Every Picture Tells A Story: Palestinian Terrorists are Victims

The New York Times has continued to use pictures which accompany its articles (read editorials) to frame narratives that are vehemently anti-Zionist.

On November 20, 2020, the paper had a two-page spread on pages A12 and A13 which touched upon the victims of terrorism but handled the stories very differently.

Pages A12 and A13 from The New York Times on November 20, 2020

Page A13 had a large color photograph of a victim of a terrorist attack in Toronto. The article’s title “Professed ‘Incel’ Who Killed 10 With Van Stands Trial in Toronto” had a caption under the page’s dominant picture which read “Cathy Riddell, 70, who sustained over 20 injuries, including brain trauma, in a 2018 van attack that killed 10 people and wounded 16.” The large picture gave a personal story of the tragedy that struck so many and left the reader feeling emotionally attached to her and the many victims of this ‘incel’.

The story on page A12 portrayed a very different picture for readers. The story called “Seeking Restart with Biden, Palestinians to Pare Prisoner Payments” also had a picture – but of a very different kind of “victim.”

The picture was of two people walking around rubble. The caption read “The parents of a Palestinian prisoner inspecting her house in the West Bank after it was demolished by the Israeli Defense Forces.” In this rendition of history, the Palestinian terrorist is the victim, by being in jail and having her house demolished. The dead and injured Israelis are nowhere to be found as they are not victims for the Times, as their very presence makes Arabs “resort to violence.”

While the paper could have shown pictures of Israeli victims as it did in the article on the following page, including the Henkins who were shot to death in their car in front of their children, or Tamar Fogel who was 12 years old when she entered her home to see her parents and three siblings stabbed to death by two Arab men, or hundreds of other Israelis, it opted to make the Palestinian Arabs serving in jail the victims.

Perhaps a dose-of-reality bubble could have been placed over this woman’s head as she inspected the demolished home, like Widad Barghouti who had her house demolished after her son Qassam Shibli killed a 17-year old Israeli girl on a hike. The text would read her statement just after her house was demolished: “I say to [my son Qassam], to all of them [the prisoners], that we are proud of you. If we want to talk about our achievements as mothers, then the most important achievement that we have made in our lives is that we gave birth to heroes such as these.” Nah, that would break the Times narrative crafted for its anti-Zionist readership.

The anti-Israel media will tell you explicitly, subtly, directly and indirectly until you’re brain-washed to believe that Palestinian Arabs are always the victims, even – or perhaps especially – those that murder.


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Trump Secures Lowest Tally of Israeli Deaths From Palestinian Terrorism

Israel has a long history battling armies and terrorists since the Jewish State declared its independence in 1948. Since September 2000, a total of 1,383 people have been killed by terrorists and many times that number have been wounded.

Yasser Arafat launched the Second Intifada in September 2000 after he was disappointed with only getting 98% of his stated desires from the peace process with Israel. Terrorist attacks became daily occurrences and the death toll and carnage was horrific. In just the last few months of 2000, some 43 people were killed in Palestinian attacks. The toll increased in the following years with 208, 464, 210 and 143 murdered during the years 2001 through 2004, respectively. The reduced number of deaths in the latter years was a direct result of Israel constructing a security barrier to stem the flow of Palestinian killers from areas which Israel had handed to Palestinian Authority rule between 1995 and 2000. The barrier proved critical in saving Israeli lives in the following years.

Palestinian terrorists kill 15 civilians including 7 children and a pregnant woman at a Sbarro pizza store in Jerusalem on August 9, 2001

From 2005 through 2008, a total of 134 people were killed in terrorist attacks, a four year total which was less than 2004 alone. The numbers would continue to improve during the two Obama terms, with 55 fatalities in the 2009 to 2013 period, but escalating to 79 deaths in the second term, with a spike from the stabbing and car ramming intifadas after the peace process under U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry completely failed.

The last four years have been the safest ever.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s strong support for Israel translated into the lowest Israeli death toll from Palestinian terrorism (47 murdered), despite the various dire warnings of the region going up in flames because of the U.S.’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the move of its embassy to the city and various other pro-Israel initiatives. Year-to-date, two people have been killed by Palestinian terrorists, the lowest one year total ever. The two-year and three-year totals (14 and 28, 2019-2020 and 2018-2020, respectively) are also records for the fewest Israeli deaths from terrorism.

