Amnesty International Ireland’s communication director, Justin Moran, criticized a popular US-based, pro-Israel blog, “Elder of Ziyon,” for pointing out ties between Arrigoni’s supporter and girlfriend, Claudia Milani – who works for Amnesty International – and her promotion of anti-Israel events.Cool! (I did speak to Weinthal last week, but you never know if it is going to make it into print until it does.)
According to the Elder of Ziyon blog, Milani is the “coordinator of Israel/Occupied Territories section of Amnesty International/Italy,” and as such, she gave a talk at an “Israel Apartheid Week” event advertised by Amnesty last month.
Her Facebook page shows that she is “friends” with noted Israel-haters, including Greta Berlin, Adam Shapiro, Max Ajl and Ken O’Keefe.
Moran, from Ireland’s Amnesty office, wrote an e-mail to a reader who complained about the Elder of Ziyon blog entry, saying “I think the site you link to is acting in a deplorable manner by using the tragic death of Mr. Arrigoni to personally target his girlfriend – a woman who is right now coping with the loss of a loved one in unbelievably tragic circumstances.”
EoZ gets mentioned in JPost
In a JPost article by Benjamin Weinthal:
EU warns PA that it will stop funding salaries for Gazans who aren't working
Among the findings of the audit (which found billions of euros of support missing) was that thousands of PA workers were being paid to do nothing.
[T]he audit found indications that in Gaza a considerable number of civil servants were receiving salaries, partly funded by Pegase DFS, because they were eligible for support by virtue of being on the PA payroll but who were not going to work due to the political situation in Gaza (see paragraph 6). Out of 10 Gaza beneficiaries selected by the audit for interviews, three stated that they were not working, while one was absent. The audit also found that the State Audit and Administra-tive Control Bureau was obliged, in accordance with PA regulations, to pay salaries for its 90 staff members in Gaza, all of whom are unable to work. These findings are consistent with estimates based on data from interviews provided in a 2010 evaluation of Pegase contracted by the Commission which indicated that 22% and 24 % respectively of the staff employed by the PA Ministries of Health and Education in Gaza were not working at the time.
The EU is now making noises that the gravy train is over.
A European diplomat said the European Union informed the Palestinian Authority in a recent communication that Europe would not be able to continue financial support for the salaries of staff in the Gaza Strip while they aren't actually working. The diplomat, who preferred not to be named, told a local Arab newspaper that "it has become extremely difficult for the EU to continue to justify contributing to the payment of staff salaries in the Gaza Strip in the absence of a solution to this issue as these employees did not attend to their work since 2007".
The diplomat said, "The objective of direct financial assistance provided by the European Union to the Palestinian Authority is to enable them to provide basic services to citizens and enable them to continue their performance...In the absence of the ability to achieve this we have said to the Palestinian Authority that the European Union will not be able to provide open support to pay Palestinian Authority salaries to those who are not enrolled in their jobs."
"We can not defend to our parliaments the payment of salaries to employees who are not working."
The diplomat said that the return of thousands of employees in Gaza to their jobs in the education and health sectors could be done very quickly, especially in light of the urgent need in Gaza for employees in these fields. The solution to this issue must come quickly, he said.
Why did it take 16 months for the EU to even have this conversation with the PA?
It is interesting that even after the latest pretense of unity between Hamas and Fatah, the Fatah workers in Gaza are still not doing their jobs even in health and education. This shows yet again that Hamas cares far less about Gazans than it does about its own political desires.
Tell PayPal not to support terrorism
One of the groups that is promoting a "third Palestinian intifada" has a webpage where they solicit donations - through PayPal.
PayPal's policy prohibits it providing services to those "who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism."
So complain to PayPal and get the funding for today's terrorist supporters stopped. Use words like terrorism, complaint, breach of contract, PayPal policies. You do not need to be a PayPal customer to do this.
(h/t Daphne Anson)
PayPal's policy prohibits it providing services to those "who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism."
So complain to PayPal and get the funding for today's terrorist supporters stopped. Use words like terrorism, complaint, breach of contract, PayPal policies. You do not need to be a PayPal customer to do this.
