The ‘Independent’ review of Mechanisms and Procedures to ensure adherence by the UNRWA to the Humanitarian Principle of Neutrality, was led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, after Israel alleged that 12 UNRWA staff actively participated in the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught in which 1,200 people were killed and another 253 taken hostage.
Israel subsequently claimed another 30 UNRWA staffers assisted or facilitated those crimes on October 7 and as much as 12 percent of the organization’s staff were affiliated with terror organizations.
The report alleged that Israel had yet to provide supporting evidence for its claims that a significant number of UNRWA staff were members of terrorist organizations. (On Dec 18, after a two-day visit to Israel, Ramallah and Lebanon, Catherine Colonna threatened that France will impose measures on Israeli settlers who have attacked Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. She also said: “this land is Palestinian and will be part of a Palestinian state.” She did not need “supporting evidence” to make those statements in support of fake Palestinians. So much for impartiality of the review!)
The Israeli Foreign Ministry charged that Hamas’s penetration of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is so deep that “it is impossible to say where UNRWA ends and Hamas begins”.
“Hamas has infiltrated UNRWA so deeply that it is no longer possible to determine where UNRWA ends and where Hamas begins,” said Oren Marmorstein, a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The problem with UNRWA-Gaza isn’t that of a few bad apples. It is a rotten and poisonous tree whose roots are Hamas. “If more than 2,135 UNRWA employees are members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and 1/5 of the principals of UNRWA schools are Hamas activists, the problem with UNRWA-Gaza is not a problem of a few bad apples,”
“Instead of using the opportunity to provide an independent and honest account of UNRWA’s actions, the report was fixed from the outset, with a restricted mandate, deeply biased appointees and conflicting interests in violation of the UN’s own Standards of Conduct,” said Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum. “Its sole purpose was to exonerate UNRWA and serve as an excuse by donor nations to resume funding.” (Germany is to resume cooperation with Palestinian UNRWA agency.)
The report “ignores the severity of the problem and offers cosmetic fixes,” said the Foreign Ministry. (The review was instigated by the usual Israel haters – the UN Secretary-General, in consultation with the UNRWA Commissioner-General.)
However, the UN report mentioned that “even if marginal, these issues constitute a grave violation of neutrality”, noting that some textbooks included maps that didn’t mention Israel, and labelled Jerusalem the capital of Palestine. And UNRWA fired the employees suspected of taking part in the Oct. 7 attacks. The UN has 50 probes under way of alleged violations of its neutrality policies by UNRWA.
During the Passover holiday, the IDF attacked
approximately 270 terror targets across the Gaza Strip,
including more than 20 rocket batteries aimed at Israel.
Food for Thought by Steven Shamrak
Since its independence, Israel has fought many wars with its Arab neighbours, signed numerous cease-fires, and even signed useless peace agreements (so-called Hudnas – temporary “calm” or “quiet”). All those efforts have not brought about any permanent solution to the endless terror that Israeli society has been enduring daily. Antisemitism is on the rise again and has become a ‘popular norm’, as it was before and during the Holocaust! Only by defeating its enemies decisively and unapologetically, will Israel be able to reunite Eretz-Israel, the Jewish state on the land of our ancestors, and receive due respect even from the Jew-hating international anti-Semites!
Bad Deal would be Surrender to Terrorism
The new prisoner swap deal being discussed includes significant compromises on Israel’s part, including, for the first time, a willingness to hold discussions regarding ending the war in Gaza. Among other things, Hamas is being offered a willingness to fully return Gazans to their homes, the IDF’s exit from the corridor that separates northern Gaza from southern Gaza, and a willingness to agree to a permanent ceasefire later on.
Arabs are Real Perpetrators of Violence
Two Arabs broke into Binyamin farm with an axe. This is the third time this farm has been infiltrated since the outbreak of the war with Hamas. In the first incident, three Arabs armed with an axe, knives, and a gun broke into the farm three days after the October 7 massacre. (There have been no attempts by the best ‘friend’ of Israel to impose sanctions on so-called Palestinians who are routinely attacking and terrorising Jews in Judea and Samaria.)
Anti-Israel Hypocrisy of Olympics
International Olympics Committee head Thomas Bach said that Palestinian athletes to compete in Paris even if they don’t qualify. Between six and eight Palestinian athletes are expected to compete at the Paris Olympics. Bach dismissed suggestions the IOC has treated Russia differently (than ‘Palestinian’ terrorists) – Russia was suspended from many international sports after its invasion of Ukraine. (The Olympics Committee has already forgotten the Munich massacre – the terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, by eight Palestinian terrorists.)
There will be no Appreciation or even Acknowledgment
Israel Defense Force troops secured UN officials who came under mortar fire from Hamas when touring a pier being constructed by the US military personnel. (And it has not been reported by the international Israel hating media.)
