Be comforted, my people....

Tomorrow we read from Isiah: ... נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ, עַמִּי

"Comfort ye, comfort ye My people... He gives power to the faint; and to him that has no might He increases strength. ...they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary..."

This is a fitting antidote to the three weeks of mourning we have just concluded on Tisha b"Av.

Despite the Babylonian conquest and exile, the Hellenist desecration, the Roman destruction, the Arab dhimmitude, the Crusader orgies of cruelty, the expulsion from England, the Inquisition and expulsion from Spain, the pogroms through Europe and Russia, the Shoah and over 90 years of terrorism and genocidal Arab wars, the Jewish people, small in number (only 14 million in a world of 6 billion) lives and thrives with "with wings as eagles".

Israel has absorbed millions of refugees and created a vibrant economy on a desolate patch of earth that is one eighth of one percent of the area of the Arab nations surrounding it.

..."The secret to Israel's survival, despite all the great challenges it has faced, lies in democracy and respect for the worth of the [Israeli] individual.... Israel  [developed] manufacturing, industry, and invention. The [average] income there is double [the average income] in the neighboring Arab countries. [Israel] has rendered itself an inescapable fact. Throughout all stages [of its development], it drew its power from the honor it granted to its citizens, while its Arab neighbors trampled the [poor] creatures known as their citizens under military boots" '

Okaz (Saudi Arabian Press), June 7, 2011

Be comforted, my people....

"This year, Israel published numerous scientific studies that put it in first place worldwide in terms of the number of studies [published] per capita – 12 studies to every 10,000 people. America is in second place, with 10 studies [to every 10,000 people], followed by Britain, with nine. As for the Arab countries, they are all at the bottom end of these statistics.

... Today, there are 21 international science companies in Israel... It knows before everyone else the results of [these companies'] studies, reaping their fruits and using their scientific expertise to advance Israeli inventions.
"The Israeli strategy in science and technology is based on finding new approaches in scientific research and technological invention by training new generations of scientists – especially in physics, chemistry, and the natural and social sciences....

"Since 1949, Israel has established marine geology and nuclear physics institutes, as well as [institutes] for the study of desert regions and information technology. Israel makes use of scientific research and technological development to secure its coasts and meet its [other] strategic defense and security needs, and in order to protect the environment, discover and develop natural resources and use them before others, produce electricity, communications, and information technology, and research [alternative] energy..." 

Al-Watan (Saudi Arabian Press), June 7, 2011

Israel has the highest venture capital investment IN THE WORLD

• 2 x the U.S.
• 30 x Europe

Israel has the second highest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ

• 2nd only to USA
• more than all of Europe, India, and China combined

Israel has more start-up companies than Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK.

Israel is a leader in:

• computers,
• security,
• communications,
• medical device patents,
• clean-technology and
• biotechnology

Be comforted, my people....

There is NO Iranian messenger of peace and reconciliation

From The WSJ, AUGUST 2, 2011, by EMANUELE OTTOLENGHI*:

... who's the more moderate: the Holocaust-denying Ahmadinejad, or Khamenei, the patron of Tehran's murderous revolutionary guards?

...moderation, however we define it, is rarely the stick by which Iran's leaders should be measured.

...Khamenei, who has remained firmly in command of the Islamic Republic since he acceded to power in 1989, periodically puts on such shows [debates about "moderation"] largely to confuse Tehran's adversaries.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spreads his hatred under a portrait of Ali Khamenei.

AFP/Getty Images 

 

Nothing illustrates this better than Iran's nuclear standoff with the rest of the world. Led by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, the international community has negotiated with Khamenei's Iran since its clandestine nuclear program was exposed in 2002. Tehran has responded with a cat-and-mouse game, which includes changing presidents and their political orientations as convenient. Iran has crossed every red line drawn by the Security Council and has ignored every ultimatum, without any consequence of note. Through all this, Iran has mostly managed to come on top. Sanctions were a setback, no doubt. But the time, effort, energy, and resources invested by America and its allies in getting the U.N. to approve them, to say nothing of their mixed results, are a testament to Iran's diplomatic acumen and proof that its strategy is working.

As his nuclear scientists worked underground to master the secrets of the atom and his engineers developed ballistic missiles, Khamenei sent a parade of elected figures and emissaries to run circles around their Western interlocutors and deceive them that a compromise was in the cards. When Khamenei felt that moderation best served his nuclear ambitions, he allowed then-President Mohammad Khatami to travel the world and promote his "dialogue of civilizations," while the cleric Hassan Rowhani—dubbed internationally as "moderate"—negotiated nuclear issues abroad.

