Category Archives: United Nations

Malawi, Israel’s New Friend

Posted on by
2

Israel has long stood with few allies at the United Nations. As the Iranian Proxies War against Israel has continued and brought new anti-Israel resolutions, it is a strange and welcome relief to see a new name appear alongside Israel and the United States in votes to support Israel: the east African country of Malawi.

United Nations Votes

UN Watch has a database which tracks how countries vote on matters related to Israel. Whether at the General Assembly, Human Rights Council or World Health Organization, Malawi has started to break from the Global South and is abstaining from condemning Israel and sometimes providing outright support for the Jewish State.

Examples include a UNGA vote on the International Court of Justice condemning Israel in September 2024. With an overall vote tally of Yes (124), No (14), Abstain (43), and Absent (12), Malawi was one of the No votes. In a December 2024 vote condemning Israel for not signing onto the Middle East nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Malawi abstained, even as 153 countries voted yes. When the UN Human Rights Council voted in April 2024 to condemn Israeli “settlements,” Malawi was one of only three countries to vote against the measure.

It is therefore worth understanding the country more and appreciating why it is siding up to Israel while much of Africa has not.

Demographics

Malawi is a country of roughly 20 million people and very poor, with a GDP per capita of only $1,590 in 2020. The total fertility rate is relatively high compared to the world at 3.4, but half the country’s figure in 1982 (7.7). It has one of the highest population densities of Africa and among the youngest average populations. Sadly, the country has one of the highest incidents of AIDS and child orphans.

While agriculture represents 30 percent of Malawi’s GDP, and 90% of the population is employed in primary production agriculture, the country is vulnerable to extreme weather including cyclones and flooding. Only 15% of the country had electricity and the same percentage had access to a computer.

Around 77% of the country is Christian and slightly less than 14% are Muslim. This is a more Christian country than neighboring Mozambique and Tanzania, while less Christian than Zambia.

Agricultural Workers

Malawi’s strong understanding of agriculture and low GDP per capita make the country a good source of workers to replace Gazans who are no longer allowed into Israel because of the war it initiated. According to Statistica, there were 165,000 Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs) working in Israel before October 7, 2023 in a variety of fields, of which 35,000 were illegal. Today, there are only 15,000 Arab workers from Gaza and E49AL/West Bank. That’s a lot of workers to replace.

In April 2024, Malawi opened an embassy in Tel Aviv. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo said at that time that there was an effort to bring as many as 3,0000 agricultural workers to Israel.

When asked to discuss the war, Tembo said, “They [Israel] helped us get where we are now. We can’t, therefore, cut our ties with them today because there is a war in Gaza. Much as we regret the loss of lives, we reaffirm our firm solidarity to Israel.” The “help” provided by Israel included in areas of agriculture over the years.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Malawi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo at the opening of an embassy in Tel Aviv on April 18, 2024 (photo: Yossi Zeliger/TPS )

The first batch of 3,000 agricultural workers is a good start but nowhere near enough, as the number of Arab workers has declined by 150,000, with tens of thousands attending to farms.

Today, the vast majority of foreign farm laborers in Israel are from Thailand, estimated to have been around 30,000 before October 7, 2023, reaching around 38,000 now. Israel has become a top four destination for Thai workers. Expectations are that a similar dynamic may play out for Malawi’s agricultural workers.

However, it is not that linear. According to recent reports, many Malawians over the past year used agricultural visas to enter Israel and then abandon the fields for employment in Israeli cities. For their part, Malawians protested that they were not paid according to the contracted rates. Israel is, therefore, also turning to India and Sri Lanka to supplement the depleted number of foreign workers.

Yet Malawi is still considered a strong source for workers, especially in farms. Earlier this week, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel visited Malawi to ink a new bilateral labor agreement with Tembo. The agreement will facilitate Malawians placement and training in Israel with good quality and stable jobs, and likely cut the illegal migration of Malawians into South Africa looking for work.

In the 1970s, Israel’s agriculture accounted for over 10% of its economy but that has shrunk to around 2% as the country developed a thriving position in technology. Still, the country has a strong food business and has invested significantly in food technology, so is focused on protecting its farm production. Malawi workers may be a growing part of that labor force, with complementary votes for Israel at the United Nations.

Related articles:

The Global South Is Coming For The UN Security Council (March 2025)

The Other October 7 Timeline

Posted on by
4

Israel is conducting a thorough review of what internal failures led to the massacre on October 7, 2023. The inquiries and analyses are designed to both assure accountability for mistakes, as well as to prevent future tragedies. The primary focus is on Israel’s military deployment and readiness, which will likely conclude with several changes inside the military.

Another analysis is needed externally – focused on Hamas and Gaza. The timeline below is meant as a framework to better consider how to address the conflict going forward.

Timeline of Key Moments in Gaza That Set October 7 Massacre

1948-9: There are two principle differences between the area east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49AL/ West Bank) and Gaza:

  • The majority of E49AL/WB Arabs are locals, whereas the majority of Gazans used to live in Israeli towns and villages;
  • E49AL/West Bank was annexed by Transjordan and all Arabs were given Jordanian citizenship; Gaza was only administered by Egypt

The Arabs in the much larger E49AL had citizenship and sovereignty. While most of the world considered Jordan’s annexation illegal, the local Arabs had pride in their Muslim Arab country. They also had control of Jerusalem/al Quds, the third holiest site for Muslims.

Not so for Gazans, who were in a much more confined space without citizenship, sovereignty or holy sites. Instead, they were wards of the United Nations which promised them that they would move into the Israeli towns in which they once lived.