Four-Year PeriodFatalities from Terrorism
2001-20041,025 (Second Intifada)
2005-2008134 (Security Wall built)
2009-201255 (Palestinians hopeful in Obama’s squeeze of Israel)
2013-201679 (Failure of Obama peace initiative; Stabbing Intifada)
2017-202047 (Trump Administration’s pro-Israel agenda)
Trump administration yields most peaceful period for Israel in decades

President Trump helped make Israel strong which helped make Israel safe. It is a formula worthy of repeating.


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Saeb Erekat’s Terrorist Lobby

Saeb Erekat is the Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and has long held the title of “Negotiator” with Israel in attempting to create a new state of Palestine. He is also a champion of the anti-Zionist Terrorist Lobby.

After pressure from the United States’ Trump Administration, the European Union finally began to investigate the funneling of money to Palestinian groups that directly and indirectly are involved with terrorist attacks against Jewish Israelis. The document which referred to “financial support to third parties, in the lists of EU restrictive measures” was designed to curb the flow of money from members of the EU to some of the Palestinian NGOs (non-Governmental Organizations) which are involved in illegal activities. This includes EU-designated terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Saeb Erekat would have none of it.

Erekat declared that “Hamas and the PFLP are not terrorist organizations,” despite such designation by the EU, the United States and many other countries. Hamas’s foundational Charter openly calls for the killing of Jews and destruction of Israel. It has killed hundreds of Israelis in terrorist attacks since its founding.

In December 2019, 130 Palestinian NGOs refused to sign onto the EU restrictions and launched a “Palestinian National Campaign to Reject Conditional Funding.” On September 30, 2020, Palestinian leaders met with Palestinian NGOs in Ramallah met to discuss how to remove Palestinian NGOs from the restrictive list to keep the euros flowing.

Remarkably, Erekat’s role in the Terrorism Lobby to get funds and support for groups that kill Jews did not stop the Jewish State from admitting him to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem for complications from the coronavirus. It should serve as a further reminder to the EU to monitor those who support life and those with genocidal aspirations.

Saeb Erekat, part of the anti-Zionist Terrorist Lobby, speaking at the left-wing J Street Conference

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New York Times Recharacterizes Hamas as a Right-Wing Terrorist Group

For years, The New York Times has refused to label Hamas as a designated foreign terrorist organization and instead has opted to call it an “Islamist militant group.” That changed on September 5, 2020 but not for a good reason.

The Times went so far to label the group in its headline, “The Justice Department Charges Two With Trying to Support Terrorist Group Hamas.” It seemed a moment to celebrate the Times finally calling out this horrible antisemitic group. However, the two pictures of White men under the title gave immediate pause.

September 5, 2020 NY Times article

The article said that the “Justice Department on Friday charged two American citizens with ties to a far-right extremist group with trying to support the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas – a case that shows that extremists have sought to turn protests against racism into opportunities to commit violence, but that also runs counter to President Trump’s assertions that those extremists are predominantly from the far left.” It would continue to call a Hamas a terrorist group two more times before continuing that “the Justice Department has predominantly charged members of Boogaloo with crimes, contradicting claims by Mr. Barr and Mr. Trump that far-left extremists are responsible for the violence and crimes that have occurred at protests.”

After a decade of not referring to Hamas as a terrorist group in hundreds of articles which mentioned it, the Times did so FOUR TIMES in a single article as it linked it to a far-right extremist movement. Yet Hamas is not a right-wing movement but an Islamic one, championed by progressives supporting Palestinian Arabs including former Democratic President Jimmy Carter.

The Times is actively moving past its history of ignoring Palestinian Muslim antisemitism and terrorism to actively recharacterizing it as an evil of the right. I wonder whether these efforts will win the praise or scorn of Muslim anti-Zionist Democratic members of Congress like Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).


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Palestinian Actions Matter

There is a new placard being burnished around the world. It calls for justice and an end to the hatred and excuses for the racist, misogynistic, antisemitic and homophobic actions of Palestinian Arabs. #PalestinianActionsMatter

Foundational Charters and Laws

  • The Palestinian Authority (PA) has a law that calls for capital punishment for any Arab that sells land to a Jew
  • The foundational charter of one of the major Palestinian political parties, Hamas, is the most evil and anti-Semitic charter ever written, with calls to destroy Israel and kill Jews
  • The PA publishes anti-Semitic textbooks for children in school that demonizes Jews, claims they have no connection to the holy land, and glorifies “martyrs”
  • Palestinian colleges ban Jews – even anti-Zionist Jews who argue for their cause – from visiting on campuses
  • PA law excuses the honor killings of women who shame Arab families
  • When Arabs controlled Hebron, they refused to allow Jews from climbing above the seventh step to the Cave of the Jewish Patriarchs
  • Arabs still refuse to allow Jews to pray at their holiest location, the Jewish Temple Mount
  • When Arabs seized control of the Old City of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria in 1949, they expelled every Jew
  • After the Arabs from Transjordan united with the Arabs in Judea and Samaria, they specifically banned any Jew from becoming a citizen in 1954.

