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October 2018

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UNESCO: Why the United States Needs to Watch Out by Shoshana Bryen

By on October 18th, 2018

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13123/unesco-israel-united-states

The Old Testament is read by Christians with the same reverence as the New Testament. Jesus did NOT send the money changers out of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

UNESCO votes inform the way people think about history. One can disagree with Israeli policies and practices while agreeing that the Land of Israel is the historic space of the Jewish people. But when UNESCO erases that connection, there remains no reason to posit that there should be a State of Israel at all. Which leaves the Hamas and Fatah position that “Palestine from the River to the Sea” as the natural arrangement of things.

To the extent that Europeans (and some Americans) dismiss their traditional, biblically grounded understanding of the Middle East, Israel and the free world are less secure. UNESCO’s members understand that such dismissal by the West advances their goal toward the elimination of Israel. The United States should, too.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), regarding international interest in preserving historic sites in Israel, is a sham. Its work consists mainly of denying a Jewish connection to the land and its history. In a 2016 vote, UNESCO denied any connection between Israel and its historic Temple Mount and the Western Wall — a retaining wall which is all that is left of the ancient Jewish Temples (Solomon’s Temple, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE).

In 2017, UNESCO’s resolution on “Occupied Palestine” announced that:

“…all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the ‘basic law’ on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith…”

Two draft resolutions approved by UNESCO’s 59-member Executive Committee last week were merely “follow-ons.” First, that Hebron’s Old City and the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Cave of Machpela) are Palestinian heritage sites, and second that they are “in danger.” From Israel.

The votes were entirely consistent with previous UNESCO pronouncements and the list of “for”, “against”, and “abstain” was to be expected.

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Farrakhan: ‘I’m Not an Anti-Semite. I’m Anti-Termite’ By Rick Moran

By on October 18th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/trending/farrakhan-im-not-an-anti-semite-im-anti-termite/

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan tweeted out to his 375,000 followers yesterday that he is not an anti-Semite.

Farrakhan helpfully explained that he just hates termites.

BuzzFeed:

The tweet appears to violate Twitter’s proposed new policies around “dehumanizing” tweets, defined in a company blog post as “language that treats others as less than human … Examples can include comparing groups to animals and viruses (animalistic), or reducing groups to a tool for some other purpose (mechanistic).”

However, a Twitter spokesperson told BuzzFeed News the rules have not yet taken effect, so Farrakhan’s language is not in violation of any extant policy. The spokesperson did not give a date for when the new rule would go into effect, or if it would at all. He did not address whether Farrakhan’s tweet would be in violation were the policy in effect.

So Farrakhan’s hate on Twitter has essentially been grandfathered in. Apparently, even blatant hate speech was allowed under the “old” rules.

But also not allowed under the “old” rules — anything Twitter says is not allowed.

Stephen Green:

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ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Why Palestinians Do Not Have a Parliament by Khaled Abu Toameh

By on October 18th, 2018

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13136/palestinian-parliament

In the absence of a parliament, the Palestinians have no address to express their grievances. They cannot write to or phone their elected legislators to complain about anything. All they can do is resort to social media, especially Facebook, to air their views.

As Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas does not tolerate criticism particularly well, he doubtless feels more comfortable delivering speeches at international forums such as the United Nations, the European Parliament and his own Fatah and PLO institutions than at the Palestinian parliament. The others are places where no one takes him to task for his tyranny.

In the past few years, scores of Palestinians have been harassed, arrested and interrogated by Abbas’s security forces for posting critical comments on Facebook.

Parliaments, among the strongest manifestations of a democracy, represent the electorate, enact laws and oversee the government through hearings and inquiries.

Apparently, this does not apply to the Palestinians, who, as a result of the power struggle between Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, have, for the past 11 years, been without a functioning parliament.

The Palestinian Authority’s unicameral legislature is the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Both the PA and PLC were established after the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993. The first Palestinian legislative election took place in January 1996. The second, and last, election took place in January 2006; it resulted in a victory for Hamas.

In 2007, Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip and toppled the Palestinian Authority regime that was there. Since then, the Palestinian parliament has not been functioning properly, although Hamas legislators sometimes meet separately in the Gaza Strip. In the absence of a functioning parliament, Abbas has been passing laws by “presidential decree.” Several Palestinians have questioned their legality and accused the Palestinian leader of violating Palestinian Basic Law.

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