Showdown between UN Human Rights Council and Israel?

Anne Herzberg

While thousands were being butchered by the Assad regime in Syria, the Human Rights Council outrageously passed a resolution condemning Israel for the "suffering of Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan." Of course, none of the actors at the HRC offered to take concrete steps, such as repealing Agenda Item 7, to end the systemic bias at there.

Another major confrontation is brewing between Israel and the United Nations. On January 29, Israel is scheduled for its quadrennial Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the Human Rights Council (HRC). Following the March 2012 Council session, however, Israel's foreign minister ceased all contacts with the HRC due to its obsessive bias and double standards targeting the Jewish State. As a result, Israel will not participate in UPR.
This has UN officials very worried, and for good reason. If Israel fails to show up for UPR, this may force the HRC to end the stranglehold of abusive regimes over the institution, and implement long overdue reforms.

How should Israel Respond to the “Palestinian" Declaration of Statehood?

http://israel-commentary.org/?p=5709
Read More About: 1700 Israelis murdered, 22 existing Arab states vs. One Jewish, Broken Cameras, Israeli fllm festival, Oslo Accords, The Gatekeeper, thousands injured and maimed, UN, Yasir Arafat
Time to Annex Judea and Samaria
Redacted from a much more comprehensive article by Professor Steven Plaut 
Haifi University, Israel
January 17, 2013
In a few months it will be the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the “Oslo Accord” on the White House lawn. In that signing, Yassir Arafat, on behalf of the so-called “Palestinian Liberation Organization,” committed himself and his “people” to conduct negotiations with Israel that would lead to a peaceful resolution of the Middle East Arab-Israeli conflict. He forswore unilateral actions and decisions.

Nine common myths about Israel

MOSHE DANN

 

Myth number 1: The international community opposes Israel because it is an “ethnic nation-state.”

 

1. The international community opposes Israel because it is an "Eethnic nation-state."
A cover for Jew-hatred, this argument is applied only against Israel and the Jewish people.

2. Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank" of the Jordan River) belong to the "Palestinians."

By history and law (San Remo agreements, League of Nations' decisions, British Mandate and the UN Charter (Article 80) "Palestine“ - as it was then called - is the Jewish national home and belongs to the Jewish people. Arabs and the PLO also claim this territory but in the Oslo Agreements (1993) they agreed to accept part of the area in return for ending the conflict, recognizing Israel, and peace. That was supposed to be the deal.

Bethlehem: Muslim mob throws pipe bombs, fire bombs and rocks at soldiers guarding Jewish shrine

Jihad Watch

"Thou wilt surely find the most hostile of men to the believers are the Jews..." (Qur'an 5:82)
As a result of the Qur'an's demonization of the Jews, usually it's the other way around: the most hostile of men to the Jews are the Muslims.
"50 Arabs Attack Rachel's Tomb," by Gil Ronen for Israel National News, January 16 (thanks to Voice of the Copts):

About 50 Arabs mounted an assault on Rachel's Tomb, just outside Bethlehem, Wednesday evening. They threw pipe bombs, fire bombs and rocks at the security forces guarding the compound, injuring one soldier lightly. The soldier, who was hit by a rock, received medical treatment on the spot and did not require hospitalization.
The IDF Spokesman said that the Arabs threw nine pipe bombs and 18 fire bombs. One of the pipe bombs caused some damage to the security wall surrounding the complex.

Israel-bashing Jews: ignorant or malicious?

Isi Leibler

I must confess to a rising sense of frustration and rage when observing the increasing number of ill-informed and fallacious critiques of Israel by liberal Diaspora Jews.

I am not referring to the loathsome so-called anti-Zionist Jews who call for boycotts of Israel. Nor even to jaundiced far-left Jewish groups like J Street, which inflict considerable damage on the Jewish state by calling on the U.S. government to pressure Israel, or orchestrate petitions such as those recently circulated among liberal Jewish clergy demanding that Israel cancel plans for residential construction in Jerusalem's Jewish suburbs and the E1 area.

http://israel-commentary.org/?p=5692

 http://challahhuakbar.blogspot.com/2013/01/hamas-to-send-members-to-sudan-for.html

 

In this week’s report from the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, we learn that Hamas’ Interior Minister Fathi Hammad recently led a Hamas delegation to Khartoum, Sudan. In addition, it appears that Hamas will soon be sending some of its members to Sudan for training.