(h/t Daphne Anson)
Iran says revolutions will reach Europe
From Tehran Times:
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has stated that the European nations will certainly rise up against their governments, which are blindly following the policies of the United States and the Zionist regime.But when people rise up against Iran or Syria, they are just proving they are Zionist stooges.
The Leader made the remarks during a meeting with thousands of teachers on Wednesday on the occasion of the National Teachers’ Day....
“People’s awakening in the Middle East and North Africa is the continuation of the Iranian nation’s great movement, and this awakening will certainly spread to the heart of Europe,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
He went on to say, “The European nations will certainly rise up against their politicians and leaders who made them submit to the cultural and economic policies of the U.S. and the Zionists.”
On the important role the teachers can play to push ahead the Islamic awakening, the Leader said the teachers should raise public awareness and strengthen unity and solidarity through developing talents and training strong-willed, faithful, insightful, committed, and knowledgeable students.
He also said that the most important obligation of the education system is training the people who are capable of safeguarding the principles of the Islamic system and promoting the Iranian nation’s great movement.
Iran says the Syrian uprising is "different"
Yesterday I noted, half-jokingly, that Iran supports and encourages all popular revolutions - except in Iran and Syria because those protesters are Zionist stooges.
Once again, one cannot satirize people who are already off the deep end.
From Now Lebanon:
(h/t Joel)
Once again, one cannot satirize people who are already off the deep end.
From Now Lebanon:
Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghandafar Roken Abadi said Thursday that Tehran “understand the basis of all the legitimate demands of all people of any region in the world, whether in Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya or Bahrain,” but added that “everyone knows the situation is different in Syria.”In other news, Israel's Channel 10 uncovered a secret document showing that Syria's president is bringing in Hezbollah to quash the protests.
“What is currently occurring in Syria is a political vendetta conducted by the US and Israel, and this is [a] clear and explicit [project] to separate Syria from the Resistance plan,” the National News Agency quoted him as saying.
(h/t Joel)
One more picture of terror supporter Vittorio Arrigoni
So what is on his arm?
Since Arrigoni is being called a humanitarian and peace activist, one can imagine it says something like "No more war" or "Peace forever" or maybe "Mom" or "I love puppies."
However, this modern martyr who was killed by the very people he loved and supported chose a different message to permanently ink on his arm.
It says "Moqowama." That means "resistance."
The very same word that Palestinian Arab terrorists use to describe suicide bombings, rocket attacks against civilians and everything else they do to target innocent Israelis.
That fact that he chose that word, from all the words in the world, to decorate his body says everything you need to know about how peaceful and humanitarian he was.
Arabs suspicious that soccer star giving new son a "Jewish name"
What happens when you mix a culture that is crazy about soccer with one that is certifiably insane about Jews?
From Metro-UK:
Its headline is "Messi chose a Jewish name for his new son."
In case you don't get the point, the story is illustrated with this photo of Messi visiting the Kotel a couple of years ago, right next to rabbi who looks particularly Jewy.
It’s official: there will be another Messi arriving on the planet very soon.Algeria's Echorouk sports site noticed immediately that Benjamin is also the name of the prime minister of Israel!
Lionel Messi confirmed he will become a father for the second time after the Barcelona star uploaded a picture of his pregnant girlfriend, Antonella Roccuzzo, onto Instagram on Thursday to confirm the news.
In the photo, the 27-year-old’s son young Thiago was seen kissing Roccuzzo’s stomach alongside the words ‘Waiting for you baby! We love you’.
The news comes after rumours began spreading that Messi was expecting another child and, in particular, a second son following a report in Argentine outlet Clarin.
The publication claimed the boy will be called Benjamin and could be born at the end of the year.
Its headline is "Messi chose a Jewish name for his new son."
In case you don't get the point, the story is illustrated with this photo of Messi visiting the Kotel a couple of years ago, right next to rabbi who looks particularly Jewy.