1967: The 1967 war was a much bigger loss for West Bank Arabs than Gazans, as the Gazans already had less. Still, being under the rule of the Jewish State made the lack of sovereignty much more bitter.

2000: The Second Intifada started at the collapse of the Oslo Accords. While pundits point to a Temple Mount visit by Israeli Ariel Sharon as the trigger for the multi-year Arab riots, it was the failure of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to secure all of Arab demands in the negotiations, including moving millions of descendants of refugees and internally displaced people into Israel. This was especially true for Gazans.

2004: As Israel put down the Second Intifada, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon secured a letter from U.S. President George W Bush on April 14 that in exchange for pulling all Israelis out of Gaza, the United States would back Israel in assuring that all Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs) would move to a new Palestinian State and not into Israel, and that new borders of Israel would account for new major Jewish population centers to be incorporated into Israel.

President George W Bush 2004 letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

2005-7: Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and the Palestinians elected Hamas to 58% of its parliament in 2006. In 2007, Hamas took over full control of Gaza, outsing its rival political group Fatah. In response to the antisemitic genocidal group sworn to its destruction taking over Gaza, Israel imposed a blockade of strip to halt the flow of arms. Gaza, now with self-determination, opted for radical Islam.

2008-14: Under the banner of jihad, independent Gaza did not focus on building up its economy and society but instead focused on destroying Israel. It launched wars against the Jewish State in 2008-9, 2012 and 2014, each put down by Israel. Meanwhile Hamas began to heavily invest in its underground infrastructure inside of Gaza, which in the past was principally used outside of Gaza for raids into Israel (like kidnapping Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006) and smuggling goods from Egypt.

2018-2022: Under the banner of the “Great March of Return,” Hamas led Gazan society to prepare to invade Israel. With United Nations support, thousands of students from UNRWA schools would march to the fence with Israel, familiarizing themselves with the terrain and normalizing their presence for Israelis watching their movement.

Teasing a Gazan crowd about the October 7 massacre to come, Hamas Political Bureau member Fathi Hammad, former Hamas minister of the interior, leader speaks in July 2018 that within four years – by 2022 – Hamas will be prepared to rid Palestine of Jews

2021: When Israeli courts approved the eviction of Arab squatters from Jewish owned homes in the Sheik Jarrah section of Jerusalem, Hamas launched missiles into Israel. The action caused Israel to put the evictions on hold, educating Hamas that terror pays.

2023: By this time, Hamas’ underground infrastructure was in place and it had stockpiled thousands of missiles. It had gotten Israel accustomed to “peaceful” protests along the Gaza border fence. Better, it watched Israeli society fight amongst itself about judicial reform, and for the first time ever, a majority of Democrats favored SAPs over Israelis. With Iran on the verge of nuclear weaponry breakout and Hezbollah in Lebanon well armed with roughly 150,000 missiles, Hamas was poised for an all-out war, well beyond the limited skirmishes of prior years.

Gazans are more religious than West Bank Arabs and many more consider themselves entitled to move into Israel as UNRWA wards (81% vs. 49%). Those supporting Hamas were much more likely to understand the “Great Marches of Return” were about external political matters than those from Fatah (59% to 24%, according to a September 2023 PCPSR poll).

While the devastation to Israel on October 7 happened over a single day, it took years of planning. Just as importantly, there was societal buy in for the attack.

Key Takeaways

Israel – and the world – should consider the events that led to Hamas’ genocidal invasion of Israel and formulate strategies beyond eliminating Hamas and its military infrastructure.

  • The UN and Saudi Arabia must adopt the contours of the 2004 Bush letter. Over 80% of Gazans believe that the world supports their moving into Israel, validating their storming the fence. There will not be peace until the UN and Saudi Arabia make clear that a two state solution means SAPs move into a new Palestinian State, not Israel.
  • Dismantle UNRWA in Gaza and the West Bank. The United Nations has encouraged generations of students that Israel is not really a sovereign entity and that the UN will dictate that Israel will be forced to accept millions of Arabs. With clarity that Arabs will be settled in Gaza and the West Bank, there is no reason for UNRWA to exist in those territories.
  • Decimation and Vilification of Hamas. As Gazans suffered more over the course of the war, a greater percentage became interested in forging peace with Israel. Additionally, people who supported Hamas were more likely to have not seen any of the footage of the October 7 massacre and did not believe that Hamas conducted rapes. Therefore, Hamas should not only be defeated militarily, but vilified clearly so it will be abandoned by Gazans and West Bank Arabs.
  • Reroute funding. Gaza’s principal backers have been from Qatar, Iran and Turkey. All of these countries have hostile or tense relationships with Israel and foment anti-Israel hatred. Future funding for Gaza should principally come from countries with good relationships with the Jewish State.
  • No immediate plans for a Palestinian State. Gazans had internalized that terror pays, as the Second Intifada made Israel abandon Gaza, and the 2021 war stopped the evictions in Sheik Jarrah. The devastation of Gaza must terminate that notion. The only immediate plans for Gaza should be how to rebuild. Engaging in a discussion now about statehood would once again make local Arabs believe that there is nothing beyond the pale in pursuit of self-determination.

The timeline of how Gazans got to October 7 should inform the world about future actions, just as Israel’s inquiries into its military failures will change its practices.

