UNaccountable

UN Watch's director Hillel Neuer recently spoke before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

An amazing short speech followed by an even more amazing response from the UNHRC's president.



Question: Is it possible for the UNHRC to be accountable for its responsibilities?

Bringing Clarity to the Middle East

There seems to be a lot of things happening on the diplomacy front in the Middle East at the moment. To make sense of it all, here is a simple summary:

Condi has flown in to push the old Saudi plan. Ban is still trying to flog the old new plan, but Condi has moved on to make the old Saudi plan the new plan. The Saudis are feigning interest in their old plan but have their eye more on Mahmoud and Ali. So does Condi, which is why she wants new Ehud to embrace the old plan instead of the old new plan. Mahmoud is taking Tony's sailors as currency for his men captured by David in Nouri's backyard. Mahmoud in turn is looking over his shoulder at Akhbar who is waiting for Ali to make his way to Paradise. New Ehud is being pressured by Condi, but sees Tzipi over one shoulder, and Bibi and old Ehud over the other and feels he can't say no to Condi. Close by, Ismail doesn't like Mahmoud and vice versa, but realise that they need be Pal pals to get riyals. Which is why they went to see the Saudis. Khaled is trying to spoil the party because Bashar wants him to. Bashar got angry with Mahmoud but sees nowhere to go, especially after killing Rafik and getting nowhere with Condi or new Ehud, even though he wasn't trying that hard. Khaled is still angry with Bibi for poisoning him. Bibi is less interested in new Ehud than in old Ehud. Abdullah is flip-flopping between new Ehud, Mahmoud and Ismail. Hosni is with the Saudis on their old plan but has recently toyed with incarcerating Benyamin for something that didn't happen which he wasn't involved with fifty years ago.

Meanwhile, Gilad Schalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev languish somewhere. Nine months on. Assuming they are alive at all.

Is Pakistan the Next Talibanistan?

Bill Roggio, in a detailed report on The Weekly Standard, paints a bleak picture in Pakistan:

The security situation in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province continues to deteriorate. Once again, Western pressure on the government of President Pervez Musharraf has failed to prevent Pakistan from handing over territory to the Taliban

...

Since the signing of the Waziristan Accord on September 5, 2006, essentially ceding North Waziristan to the Taliban and al Qaeda, attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan have skyrocketed. Afghanistan has seen an increase in attacks of more than 300 percent, and battalion-sized groups of Taliban fighters have been hit while crossing the border from Pakistan. Cross-border raids are up more than 200 percent, and NATO forces have repeatedly engaged in hot pursuit across the Pakistani frontier. U.S. artillery has begun to strike at large Taliban formations in Pakistani territory. Suicide bombings in Afghanistan increased fivefold from 2005 to 2006. This year, there have already been more suicide attacks in Afghanistan than in all of 2006.

...

The United States smashed al Qaeda's base of operations in Afghanistan in 2001, only to see it transferred to northwestern Pakistan. The refusal of the Musharraf regime to deal with this situation, and the active participation of elements of the Pakistani military, intelligence, and political elites in supporting our enemies, are worrisome for our efforts in the war on terror--and threaten the very existence of a non-jihadist Pakistani state.

Musharraf is playing a deadly game by feeding the crocodile.

Soon there will be no food left.

It is unclear which is of more concern: Afghanistan falling to the Taliban or Pakistan to the Islamists.

Especially given that Pakistan is a nuclear power.

Blue Moon

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has joined a long list of UN representatives that don't seem to get it, as YNet reports:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said during his visit to Bethlehem, that the separation fence should be brought down.

Ban said that the fence was causing much pain and suffering to many people and that it does not serve the peace process.

Firstly, it will be interesting to see if Ban continues to hold this view after he leaves Bethlehem, mindful that this view was unlikely to be held by him prior to the visit.

Secondly, with regards to the statement

the fence is causing much pain and suffering to many people

relative to what?

Would removing the fence increase or decrease the pain and suffering to more or less people?