Swedish police criticized for including Palestinian flag on list of terrorist symbols
In light of several Swedish teenagers becoming radicalized and traveling to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS, Swedish police recently distributed a list of terrorist logos to high school principals so they could be on the lookout for early signs of potential trouble among their student populations.
A controversy has erupted because one of the terror logos listed, that of the Abu Nidal Organization, uses the PLO flag as its logo.
Jonas Hysing, director of the National Tactical Council that shared the list with the schools, noted that it was not uncommon for terror organizations to use symbols that have been used in other ways, for example ISIS using Mohammed's creed.
Green Party member Niclas Persson is the mayor of Orebro, one of the towns that distributed the list to school principals. He said "It is important that this is accurate. The material is of course designed to warn us if an organization's symbol is being used. The biggest problem is linking the Palestinian freedom struggle with terrorism. It's very unfortunate."
Jonas Hysing said "It is possible that we add some text that the symbols are often used in multiple ways. But the symbol is used by a designated terrorist organization, and it is up to the Swedish police to inform their employees about it."
The list of logos came from the US National Counterterrorism Center. However, their list of logos are not comprehensive - they list 52 terror groups and only 40 logos.
Among all the hand-wringing over how unfortunate it is that the PLO flag is listed under Abu Nidal Organization, no one in Sweden seems to upset that two flags over is the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which Mahmoud Abbas apparently has no problem with even though they are part of the Fatah party that he heads. He claimed that it was dismantled years ago, but they are still alive and kicking and publicly walking around the West Bank with masks and weapons.
And the PLO flag, as well.
Palestinian Arabs don't blink when their flag is associated with terror groups. Which means that the inclusion of the Palestinian flag in a list of symbols for teachers and law enforcement to look out for as an indication of potential terror activity is quite appropriate, despite the politically correct crowd.
After all, when you see a PLO flag in Europe, 90% of the time it is meant to call for the destruction of Israel, not for any "pro-Palestinian" reason.
A controversy has erupted because one of the terror logos listed, that of the Abu Nidal Organization, uses the PLO flag as its logo.
Jonas Hysing, director of the National Tactical Council that shared the list with the schools, noted that it was not uncommon for terror organizations to use symbols that have been used in other ways, for example ISIS using Mohammed's creed.
Green Party member Niclas Persson is the mayor of Orebro, one of the towns that distributed the list to school principals. He said "It is important that this is accurate. The material is of course designed to warn us if an organization's symbol is being used. The biggest problem is linking the Palestinian freedom struggle with terrorism. It's very unfortunate."
Jonas Hysing said "It is possible that we add some text that the symbols are often used in multiple ways. But the symbol is used by a designated terrorist organization, and it is up to the Swedish police to inform their employees about it."
The list of logos came from the US National Counterterrorism Center. However, their list of logos are not comprehensive - they list 52 terror groups and only 40 logos.
Among all the hand-wringing over how unfortunate it is that the PLO flag is listed under Abu Nidal Organization, no one in Sweden seems to upset that two flags over is the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which Mahmoud Abbas apparently has no problem with even though they are part of the Fatah party that he heads. He claimed that it was dismantled years ago, but they are still alive and kicking and publicly walking around the West Bank with masks and weapons.
And the PLO flag, as well.
Palestinian Arabs don't blink when their flag is associated with terror groups. Which means that the inclusion of the Palestinian flag in a list of symbols for teachers and law enforcement to look out for as an indication of potential terror activity is quite appropriate, despite the politically correct crowd.
After all, when you see a PLO flag in Europe, 90% of the time it is meant to call for the destruction of Israel, not for any "pro-Palestinian" reason.
"Pro-Israel" J-Street tries to raise funds by saying Israel is racist
By now you have read the story about the shelved plan to force West Bank Arab workers to go back to their homes using buses that stop at checkpoints.
After criticism from the left and the right, much of which was misinformed by the original Haaretz story, Netanyahu himself said he would not implement the plan.
On one level at least, Israel proved that it is against discrimination in buses against Arabs, even Arabs who are not citizens.