When ostensible moderation no longer served Khamenei's purposes, he endorsed Ahmadinejad and dumped Mr. Rowhani for the tough but worldly Ali Larijani. For good measure, he then had Mr. Rowhani investigated for nuclear espionage with the West. Eventually, Mr. Larijani too was unceremoniously removed to make room for an even more inflexible ideologue, Saeed Jalili, and Mr. Khatami's dialogue gave way to Ahmadinejad's rabble-rousing. The scenes are changing again now, and who knows what Khamenei's spectacle will bring next.

Behind the show, Iran's quest for nuclear weapons has marched on regardless of the "moderation" of the players. Mr. Khatami is reputed to have suspended Iran's weaponization program in 2003 for fear of reprisals, but this was hardly proof of reasonableness—it was more likely only a tactical retreat prompted by America's presence in Iraq and U.N. inspectors roaming Iran's nuclear sites. Mr. Khatami allowed clandestine nuclear activities to flourish just as his predecessor, Akbar Rafsanjani, and his successor, Ahmadinejad, did too.

Yet many Western leaders and analysts remain wedded to the belief that somewhere, in the intricate labyrinth of Iran's ruling elites, there lurks an emissary with the vision to heal and restore the long-lost love between Iran and the West. They believe the challenge of diplomacy is to find him and deliver him from both internal plots in Iran and the cynicism of imaginary Western warmongers.

This vision has endured more than 30 years of failures to find one reliable messenger of peace and reconciliation from the Islamic Republic. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many still believe that all that hampers Iranian-Western relations are our own follies, mistrust and failures of imagination. The contrary is true. 

When it comes to Iran, reality far surpasses fiction. Even our wildest predictions eventually fall far short of the threat we still confront.
 
*Mr. Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. This op-ed is drawn in part from an article to be published in a forthcoming issue of Middle East Quarterly.

Legislators find it "disgraceful" and "ludicrous" that PA uses aid to pay terrorists

From PMW, 8 August 2011, by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik:

Last week, Palestinian Media Watch presented a report to members of US Congress documenting that the PA pays salaries to imprisoned terrorists from the general PA budget. In addition, the report showed that the PA actively honors terrorists who are serving life sentences for murder. Legislators in the US and Britain have responded that they find it "disgraceful" and "ludicrous" that their tax money is paying these salaries.

US Congressman Trent Franks:

"I cannot support sending millions of American taxpayer dollars to such an organization; especially when they are currently paying salaries to over 5,500 terrorists sitting in Israeli prison... No American funds to the West Bank were ever to be made available for the purpose of recognizing or otherwise honoring individuals who commit (or have committed) acts of terrorism. This disgraceful waste of taxpayer dollars is an affront to freedom and an insult to Israel, the most precious ally America has in the world." [FoxNews.com]

British MP Philip Davies:

"Tory MP Philip Davies said the payments were 'ludicrous'. He added: 'People think overseas aid is to try to alleviate terrible poverty in places where they can't afford to look after themselves. But it's being put to these kind of purposes. It would be bad enough at the best of times, but at a time when we have got no money, it is utterly inexcusable.'"

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also released a statement by Richard B. Stone, Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman:

"At a time when we are spending valuable resources to battle terrorism, the Palestinian Authority is using American and international aid to support convicted terrorists. Such a counterproductive policy undermines basic values and laws evaluating assistance from the U.S., and must be stopped if peace is to be pursued in the region."

Follow this link to read follow-up stories in Fox News, the Daily Mail, the Jerusalem Post and the Conference of Presidents' statement.

"Whose Jerusalem Is It?"

From Israel On Campus (McMaster University, Canada), Oct 1st, 2009, by Dr. Jacques Gauthier:

Sovereignty over Jerusalem and Its Old City

The central point of the lecture was to distinguish between political rights and legal rights. Legal rights are binding, and Gauthier's thesis claims that the Jewish people were given legal rights to Jerusalem through the formalization of the Balfour Declaration of the San Remo Conference by the Supreme Council of Nations, which was the precursor to the League of Nations, and the United Nations.