Hint 1: think suicide bombings, hunting down terrorists in civilian areas and so on.

Hint 2: Israelis - Jews, Christians, Arabs, Muslims alike - are part of the pain and suffering equation.

Finally, with regards to the statement

it does not serve the peace process

when was the last time enabling the killing of Jewish civilians served the peace process?

Either Moon's made a blue, or it's enough to make one feel blue.

UPDATE: Groan.

Israel 0 - 0 England

Israel held England to a nil-all draw overnight in the Euro 2008 championship qualifying game.

For those not in the know, this is the premier European international soccer / football competition that happens every four years.

Reaction to the result was of frustration from the English fans:

It was hardly surprising that some of the 4,000 England fans in the stadium chanted 'What a load of rubbish' in the closing stages of the bore draw.

England's coach wasn't too impressed either:

"Disappointed, frustrated," McClaren said. "To dominate the game like that, to have the chances that we did and not to score, it's disappointing and not good enough. We should have won that game."

The result leaves Israel in fourth place in Group E's qualifying table:

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Croatia	5	4	1	0	15	4	11	13
2	Russia	5	3	2	0	7	1	6	11
3	England	5	2	2	1	6	2	4	8
4	Israel	5	2	2	1	9	6	3	8
5	FYR Macedonia	6	2	1	3	5	5	0	7
6	Estonia	4	0	0	4	0	6	-6	0
7	Andorra	4	0	0	4	1	19	-18	0

Only the first two teams go through to the Euro 2008 championship finals.

Israel is yet to play FYR Macedonia, Estonia and Andorra so could pick up nine points to finish on 17.

For Israel to qualify, that would require Russia to do worse than two wins and a loss in its remaining games, and England to not win its three remaining games.

Possible. With a bit of help from above.

What Is Missing From Your ABC

The ABC's Middle East Conflict section of its website is decidedly bare at the moment, so in case you think nothing is happening, this Jerusalem Post article will bring you up to date:

A 4-year-old boy caught in the crossfire of a shootout between Fatah and Hamas forces died of his wounds Friday, while a pro-Fatah security man was abducted and killed, Palestinian security officials said, raising tensions between the sides just days after the formation of their unity government.

...

Late Friday, the bullet-riddled body of a pro-Fatah security man was found outside the home of a Hamas family, hours after he was kidnapped by unknown assailants, security officials said. The whereabouts of a second man kidnapped with him were unknown, the officials said.

...

On Thursday, a Gaza man was killed during a showdown between his Fatah-affiliated family and members of a Hamas militia. Earlier in the week, a 24-year-old Fatah man was killed in an armed clash between Fatah and Hamas supporters.

On Wednesday evening, an Islamic University lecturer affiliated with Hamas was kidnapped by gunmen in the Gaza Strip.

Why is this not reported by the ABC?

Zionism in the Age of Self-Haters

Courtesy of ICJS who highlighted this, ABC's Religion Report radio host Stephen Crittenden interviewed Lenni Brenner.

Lenni Brenner is an American Marxist and anti-Zionist who has recently released a book called has written a number of books including one published in 1983 titled Zionism in the Age of Dictators.

To get an understanding of what Lenni thinks, here is a particular revealing excerpt from the interview:

And everybody understands that there are Israeli spies all over the American government etc. But the Zionist establishment is not silent. On the contrary. They hardly defended themselves against those charges because the politicians here are in their pay and they don't care about the fact that these guys are in jail or going to jail or anything like that. What the Zionists are yelling about is this: The Zionists can bribe a gentile politician, all you've got to do is pass out money, that's American politics, OK.

Sounds like Lenni has been watching too many Egyptian television series.

He continues:

And even some people who've been Zionists, like Tony Judt, for example, was an Editor of New Republic Magazine, he broke with Zionism about two years ago. They don't stop denouncing him as an anti-Semite. Or a self-hater. Now what I tell people is Look, they can call me a self-hater all they like, the fact is all my ex-girlfriends tell me that I was in love with myself and the only one I ever loved, was myself. And they know me a little better than the Zionists.