Related articles:

Which Gazans Deserve Assistance? (January 2025)

The Hamas – Gazans Partnership (May 2024)

Destroying Hamas Convinces Gazans To Support Two State Solution. Why Doesn’t The UN Get It? (March 2024)

After UNRWA (February 2024)

When Founding Fathers Are Psychopaths And Cowards (January 2024)

Quantifying the Values of Gazans (May 2019)

The United Nations Can Hear the Songs of Gazans, but Cannot See Their Rockets (December 2017)

On “Accountability and Justice:” Fifteen Democratic Senators And The UN Human Rights Council

Posted on by
Reply

Nothing sounds so lofty as the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), a global organization that should theoretically be at the vanguard of protecting civilians around the world. Alas, it made itself into a highly biased joke by having ten standing items during each session to cover broad matters, with an exception for a single region – Item 7 – being dedicated to the “Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.”

On April 5, 2024, amid the Gazan-initiated war on Israel, the UNHRC went to town on Israel, passing the outrageously biased Resolution 55/28 with a vote of 28 in favor, 6 opposed, and 13 abstentions. The Global South was joined in voting for the resolution by Belgium, Finland and Luxembourg from Europe. The chickens which abstained were: Albania, Benin, Cameron, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, France, Georgia, India, Japan, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, and Romania.

The eight pages of vitriol went well beyond actions during the war. It went beyond settlements. It went beyond withholding taxes.

It implicitly backed Gazans’ genocidal war against Israel stating that the council “reaffirm[s] the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation in accordance with international law.” This statement labeled the State of Israel as a “colonial” power, stripping it of rights of defense and designating it a rightful target for attacks.

The antisemitic text even decried Jews living in their holiest and capital city of Jerusalem. It criticized Israel for archeological excavations near the Temple Mount.

Only in three spots (marked in light blue) in the long list condemning Israel was there any expression that Gazans were doing anything wrong. Each related to the immediate situation of war and none condemned the thousands of Gazans who initiated the war killing 1,200 people, raping women and abducting 251 people, nor the Gazan leaders who threatened to commit the barbaric attacks again and again.

In multiple locations (highlighted in orange), the UNHRC demanded that countries withhold supplying arms to Israel and not take any actions against groups around the world which support the Hamas-led war against Israel. It urged countries to not supply Israel with “dual use” items like jet fuel or facial recognition software which could have both civilian and military purposes.

The text is a sickening farce, especially considering the heading of the resolution which highlighted “the obligation to ensure accountability and justice.” The text of the resolution clearly showed the HRC’s belief that only Israel should be held accountable, while Gazans should be absolved of their actions under the UN’s ode for the Stateless Arabs of Palestine (SAPs)‘ “legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence.”

In April 2025, one year after this shameful resolution passed, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tried to pass two resolutions in the U.S. Senate to block America’s sale of arms to Israel. His introduction to the vote lambasted AIPAC as a nefarious organization, and then called the Israeli government “racist and extremist” engaged in a “barbaric war against the Palestinian people,” even though the Israeli military constantly warns civilians to move out of battlefields and has the lowest civilian-to-combatant death toll of any modern urban war.

Fourteen senators joined Sanders in voting to block the arms sale to Israel in the middle of the multi-front war, including Sens. Richard Durbin (D-IL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Peter Welch (D-VT).

The fact that all fifteen senators voting against supplying Israel weapons during the war were Democrats should not be a surprise. According to a March 2025 Gallup poll, Republicans favor Israel over SAPs by 75% to 10%, while Democrats favor SAPs over Israelis by 59% to 21%. This is a continuation of a trend that started BEFORE Gazans’ October 7 atrocities, as highlighted in Gallups’ February 2023 poll.

It begs us to answer the framework of “the obligation to ensure accountability and justice” in general, even before applied to war. What is the baseline that the UNHRC and Democrats (HRC & D) see the Arab-Israeli conflict?

The HRC&D seemingly believe that Israel is a colonial power and SAPs have a legitimate fight for “liberation.” In such framework, even leaders of Hamas’ “political bureau” are regular “civilians entitled to protection,” (as stated by HRC). HRC&D prioritize imposing sanctions on Israeli Jewish “settlers” in the immediate aftermath of October 7 (as urged by Sen. Van Hollen in November 2023).

The HRC&D baseline for considering “accountability and justice” is that Arabs are justified in fighting Israel, while Israeli Jews are wrong for just living.

Anyone and everyone should be upset with the loss of so much civilian life in the war which started eighteen months ago. But the number of dead on each side obscures the fundamental issue in the conflict is the competing views that Israel is a legitimate sovereign state or a colonial outpost which should be combated by “any means necessary.”

Masked anti-Israel agitators at Columbia University call for the destruction of Israel

While the UN Human Rights Council and fifteen Democratic senators have not gone so far to endorse a genocide of Jews in Israel, they are actively seeking to shield Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups and their supporters which seek the destruction of Israel from proper measures of justice.

Related articles:

The Deep Flaws In The UN’s “Peace” Coordinator (August 2024)

The Only Way The Conflict Can End (November 2023)

Hamas Should Face ‘Maximum Justice’ (October 2023)

The Collective Punishment Of Terrorism (June 2023)

Terrifying Trifecta Of Anti-Zionism (April 2023)

The Noxious Anti-Semitism Of “European Settler Colonialism” (September 2022)

Gaza, The Terrorist Enclave (February 2021)

The United Nations’ Adoption of Palestinians, Enables It to Only Find Fault With Israel (March 2016)

“The Day After” The Hamas War, For Israel

Posted on by
1

Many countries have pressured Israel to develop a plan for “the day after” the war for Gazans. It is a curious question, as many of those same countries have condemned Israel for operating in Gaza and demand that it leave immediately. Furthermore, they all know that any plan developed by Israel will likely be viewed with hostility and rejected outright by Gazans.