A delegation from the Hamas ministry of the interior, headed by Fathi Hamad, minister of the interior, paid an official visit to Sudan. Most of the visit was devoted to studying civil defense, combat doctrine and the methods used by the Sudanese. It was agreed that Hamas would send a delegation of members of its civil defense service to Sudan for training.

The Hamas visit to Sudan comes just a couple months after the Yarmouk Industrial Complex was struck in a raid believed to have been carried out by Israel. Recent reports have confirmed early claims that the Yarmouk facility is tied to Iran.

Israel's Response to Obama's Criticism? Keep on Building

Annie Lubin



It seems like the Israeli government responded in kind to a scathing report which circulated Tuesday about Washington's frustration over construction in Judea and Samaria. The message they sent - keep on building.



Sources close to Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the Prime Minister would remain solid in his policies and the proof came Wednesday as the Housing Ministry issued tenders for 198 new residential homes in Judea and Samaria - 114 housing units in Efrat and 84 units in Kiryat Arba.

The "Victimology" Subterfuge

Christine Williams

To question or discuss Islam, or any religion, is not racism, it is not hate, it is not necessarily meant to "victimize" anyone. One is often left with the impression that if anyone ever felt that Mohammed, or Islam, even might have been insulted, no freedom-loving person can expect to be left in peace ever again. Canada and the West need to declare and defend a pluralistic, democratic approach to rights and freedoms without any shame, and without fear of offending anyone who might try to intimidate their citizens.

And This is Revolution

Sultan Knish

There are a few things worth knowing about revolutions. Most people don't participate in them, even if the history books often make it seem otherwise. Revolutions are thought up by small groups of people who then make it everyone's business. Or alternately they don't. And those are the revolutions that never happen.

Most people, at any given time and place, are dissatisfied with the government and believe, rightly, that whoever is in charge is guilty of stealing from them, oppressing them and making it impossible for them to live their lives in peace. And they also believe that things are not likely to get any better. Hope is a vanishing emotion that dissipates easily in the drudgery of ordinary everyday work. It may be taken out for a spin on historical occasions, but then it goes back into the barn where it sits for a while gathering dust until it is needed again.

F-16 deal redefines US relationship with Egypt's Morsi administration

Consignment of US F-16 jet fighters to Cairo signals level of support for Egypt's President Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood from which he hails, say military experts

 

Ahmed Eleiba 

A F-16 fighter jet lands on a highway (Photo: Reuters)

Related

Egyptian-American arrested in US after calling Brotherhood leader a ‘liar and a murderer’

US Embassy Twitter account debates politics with Egyptians

A consignment of F-16 jet fighters to Cairo from Washington during the next few weeks has stirred up yet another hornet's nest in Egypt's fraught political atmosphere. In the opinion of many observers, the controversy over the deal is a thoroughly political one, as the additional fighter planes will do little to alter strategic balances of power in the region. It is unlikely that similar arms deals during the Mubarak era would have aroused such an altercation. The new factor, of course, is the Muslim Brotherhood's rise to power, which has worried political circles in both capitals.

Obama, Karzai Call for ‘Taliban Office’ in Afghanistan

CG

Does this make sense?  Is the Taliban not a fundamental Islamic group?  Notice the Obama relationship to Karzai in contrast to his with Netanyahu.  Insanity rules.

 

 

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-karzai-call-taliban-office-afghanistan

 

By Fred Lucas

President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. (AP)

(CNSNews.com) – The Taliban, which harbored al Qaeda in Afghanistan in the lead up to the 9/11 attacks on America in 2001, will have an office in Afghanistan and engage in direct talks with the democratic government there, President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai affirmed at a joint White House news conference Friday.
“Ultimately security gains must be matched by political progress, so we’ve recommitted our nations to a reconciliation process between the Afghan government and the Taliban,” Obama said. “President Karzai updated me on the Afghan government’s road map to peace, and today we agreed that this process should be advanced by the opening of a Taliban office to facilitate talks.”