Elected Leadership

People

  • The Palestinian population are the most anti-Semitic in the world, estimated at 93% of the people
  • Since the Palestinians gained control of Gaza, they launched three wars (2008, 2012 and 2014), fired thousands of rockets at Israeli cities, and dug tunnels to penetrate Israel for attacks, rather than build an economy
  • Palestinians set fire to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus and painted the dome green, the color of Islam
  • Palestinian Arabs have routinely been killing Israeli civilians while the Jews shop, ride the bus, eat pizza or celebrate Passover
  • Palestinians routinely go on television and say that Jews are greedy and love money over everything
  • Parents of terrorists flock to the media to declare how proud they are of their children who kill Jews

The world is waking up to the systemic racism and antisemitism of Palestinians with calls to defund the Palestinian Authority and questions whether yet an additional Arab state in the region should be created which has been instilled with such a toxic culture.


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Palestinian Post-paid Terrorism

Mobile subscribers come in two general varieties: pre-paid and post-paid.

Post-paid subscribers pay AFTER they receive service each month. These customers do not know exactly how much they will pay for service due to the variability in usage but have an understanding with the wireless carrier on the basic parameters of $X for Y voice minutes and Z GB of data usage.

In contrast, pre-paid customers pay BEFORE they use the service. Sometimes this is done because the consumer wants to have a defined liability and ensure they are not burdened by overage charges. Pre-paid plans are often used by consumers with poor credit.

In the early days of wireless, there were only post-paid subscribers as the handsets and calling plans were expensive. The cost kept the marketplace limited to only the wealthy and consumers who truly needed the service. To attract the masses, carriers introduced pre-paid plans which were not only much cheaper but avoided the lengthy contracts and background checks. The mobile industry took off.

This is the template the Palestinian Authority has used with terrorism, inverting pre-paid and post-paid to attract the masses.

Post-paid Terrorism for the Masses

In the early days of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the group took a significant amount of time to recruit and train its killers. Money was spent on guns, ammunition and bombs, and considerable time was invested in surveillance, training and planning. The massacre of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre and the numerous airplane hijackings in the 1970’s were carried out by devout fanatics. These were pre-paid terrorist activities with the terrorist group investing a lot upfront, limiting both the number of attacks and PLO membership.

The world changed after the jihadist terrorism against the United States on 9/11/2001. The U.S. pushed the world to fight terrorist groups directly with arms AND by cutting off their source of funding. Even the United Nations got involved.

The impact was felt in Israel.

HAMAS, the Palestinian jihadist terrorist group, was forced to wage war on a more limited budget and use less expensive weaponry to kill Jews including cheap and poorly constructed missiles, bombs attached to balloons and thousands of young men with rocks.

For its part, the Palestinian Authority employs a “pay-to-slay” program, a post-paid terrorism financing plan in which it needn’t directly recruit individuals or invest in armaments for attack. The PA pays the terrorists and their families based on how long they spend in Israeli jails which is correlated to their crimes – more dead Israelis equals more jail time and more money.

This contract is considered sacrosanct. Acting-President of the PA Mahmoud Abbas said “[e]ven if we have only a penny left, we will give it to the martyrs, the prisoners and their families…. We view the prisoners and the martyrs as planets and stars in the skies of the Palestinian struggle, and they have priority in everything.”

Consider Hakim Awad, just 18-years old when he burst into a Jewish family’s home one night while they slept. He stabbed the parents and three children to death, including a three-month-old infant. The PA considers his actions noble and pays his family $14,000 per year. Should Awad live to the age of 80, the PA will pay nearly $2 million to Awad’s family.