A more relevant question for Israel is what the day after will look like for Israel.

There are many aspects to that question.

  • What is the plan for rebuilding Israeli towns near Gaza? Will there be new codes for security, safe rooms, layouts of the streets and homes, etc.?
  • How will Israel manage security with Gaza? Will it construct a different type of fence and monitoring system to better protect Israelis? Arm the military bases there differently?
  • Will it allow work permits for Gazans, and if so, how will it manage it?
  • How will it monitor materials flowing into Gaza as part of a rebuilding operation?
Gazans smash through security fence into Israel on October 7, 2023

As it relates to what the world most wants to hear, a restart of a political process with the Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs) in Gaza and East of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49AL), much depends on reforms made by the counterparty.

It will also depend on the United Nations.

First, the UN must clearly state that the future of their so-named “Palestinian Refugees” who never lived in Israel will not move into Israel. Their future is in a future state of Palestine, which the UN claims already exists and is “occupied.” As part of crystalizing that, it must announce plans to close all UNRWA operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

Second, to bring Israel to the table and engage with the UN as part of the process, the UN Security Council should revoke UNSC 2334, a blatantly antisemitic resolution. That resolution demands an ethnic cleansing of all Jews from E49AL, including Judaism’s holiest location, the Old City of Jerusalem.

Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN (left) and US Secretary of State, John Kerry (right) enabled the antisemitic UNSC 2334 to pass in the waning days of the Obama administration

There is precedent for such action. In 1991, the UN rescinded UNGA 3379, which declared that Zionism was a form of racism, to get Israel to participate in the Madrid Conference, which ultimately yielded the Oslo Accords. Such action ended the First Intifada and could help end the Iranian Proxies Intifada of today.

The UN has long been the biggest instigator of the regional conflict by making promises to local Arabs on behalf of Israel, and then pressuring Israel to meet those demands. It is time for the UN to either shift course and be constructive with each party, or desist from the matter.

Israel is engaged in a war in Gaza it didn’t start or want, and will end immediately if Hamas surrenders and returns all of the hostages. Israel doesn’t need a plan for “the day after” in Gaza but should be consulted to ensure that a new regime will bring stability in the region and be a counterpart with whom to coordinate the transfer of goods and people.

Israel should be focused on its own “day after” plans. To the extent that the world wants to encourage a path to an eventual “peace process,” the UN needs to make significant reforms, including rescinding UNSC 2334.

Related articles:

The Three “Two-State Solution”s (December 2023)

UN “Peace Coordinator” Before And During Hamas Massacre (October 2023)

The UN Has No Interest in Mid-East Peace, Just a Palestinian State (October 2021)

The Only Precondition for MidEast Peace Talks (June 2016)

The Israeli Peace Process versus the Palestinian Divorce Proceedings (June 2015)

CAIR Gets Democrats To Confront Mike Huckabee

Posted on by
2

President Donald Trump nominated former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to be the next US ambassador to the State of Israel. In advance of his senate confirmation interview, the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a letter strongly opposing his confirmation and suggested a few questions for senators to ask Huckabee.

A few Democratic senators picked up CAIR’s line of questions including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sen. Chris van Hollen (D-MD).

Huckabee’s responses were mostly diplomatic and said his role would be to carry out the president’s policies, not his own. Therefore, below are more direct responses that I imagine Huckabee and many Christian Zionists would share outside of a public hearing.

The Denial of “Palestinian identity”

CAIR asked senators to get Huckabee to state whether he believed in “Palestinian identity.” In the typical usage of English terms, adding “ian” is a recognition of a country like “Italian” means people from Italy and “Costa Rican” means citizens of Costa Rica. As the United States does not recognize a country called “Palestine,” there is nothing inconsistent with people not using “Palestinians.” Some people call the local Arabs “Stateless Arabs from Palestine” or SAPs for short, or maybe just “Gazans” and “West Bank Arabs.”

In the early 20th century, there were Palestinian Jews and Arabs in the region before nationalism brought new countries into the world. The Palestinian Liberation Organization’s charter attempted to redefine a “Palestinian” as narrowly related to Arabs. The Palestinian Authority crafted a constitution similarly said “Palestine is part of the Arab nation…. The Palestinian people are part of the Arab and Islamic nations.” By its own definitions, Palestinian Arabs refer to themselves as regional Arabs, not necessarily distinct as a “people.” It’s call to be part of “Islamic Nations,” seemingly calls for Islamic Supremacy and ignores historic reality of Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Christians before the creation of nations in the Middle East.

People do not call people today “Constantinoplians” as there is no place called Constantinople today. They certainly wouldn’t insist on using such concoction to only mean a subset of people who lived in that area, such as only Muslims. So it is with “Palestinians.”

Refusal To Use Term “West Bank”

CAIR was upset by Huckabee not using the term “West Bank” and asked senators to ask him about it at the confirmation hearing.

The commonly used term “West Bank” – as well as “East Jerusalem” – are both politicized and dated. For 4,000 years of history, neither term existed. The contours of both were manufactured because on the 1948-9 war initiated by five Arab armies to destroy the nascent State of Israel. The 1949 Armistice Agreement that Israel struck with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan created both entities. Jordan illegally annexed both in an action not recognized by any country other than the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Jordan then launched another attack on Israel in 1967 and lost both territories it had illegally annexed. The United Nations only started to use the term “West Bank” after that war.