Positive News for Israel in the New Year

Adam Turner On January 14, 2013

With the holidays behind us, and the elections, I do have some good news to report about Israel.
No doubt, this is shocking to you.
Only recently, the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics issued its usual press release about how, in 2020, if the current trends persist, the number of Palestinian Arabs will outnumber the number of Israeli Jews (but only if you include Gaza, land which virtually no Israelis are interested in recovering).  Of course, this headline is meant to scare Israelis, and the West especially, into restarting the “Palestinian Arab-Israeli Peace Process” by encouraging new pressure on Israel to make concessions to those noted “moderates” in the Palestinian Authority.  Not that this reset would be necessary, by the way, if the PA had not consistently refused to come back to the negotiating table since 2008 and not violated the prior peace process – the Oslo Accords – by getting the world community at the UN to recognize the non-nation(s) of “Palestine.”

Why I am a Zionist

Tom Doran
There can’t have been more than half a dozen of them. Crowded as usual near the railings of St. John’s church graveyard in the center of town, the Côr Cochion (Reds Choir) were known of old to shoppers in Cardiff, Wales’ capital city, where I still live and work. Every weekend, rain or shine (more commonly rain, this being Wales), this tiny gaggle of diehard Trotskyists would assemble to sing hymns to the death of capitalism and a world ruled by workers. Politics at this level more closely resembles religion than anything else, and so it was with the Côr, who faded into the background like any other street evangelists.

Swiss graduate in thesis : PA uses water as a political weapon

Missing Peace

 

The full text of Burkart’s dissertation can be uploaded below this article. The thesis includes many original documents. Among them the minutes of JWC meetings and signed JWC agreements.

 

Water theft by Palestinians on the West Bank

Until now much of the literature about the Palestinian Israeli water conflict followed either the Palestinian discourse (vast majority) or the Israeli discourse (small minority).

A thesis titled ‘The politicization of the Oslo water agreement’ written by Lauro Burkart a Swiss graduate of the Institute of International and Development studies in Geneva gives a more accurate and impartial picture of the topic of the scarcity of water in the Palestinian Authority.

Rand Paul: Building in J'lem none of US's business

By HERB KEINON

 

It is “none of our business” whether Israel builds new neighborhoods in east Jerusalem or withdraws from the Golan Heights, and the US should not tell Israel how to defend itself, US Sen. (R-Kentucky) said on Saturday night at the end of a week-long visit to the country.

Paul, a maverick libertarian senator known for his advocacy of slashing US foreign aid, said at a press briefing that the issue of cutting aid to Israel – something he advocates as part of a gradual process – did not come up during his meetings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu or President Shimon Peres.

Paul said that he was not interested in the message of his trip being that he came here “touting and spouting” cutting aid to Israel.

“I came here to show that I am supportive of the relationship between Israel and America,” he said.

Report: EU to Propose Peace Plan after Israel Vote

Naharnet Newsdesk 

Comment

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The European Union is drawing up a detailed new plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and expects to present it after this month's Israeli general election, Yediot Aharonot reported Sunday.

Citing diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, Israel's top-selling daily said the plan was intended to "bring about the establishment of a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital."

The plan will include "clear timetables for the completion of the negotiations on all the core issues in the course of 2013."

Lew Signals Leftward Lurch by Obama, Putting Premium for GOP in Sequester for Spending

LAWRENCE KUDLOW

The worst part of the Jack Lew nomination for treasury secretary is not simply that he has no qualifications, standing, or experience in the financial world or international sphere (think G20 and European debt crisis). Nor is it simply that he doesn’t have any seasoned currency opinions (under Obama, the greenback has dropped 10% while gold has doubled).

Yes, these are big disqualifiers, but the real problem is that Mr. Lew is a left-liberal Obama spear-carrier, whose appointment signals a sharp confrontation with the Republican House over key issues such as the debt ceiling, the spending sequester, next year’s budgets, and taxes.