Hakim Awad leaving court. He received five life-sentences for murdering five Jewish civilians (Photo: Hagai Aharon)

This system of “pay-to-slay” works well for all the Arab parties. The terrorists and their families get the money directly rather than it going to weapons, and they have clarity that the greater destruction they can inflict, the more money will go to their families. The Palestinian Authority gains millions of terrorists-in-waiting while it maintains that it is not involved in terrorism as the world is accustomed to thinking about terrorism on the basis of pre-paid financing. This allows Abbas to stand at the General Assembly of the United Nations while playing the victim and continue to receive millions of dollars from countries.

Abbas’ post-paid terrorism has worked. Stabbings, rock-throwings and car rammings ballooned after Hamas’s failed war against Israel in 2014. Countries around the world continue to give monies to the PA considering it “humanitarian” support because they are in favor of an independent Palestinian state, even though it is clear that they are funding terrorism. The Palestinian terrorists-in-waiting read about the funds transfers and consequently know their families will be paid well and that they will be honored as heroes in their communities.


In the early days of mobile, post-paid wireless subscribers were considered much more valuable than pre-paid subscribers, as they spent much more money each month and were more loyal, less likely to leave the carrier. That has changed over time with each spending roughly the same amount today.

In terrorism, the dynamics have also converged. The loyalty of post-paid terrorists-in-waiting has matched the devoted jihadists, knowing that the monies and honor are guaranteed.

As long as donor charities and countries continue to fund the Palestinian Authority, the value of the post-paid terrorists will continue to rise and the blood of Israeli Jews will continue to flow.


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HSBC Blocks Payments to US-Designated Terrorist Organization Fundraiser, Interpal

Multilateral and bilateral relations are being pushed and pulled like never before and influencing not only countries but companies and charities as well.

HSBC, the giant United Kingdom-headquartered bank recently announced that it would stop making payments to Interpal, a group which describes itself as a “non-political charity working to support the most vulnerable and support Palestinian communities.” The charity is considered legal according to UK law.

But not for the United States.

The Palestinian Arab group HAMAS is designated by the United States State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and in an effort to cripple it financially, the US Treasury Department assembled its own list of groups which direct money to HAMAS and other terrorist organizations. The infamous Holy Land Foundation (US-based) was on the list for funding HAMAS and consequently shut down. A few internationally based charities are also on the list, including Interpal, also based in the UK.

In response to HSBC halting payments to Interpal, the organization released a statement on April 26, 2020 slamming the bank for “appeas[ing] those who act on behalf of an alien state,” seemingly calling the United States “an alien state.” The charge suggests that the US may have pressured HSBC to stop facilitating payments to Interpal or risk its operation in the US where it has over 200 branches. However, in other Interpal materials, Interpal claims that the Israeli government pushed the US Treasury to label it an FTO in 2003, meaning that Interpal’s use of “alien state” may be directed towards Israel.

Interpal logo, which includes the entirety of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank

At play are two dynamics: countries arriving at different conclusions about whether a group is an FTO, and using pressure to exact the results one wants.

Terrorist Groups and Their Supporters

The UK has taken a “nuanced” approach to Hamas in that it labels the military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades, as a terrorist group but not the branch which handles community services. As such, it allows funds to flow to the charitable arm of Hamas.

For its part, the United States makes no distinction between the branches of Hamas. The US Treasury states:

“HAMAS raises tens of millions of dollars per year throughout the world using charitable fundraising as cover. While HAMAS may provide money for legitimate charitable work, this work is a primary recruiting tool for the organization’s militant causes. HAMAS relies on donations from Palestinian expatriates around the world and private benefactors located in moderate Arab states, Western Europe and North America. HAMAS uses a web of charities to facilitate funding and to funnel money. Charitable donations to non-governmental organizations are commingled, moved between charities in way that hide the money trail, and are then often diverted or siphoned to support terrorism.”

Interpal objects to being characterized as supporting Hamas directly, and states it simply aids the people whom Hamas also supports, similar to UNRWA. But it is generally clear how the UK would consider funding part of Hamas as legal while the US would not, let alone the murky work of providing similar services to the same people, often at the same time and place.

Political Pressure

The United States has been waging a global war on terror since the attacks on America on September 11, 2001. To be effective, it enlisted the world to help root out terrorist groups, including the United Kingdom.

The United Nations has also recognized the role that money plays in terrorism. The UN Security Council Resolution 2462 (2019) specifically called for all states to “prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts and to refrain from providing support to those involved in them.” While the UNSC called out ISIS and al-Qeda, it did not list other groups like Hamas. As such, there was room for countries to arrive at different conclusions about whether groups are terrorists and charities which support them should be targeted.