The actual historic regions of Judea and Samaria existed for centuries, not 18 years of illegal Jordanian occupation from 1949 to 1967. Judea and Samaria actually have a larger footprint than Jordan’s “West Bank,” so it is also the wrong term to apply. Discussing the region today would be best using “East of the 1949 Armistice Lines” or E49AL.

CAIR’s ongoing use of the short-lived “East Jerusalem” is politicized and dated, and perhaps highlights why it gets triggered by people refusing to use the manufactured “West Bank.”

Refusal to Recognize Israeli “Occupation.”

CAIR (and the UN) believe that Israel “occupies Palestinian land.” This notion has many problems.

First, the occupation narrative is integral to the antisemitic view that Jews are “European settler colonialists.” It is nonsensical, as Jews have 3,700 years of history in the Holy Land. Judaism is a unique religion that has ties to a specific piece of land, the land of Israel. Judaism was designed in the Bible as a small regional tribe, not a global religion like other monotheistic faiths.

Second, when Israel declared itself a state in May 1948 as the British ended their mandate, the entirety of that mandate became Israel. The fact that Jordan seized the eastern part of the country and Egypt took Gaza, only made international recognition of the de facto borders of Israel more narrow. When Israel took those areas back during its 1967 defensive war, it opted to only incorporate eastern Jerusalem and left the other areas as Israeli territories to possibly swap for an enduring peace with its neighbors.

Third, most of the Global North, including Israel and the United States, do not recognize a State of Palestine. It is therefore impossible to occupy “Palestinian land.”

Gaza as “Ancestral Homeland.”

It is puzzling to see CAIR refer to Gazans as being tied to the land for centuries while simultaneously arguing that 80% of Gazans are “1948 refugees” who should move into Israel. If today’s Gazans aren’t really Gazans according to the United Nations and Arab countries, why the uproar in trying to move them out of a war zone which caused thousand of casualties?  Why the uproar in trying to move them out of the rubble to rebuild the region which was decimated in a war their leaders started and they supported?

“Right of Return” and “Right To Remain”

CAIR used terms “right of return” and “right to remain” in its letter to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. It attempted to anchor local Arabs everywhere in the land, including in Israel. Simultaneously, CAIR advocates – as does the United Nations per UNSC 2334 – that Jews should be expelled from the “West Bank” / E49AL. This is an extremist Islamic Supremacy agenda and not one based on mutual dignity.

The United States opposition to SAPs “right of return” into Israel enables its vision of two states, one Arab and one Jewish, the opposite of what CAIR claims.

CAIR’s leadership made troubling statements about the Gazan war against Israel and called Jewish groups “enemies” of Muslims. It is distressing that some Democratic senators like Van Hollen and Merkley echoed the group’s questions to Mike Huckabee at his confirmation hearing. Hopefully these responses articulate what was omitted from that session.

Mike Huckabee during confirmation hearing to become US ambassador to Israel, March 2025

Related articles:

CAIR Thinks Protecting Synagogues Is A Political Stunt And Waste Of Taxpayers Money (September 2024)

Hamas, CAIR, DSA, Within Our Lifetime, SJP Are All Gunning For Jews (May 2024)

UNSC Makes Slow Progress In Calling Out Hamas

Posted on by
3

The United Nations Security Council met once more about Gaza on March 18, 2025, and the parade of charges against Israel’s conduct in its defensive war was to similar tunes.

Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, criticized Israel for halting aid into the terrorist enclave and for preventing UNRWA for operating freely. He would go on to also comment on Israel’s operations to root out terrorists in the West Bank.

Countries from the Global South, the majority of which recognize a Palestinian state, followed his remarks, starting with Algeria, Somalia, Sierra Leone from Africa, and Guyana in South America. Only Sierra Leone would condemn Hamas (29:45) even though it would equate the Israeli hostages with “detainees” held by Israel.

Then the representative of the United States, Dorothy Shea, took the floor.

At every moment, Shea would call out Hamas. She referred to it as a “brutal terrorist organization” which has a “disregard for human life.” It demanded Hamas “release the hostages it abducted” and called out the group’s refusal to do so and extend the ceasefire.

Shea mentioned “Hamas” thirteen times, and only stopped discussing “Hamas’s savagery” which “threatens peace and stability” when she pivoted to the opportunity to reshape the region for a better and more prosperous future.

France, a member of the Global North, spoke next and it condemned Hamas’s attack of October 7 but did not call for Hamas to be eliminated. Further, it said that “a global political resolution” to the conflict was needed, not only trying to sideline Israel’s military operation but the country’s effort to work a bilateral agreement with the Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs).

The representative of Panama spoke next and at 51:15 specifically called out Hamas’s attack of October 7, its refusal to abide by commitments to release Israeli hostages and condemned the group.

The Global North continued with Russia and Slovenia speaking next and both gave Hamas a complete pass. The United Kingdom and Greece said that Hamas can have no role in a future Gaza but did not condemn the political-terrorist group.

Pakistan and China ignored Hamas. South Korea would only condemn Hamas’s abduction of hostages. Denmark condemned both Hamas’s October 7 massacre and taking of hostages and said there can be no role for Hamas in the future of Gaza.

The sorry state of the UNSC barely mentioning and condemning Hamas and calling for it to face maximum justice is not new. When the council first met in October 2023 at the start of Hamas’s war, only the United States would call out Hamas. At that time I wrote “If and when the United Nations can call out the evil of Hamas, thousands of lives in the region will be saved, and the terrorist group will be on a path for elimination. I am not optimistic.”

