NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL UNLIKELY TO BE IN YOUR MEDIA

(With thanks to BIG the British Israel Group)

• There are few signs in Jerusalem to show that the Christmas season is here, apart from a few Christmas lights twinkling along the section of the Hevron Road where it leads into Bethlehem. Jerusalem Christians have, however, not been forgotten. In mid-December Mayor Nir Barkat toured the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City to give religious leaders and residents Christmas greetings and good wishes for the New Year and in the days running up to Christmas, a cheerful Father Christmas has been seen, walking along the Old City walls with a large selection of Christmas trees, inviting Christians to select one as a free gift from Jerusalem’s municipality. The Minister of tourism hosted a traditional pre-Christmas reception for the leaders of the Christian churches and communities in Israel at Jerusalem’s Mishkenot Shaananim. More Christians than ever before gathered in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve to celebrate, it was estimated that at least 70,000 people had visited the little town by the end of the day.

• According to the Ministry of Tourism, 75,000 tourists were due to arrive in Israel over Christmas of which 25,000 are Christian pilgrims. The Ministry of Tourism provided free transportation to Christian pilgrims traveling between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

• The collaboration between Israel’s Department of Health and the West Bank is little known. In 2011, 197, 713 healthcare permits were issued to Palestinians and their companions, 21,538 Palestinian children were treated in Israeli hospitals and 118 training courses took place in Israeli hospitals to provide training and support for medical teams from the West Bank. The Civil Administration, along with Israeli hospitals and donor organisations arranged various ‘fun days’ for Palestinian children hospitalised in Israel. The venues included the Jerusalem Zoo, the Safari Park at Ramat Gan, the beach at Haifa, bowling in Holon, and a trip to see the snow on Mount Hermon which was arranged by the Israeli Army Alpinist Unit.
(The Israeli Embassy, London)

• The recent heavy rains have gone some small way to relieving Israel’s water shortage, Water Authority officials calling the winter of 2012- 13 the wettest since 2004. The Jordan River is now fuller and flowing faster than it has for 20 years and since the first of the winter’s rainfalls at the end of October, the level of the Sea of Galilee, one of the countries primary sources of water, has risen by 26 centimetres. Mount Hermon received 30-40 centimetres of snow, unusual for so early in the year. In the ongoing battle to provide enough water for Israeli citizens the Israeli government together with Water Authority are building desalination plants and cleaning contaminated and obsolete wells so that water can once more be pumped from them and it is hoped that these measures will cover the water deficit within two years. In recent years, 220 new water reservoirs have been built or are in various stages of completion, thanks to these reservoirs, Israel currently recycles more water for agricultural usage than any country in the world.

• During the recent attacks on Israel by thousands of Grad Rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, the efficiency of the Iron Dome system in intercepting very many of them was much praised. Few people have any idea that parts for these state-of-the-art systems were manufactured by residents of a home for people with mental disabilities. Abie, Ida and Michael have been employed by the Rafael company in the production of the Iron Dome system for over a year, as part of the company’s community outreach programme. The Hostel’s manager stated that the residents delivered highly accurate products that measured up to the company’s high standards and the Social Affairs Ministry is very proud of the project, “We believe that everyone is entitled to live and fulfill his or her potential,” said the Director General of the Ministry.
(Thanks to Ynetnews)

• India is probably the country with the largest cow population in the world yet most of its dairy farms operate using antiquated methods this, however, is about to change as Israeli kibbutz members have been called in and two Israeli companies have begun planning and constructing 10 state-of-the-art dairy farms on the subcontinent. In Hinduism, cows are sacred animals and there are specific laws for protecting them which the Israeli teams are having to consider when designing the farms. So while ideas will be introduced to increase the number of cows kept and the quantity of milk produced, the farms will contain hostels where older cows can receive special care and alarm systems will be installed to notify the farmers if a cow suffers even the slightest distress.
(NO Camels)

• Click on this if you want to know how Israel has been feeling in recent weeks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbdnu_R9G40

"In our hearts we are all Hamas."

Anat Berko. Gatestone Institute. 20 December '12.

Link: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3507/fatah-hamas

As one veteran Fatah member said, "In our hearts we are all Hamas."