While every country must be able to define for itself the contours of acceptability, when allies disagree on something as fundamental and critical as terrorism, there will certainly be cause for aggressive actions and angry responses.

Interpal

While Interpal may claim to be a non-political humanitarian organization, casting itself as handing out aid to the indigent, it has a very active anti-Israel agenda.

It has a division committed to “advocacy,” taking up 10 per cent of its budget, which bashes Israel in international fora. It repeatedly refers to Israel in the most ugly terms while casting Palestinian Arabs as innocent victims.

As an example of its distorted view, it wrote in its 2019 brochure about a hospital in Gaza during the 2014 war:

“During the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza, staff and patients at El Wafa hospital in Shujaiya were forced to evacuate after the Israeli army shelled the hospital on 17th July…. Interpal is proud to support El Wafa’s staff.”

Left out from this tidbit is that Hamas terrorists were firing into Israeli civilian areas from the hospital and Israel responded first with a “tap” to get people to evacuate before hitting the missile launching pad.


Interpal’s horrible anti-Israel bias is its own business and the group is entitled to its own opinion. The vile anti-Zionist perspective infects many and does automatically mean that they all actively support terrorists.

But to state that Interpal is an apolitical humanitarian group is a bit laughable, especially with a logo which covers the entirety of Israel.

To be a co-sponsor of events in Gaza under the watch of Hamas and then be shocked when antisemitic plays occur is to play naive. Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007 and its antisemitic charter calling for a death to Jews and destruction of Israel is available to all.

Interpal has been investigated and cleared of supporting terrorism, which goes to the heart of the matter here: should one country be able to pressure another to follow its lead in the designation of a terrorist group? What about the actions of companies domiciled in those countries?

The global war on terror demands it while the urgency for political independence abhors it.


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Empowering Women… To Murder

There are many differences between the sexes. Beyond the biological, there are statistically significant differences between the jobs men and women take and associated pay. It is even more true about delivering death, whether in murder, suicide rates or enlisting in the armed forces.

Armed Services

The enlistment in armed forces in many cases is a function of the traditional roles of women being maintained in countries around the world. Years ago, when weapons of war were not as sophisticated as today, physical strength was imperative. However, today there is no particular advantage to raw power when flying a fighter jet. Technology has leveled the field between men and women.

In the United States Armed Forces, women constitute roughly 16 percent of the fighting force and 18% of the officers. The highest percentages are in the Air Force and Navy where they account for nearly 25% of the officers, while making up only 10% in the Marines.

In Israel, women make up roughly 20% of the standing army. While Israel remains the only country where national service is compulsory for women, they are allowed to take a variety of roles to strengthen society not involved in combat. The Israeli national service called Sherut Leumi remains very popular among women, while men not who don’t enter combat units more typically go into intelligence or logistical roles in the army.

Suicide

In the U.S., suicide rates among men are 3 to 6 times the rate of women for every age group. In 2017, there were more than twice the number of suicides (47,173) than homicides (19,510) and it is the second leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 34 years old.

Women are actually more likely to attempt suicide but choose less violent and effective methods than men who often use guns. Approximately one-third of U.S. men own guns while only 12% of women do and its higher ownership rate among men may account for some of the disparity in suicide rates between the sexes. Overall, firearms account for half of all suicides.

Murder

Unlike the armed services or suicide, murder is the deliberate taking of another civilian life. It is viewed as the most heinous crimes around the world.

In the U.S., women commit roughly 15% of the murders even though they account for half of the population. Women killed an intimate partner or family member in approximately 60% of cases, while men killed non-family members in 80% of their murders. As victims, women were more than twice as likely to be killed by a spouse or intimate acquaintance than a stranger.

The statistics are clear: men are more violent and commit many more murders than women, especially of strangers.

Empowering Women… To Murder

The subject of “women empowerment” is often used around the world. In some countries like Saudi Arabia, women lack basic rights like leaving the house without a male consent or driving a car. In other countries women can’t vote or work in certain professions. The more liberal countries would like to see such policies change and women achieve more rights and equality with men.

But not in murder. Most civil societies do not want to see their young girls grow up to murder innocent civilians the way that men do.

Most places are not the Palestinian Authority (PA) territories.

The Palestinian Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) is based in Ramallah, down the road from the headquarters of the PA. It’s stated mission and goals are to empower women, to develop their skills and competencies and erase stereotypes about women’s roles in society. On its surface, these seem noble goals, until one applies the competencies to the murder of children.