Sounds like Lenni has been smoking too much Egyptian hashish.

To get an understanding of what Crittenden thinks about this, here is the response that immediately followed Brenner's comments above (emphasis added):

Lenni, it's been great talking to you. We've got to wind it up I'm afraid, but look, that's been a very interesting and entertaining conversation on a whole range of levels.

Hard hitting interview, that.

UPDATE: A reader using the name Stephen Crittenden pointed out the book Zionism in the Age of Dictators was not released recently but published in 1983. It is difficult to verify if this reader is indeed the interviewer. Regardless, the reader was correct, and this post was not. It has been updated accordingly.

Internecine Violence in Gaza

As the ABC News Online website reports:

Gunmen attack UN convoy in Gaza

Palestinian gunmen have fired on the convoy of the director of the United Nations (UN) refugee agency as he returned to Gaza City, but there were no casualties.

...

President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack.

"We have given orders to security services to hunt down the criminal elements responsible so that they can be prosecuted," he said.

Words that come to mind: fox, guard and chicken-coop.

This after a BBC journalist had been kidnapped:

Fears for BBC correspondent 'kidnapped in Gaza'

Armed men have kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston after forcing him from his car in the volatile Gaza Strip yesterday, Palestinian security sources say.

There have been rumours that al-Qaeda's Gazan franchise were responsible for the journalist kidnapping.

Gazans attacking UN staff and kidnapping BBC journalists.

Hmm. Internecine violence, perhaps?

UNprincipled

Following on from the previous post, Ha'aretz notes the outcome of the UN report on the Mugrabi Gate mishigas:

Israel's excavation work at the Mugrabi Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem is being carried out in accordance with international standards, according to the report drafted by a team of UNESCO experts who came to Jerusalem to expect [sic] the controversial dig.

Sources in the UN said the report, which will be published on Wednesday, accepts Israel's claims that the excavations do not harm the Temple Mount compound, and support the legality of the work.

How widespread will this conclusion be reported?

Rhetoric question.

It's a recurring theme, a la Groundhog Day:

1. Accusations made by countries hostile to Israel.
2. Lots of protest and noise and criticism levelled at Israel. Plenty of media coverage.
   
3. Israel denies any wrongdoing. Media coverage of Israeli response limited to one line in an article.
   
4. Vote taken to send a UN investigation team.
5. Time passes. Story subsides with the bitter accusations against Israel in the media's collective memory.
6. UN investigation team concludes no significant wrongdoing by Israel.
7. Little or no media coverage of the UN findings.
   

Previous examples include the use of depleted uranium in Lebanon and the Jenin 'massacre' that wasn't. Also, the investigation into the deaths of Gazans on the beach from the unexploded shell is a similar example, with Human Rights Watch playing the part of the UN in this case.

There is a twist to the story this time.

A UN report on Israel is by definition incomplete if it merely vindicates Israel's position. There needs to be some criticism:

However, the report criticizes Israel's choice to carry out the excavation independently, without including international bodies in the plans, and calls on Israel to temporarily halt the excavation immediately to allow continued international supervision.

So there we have it. A member nation of the UN complies with international standards, but it still needs to have international supervision.

A member nation is criticised and pressured to subjugate sovereignty to the UN.

Whatever happened to the UN principles where the sovereignty of a member nation was respected?

Perhaps respect of sovereignty only applies to countries like Sudan where, provided genocide takes place within one's borders, the UN won't send an investigation team.

Instead the team will be diverted to Jerusalem, where there is access by all people of all religions to the city and its religious sites.

UNchanged

This barely counts as news because it is so predictable and recurrent. Jerusalem Post reports:

The United Nation's Human Rights Council is expected to place Israel under permanent investigation for its "violations" of international law in the territories - until such time as it withdraws to the pre-1967 border - according to Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

Not that the Council wants to prejudice UN Resolution 242 by applying pressure to one side.