Contrary to what many people think, there is no profound division between Fatah and Hamas. Palestinians often shuttle from one to the other; members of the same family belong to different groups. Jibril Rajoub, for example, is often interviewed by the Israeli media as representing Fatah (Palestinian Authority), while his brother, Naif, was a minister in the de-facto Hamas administration.

Before 2007, when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip and suppressed the Fatah presence there, there was a considerable amount of back-and-forth between the organizations. On one occasion a Fatah operative in jail smiled and said he found it hard to say which organization he belonged to. "There are days," he said, "when I go to sleep Fatah and wake up Hamas..."

Last week, masses of people marched through the streets of the West Bank holding green signs with Hamas slogans, all with Fatah's blessing, and chanting, "death to the Jews," and "death to Israel." As one veteran Fatah member said, "In our hearts we are all Hamas."

Mahmoud Abbas's so-called "pragmatism" is music to Western ears, but not to the Arabs'.

Thus, when he came back from the UN with the title of "president of Palestine" in his pocket, he allowed Hamas and others to hold parades and rallies, released Hamas prisoners, and has given instructions that those planning terrorist attacks against Israel are to be left to do as they please.

Today the Palestinian Authority can barely stay afloat, and every mass march organized to palliate Hamas can slide into factional Palestinian violence and anti-Israeli terrorism.

Hamas, with the help recently and willingly given it by Mahmoud Abbas, will take over, just as it took over the Gaza Strip. Israel can never accept a radical Islamist emirate in the West Bank of the sort Hamas has created in the Gaza Strip, any more than Paris, London or Washington could accept al-Qaeda or the Taliban in Monaco, Wales or Virginia.

This time, no one can promise that Israeli soldiers will continue to act as bodyguards for Palestinian leaders when their lives are threatened. That movie, which we have all seen, is no longer playing.

Do You Understand our Neighborhood?

One of our readers Stuart L. Fischman, DMD provided this article which poses a question most Israelis have on their lips:-

Thomas Friedman writing in “ New York Times” stated:


“...there is an unspoken question in the mind of virtually every Israeli that you need to answer correctly: ‘Do you understand what neighborhood I’m living in?’ If Israelis smell that you don’t, their ears will close to you. It is one reason the Europeans in general, and the European Left in particular, have so little influence here”.


“The central political divide in Israel today is over the follow-up to this core question: If you appreciate that Israel lives in a neighborhood where there is no mercy for the weak, how should we expect Israel to act?”


Every time Israel tries to give up land for peace it ends up being attacked by Palestinian missiles and criticized by the international community. This happened following the withdrawal from Gaza, when Hamas made targets of civilians throughout Israel. It happened when Israel left the “buffer” in South Lebanon and Hezbollah, armed by Iran, aimed rockets at schools and hospitals in the north.


The neighborhood is certainly not hospitable and is predictably unstable. A look at the map reveals what our neighbors are like. Lebanon has not had an elected government since the assassination of Hariri and the southern border is fully re-supplied with Iranian missiles, under the “watchful eye” of the UN observers “enforcing” Security Council resolution 1701. Recall that Israel was encouraged to negotiate a withdrawal from the Golan Heights with the “moderate” Assad government of Syria. Jordan is ruled by a Hashemite monarchy, but has a Palestinian population majority, and is economically weak. King Abdullah II is not the clone of his father, King Hussein. Egypt is currently ruled by a new Pharaoh who has reluctantly accepted the peace treaty with Israel. The porous Sinai border is now being protected by a security barrier to deter smuggling of weapons, drugs and illegal immigrants into Israel. Gaza—I’ll let the “Pillars of

Defense” operations speak to that!


Prime Minister Netanyahu told members of the foreign media that when the Hamas leaders openly called for Israel’s destruction the only thing he heard was a deafening silence.


“Where was the outrage?” he asked.

“Where were the UN resolutions? Where was President Abbas?

“Why weren’t the Palestinians summoned to European and other capitals to explain why the PA president not only refused to condemn this but declared his intention to unite with Hamas?

“We cannot accept that when Jews build homes in their ancient capital of Jerusalem the

international community has no problem finding its voice, but when Palestinian leaders openly call for the destruction of Israel, the one and only Jewish state, the world is silent.”