On May 15, 2017, the WATC helped open a new women’s center in the Samarian town of Burqa, near Nablus. They opted to name the center the Dalal al-Mugrahbi Women’s Center, named for a terrorist who killed 37 Israeli civilians, including 12 children in the infamous Coastal Road Massacre in 1978.


Palestinians inaugurate a square to commemorate Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian terrorist who killed dozens of Israeli civilians in a 1978 bus hijacking in Israel, seen in portrait, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on March 13, 2011.
(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

It was reported that at the center’s inauguration ceremony, Rim Haja, a member of the Burqa village council, said the center would focus on the history of the struggle of the shaheed (martyr) Dalal al-Mughrabi and on presenting her “heritage” to youth groups. She added that naming the center for Dalal al-Mughrabi led the way for other “enrichment activities” dealing with the history of the Palestinian “struggle.”

When news of naming the square after a terrorist got out, various sponsors began to withdraw their support, including the government of Norway and the United Nations which said it “disassociated itself from the Center once it learned the offensive name chosen for it and will take measures to ensure that such incidents do not take place in the future.”

The head of the official PA-owned news outlet Wafa, Sami Daghlas said that “the center has no intention of caving in to the pressure and changing its name,” and will continue on its mission “to serve and empower young women in the village and to help them develop them to become active members in society.” The question is of course, “active” in what way?

Over the following months, additional agencies and governments withdrew their funding support. When the European Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat, a joint donor program sponsored by Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, pulled support from the WATC for its support in the center, Samia Bamya, the chairperson of WATC issued a statement:

“Despite the damage resulting from the cessation of funding, we will never make concessions as far as our principles and national and community role are concerned for the sake of receiving conditional funding.”

Amira Haroun, the undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Women’s Affairs added her own thoughts to the defunding of the WATC stating:

“All of the women institutions working in the Palestinian territories are acting in accordance with Palestinian national strategies that support the Palestinian cause and preserve the history of our struggling people. Therefore, any foreign funding that does not go in tandem with these objectives is refused… Claims whereby reviving the names of our fighters by naming Palestinian centers, squares and streets after them fall under the category of incitement to violence. They are false claims and a distortion of the truth. Israel is the one inciting countries against us and killing our people continuously.”

It is part of an ongoing travesty in which Palestinians name schools and camps after the killers of children and teach the youth to emulate the murderers. Using terrorists as role models is a crime against humanity.

While much of the world seeks to empower young women to achieve equality in education, career opportunities and freedom, the Palestinians seek to empower their young women to become murderers of Israeli children.


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The United Nations Must Take Its Own Medicine Re the Palestinian Authority

On July 10, 2019, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivered a speech regarding the horrible situation of terrorism in Africa which outlined a multi-step approach to tackling the growing problem.

Should he truly believe that those are the best methods for combating terrorism globally, he must begin to implement them in the region where the U.N. has tens of thousands of employees working for decades in an area where terrorism reigns under its blind eyes: among the Palestinian Arabs in the Arab-Israel Conflict.

Secretary General Antonio Guterres talks about fighting terrorism in Africa, July 2019
(photo: UNEP, Duncan Moore)

Below are Guterres’s main points on combating terrorism, and the situation in Gaza, West Bank and other areas where the United Nations cares for Palestinian Arabs:

  1. Working Together and Information Sharing. Guterres said that the global community should be “working together to share counter-terrorism information.” He noted that terrorism in Africa, such as the Kenya-Ethiopian border, could be best fought by sharing “information, expertise and good practices.”The U.N. agency for Palestinian Arab “refugees,” UNRWA has nearly 32,000 employees in Gaza, the “West Bank,” Lebanon, Syria and Jordan (a figure which grows even faster than the number of registered persons). Yet the UN limits its activities to education and healthcare, and does not provide any information to Israel about terrorists from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah or other known terrorist groups in the effort “to detect, identify and disrupt violent extremism and to bring terrorist to justice.” Regrettably, over the past several decades, the U.N. has never acted to stop terrorism – even with basic information sharing which Guterres called for in Africa. The UN has actually done the opposite, leaving its schools open to store weapons and as launching sites for missiles against Israel.
  2. Halting the Narrative of Grievance and Promoting Good Governance and Good Jobs. Guterres outlined some of the underlying causes which allow terrorism to thrive, saying that it is important to stop the  “narratives of grievance, actual or perceived injustice, and promised empowerment” as well as changing the dynamics “wherever human rights are being violated, good governance is being ignored and aspirations are being crushed.”Yet the U.N. has actively promoted the narrative of “grievance and injustice” in telling the Palestinians that they have a right to move to a house where a grandparent once lived, regardless as to whether they had actually owned any property and for how long. As such, the U.N. has fueled the Gaza riots for the past years with the promise that through the United Nations, the Arabs will get to move into Israel.Regarding “good governance,” the U.N. operates in Gaza in concert with Hamas, just as it operates in Syria with mass murder Bashar al-Assad and coordinates in Lebanon with operatives of Hezbollah. Rather than make any attempt at fostering human rights and good governance, UNRWA turns a blind eye as it hands out jobs and benefits to the stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs).Further, rather than heed Guterres’ comments regarding terrorism in Africa of “strengthening State institutions and civil society, building durable peace and promoting sustainable development to tackle the poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity that feed despair,” the U.N. has been active in promoting the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) of Israel movement, pulling good jobs out of the West Bank. It has similarly made light of the Trump administrations efforts to invest billions of dollars into the Palestinian economy, thereby helping fuel poverty and lack of opportunities.
  3. Engaging Women in the Fight Against Terrorism. Guterres sees a particular role for women to play in fighting hatred and violence, saying “We must fully engage women, who play multiple roles in relation to violent extremism and its prevention — as victims, as those recruited and radicalized, but most importantly as influencers and leaders in prevention and agents of peace.”But the U.N. has stood by while women are championed as murderers, not as “agents of peace.” All one has to do is look at schools and squares named after female terrorists. The U.N. stands by while official Palestinian Authority TV broadcasts mothers who say they are proud of their terrorist children. It is not as though the U.N. offers no opinions; it complains bitterly when the U.S. and Israel try to stop the pay-to-slay program which encourages terrorism.And as a simple matter of decency which must start on the local level, how has the U.N. said or done nothing while Gaza leads the world in honor killings of women on a per capita basis? Instead the U.N. produces long papers describing the plight of Palestinian women are solely because of Israel.The U.N. hasn’t enlisted Palestinian women to combat terror; it has promoted them to be part of the terror. It is well past time for this to change.
  4. Stop the Online Provocations and Hate Speech and Promote Jobs. It many ways, this point is similar to halting the narrative of grievance Guterres mentioned above. He said “youth unemployment not only limits personal fulfilment and drains away hope, it also undermines social cohesion and could threaten security.” Further, “With the rise of misinformation on social media and the Internet, young people also need education and empowerment to denounce manipulative narratives, xenophobia and hate speech, which can all lead to online radicalization.”As described above, the U.N. has effectively worked in concert with the BDS movement to kill good jobs for Palestinians in the West Bank fueling unemployment. It also makes little or no effort to stop or condemn the incitement on Palestinian TV and Facebook pages. In fact, it does the opposite, as many UNRWA officials use Facebook to post calls for terrorism against “Zionist dogs”.In regards to the swelling ranks of young people, the United Nations has actively been involved with “creating” the youth, by not advancing the U.N.’s own stated goals of birth control, even though UNRWA touches 99.4% of all Arab women. The U.N. gives Palestinians first world medical treatment while they have children at the rate of third world countries, which has inflated the Palestinian Arab refugee population by 1 million people – under the care of the United Nations.
  5. The Victims of Terrorism as Advocates for Peace. Guterres continued that the UN must “support the victims and survivors of terrorism, including victims of sexual violence and children exploited by terrorist groups,” who must be central to the fight against terror.So the United Nations builds a portal on the victims of terrorism. It writes about victims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia and Syria, places of horrible terrorist attacks (each almost 100% Muslim, except for Nigeria which is about 50/50 Christian/Muslim). Israel doesn’t get a mention.
  6. Stopping the Flow of Money to Terrorists. Guterres said “mitigating the threat of foreign terrorist fighters, empowering and engaging youth, countering terrorist financing and improving aviation security” are critical in the efforts to combat terrorism.An interesting read on the subject of halting the flow of money to terrorist is “Harpoon” by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. Israel actively is involved in the fight to stop the flow of funds to terrorists, but it is done despite the United Nations. The circus of the UN has countries including Kuwait and Indonesia (both almost completely Muslim) condemning Israel for withholding monies which the Palestinian Authority pays to terrorists’ families.