Gauthier invoked the legal principle of "la chose jugée" (judged issue) in his discussion of how all legal rights and claims recognized by the Supreme Council became irreversible, binding forever in a "sacred trust", and could not be changed with further legislation by the creation of the League of Nations that followed, and the UN after that.

• A solution to the issue of sovereignty over Jerusalem must be made in order for peace to be achieved
• Israel has claimed sovereignty over all of Jerusalem; the Palestinian Authority has claimed sovereignty over East Jerusalem (including the Old City)
• The Green Line is from a 1949 Armistice Agreement between Israel and Jordan
• Based on the Green Line, if Israel were divided today, the western part of Jerusalem would go to Israel, and East Jerusalem and the Old City would go to Palestine
• Maps from the 1^st Century CE and onward show that the borders of Jerusalem have remained almost identical up to today
• It is important to distinguish between legal and non-legal claims
• Herzl, 1896
  • Published his thesis, The Jewish State
  • In 1897, organized the first Zionist Conference in Basil
• Balfour Declaration, 1917
  • Turning point of legal rights of Jews over Palestine
  • Approved by the British War Cabinet during World War I
  • Britain was reaching out for Jewish support and made a binding commitment to help establish a Jewish state in Palestine
• Paris Peace Conference, 1919
  • Five nations formed the Supreme Council of Allied Powers – United States, Britain, Italy, France, Japan
  • Listened to different country claims over the defeated nations
  • Zionist organization presented their statement of claim (political document), stating what they wanted recognized by the Supreme Council
    • The Jews wanted a state, a home, and independence in due course
    • Wanted Britain as their trustee, to help them until they were in a position to declare independence
    • Weizman presented at the conference an request for recognition of the Jewish title to Palestine and the right of the Jews to reconstitute their national home in Palestine
  • Arab delegation
    • Represented by the Hashemite family (controlled Mecca)
  • The Arab and Jewish delegations met before the conference. The Arabs agreed to support the Jewish claim to Palestine if the Jews helped the Arabs achieve independence
• Article 22 of the League of Nations
  • Refers to territories that are not ready to govern themselves
  • Victors of the war set up mandates (trusts) over these territories
• Every treaty signed at the Paris conference dealt with rights and titles; the defeated nations had to renounce their rights and title to the victors
  • This was binding by international law
• San Remo, Italy, 1920
  • The Supreme Council did not have time at the Paris conference to make a decision regarding the Ottoman territories
  • Came to San Remo to make this decision
  • April 25, 1920: Decided to give recognition to the title of the Jewish claim over Palestine and to the Arab claim over Mesopotamia (Iraq)
  • Mandate for Palestine – political rights given to the Jewish people, and civil rights were given to the current inhabitants
    • Preamble recognises the Jewish connection to Palestine and the grounds for the Jews to reconstitute their national homeland in Palestine
      • This turns the political claim of the Balfour Declaration into a legal claim
      • 14 million Jews were deemed to have rights in Palestine if they chose to immigrate
• 1921: The Hashemites became angered by the French. To appease them, the British give the Hashemites the throne over Iraq and the throne of Trans-Jordan.
  • The land that had been granted to the Jews was divided up, the western portion became Trans-Jordan
  • Britain pledges support in establishing a Jewish state with the remaining land
• Partition Resolution, 1947, by the General Assembly of the UN
  • Not binding
  • The Jews accept the Partition Resolution (West Palestine would become an Arab state, Jerusalem would be an international city)
    • As part of the Resolution, a referendum would occur after 10 years to modify the rights to Jerusalem

The Jewish people are not occupiers of Jerusalem because they were given the right to establish themselves there

Conclusion: From the perspective of international law, there are binding decisions from the League of Nations that have been reneged and forgotten

