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Why Do Arab States and Europe Refuse to Actually Help the Palestinian People?
Jordan King Abdullah II visits Trump at White House (Source: Reuters)
US President Donald Trump’s February 6 proposal for the Gaza Strip shook the world, causing an earthquake in the international community. And the aftershocks continue to be felt.
Whether his proposals for relocating Palestinians and turning Gaza into a “Riviera” of the Middle East are realistic is almost beside the point. But Trump’s statements have once again highlighted the hypocrisy and triple standards applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Many voices insist that Palestinians must not be displaced or offered voluntary and even temporary departure — and are using terms like “forced displacement” and “ethnic cleansing.” Yet, much of this concern for the plight of Palestinians has very little to do with Palestinians, and everything to do with Israel.
During the Syrian civil war, approximately 6.5 million refugees were forced to flee Syria. About 5.5 million of those went to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt, while another 85,0000 went to Germany. These refugees were managed by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) — the United Nations agency responsible for all the world’s refugees, except for Palestinians, who fall under the separate UNRWA agency, the only “refugee” group to receive that distinction.
These refugees fled Syria in the midst of a brutal civil war, and there were certainly no widespread accusations that this exodus must be prevented to stop “ethnic cleansing.” Rather, the exodus was understood as a natural human response to war.
Similarly, in February 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, around 6.8 million Ukrainians were also forced to flee their country. European countries predominantly gave them safe refuge, with Germany and Poland being the main providers of asylum, along with the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Once again, this was understood as necessary from a humanitarian viewpoint, and once again, the organization that looked after them was the UNHCR.
When it comes to Palestinians, however, any suggestion that they should be allowed to leave Gaza — a conflict zone which has been absolutely devastated by 16 months of war (started by the Palestinian leaders of Gaza) — is met with outrage and accusations of ethnic cleansing.
Jordan, where the population is predominantly Palestinian, says that it will not budge in its opposition to US President Donald Trump’s proposal of relocating Palestinians in Gaza to other countries, including Jordan and Egypt. Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told Al Jazeera the Palestinians cannot be transferred to Egypt, Jordan, or any Arab state. He talked about the Palestinian “right for freedom” — just not the kind of freedom that allows them to actually leave an active war zone.
This makes sense, since the Arab community has refused to take in or help the Palestinians since 1948 (including when Jordan had control over areas like the West Bank).
Egypt has also refused to allow the Palestinians to leave, despite having an actual border with Gaza, and ample space where it could easily accommodate them.
Europe has also rejected the idea of relocating the Palestinians, even temporarily, during the conflict. The contrast appears staggering: Syrians and Ukrainians are embraced, while Palestinians are denied the same considerations.
What is the difference? Israel is involved, and when it comes to Israel, the rules change. Triple standards come into force — one rule for dictatorial states, one rule for democracies, and an entirely separate category for Israel.
Arab states frequently talk about the rights and freedoms of Palestinians, but their actions promote the complete opposite. They have the means to help needy Palestinians, but they simply refuse to. Instead, since 1948 and before, they have preferred to continually use the Palestinians as a political pawn to attack Israel’s legitimacy, keeping them in often squalid conditions in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria, with few rights.
It is simply mind-boggling that more than 20 Arab states with vast resources, encompassing nearly 10% of the world’s total land area, cannot offer refugee status to their fellow Arab Palestinians. Yet the one and only tiny Jewish state is prepared to absorb all Jews worldwide.
This blatant hypocrisy and refusal to help their fellow Arabs should be rejected and condemned by all fair-minded countries. President Trump offered something different. It’s not fully fleshed out, and elements of it will have to change — his suggestion that Palestinians might be moved involuntarily must be a non-starter.
However, perhaps Trump’s plan offers ideas for a way out of this never-ending conflict. Maybe it could even offer hope for a population indoctrinated and historically used as a political tool by their fellow Arabs and the international community. But true to form, the international community seems to be demonstrating that it cares more about vilifying Israel than actually helping Palestinians.
Justin Amler is a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
The post Why Do Arab States and Europe Refuse to Actually Help the Palestinian People? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rioters Splatter Israeli Singer With Red Paint, Try to Storm Stage at Concert in Poland
Illustrative: Anti-Israel protesters hold a banner that says, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” standing in front of the president’s palace in Warsaw, Poland, on Nov. 5, 2023. Photo: IMAGO/Marek Antoni Iwanczuk via Reuters Connect
Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrators threw red paint on Israeli singer-songwriter and composer David D’Or and tried to storm the stage with a Palestinian flag during his performance in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday night.