Neuer added that he received that information from diplomatic sources.

It's one of at least four anti-Israel actions he expects the council to take during its fourth session, which started in Geneva on Monday and runs through April 5, Neuer told The Jerusalem Post from Geneva.

Only four? Productivity in the UN is dropping.

The UN body was created in June to replace the Human Rights Commission, which was scrapped because it had a faulty membership composition and repeatedly singled out Israel.

By now you should know what's coming next ...

But since its inception, the 47-member body - which includes Cuba, Saudi Arabia and China - has continued to single out the Jewish State. It has issued eight anti-Israel resolutions, and none against any other nation. It has also held three special sessions on Israel.

Faulty membership composition and singling out Israel. Zero out of two ain't bad.

Neuer and Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Yitzhak Levanon, said they expected this session to continue in that same pattern, although the council is also expected to discuss human rights abuses in other parts of the world, including in Darfur, Sudan.

And do exactly what to help those being murdered in Darfur?

"I'm expecting there will be some clashes concerning Israel," Levanon told the Post.

Neuer said Israel would be rapped for the Antiquities Authority's construction of an access ramp to the Temple Mount's Mughrabi Gate.

The work has been widely condemned throughout the Muslim world.

Confirmation the tail wags the dog.

Neuer said the council would also take Israel to task for refusing entry to inquiry teams in July and in November. The first team was sent to investigate Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip following the kidnapping by Hamas of Cpl. Gilad Schalit in June.

I wonder what happened to the UN team investigating Hamas' actions in the Gaza Strip relating to the kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Schalit in June?

The second team was dispatched to investigate the accidental discharge of an IDF artillery barrage that killed 19 civilians in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip in November.

Why bother collecting evidence when the verdict has already been decided?

Levanon said the investigators were denied entry because they were overtly biased against Israel.

What a shame the entire Council wasn't denied formation for the same reason.

The Human Rights Council is also set to hear a report compiled by UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard that compares Israeli actions in the territories to that of the former apartheid system in South Africa.

Sounds like Dugard has been reading Jimmy Carter's books for new ideas.

Another Journo Revert Imminent?

BBC journalist Alan Johnston has allegedly been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip:

The BBC says it is concerned for the safety of a correspondent who has gone missing in the Gaza Strip.

The corporation said it had been unable to contact Alan Johnston, but did not comment on Palestinian reports that he had been kidnapped.

Johnston's car was found abandoned in Gaza City shortly after he left his office to drive home.

Several journalists and aid workers have recently been kidnapped in Gaza. All have been released unharmed.

How long until Johnston publicly becomes a Muslim revert, like Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig?

Unity? Shmunity!

It's on again.

Ynet reports:

A Hamas gunman was killed and one was wounded in a shootout with the rival Fatah group in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, officials from both Palestinian factions said.

It was the first fatality in such factional fighting since leaders of the two sides reached a Saudi-sponsored agreement to form a national unity government a month ago.

One would think that the Islamofascist terrorists (aka Hamas) could unite with the secular nationalist terrorists (aka Fatah) in their quest to eliminate Israel.

It seems they fail to do even that for more than a month.

Gaddafi Wants a Medal for Not Being Evil

Jerusalem Post reports:

Gaddafi: Libya not rewarded for giving up nuclear program

Response:

neoZionoid: Libya not regime changed and Gaddafi still alive for giving up nuclear program.

When is a Nuke Protest Song Wrong?

Answer: When it's Israelis who are singing.

Israellycool covers it best in his post Pushing the Wrong Buttons:

The knives are out for this year's Israeli Eurovision Song Contest entry. It seems singing a warning about the dangers of nuclear war is just not on.

Eurovision?

More like EuroOstrich:

Evil and Eviler

A photo on Jerusalem Post's website:

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, left, and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, review an honor guard upon Ahmadinejad's arrival at Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday.
Photo: AP

One is a Muslim that has been committing a genocide against Muslims in Darfur, while the other denies the Holocaust and wants to bring about the Second Holocaust.