The Fatah movement’s militant wing the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades announced a new unit of youth who ‘sacrifice themselves in the way of Allah’ – a unit where members are the operatives who are prepared to commit suicide attacks. A group associated with the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades has been committing terror attacks in Judea and Samaria and participated in the Hamas terror attack on October 7th. (There is no difference between Fatah and Hamas. Both are terrorist organisations devoted to killing of Jews and destroying Israel.)
Another Biden’s anti-Israel Smear Campaign
The White House has demanded “answers” from Israel after mass graves were found outside two hospitals in the Gaza strip. The Israeli army said any suggestion of its responsibility was “baseless” and “unfounded”. “The grave in question was dug by Gazans a few months ago,” Israeli army spokesman Major Nadav Shoshani wrote on X. “This fact is corroborated by social media documentation uploaded by Gazans at the time of the burial. Any attempt to blame Israel for burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false and a mere example of a disinformation campaign aimed at delegitimizing Israel.” (During IDF operations in Gaza the corpses had been examined in search for IDF soldiers and hostages.)
IDF fighter jets and artillery struck approximately 40 Hezbollah terror targets on Wednesday in the area of Ayta ash Shab in southern Lebanon. The sites that were struck included storage facilities, weaponry, terror infrastructures, and Hezbollah tunnels used by the Hezbollah terrorists.
Hezbollah Commanders are in Hiding
Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that 50% of Hezbollah’s commanders have been killed and the rest are in hiding. The IDF announced that it had eliminated six Hezbollah brigade commanders and 30 battalion commanders in total. It is estimated that Hezbollah has 50,000 to 100,000 troops and 10 to 15 brigade commanders. (Every day Hezbollah is firing rockets into Israel. It must be neutralised!)
Israel Cancelled Major Retaliatory Strike on Iran
The Israeli government originally planned a far larger retaliatory strike against Iran following Iran’s firing of hundreds of attack UAVs and missiles at the Jewish state on April 13. The decision not to respond with significantly greater force was made following a phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.
Hamas Murders Aid Workers – Who Cares!
PA-controlled Awdah News reported that Hamas is intentionally manufacturing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza by killing aid workers and stealing food meant for civilians. The Biden administration has repeatedly blamed Israel for its alleged failure to allow sufficient amounts of aid to enter the Strip, yet it has been silent regarding widespread reports of Hamas interfering with the distribution of the aid. (Nobody cares when Israel cannot be blamed.)
Netzach Yehuda Battalion’s Achievements
The Netzach Yehuda battalion operated in three different sectors: in the north, in Gaza, and Judea and Samaria. In the last twelve months, the battalion eliminated more than 30 terrorists and arrested 100 in about 450 operations beyond the enemy lines. (Israeli politicians are united in condemning proposed US sanctions against the unit.)
Quote of the Week:
“Israel and Hamas have been in a state of armed conflict for a number of years. The intensity of the fighting in recent days, following the Hamas attack on October 7, only reinforces this conception. During an armed conflict or war between a state and a non-state organization such as Hamas, the rules of armed conflict or international humanitarian law apply. These rules apply to all sides in such a conflict, whether states or non-state organizations.” – written by: prof. Amichai Cohen: “The Hamas Abductions and International Law”.
by Christopher Dickey (Published Mar 31, 2002)
Nothing has changed!
The questions come from the mouths of children. As Jews in Israel and around the world begin to commemorate Passover this (last) week. The youngest child will ask, “Why is this night different from all others?”
This year, at this moment, the ritual has special meaning, and these nights will be different from all others because so many Jews believe the future of Israel, or its children, or their place in the Middle East and in the world, is threatened now as it has not been for generations. Will the Jewish state survive? At what cost? With what identity? Can it ever know peace?
“I’m in such despair because I fear it is too late,” says historian Amos Elon. “And I have only told you half of what I fear.” Is it too late for any solution at all? Who knows how to ask that question? Who knows how to give the answer? And it is hard to remember now that in the decade of the 1990s, peace seemed to be an assured, almost inevitable future.
The crisis has helped to spawn a “new anti-Semitism” in Europe, while in the Muslim world a tepid sympathy for Palestinians emerges as incandescent hatred of Jews. Even in the United States, Israel’s closest ally, faith in Israel’s survival is weak. In the NEWSWEEK Poll, a mere 34 percent of adults surveyed thought Israel would remain a Jewish state 50 years from now. Some 23 percent thought Israel would become a mixed state, where Palestinians have a major share of power, and 18 percent thought it would no longer exist.
While Israel’s military machine is more powerful than ever, its people are more vulnerable than they have been since the 1950s. Terrorist attacks on Israel have always been a threat to the population, but not a threat to the existence of the state.
How is it that this little country of 6 million people has come to demand so much of the world’s attention? How does it inspire so much love among some people, so much hate among others? Evil-minded mythologies that feed hatred and create foundations of prejudice so persistent and pervasive that they are almost impossible to eradicate. “And we are hearing again all of this filth,” says Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior, “all of this poison which led to so many disasters of the past.”
Read previous Editorials here.