D’Or was singing the Hebrew prayer “Avinu Malkeinu” at a finale concert for an annual Jewish cultural festival in Warsaw when an anti-Israel agitator in the audience approached the stage and hurled red paint on him. While the protester was being apprehended by security, another activist emerged from the audience, carrying a Palestinian flag, and tried to storm the stage while reportedly shouting “Free Palestine.” Both activists were quickly removed from the auditorium.
D’Or posted a video of the incident on Instagram and detailed what happened in a Hebrew-language caption.
“In the middle of the prayer our father our king, when I pray for a good year and for peace in the world, I closed my eyes, when I suddenly felt a cold splash on my face, I opened my eyes to see a strong red color, similar to blood,” wrote the singer. “On the clothes on my face and on the stage and the musicians. The playlist was like stained in blood.” He said the stains of red paint reminded him “of the horror sights of October 7th,” referring to the deadly Hamas-led attack in 2023 in which Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to the Gaza Strip, starting the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
D’Or said after he was splattered with red paint, “in the stunned crowd a sound of horror and crying began. I realized that I must pick myself up and encourage them.”
“I continued to sing and asked everyone to close their eyes and pray for the people of Israel,” he added. “It wasn’t easy, my eyes were teary with pain and great sadness from the situation we got to. At the end of the show the audience sang along with me and we came out strong … What terrible days, may God have mercy. Praying for better days.”
D’Or’s performance on Sunday night, accompanied by Sinfonia Viva, closed off the 22nd edition of the Singer’s Warsaw Festival of Jewish Culture. The concert took place at the Moniuszko Auditorium.
D’or’s career spans over 35 years and he has performed with many philharmonic orchestras around the world, including the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestras of Rome, London, Moscow, Shanghai, Budapest, Beijing, and Los Angeles. He has 17 gold and platinum albums and previously performed at the Vatican six times, the United Nations, in front of former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and had a close relationship with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who asked for D’or to sing at his funeral.
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Florida Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Plotting Attacks Targeting Jews, Blacks
An American flag waves outside the US Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC. Photo: Al Drago via Reuters Connect
A man from Margate, Florida, man was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in federal prison for planning attacks against Jewish and Black Americans, the US Department of Justice announced.
John Kevin Lapinski, Jr., 41, previously pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, possession of a firearm by a person subject to a court order, possession of an unregistered silencer, and possession of body armor by a violent felon.
On Oct. 31, 2024, officers from the Margate Police Department responded to a call about shots fired in a residential neighborhood and discovered that Lapinski was the shooter. Inside his home, police officers found a shooting target that depicted a Black male covered in bullet holes. They also found Lapinski’s arsenal that included five firearms, more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two silencers, body armor, smoke grenades, a Ghillie suit used for camouflage, and tactical gear.
Officers additionally found maps of local schools, parks, and community sites with racial slurs, written by Lapinski, that targeted Black and Jewish people. Lapinski had also compiled a “target list” for attacks based on race and religion and it mentioned a Jewish member of Congress, local synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses, and other religious and ethnically identified sites, according to the Justice Department
“This defendant stockpiled weapons, tactical gear, and detailed attack plans to terrorize Jewish and Black Americans in our communities. His intent was not abstract — it was written on his maps, his targets, and his so-called hit list,” US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement
“Thanks to the swift work of our law enforcement partners, his plan never became reality,” Quiñones added. “Instead of carrying out acts of racist violence, he will spend the next quarter-century behind bars. Let this sentence serve as a warning: hate-fueled violence will be met with decisive federal prosecution. We will disrupt your plans, seize your weapons, and ensure you never endanger the people of this district again.”
Investigators also linked Lapinski to a shooting in August 2024 that targeted the home and vehicle of a Jewish Florida resident.
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Houthi Terrorists Raid UN Premises in Yemen, Detain At Least 11 People
Houthi policemen ride on the back of a patrol pick-up truck during the funeral of Houthi terrorists killed by recent US-led strikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Yemen‘s Iran-backed Houthi rebels raided United Nations offices in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday and detained at least 11 UN personnel, the body said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist group, forcibly entered World Food Program premises, seized UN property, and attempted to enter other UN offices in the capital.
The raid followed an Israeli strike on Sanaa on Thursday that killed the prime minister of Yemen‘s Houthi-run government and several other ministers.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said in a separate statement that the 11 staff were detained in both Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.
UNICEF, the UN Development Program and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees are among other UN agencies with offices in one or both of the two cities.
Grundberg said the detentions were in addition to 23 other UN staff previously detained, some since 2021, and one who died in detention this year.