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The US Should Penalize UNRWA — Not Israel
Security personnel work at the UNRWA headquarters, in Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
This week, Israel diminished a longstanding source of terrorist support – and the US should be glad.
On October 28, Israel’s legislature enacted two bills that effectively blocked the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from providing relief services to Palestinians in a zone that includes Gaza. The US opposed the measures.
In addition, by a letter on October 13, the Biden administration warned that if Israel did not immediately “surge” the pace and quantity of relief supplies to Gaza, the US might be legally compelled by Section 6201 of the US Foreign Assistance Act to curtail its sale of weapons to Israel.
In reality, Section 301(c) of the same law should compel President Biden to harden his policy against UNRWA, instead of opposing Israel’s action; no boycott of weapons to Israel is justified under Section 6201.
UNRWA was founded in 1949 to build tent cities with temporary emergency provisions such as food and water for Arab refugees after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Unfortunately, that quick-fix organization gradually swelled into a perpetual, billion-dollar-a-year welfare bureaucracy dedicated officially to helping Palestinians and unofficially to exterminating Israel.
UNRWA’s anti-Israeli animus became even more apparent during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terrorist invasion of Israel.
After the Hamas murder spree, Israeli intelligence uncovered a web of UNRWA connections to terrorist organizations. According to Israel’s well-supported findings, over 25 Gaza-based UNRWA employees participated in the October 7th atrocities; another 30 facilitated those crimes with logistics and weapons procurement; and approximately 190 doubled as operatives of Hamas or Islamic Palestinian Jihad.
Moreover, a group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers celebrated the slaughter in postings to the Telegram messaging platform, and about 10 percent of UNRWA’s 12,000-strong Gaza workforce exhibited ties to terror groups. In addition, Hamas built a data center under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters and stored munitions in UNRWA schools, maneuvers that followed Hamas’ longstanding practice of turning civilians into human shields.
UNRWA has historically fostered Islamist extremism. UNRWA teachers radicalize students to wage holy war against Jews and martyr themselves to “liberate” Israel. The educators also falsely instruct that an imagined six million Palestinian “refugees” have a “right of return” through “armed resistance” to Israel, where they will convert the world’s only Jewish-majority state into the 58th Muslim-majority state.
In order to prevent the eviction of UNRWA from worsening the dire condition of some two million Gazans, the Israeli government has called for UN support services in Gaza, eastern Jerusalem, and the West Bank to be transferred to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the relief provider that serves people who legally qualify as refugees. The proposed transfer must be swift and smooth, so no aid recipients fall through the cracks. Until the UNHCR takes charge, other NGOs in Gaza should — and must — fill the gap.
The Knesset action complements President Biden’s own legal response to UNRWA’s malfeasance. In March 2024, he suspended America’s $300 million annual funding to UNRWA because the entity had violated the above-referenced Section 301(c). That law required UNRWA to take “all possible measures” to prevent its US donations from reaching anyone engaged in terrorism. Yet UNRWA did the opposite. It employed and harbored terrorists. Such inbred criminality should persuade the president to reenforce Section 301(c) by blessing UNRWA’s demise.
The above-noted Section 6201, which requires the US to halt military sales where countries restrict the flow of humanitarian products to needy populations, should not be enforced against Israel for two reasons. First, Israel has obeyed the US demand to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza, even though Hamas attacks the Israeli aid facilitators and steals an estimated 50% of the needed goods. Second, 6201 authorizes the president to continue the given military transfers if necessary for national security reasons. In this case, the reasons are abundant. Israel is a close US ally under withering, unprovoked terrorist attack on seven fronts. Some of the terrorist factions hold hostages from both Israel and the US.
Arming Israel actually furthers the humanitarian goal of Section 6201. Israeli troops must defeat Hamas, so the militants will stop their criminal acts of stealing the life-saving cargo, exploiting Gazans as human shields, and holding hostages. Conversely, withholding military tools from Israel may prolong the human suffering.