Saudi Writers Acknowledge Israel's Success

From MEMRI Special Dispatch No.4036, July 29, 2011: On June 7, 2011, two Saudi columnists – the liberal Khalaf Al-Harbi, of the Saudi daily 'Okaz, and Fawaz Al-'Ilmi, of the Saudi daily Al-Watan – published articles comparing Israel's situation to that of the Arab countries. Al-Harbi opined that the secret to Israel's success lay in its democratic regime and its respect for the human rights of its citizens, while Al-'Ilmi wrote that Israel's prosperity was due to its investment in education and science. It should be noted that these articles are a rare phenomenon in the Saudi government press. Following are excerpts of both articles: Al-Harbi: "Do We Really Still Believe that Israel Is a Temporary Entity Bound to Disappear?"   ..."The secret to Israel's survival, despite all the great challenges it has faced, lies in democracy and respect for the worth of the [Israeli] individual....    The secret to the collapse of the Arab countries, one after another, lies in dictatorship and in the oppression of the individual... It is impossible for an Arab country, a neighbor of Israel, to succeed in liberating Palestine while denying dignity to individuals [within its own borders].    "Israel won war after war, and scooped up Arab lands larger than [Israel itself] in both size and population. It then went on [to develop] manufacturing, industry, and invention. The [average] income there is double [the average income] in the neighboring Arab countries. [Israel] has rendered itself an inescapable fact. Throughout all stages [of its development], it drew its power from the honor it granted to its citizens, while its Arab neighbors trampled the [poor] creatures known as their citizens under military boots. "If only we could get in touch with our teachers to let them know that Israel still exists, while the Arabs are headed for destruction. In order to know who will remain and who will perish, one must always check who has democracy, human rights, and social justice."  'Okaz (Saudi Arabia), June 7, 2011 Al-'Ilmi: Israel Is at the Pinnacle of Scientific Research, the Arabs at Its Nadir Al-'Ilmi wrote: "...Tawasul [Altawasul.com] is the official website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and, unlike Arab websites, it updates its entries every 12 minutes around the clock and offers them in Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, English, French, and Russian. On January 20, the website published a report which revealed that the only registry in the world for Arab bone marrow donors is located in the Hadassah Medical Center, associated with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It should be noted that the Arabs living in Israel constitute no more than 1.2 million of the world's Arabs, who number upwards of 400 million. ..."Before these Arab [donors] were registered, the Hadassah Medical Center largely failed to expand its donor registry, or to [arrange] donations from Jew to Arab or vice versa. But, thanks to the Arab doctor, perceptions have changed, and Arabs and Jews are willing to donate bone marrow [to one another] in order to save the life of someone they don't even know. "This year, Israel published numerous scientific studies that put it in first place worldwide in terms of the number of studies [published] per capita – 12 studies to every 10,000 people. America is in second place, with 10 studies [to every 10,000 people], followed by Britain, with nine. As for the Arab countries, they are all at the bottom end of these statistics. "Reports on the gaps in science and technology between the Arabs and Israel show that the annual education expenses of the [average] Arab citizen has dropped to $340, while in Israel it is more than $2,500. Indices... that measure income, education, and health levels place Israel at 23rd place worldwide, while Egypt has dropped to 199th place, Syria to 111th, Jordan to 99th, and Lebanon to 82nd. As for the number of scientists engaged in research per one million citizens, Israel has 1,395, versus 136 in the Arab world... UNESCO's statistics indicate that, on average, scientific research expenses in the Arab countries do not exceed 0.2% of the annual budget, whereas in Israel the figure is 4.7%, placing it in first place worldwide... "For ten years now, Israel has been forming strategic ties with scientifically advanced countries in order to merge [its research] with their research centers, and in order to encourage its scientists to take part in international development programs. Today, there are 21 international science companies in Israel... It knows before everyone else the results of [these companies'] studies, reaping their fruits and using their scientific expertise to advance Israeli inventions. "The Israeli strategy in science and technology is based on finding new approaches in scientific research and technological invention by training new generations of scientists – especially in physics, chemistry, and the natural and social sciences, as [Israel] is convinced that these sciences will allow it to control the world and direct its course. "Since 1949, Israel has established marine geology and nuclear physics institutes, as well as [institutes] for the study of desert regions and information technology. Israel makes use of scientific research and technological development to secure its coasts and meet its [other] strategic defense and security needs, and in order to protect the environment, discover and develop natural resources and use them before others, produce electricity, communications, and information technology, and research [alternative] energy..."  Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), June 7, 2011

The PA denies Jewish history in Jerusalem

From PMW, 11 August 2011, by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik:

The Jewish Temple is "the alleged Temple"

Examples from April - July 2011

Earlier this week, on the Jewish day of mourning known as Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, the official PA daily denied the Temple's existence, referring to it as "the destruction of the alleged Temple" and "the so-called destruction."