We are tens of thousands of dead later, and only a few countries in the Global North have started to call out Hamas, led by Denmark and Panama. The relative silence from France, the United Kingdom, Greece and South Korea is disappointing. The behavior of Slovenia and Russia is appalling.

The countries of the Global North at the UN Security Council must lead in clearly condemning Hamas and insisting that it be dismantled completely. Thousands of additional lives are at stake.

ACTION ITEMS

Thank the United States government and its mission to the UN at (212) 415-4000 for being a leader for placing the blame for the war and ongoing suffering squarely on Hamas.

Thank the governments of Panama (emb@panama-un.org, 212.421.5420) and Denmark (nycmis@um.dk, 212.308.7009) for clearly condemning Hamas.

Contact the UN missions from France (212.702.4900), the UK (212.745.9200), Greece (212.888.6900, grdel.un@mfa.gr), and South Korea (212.439.4000, korea.un@mofa.go.kr) and ask them to do more.

Vilify Russia (212.861.4900) and Slovenia (212.370.3007) for allowing barbarism to go unmentioned and putting thousands of additional lives at risk.

The Global South Is Coming For The UN Security Council

Posted on by
3

The United Nations has 193 countries in the General Assembly, and 134, roughly 70%, are located in what is generally called the “Global South”, a term that has emerged to replace “third world” and “developing economies.” The region accounts for about 80% of the global population, with the difference in figures mostly due to the two largest populations – India and China – being located in the region.

The UN has many committees and agencies. Of all of them, the UN Security Council is the most significant, being the sole entity that can pass international laws. It has five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the USA – and ten non-permanent members which serve two year terms. More than 50 members of the UN have never served on the UNSC, including Israel.

The current UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, thinks that the current UNSC needs to be refashioned for the modern world. He bemoans the fact that no African country has a permanent seat on the council, and the ability for the five permanent members to veto resolutions has allowed some wars – like in Ukraine and Gaza – to continue for too long. He also believes that capitalism as dictated by the Global North has kept the Global South in poverty by charging higher rates of interest and not forgiving debt.

US President Joe Biden favored allowing two African countries to become permanent members of the UNSC but objected to their obtaining veto powers. He thought that the current system of veto rights already made the committee unproductive and adding more members with such rights would impede it further. Others countered that it was time to remove all veto rights. Still others like India, the world’s most populous country, demanded a seat on the committee as well. Arab countries took the opportunity to demand the same.

Negotiations will play out over 2025, with a new US administration under Donald Trump who is much more weary of multilateralism and the United Nations generally. The discussions will mainly focus on Africa, where most of the global growth in population is occurring.

China has invested heavily in Africa, accounting for roughly one-third of the infrastructure projects, and now has global trade of $282 billion with the continent. Its actions helped it surpass the United States in terms of popularity (58% to 56%). The US must consider how it interacts with the African continent directly and what steps it takes at the UN as it fights its shadow war with China.

Those who spend their lives focused on the UN and global politics have been debating which two countries should join the UNSC. If the seats go to the countries with the largest economies, it would favor South Africa ($373 billion) and Egypt ($347 billion). If it is awarded based on population, it would go to Nigeria (232 million) and Ethiopia (132 million). Others consider the Democratic Republic of Congo (109 million and one of the fastest growing population at +3.3% in 2024) which has been decimated by ongoing violence. Including a country which has longed for peace might make sense at the Security Council.

For people who focus on another country which has dreamed of calm – the Jewish State of Israel – the changes to the UNSC are extremely important.

Overall, the Global South is much more anti-Israel than the Global North. All 28 countries that refuse to recognize the State of Israel are located there. Almost every country in the Global South recognizes Palestine while a minority of the Global North recognizes such entity.

Since the Iranian Proxies War on Israel, South Africa has led the charge against Israel at the International Court of Justice, claiming Israel’s defensive war was a “genocide.” Those joining South Africa were almost all from the Global South, with the exceptions of Belgium, Ireland and Spain from Europe.

The dynamic of a change at the UNSC will not only impact Israel but possibly Jews around the world as witnessed by the spike of global antisemitic attacks since the October 7 massacre. In the United States, the majority of international students at universities come from the Global South, and an empowerment of their voices at the Security Council may exacerbate Jew hatred everywhere.

While people are focused on the genocidal jihad that brought violence against Jews in Israel and the United States watching movies like October 8, attention must include the impending harm that may come to Jews everywhere with changes at the United Nations Security Council.

ACTION ITEM

Write the White House to share your concerns of changes to the United Nations Security Council

Related articles:

Global South’s Beachhead On American Universities (March 2025)

Van Hollen Is Grossly Ignorant About Zionism And The Indignity Of UNSC 2334 (January 2025)

Jews Are A Minority-Minority (November 2023)

Context For “Intifada”

Posted on by
4

Hamas Defenders (like the Arab world and universities) and their defenders (politicians and progressive Jews) – HDDs – have tried to reeducate the West about both the English and Arabic languages.

At congressional hearings, HDDs told senators that “Intifada” just means “shaking off” and did not mean the slaughter of Jews, despite the Second Intifada killing 1,000 Jews – almost all civilians – and resulting in more restrictions on Palestinians, like the Security Barrier which ended that intifada.

Those hearings had the head of the Arab American Institute also share that “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” is not a call for killing Jews but just the liberation of local Arabs.