Under the Hamas-UNRWA regime, human rights are crudely abused. Gazans should be treated like human beings, not human shields. And a UN agency should promote peace, not war.
Joel M. Margolis is the Legal Commentator, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, U.S. Affiliate of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists. His 2001 book, The Israeli-Palestinian Legal War, analyzed the major legal issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previously he worked as a telecommunications lawyer in both the public and private sectors.
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Torah cover honouring fallen IDF soldier leads to magical series of encounters in Montreal
Sometimes, says Rabbi Zolly Claman, all the cosmic tumblers fall into place—and something truly magical happens. The leader of Montreal’s Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem (TBDJ) was looking forward to […]
The post Torah cover honouring fallen IDF soldier leads to magical series of encounters in Montreal appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Radiohead Frontman Thom Yorke Confronts Anti-Israel Fan From on Stage During Melbourne Concert
Thom Yorke of The Smile is performing during The Smile Live in Europe 2024 Tour at Cavea of Auditorium Parco della Musica, in Rome, Italy, on June 24, 2024. Photo: Domenico Cippitelli via Reuters Connect
Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead and The Smile, abruptly walked off stage during his solo concert in Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday night after having a heated exchange with an audience member, who interrupted the show to voice his opposition to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
During a pause between songs at Yorke’s second sold-out show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, an audience member shouted at him as he stood on stage, as seen in a TikTok video taken during the incident. The audience member claimed, without evidence, that 200,000 people have already been killed in the Gaza Strip, half of them children. He yelled at the British rocker, “How can you be silent? How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?” as seen in footage obtained by The Age.
Yorke responded, “Hop up on the f—king stage and say what you wanna say. Don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. You wanna piss on everybody’s night? OK, you do. See you later, then.” He then took off his guitar and left the stage.
Other members of the audience then began booing, shouting at the anti-Israel protester and expressing frustration after Yorke walked off stage. They also chanted for Yorke, and a few minutes later he returned to perform the night’s final song, the Radiohead hit “Karma Police,” according to The Age.
@makzym8 Melbourne night 2. Guy then got got by the Karma Police #radiohead #thomyorke #melbourne ♬ original sound – Maxim
Radiohead has performed in Israel several times, most recently in 2017, despite facing intense pressure to boycott the Jewish state as part of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. At the time, Yorke called the harassment from BDS supporters “extremely upsetting,” “deeply disrespectful”, and “offensive.” He also took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to defend the band’s decision to play in Israel that year.
“Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government,” he wrote. “We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We don’t endorse [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any more than [former US President Donald] Trump, but we still play in America. Music, art ,and academia is about crossing borders not building them, about open minds not closed ones, about shared humanity, dialogue, and freedom of expression.”
This summer, Yorke’s bandmate, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, was criticized and threatened by BDS supporters for performing with Israeli artist Dudu Tassa and his band in Tel Aviv. Greenwood, who is married to Israeli visual artist Sharona Katan, responded by saying that efforts to boycott Israeli artists “feels unprogressive.”
“No art is as ‘important’ as stopping all the death and suffering around us. But doing nothing seems a worse option,” he explained. “And silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel doesn’t seem like any way to reach an understanding between the two sides of this apparently endless conflict.”
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Calls Mount for Chicago Public School Board President to Resign for Antisemitic Comments
The Chicago skyline seen from Lake Michigan. Photo: Mr.TinDC/Flickr
Jewish groups and Chicago officials are demanding the resignation of the city’s new president of public schools, citing his lengthy history of making what critics described as antisemitic comments about Jews and Israel.
Twenty-six aldermen in Chicago issued a letter on Wednesday stating that they were “deeply troubled” by Chicago Public School Board President Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson’s “antisemitic and pro-Hamas comments.”
“The thousands of Jewish families who send their kids to Chicago Public Schools deserve representation who values them and does not express hate towards the Jewish community. We call on Rev. Johnson to apologize and step down from his position immediately,” the letter continued. “This situation is a failure of leadership and judgment on the part of Mayor [Brandon] Johnson and his executive team. Earlier this month, Mayor Johnson told reporters his appointees would be thoroughly vetted before they were sworn in. It is clear that did not take place.”