That should make leftist groups that claim to be pro-Israel very happy, right? The democratically elected government chose not to implement this plan. Even though there were serious security issues that the plan was meant to address, the Government of Israel overrode the plan. Everyone should be happy.
But that isn't what happened.
J-Street sent out a fundraising email that tries to use this episode to paint Israel has a terribly racist society, and claiming that only pressure from American Jews can get Israel to be less racist, which it naturally is if it wasn't for the wonderful people at J-Street:
That's just not OK. And it proves that Ben-Ami does not love Israel at all, but instead goes out of his way to paint it in as horrible a light as possible.
That's just not OK.
After criticism from the left and the right, much of which was misinformed by the original Haaretz story, Netanyahu himself said he would not implement the plan.
On one level at least, Israel proved that it is against discrimination in buses against Arabs, even Arabs who are not citizens.
That should make leftist groups that claim to be pro-Israel very happy, right? The democratically elected government chose not to implement this plan. Even though there were serious security issues that the plan was meant to address, the Government of Israel overrode the plan. Everyone should be happy.
But that isn't what happened.
J-Street sent out a fundraising email that tries to use this episode to paint Israel has a terribly racist society, and claiming that only pressure from American Jews can get Israel to be less racist, which it naturally is if it wasn't for the wonderful people at J-Street:
Last year, Israel's government considered a proposal that would have segregated key bus lines in the West Bank -- some for Jewish settlers, some for Palestinians. The American Jewish community spoke up, and with so many voices opposed, the proposal was cancelled.Of course, Israeli Arabs could ride on these buses, just as in last year's plan. No Israeli citizen is being discriminated against. But because Jeremy Ben Ami wants to use this episode to cynically manipulate his audience, he consciously compares this story with segregated buses in the US in the 1950s.
Or so we thought.
Now, with Israel's new government, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon is once again advocating rules that would result in segregation. He wants to separate Jewish Israelis and Palestinians as they go from Israel back into Occupied Territory.
Under Ya'alon's plan, Palestinian workers going home at the end of the day would have to travel through the same checkpoints they used to enter Israel, forcing many far out of their way and onto Palestinian-only bus routes. His proposal is currently on hold, but he and others in Israel's new government are pushing to reinstate it -- permanently. That's why we have to raise our voices once again.
Our values matter, and so do our voices. If we remain silent, the costs are high: further erosion of democracy, and even more international isolation. For Israel's sake, it's critical that the American Jewish community speak out again.
Add your voice and stand up for the Israel we believe in: one that supports our Jewish and democratic values.
Segregated buses? That's just not okay.
- Jeremy Ben-Ami>
That's just not OK. And it proves that Ben-Ami does not love Israel at all, but instead goes out of his way to paint it in as horrible a light as possible.
That's just not OK.
Amnesty International says I acted "deplorably"
On Monday, I noticed that the murdered terrorist supporter Vittori Arrigoni's girlfriend worked for amnesty International but she seems to have had close relationships not only with Arrigoni but also with other rabid haters of Israel. I asked:
Arrigoni was not, as I have written, a human rights activist nor a peace activist by any definition of the term. Obviously Amnesty's employees can have relationships with whomever they want. But Arrigoni was a supporter of Hamas and an avowed anti-Zionist. Are any Amnesty employees friends with members of Likud, or with Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria?
Somehow, I doubt it.
In fact, Amnesty itself has no problem partnering with organizations that are explicitly dedicated to Israel's destruction. If Amnesty accepts ab initio that the destruction of the Jewish state is a legitimate position, it is difficult to accept their argument that they are not biased against Israel. There s no real difference between organizations that advocate replacing Israel with another de-facto Arab state and those who want to ethnically clean the Middle East of all Jews, no matter what word games they play with liberal-sounding concepts like "one state for all people."
If Amnesty supports the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, let them say so explicitly. If they do that, they'd lose a lot of their "friends" very, very quickly.
(As far as my acting "deplorably," I had never heard of Claudia Milani until Monday, and I simply looked at her history once I saw her name. I would have done the same had I known about her while Arrigoni was alive. I see no reason why her previous activities should be off-limits once she becomes a public personality, just because she is grieving over the death of her Hamas-loving boyfriend. Amnesty being more concerned over my blog post than over the relationships their employees have with people who want to see Israel wiped off the map seems a bit misplaced.)