If the UN Secretary-General really believes in his formula for stopping terrorism, and desires peace in the Middle East, he should begin using his 32,000-person force on the ground servicing Palestinian “refugees” and the global forum to follow his principles including: sharing information on Palestinian terrorist groups with Israel; stopping the narrative that descendants of people who once live in Israel have any ‘right of return’; not facilitating or participating in any manner with the BDS movement; refusing to provide any services in Gaza as long as Hamas is in power and there are schools named after terrorists; having Israeli victims of terror address the United Nations; and backing Israel in suspending payments to the Palestinian Authority as long as it continues its pay-to-slay activities.

Guterres laid out his plan to stem terrorism around the world. As the Palestinians are his adopted wards, he can actively stop the terrorism in Israel. If he only showed the will to follow his own advice.


Related First.One.Through articles:

The UN Fails on its Own Measures to address the Conditions Conducive to the Spread of Terrorism

The United Nations Once Again “Encourages” Hamas

Stopping the Purveyors of Hateful Propaganda

What do you Recognize in the Palestinians?

The New Salman Abedi High School for Boys in England and the Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel Soccer Tournament in France

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The NY Times Will Not Write About the Preferred Violence of Palestinians

The New York Times sets the gold standard for a pro-Palestinian Arab narrative in the United States mainstream media. It never stops trying to make the point that Palestinians are non-violent resistance fighters against the horrible Israeli-occupation machine. Here’s a link from FirstOneThrough to appreciate the breadth and depth of the Times bias.

In the latest example, on July 9, 2019, the Times wrote an article on page A4 with two pictures and a map called “As Weary Protesters Turn to Pocketbook Issues, West Bank Quiets.” The online version had three more pictures of Palestinian Arabs “protesting before Israeli soldiers.”

The 1,200-word article used the word “protest” 8 times, not including the title. It used the word “resistance” 6 times. “Violence” appeared only twice.

Pretty remarkable for the people who launched a stabbing and car ramming intifada throughout 2015 on the heels of an all-out war from their cousins in Gaza in 2014, who continue to stone people and cars, and who have a leadership which continues to use its scant resources to pay terrorists who maim and murder Israelis.

A particularly choice paragraph captures the NYT’s #AlternativeFacts portrayal of the Palestinians as despondent about their peaceful strategy and anger at the United States:

“An opinion poll by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in June found that only 23 percent of Palestinians saw nonviolent resistance as the most effective way of achieving statehood, while three-quarters said the Palestinian leadership should reject the American peace plan.”

Fewer than one in four Palestinian Arabs believe there is any effectiveness of “nonviolent resistance.” The majority of Palestinians believe prefer other actions. According to the actual opinion poll:

“The public is divided over the role of negotiations and armed struggle in the establishment of a Palestinian state next to the state of Israel: 38% think armed struggle is the most effective means; 35% think that negotiation is the most effective means; and 23% believe that non-violent resistance is the most effective.”

But the Times wrote a huge article about the Palestinians’ LEAST PREFERRED method of establishing a new Palestinian state, well behind violence and negotiations.

Which begs the question, why not write a 1,200-word article about Palestinians preference for violence? Their attitude has been consistent in EVERY Palestinian poll, taken over the last several years. (Well, in actuality, they are Palestinian polls, so the words “violence” and “terrorism” are only used in connection with Israelis, whereas Palestinians engage in an “armed intifada” or “armed struggle“).

Further, the Palestinians oppose a two-state solution, with 47% in favor and 50% against as of June 2019. It is also a point that the NY Times never mentions.

The Times presents a fake narrative to its readership that the Palestinians are in favor of a two-state solution and are valiantly engaged in nonviolent protest to achieve their aims, despite every Palestinian poll which shows the opposite. But facts do not matter for the Times; the editors have chosen the good people and the bad people in every story. And in case you’ve been buried under a Palestinian rock and missed it, the Chosen People are the very bad people.


Related First.One.Through articles:

The New York Times Excuses Palestinian “Localized Expressions of Impatience.” I Mean Rockets.

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

For The NY Times, Antisemitism Exists Because the Alt-Right is Racist and Israel is Racist

The New York Times Whitewashes Motivation of Palestinian Assassin of Robert Kennedy

The Real “Symbol of the Conflict” is Neta Sorek

The New York Times Knows It’s Israeli Right from It’s Palestinian Moderates

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