE YEAR OF 2023, none of whom were allowed to pray at Judaism’s holiest site.
Despite Israel allowing access for tens of thousands of Muslims to pray at the site, eight people were arrested on charges of inciting terrorism to the crowd. According to sources, Arabs were shouting “In spirit and blood we will redeem you al-Aqsa.”
The Israeli police were out in force as many Muslims declared the last Friday of Ramadan to be “International Al Quds Day.”
The police noted that the Arab Muslims were all residents of Israel in a statement which said “these vile instigators and supporters of terrorism are residents of the State of Israel who take advantage of a religious occasion and use a holy place of prayer for incitement and support for terrorism and terrorists.”
Despite the problem arising from ISRAELI Arabs, the Palestinian Authority and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) weighed in.
According to the official PA news site Wafa, the OIC condemned Israel for the situation. OIC claimed that thousands of Muslims were prevented from visiting the site and decried the arrest of worshippers. Wafa added that the OIC “slammed such restrictions and assault as a flagrant violation of international laws and norms and called upon the international community to oblige Israel, the occupying power, to halt all recurrent violations of the freedom of worship and desecration of the holy sites while stressing the need to preserve the longstanding historical and legal status at the mosque.”
The statement is a farce on so many levels.
Firstly, “the need to preserve the longstanding historical and legal status quo” of banning Jewish prayer at Judaism’s holiest site while also demanding “freedom of worship” are in direct conflict. At least, as it relates to Jews.
Secondly, Israel allowed more Muslims to the site on a single morning than all Jews have been able to visit their holiest site during the entire year. Still, the OIC lambasted Israel preventing some Muslim radicals from visiting the site and inciting violence. Freedom to visit and pray must be limited to those who don’t advocate violence, and that includes banning agitators and facilitating the entry of tens of thousands of peaceful Jews onto the holy platform.
Third, the arrests were of Israeli Arabs, not Palestinians. Why did the PA issue statements about an internal matter? Is it because it not only believes that Israel has no rights in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount despite it agreeing to such in the Oslo Accords, but also believes that there are no such things as Israeli Arabs because Israel is illegitimate?
As Jews celebrate Passover, one of the three central holidays in Judaism in which Jews are called to visit the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, one cannot find a single article about Jews visiting their holiest site. The media lockdown is meant to keep tensions down as Israel continues to prosecute its defensive war against the political-terrorist group Hamas.
During Ramadan, Israel allows hundreds of thousands of Muslims onto the Temple Mount for prayers, some who shouted about killing Jews in an attempt to start a global jihad. On Passover, an unknown (but certainly very small) contingent of Jews visit the site and no one hears a single thing lest Muslims become angered.
Such is Islamic privilege: the ability for massive Muslim pilgrimage to the Temple Mount complete with antisemitic chants, while a paltry number of Jews silently visit the site, lest Muslims become upset. There is no equality or dignity for Jews, as made abundantly clear over Ramadan and Passover 2024.
The Palestinian Arabs sought and failed to be recognized as a new state by the United Nations Security Council on April 18, 2024, as the United States vetoed the resolution, insisting that Israel and the Palestinian Authority need to hammer out the contours of a deal before they would recognize a state. As the U.S. is a permanent member of the UNSC, its veto is an effective block.
In responding to the event, Ziad Abu Amr, the Palestinian representative to the UN made an opening statement that contains a twisted narrative which is arguably the best place to understand the core of the conflict.
According to the Palestinian representative to the UN, the “plight” of the “Palestinian people” started “over a century ago” and, what’s more, it “is still ongoing.”
“Over a century ago”: meaning the conflict is not rooted in the 1967 War in which Israel took over Gaza and the West Bank in a defensive war. Instead, he claims it started with the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and the accelerated move of Jews to their historic homeland. Palestinians are not fighting about getting a state in the West Bank and Gaza, they are fighting about the presence of Jews and the existence of a Jewish State.
“Palestinian people”: A century ago, Palestinians included both Jews and Arabs. Both were residents of the Ottoman-controlled region. By suggesting that “Palestinian people” of a century ago are only Arabs is an ahistorical lie. Jews were Palestinians, and the “plight” that they have endured is the persistent attacks by local Arabs.
“Is still ongoing.”: Yes, Jews still live and continue to move to the land of Israel, and the Jewish State still exists. That Palestinian Arabs view the presence as a source of their “plight” shows their xenophobia, antisemitism and refusal to coexist.
The Palestinian representative, unashamed by his admission of xenophobia and antisemitism, continued to air more lies that “We” (meaning local Arabs) “have made every possible genuine effort… to achieve a peace that is based on the two state solution.”
Rejecting two-states in 1947, 1948, 1967, 2000, 2008, 2014 and launching wars slaughtering thousands of Israeli civilians is hardly an effort towards peace. The heinous attacks of October 7 and broad support by Palestinians for the attack show the desire of local Arabs to seek the destruction of Israel and murder of Jews.
Palestinian Arabs voted the antisemitic jihadi terrorist group Hamas to 58% of parliament and continue to support the group which controls Gaza and over 2 million people. In what alternative reality does anyone think that Palestinian Arabs support a two-state solution when the Hamas charter specifically states it will never accept a Jewish State? Why would any United Nations’ country vote to admit a State of Palestine that is still devoted to the mass slaughter of Jews and destruction of the Jewish State?
The Palestinian Authority lied to the United Nations that Jews have no rights nor history in the holy land and that the Jewish presence causes Arab suffering. That’s how little they’ve advanced in coexistence over the past century.
First One Through 