For years, Palestinian Authority leaders have actively denied Jewish history both in ancient Judea/Israel and in Jerusalem in particular. Palestinian Media Watch has documented this ongoing PA policy of historical revisionism, which centers on the denial that a Jewish Temple ever existed in Jerusalem. PA political and religious leaders, officials, and even academics consistently refer to the Temple as "the alleged Temple." [Arabic: Al-Haikal Al-Maz'oom].

The Palestinian claims that the Temple never existed and that Jews have no history in the Land of Israel not only contradict Jewish sources, Christian sources, and the archeological record, but contradict the Quran as well. The Quran in Sura 17:2-7 mentions the "Children of Israel's" two periods of independence in the land and the destruction of both the First and the Second Temple: "...to enter the Temple even as they entered it for the first time, and to lay waste..."

The PA accuses Israel of forging a false Jewish history in the land while at the same time stealing Palestinian history, culture, and heritage. The Palestinians refer to these actions as "Judaization." The main target of this "Judaization" is the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Israel purportedly conspires to destroy in order to build the Jewish Temple.

Advisor to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmad Al-Ruweidi, recently denied the existence of the Temple while commenting on an Israeli excavation of a tunnel:

"I personally visited the entrance to this tunnel, and it is clear that they [the Israelis] have built it modeled on the alleged Temple, as a basis for transferring the Temple in the future into the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Follow the link for examples from the PMW archives from April to July 2011. The examples are arranged in two categories: PA leaders refer to the Jewish Temple as "the alleged temple" and PA denial of Jewish history in the land and accusations of heritage theft.

Noach Flug, leading campaigner for Israeli Holocaust survivors' rights, dies at 86

From Star Tribune, 11 August 2011, by Associated Press, USA:

JERUSALEM (AP) - Noach Flug, a tireless advocate for Holocaust survivors who successfully fought governments to compensate this aging and dwindling population, has died. He was 86. 

The Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel said Flug died Thursday morning at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem. Flug "worked day and night in Israel and around the world for the good of his fellow survivors," center spokesman Uri Arazi said. "He was a man of integrity and a leader."

Born in Poland in 1925, Flug was deported from the Lodz ghetto, where he was a member of the anti-Nazi underground, to the Auschwitz death camp in August 1944. Nearly all his family was killed at that camp, but he managed to survive it and two other concentration camps. In 1958 he emigrated to Israel, working as an economist and a diplomat.

But it was as a champion of Holocaust survivors in their fight for reparations that he left his greatest mark. He held leading positions on the Jewish Claims Conference, the World Jewish Restitution Organization, the International Auschwitz Committee and the Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem.

Flug also served as chairman of the umbrella organization of Holocaust survivors in Israel, the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, lobbying the government successfully for larger stipends for survivors.

 In 2006, Germany awarded him the country's Grand Cross of the Order of Merit for his "decades-long work on behalf of survivors of the Holocaust and his tireless efforts to promote understanding between Jews and non-Jews and between Israel and Germany." Israel has more Holocaust survivors than any other country, some 220,000.

 "Despite the terrible suffering he endured during the Holocaust, Noach still found the strength, dignity and determination to lead the fight for compensation, restitution and above all, for justice," said Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress.

J Street’s soft sell for the uninformed

From JPost, 10 Aug 2011, by ISI LEIBLER:

It's unconscionable for American Jews to canvass their government to force Israel to act contrary to its will regarding national security.

 

Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder and president of J Street, has written a highly misleading book titled A New Voice for Israel that ... is a disingenuous attempt to paint a sanitized, respectable portrait of an organization whose principal objective is to undermine the policies of Israel’s democratically elected government.

It does so at a time when the Jewish state is facing existential threats and undergoing an international campaign of demonization and delegitimization.

The dividing lines between J Street and mainstream Jewish groups are not its views, but its efforts to convince Americans to encourage President Barack Obama to pressure the Israeli government. It is surely unconscionable for trendy American Jews to canvass their government to force Israel to act contrary to its will regarding national security, with potential life-and-death repercussions. J Street justifies this on the grounds that Israelis need “tough love,” comparing us to children on drugs who must be pressured into doing what’s good for them, or impounding the car keys of a drunken friend.

The blatant dishonesty of Ben-Ami’s stated willingness to back Israel during war was demonstrated by J Street’s approach to the Gaza conflict – which united all sections of the Israeli political spectrum, including the far-Left Meretz. J Street applied moral equivalence to Israel and Hamas, claiming that “there are many who recognize elements of truth on both sides of this gaping divide,” and reproached Israel for launching “a disproportionate response.” It stated that “we recognize that neither Israelis nor Palestinians have a monopoly of right and wrong,” and accused Israelis of “lacking sanity and moderation” in their attitude toward Hamas.