The aldermen went on to argue that in the months following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Johnson “crossed major red lines” by peddling antisemitic and incendiary rhetoric on social media. The aldermen condemned Johnson for “his explicit support for Hamas” and “collectively blaming all Jews for Israel’s military decisions.”
Johnson’s defense of the Oct. 7 slaughter as an “absolute right” is “disqualifying from public service,” according to the letter, which slammed the new school board chief for weaponizing the war in Gaza against Jewish city officials by writing, “My Jewish colleagues appear drunk with the Israeli power and will live to see their payment.”
Johnson came under fire after Jewish Insider reported on his vocal support for Hamas on social media, where he also compared Jews to Nazis.
“The Nazi Germans’ ideology has been adopted by the Zionist Jews,” Johnson wrote in February.
“The Israeli government offers a renewal of Nazi language once directed toward European Jews, ‘savages, dogs, vermin,’” he later posted in March.
Defending Hamas’s Oct. 7 murder spree, he wrote, “I have been saying this since October 2023. People have an absolute right to attack their oppressors by any means necessary!!!”
Johnson also shared a video by anti-Israel writer Miko Peled which voiced support for the Oct. 7 attacks. He encouraged his “Jewish friends” to react to the video
“The single most direct video that has crossed my feed,” Johnson wrote. “I invite my once Jewish friends to respond to this video with honesty, integrity, and morality.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said the appointment of Johnson was “offensive and insulting to a Jewish community reeling from the attacks of this weekend and increased antisemitism over the past several months.”
The American Jewish Committee’s branch in Chicago also called for Johnson’s resignation, as did other Jewish groups.
Meanwhile,the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest said of Johnson: “It is incomprehensible that someone with these antisemitic views was appointed to lead the Chicago Public School system, designed to promote education, coexistence, and inclusion.”
Johnson said he would not resign but on Wednesday apologized, saying he was “deeply sorry for not being more precise and deliberate in my comments” and acknowledging that some of the social media posts that he shared “could be construed as antisemitic.”
“Let me start by apologizing to the Jewish community for the remarks I posted, which were clearly reactive and insensitive,” Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ in an interview. “Since that time, I have asked for and received feedback from my Jewish friends and colleagues who helped me be more thoughtful as I addressed these sensitive matters.”
The push to oust Johnson came amid ongoing controversy over the city of Chicago’s response to the shooting of an Orthodox Jewish man in the city last Saturday.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who sparked outrage among the Jewish community earlier this year when he referred to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza as “genocidal,” released a statement on the shooting that made no mention of the victim being Jewish. In the statement, Johnson said that “our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the victim and his loved ones from this weekend’s shooting incident that took place in Rogers Park.”
The victim, 39, was shot by a 22-year-old gunman, Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, in an area of Chicago home to many Orthodox Jews, according to police. The attacker reportedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” during a gunfight after being confronted by law enforcement.
Abdallahi was charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder, seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm toward a police officer or firefighter, and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm.
Community leaders expressed outrage over Abdallahi not being charged with a hate crime among the other felony charges. Many took particular aim at Johnson for his response.
“The victim was a Jewish man, who was wearing traditional Jewish garb, walking to a Jewish place of worship on the Jewish day of rest,” said Chicago’s 50th Ward Alderman Debra Silverstein in response to Johnson’s statement. “Don’t erase his identity and don’t try to minimize the fear and anxiety my community feels after this attack. We’re scared and we need to know that our mayor has our back.”
The Chicago Jewish Relations Community Council similarly slammed Johnson for his statement, saying that the mayor “failed to identify that the victim was a Jewish man, in a densely populated Jewish neighborhood, going to synagogue for Shabbat morning prayers.”
“What will it take for you to acknowledge the Jewish community?” the organization added.
The post Calls Mount for Chicago Public School Board President to Resign for Antisemitic Comments first appeared on Algemeiner.com.