UPDATE: Harry's Place notices Arrigoni's relationship with Milani as well, and acts equally "deplorably." (h/t habibi)
Isn't it interesting that Amnesty (and HRW's) activists are so much more friendly with people who want to destroy Israel than they are with people who love Israel?A reader sent that link to Amnesty for a response. Their answer:
We reject absolutely any suggestion that our organisation has a bias against Israel. As you will see from reading our report (attached) on the Israeli attack on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009, for example, we condemned the human rights violations and possible war crimes committed by Palestinian armed groups as well as by Israel. It is also worth noting that this is the only report prepared by human rights researchers who were on the ground in southern Israel and in Gaza during the fighting.Of course, Mr. Moran did not address the main thrust of my question: why do so-called "human rights" organizations' members seem to have closer relationships with activists whose focus is to destroy Israel than with anyone who could be remotely described as Zionist?
Indeed the first report from Amnesty International’s researchers was to expose extrajudicial killings carried out by Hamas under cover of the Israeli offensive. We have condemned on numerous occasions rocket attacks by Hamas and others against Israeli civilians targets in southern Israel and just last month profiled the case of Gilad Shalit as our prisoner of the month in a national newspaper (attached).
Our concern is solely the protection of human rights. We have condemned, and will continue to condemn, the Israeli state and its armed forces for repeated, gross violations of the human rights of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories and in Israel. Likewise, we have condemned, and will continue to condemn Hamas, Fatah and other armed Palestinian groups for deliberate attacks on civilians and for failures to protect human rights in those areas of the Occupied Territories they are responsible. Protagonists on both sides would do well to examine what they are doing rather than assume any criticism of them is motivated by bias or prejudice.
Finally, if I could say this. It is absolutely legitimate to raise questions about Amnesty International's policies and priorities, indeed we welcome it as a valuable contribution to our own thinking. However, I think the site you link to is acting in a deplorable manner by using the tragic death of Mr Arrigoni to personally target his girlfriend, a woman who is right now coping with the loss of a loved one in unbelievably tragic circumstances. I realise it is not your site and you merely wished to raise a legitimate point, to which I am happy to respond, but I wished to place that on the record.
Yours,
Justin Moran
Communications Co-ordinator
Amnesty International Ireland
E-Mail: jmoran@amnesty.ie
Tel: 01 863 8300 Ext. 8334
Mob: 085 814 8986
www.amnesty.ie
Arrigoni was not, as I have written, a human rights activist nor a peace activist by any definition of the term. Obviously Amnesty's employees can have relationships with whomever they want. But Arrigoni was a supporter of Hamas and an avowed anti-Zionist. Are any Amnesty employees friends with members of Likud, or with Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria?
Somehow, I doubt it.
In fact, Amnesty itself has no problem partnering with organizations that are explicitly dedicated to Israel's destruction. If Amnesty accepts ab initio that the destruction of the Jewish state is a legitimate position, it is difficult to accept their argument that they are not biased against Israel. There s no real difference between organizations that advocate replacing Israel with another de-facto Arab state and those who want to ethnically clean the Middle East of all Jews, no matter what word games they play with liberal-sounding concepts like "one state for all people."
If Amnesty supports the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, let them say so explicitly. If they do that, they'd lose a lot of their "friends" very, very quickly.
(As far as my acting "deplorably," I had never heard of Claudia Milani until Monday, and I simply looked at her history once I saw her name. I would have done the same had I known about her while Arrigoni was alive. I see no reason why her previous activities should be off-limits once she becomes a public personality, just because she is grieving over the death of her Hamas-loving boyfriend. Amnesty being more concerned over my blog post than over the relationships their employees have with people who want to see Israel wiped off the map seems a bit misplaced.)
UPDATE: Harry's Place notices Arrigoni's relationship with Milani as well, and acts equally "deplorably." (h/t habibi)