J Street also supports and finances the candidacy of anti-Israel congressmen, and constantly campaigns against pro-Israel resolutions in Congress. Immediately following the Fogel family massacre, J Street even opposed a bi-partisan congressional resolution condemning the PA for anti- Semitic incitement, claiming that “the current PA leadership has taken great political risks and shown real willingness to end the conflict.” It facilitated meetings on Capitol Hill for Goldstone to promote his discredited report. Furthermore, in 2009 – at the height of the Iran sanctions debate – Ben- Ami published an article opposing UN sanctions, although he has since changed his position.

J Street lobbied against a US veto of an anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council, prompting Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman to sever ties with the group, quipping that “J Street is so open minded about what constitutes support for Israel that its brains have fallen out.”

J Street repeatedly slanders AIPAC and its efforts to generate bi-partisan support for Israeli governments, labeling it an extreme right-wing body. It warns American Jews that their “one-sided support of Israel” could lead to charges of dual loyalties. One of its founding partners and a member of its advisory board, Daniel Levy, even told a gathering in Abu Dhabi that the creation of Israel was “an act that was wrong.”

J Street now ritually condemns boycott, divestment and sanctions, yet still welcomes organizations promoting BDS, like Voices for Peace, in their conferences. It also co-sponsored a congressional mission to Israel with Churches for the Middle East, a pro-BDS coalition. It honors IDF soldiers who refuse to obey orders. It supports the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity group, which calls for the liquidation of the Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund.

Ben-Ami tries to make light of the scandal that exposed him as a serial liar, obliging him to apologize for having repeatedly denied that J Street was clandestinely funded by George Soros, a pathologically anti-Israel Jew. There are other anonymous offshore donors, and evidence that much of J Street’s funding emanates from sources hostile to Israel, including Arabs.

The list of J Street’s anti-Israel initiatives is endless. Most are either ignored or played down in Ben-Ami’s misleading book, which could well serve as a case study of Orwellian double-speak, topped by the dishonest manner in which it portrays itself as “pro-Israel”. 

It is reminiscent of the “pro-peace” communist front organizations that sought to dupe bleeding-heart liberals into believing they were promoting peace, whilst in reality they were advancing the interests of the “Evil Empire.”

Ben-Ami claims that it requires courage for detractors of Israel to speak up. Yet in reality the liberal media, especially the New York Times, treats him and other Jewish critics of Israel as heroes, providing them with exposure that they would otherwise never obtain.

Despite this, J Street has failed to expand beyond the very narrow band of the anti-Israel far-Left and naive fellow travelers. It would be an act of folly to accept it now as part of the Jewish mainstream.

24 NGOs call for UN rights council emergency session on Syria

From a UN Watch PRESS RELEASE,  August 9, 2011:

GENEVA — An international coalition of human rights and church relief organizations are urging the UN’s 47-member Human Rights Council to “end its silence on the atrocities now being committed by the Syrian regime.” The groups are calling for the council to convene an emergency session on the bloody crackdown, hold televised hearings in Geneva for victims to testify, and create a special investigator into rights violations by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Led by UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights advocacy group, the appeal was submitted in a letter today to council president Laura Dupuy Lasserre, signed by 24 non-governmental, humanitarian and church groups from Australia, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, France, Germany, India, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Switzerland, Uganda, the US and Vietnam.

The NGOs criticized the council for holding only one meeting on Syria more than three months ago, saying the UN body had “failed to take prompt or effective action to protect the victims of Syrian mass killings.”
“It’s wrong for the world’s top human rights body to turn a blind eye to Syria’s massacre of its own people, whether in Hama, Deir al-Zour, Idlib, Binnish or elsewhere,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.
The majority of the council, including African, Asian and Islamic states, generally oppose “naming and shaming” countries. Influential members China, Russia, and Cuba have defended Syria at the council. Brazil, India and South Africa blocked strong action by the Security Council in New York.

“When the UN allows power politics to trump human rights, the Assad regime gets a free pass to commit mass murder in broad daylight,” said Neuer.

The NGO appeal also called on the council to hold the Syrian military and political leadership personally accountable for alleged “crimes against humanity.”

Click here for text of NGO appeal