That same speaker said that “Glory to our martyrs” plastered on buildings might only be interpreted as antisemitic if the buildings were synagogues or Jewish centers, but simply free speech if it was in public where Jews would see it going to school.

WESPAC-backed Palestine Youth Movement masked members plastering “Glory To Our Martyrs” on top of the map of Israel, at train stations in New York

HDDs said there was no hate crime when professors said the massive slaughter of Jews on October 7 was “exhilarating” to a crowd, or when students held signs pointing at Jews that read “al Qassam next targets.” Not just not a crime, but not even hate.

Masked Columbia student calling for Hamas missile strike on Jewish students

They accuse Jews of being too sensitive.

When HDDs accuse Israel of committing “genocide” and behaving like “Nazis” committing “ethnic cleansing” while engaged in “apartheid,” they attempt to strip the victims of European and Arab countries’ atrocities of their history and memory and desecrate the memories of 6 million Jews.

As HDDs refer to the raping of Jewish women, burning families alive and kidnapping Holocaust survivors a form of “justified resistance,” they seek to insult the memories of the Jewish dead and have the world condemn the innocent as evil “occupiers.”

NYC mob waving flags of Palestinian terrorist groups including Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine chanting for “Intifada revolution” in front of exhibit about the Gazan slaughter of innocents at the Nova Music Festival in Israel on October 7, 2023

It is an attempted institutional gaslighting of Jews.

When HDDs testify that chants like “there is only one solution, Intifada Revolution,” require “context” and must be “targeted and pervasive” in order for school administrations to even consider taking action, they don’t pause to consider Jews being locked in rooms for their safety or fleeing campus because schools won’t protect them. FOR MONTHS.

Jewish students in downtown NYC barricade themselves in a library from a horde

They believe that Jews are too powerful to be at risk and are crying wolf.

The Democratic Socialists have declared every White person and Israeli part of the colonialist regime and are therefore all guilty and thereby legitimate targets for violence. Even babies.

Democratic Socialists of America siding with Hamas arguing that all forms of violence are legitimate in an effort of “liberation”

Jewish HDDs (they are mostly in the second ‘D’ in HDD) accuse their fellow Jews of being tools of antisemitic Republicans who are using them to dismantle the education system and suppress free speech. They add that those Jews who complain about antisemitism are right-wing racists who are putting international and minority groups at risk by complaining to authorities.

These Jewish members of the socialist-jihadi alliance don’t fret acting as fig leaves for genocidal antisemitic comrades.

That has become the American landscape into which Jews step out of their front doors every day. Walking the streets, quietly wearing a yellow ribbon for the hostages held by Gazans and members of the United Nations, they are accosted with accusations that Jews and Zionists are evil and deserve neither dignity nor empathy. Even more, that Jews must relinquish their history and rights or face the firing squad before a cheering crowd.

Diaspora Jews are being groomed for slaughter. The operators of the slaughterhouses are in the awkward early days of learning how to keep the human cattle from acting up as they get processed. For the moment, they are playing with language and attempting to invert victim and assailant to enlist sympathy from the masses to join in the massacre.

Watching their growing ranks including progressive and anti-Zionist Jews as well as politicians, empowers the HDD movement that it is on the right track.

Members of Jewish Voice for Peace take over Trump Tower on March 13, 2025

The context of the Global Intifada is that Jews and the Jewish State are considered part of the White Imperialist and Capitalist world. All are inherently guilty and therefore should not be allowed to defend themselves. HDDs are telling you that to be on the right side of history, everyone has to take up the cause and confront Zionists and White people wherever they are.

The pathetic joke is that the mantra is being stoked principally by foreign actors of the Global South on American soil under our own noses.

Gaza’s Defenders Condemn It (February 2025)

The Quantitative Shield For A Qualitative Problem (March 2024)

Jordan’s King Abdullah Excuses Palestinian Barbarity (October 2023)

Palestinian Inversion Of Facts Based On Refusal To Coexist (July 2022)

Hamas’s Willing Executioners (July 2021)

Names and Narrative: Zionist Entity and Colonial Occupier (May 2019)

The Palestinians aren’t “Resorting to Violence”; They are Murdering and Waging War (November 2014)

Eyal Gilad Naftali Klinghoffer. The new Blood Libel. (June 2014)

Does Gaza Fall Outside Humanitarian Laws?

Posted on by
2

International humanitarian law (IHL) has been established for decades, and many are principally designed to protect civilians during armed conflict. In the case of the Gaza war against Israel, it is questionable whether the laws can be applied to Israel’s actions in the war, not whether Israel is abusing such laws.

Principle of Distinction

The driving themes of IHL surrounds mitigating the harm to non-combatants during hostilities. The first driver is, therefore, to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. In most battles, this is easy to accomplish: during a clash on a battlefield, the only participants are soldiers. In urban warfare, this is much more difficult.

In the dense Gaza strip, this is virtually impossible.

The various military groups in Gaza are embedded and underneath almost every building and road. Hamas, the popular political-terrorist group that rules Gaza, built an entire infrastructure underneath the city with a maze of 500 kilometers of tunnels and storerooms. The hundreds of exit shafts for much of this infrastructure is located in houses and schools.

Hamas soldiers in Gaza tunnels

Additionally, Gazan combatants dress in civilian clothing and are members of groups which are touted to be neutral including the United Nations, the press and hospital staff.

UNRWA employees and Hamas militants

If civilians and related infrastructure are enmeshed by premeditated design with an active military, then the civilians have become integrated into the war effort and renounced protections of distinction.

Principles of Proportionality and Precaution

IHL’s Principle of Proportionality is designed to minimize collateral damage to civilians when attacking legitimate military targets. It calls for a review of the situation and reducing armaments to make any incidental civilian harm be aligned to the relative military gain achieved. The related Precaution principle is one step further, to try to prevent any military action, if possible.

Israel has taken many actions to limit the harm to civilians – which have been harshly criticized, nevertheless.

  • Withholding electricity and other aid. Israel has attempted to pressure Hamas and other militant groups – which seize all goods into Gaza – by withholding basic items like electricity so Israel would not have to use military force in the region. For those efforts, Israel is accused of causing a humanitarian catastrophe, rather than adhering to the Principles of Precaution
  • Move civilians out of the field of battle. Israel has moved and continues to urge civilians to leave “hot” areas, only to be accused of “ethnic cleansing”
  • Using ground forces. Israel could minimize its own casualties by only using air power against the terrorist enclave. Instead, it seeks a more targeted effort to eliminate combatants and protect civilians, for which it is criticized.

The vast majority of Gazans are in favor of killing Israeli civilians, voted for Hamas with its antisemitic genocidal charter, and supported the October 7 massacre. Gazans are part of the Hamas machinery, and the United Nations defends Hamas and demands that Israel not seek justice for its murdered civilians.

While Gazan authorities threaten to commit the October 7 barbarity over and again, Israel attempts to adhere to international law yet is criticized for it. Even though Israel left Gaza in 2005, and put in place a blockade only when Hamas took full control of the strip in 2007 to follow the Principle of Precaution, it is laughingly accused by international “human rights” groups of a “belligerent occupation.”

The terrorist enclave of Gaza has removed distinctions between civilians and militants, aid workers and terrorists, state and non-state actors, locals and international operators, and civilian infrastructure and military bases in a toxic brew. It defecates on all humanitarian norms while pointing both armaments and accusing fingers at Israel.

As the United Nations and Gazans have themselves destroyed all distinctions between combatants and non-combatants, and declared that Israel can never meet the standards of international humanitarian law, there is no basis to criticize Israel’s handling of its defensive war on such basis.

Related articles:

First Time In History, People Under ‘Genocide’ Reject Ceasefire. Repeatedly. (December 2024)

Palestinians Publicly Go Full Genocidal Jihadi (August 2024)

Ban Ki Moon Defecates on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 2016)

UN’s Confusion on the Legality of Israel’s Blockade of Gaza (July 2015)

Palestinian Authority Whitewashes Hostage-Taking Torture

Posted on by
Reply

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, delivered her latest thematic report on torture which defined hostage-taking as a “cruel game” and definitely a form of torture. The lengthy report highlighted several examples of the practice, and specifically called out a number of countries – China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela – as particularly notorious state offenders.

Edwards called out non-state actors as well, including those backed by Iran, such as the Houthis in Yemen “holding at least 30 humanitarians,” and “Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups” which abducted 251 people in Israel on October 7, 2023.

Calling out the obvious evil was controversial in the morally-bankrupt institution.

In a press conference after the release of the report to the Human Rights Council, Edwards said (5:55) that several countries and NGOs asked her to remove certain countries from the report and criticized the timing of the release, presumably because it is coming amidst the horrific reports emerging from captives held by the Palestinian Arab political-terrorist group, Hamas. Edwards was accused for bias for her actions but refused to be silenced as she believes that hostage-taking should be viewed as a critical component in discussing human rights.

Edwards criticized the draft document of international crimes against humanity for not including hostage-taking. She argued for the families of hostages to have a point person in governments and at the UN with whom to liaise.

Most significantly, Edwards called on those taking hostages, “and those that aid and abet them,” to be held accountable and punished severely, as hostage-taking has become a “low-risk high-reward crime” (15:20) on the global stage. She argued for compensation for survivors.

This seemed a bit much for the socialist-jihadi alliance which roams the halls of the UN. Almost no one attended the briefing and only two reporters asked questions of Edwards. Both featured whataboutery, asking about Israel’s treatment of captives, and whether the Jewish State was just as guilty as Hamas And Friends.

Edwards responded (24:19) that Gazans took hostages as negotiating leverage, while Israel took prisoners of war in the middle of the ongoing war. Those taken from Israel were done so for leverage and ransom, while those taken by Israel were placed in detention and removed from the war effort, and therefore could not be considered hostages.

This was all way too much for the Palestinian Authority.

The PA’s official media arm, WAFA, produced its own reporting of the UN report on torture. It claimed that the special rapporteur “report focused on torture during captivity” which criticized the “Israeli attacks on Gaza” and “ill-treatment endures by Palestinians detained by Israel.” Nowhere does the PA’s account explain that Palestinian Arabs held by Israel are not hostages, the main theme of the report, nor does the “news” summary review the axis of evil which supports the Palestinian Arabs, as the worst offenders of hostage-taking.

The Palestinian Authority, propped up by the United Nations, tolerates the terrorist activities of local Arab terrorist groups – including the taking of civilian hostages and sexual violence -because the armed jihadi groups are much more popular amongst the Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs). The puppet regime is either a worthless veneer or complicit, and should be held similarly accountable.

ACTION ITEM

Demand all officials condemn Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the other terrorist groups which participated in the October 7 barbarity and demand that they face maximum justice.

Related articles:

Excerpt of Hamas Charter to Share with Your Elected Officials (May 2021)

The United Nations’ Adoption of Palestinians, Enables It to Only Find Fault With Israel (March 2016)