The West doesn’t understand what is going on here—what this neighborhood is like. President Obama and the European Union, having failed to see that the Arab Spring could turn into a bitter winter, are now in the strange position of apparently supporting a dictatorial Egyptian regime led by the Muslim Brotherhood, at the expense of the opposition which is seeking democracy and religious freedom. Opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei stated, “Adoption of a divisive draft constitution that violates universal values and freedoms is a sure way to institutionalize instability and turmoil”.


And the West is in a quandary over Syria, wanting to rid it of mass-murderer Bashar Assad, while trying not to hear the calls for jihad being yelled by many of his opponents – “calls so bloodcurdling you don’t need to be fluent in Arabic to understand them”, as Liat Collins observed in the Jerusalem Post.


The emergence of the Syrian National Coalition and the associated Joint Military Council means that the West and its allies are now backing a Muslim Brotherhood dominated coalition as the replacement for the Assad regime. The leader of this coalition is Ahmed Mouaz al-Khatib who is closely associated with the Damascus branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. He has a long history of anti-Semitic, anti-Western and anti-Shi’a remarks (he praised Saddam Hussein, for example, for “terrifying the Jews” and wrote an article asking if Facebook was an “American-Israeli intelligence website”). The Brotherhood is by far the best-organized single body within the coalition.


Could things have been different? As with Egypt, perhaps, if the West had perceived the risks and opportunities clearly at the start. This might have triggered a vigorous policy of support for non- Islamist opposition and fighting elements, which were there. The result is that the force now facing the retreating Assad regime is split between differing brands of Sunni Arab Islamism – some aligned with the West, some directly opposing it, but all holding fast to fundamentally anti- Western ideologies.


It is always appropriate close on an optimistic note. Israel is a strong country. We are a true democracy with a strong economy. Our life expectancy for both Jews and Moslems is among the highest in the world. There is much to be proud of.

Israeli, Gaza Cancer Patients Become Hanukkah Best Friends

Dec 12, 2012 By Itay Hod

A heartwarming Hanukkah tale of two teens fighting the same rare cancer, whose friendship transcends nationalist stereotypes.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, pediatric oncology patients at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center gathered in the hospital’s auditorium for a big Hanukkah party. They lit the menorah and sang the traditional songs about the tiny Maccabean rebellion that defeated the mighty Greeks in 167 B.C.E.

But while the miracle of Hanukkah was being celebrated downstairs, a modern-day miracle was happening on the second floor. Tal Zilker, a 17-year-old cancer patient from Southern Israel, was chatting with his new best friend, Qsuy Imran (prounounced ‘Hussai’), a 17-year-old boy from Gaza.

Having just gone through a particularly aggressive round of chemo, Imran was too weak to join the festivities, and Zilker decided to forgo the first half of the party to keep him company.

“Chatting” may be stretching it a bit to describe the boys’ interaction. Zilker can say, “Are you in pain?” and, “When’s your next treatment?” in Arabic. Imran can manage “Do you have a fever?” and a few cuss words in Hebrew. But when you’re a teenager, vocabulary is nowhere near as important as being ambidextrous.

“We’re both Playstation fanatics,” said Zilker.

This friendship between two teenagers of the same age—who look alike, have the exact same type of cancer, and share the same love for video games—shouldn’t be all that surprising or newsworthy. But add their respective zip codes into the equation, and it becomes as fantastical a tale as a Tolkein novel.

Zilker is from Ashdod, a city in Southern Israel. Imran is from Khan Yunis, in Gaza. During the seven days of “Operation Pillar of Defense” last month, Hamas fired more than 1,400 rockets into Israel, most of them aimed at the Ashdod-Ashkelon area. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) struck more than 1,500 sites in the Gaza Strip, a tiny patch of land twice the size of Washington, D.C.

What’s more astounding is that while Hamas was launching those explosives, it continued sending patients to be treated in Israeli hospitals, many of them located in the same areas Hamas was targeting.

Israeli hospitals have been accepting Palestinian patients for years. There are simply not enough medical facilities in Gaza to treat its growing population. Those that are there are ill-equipped. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, there are 24 medical centers in Gaza, which serve 1.7 million people. Israel, in contrast, has 377 hospitals and a population of about 8 million. Last year alone, more than 100,000 Palestinians received medical care in Israel. Israeli hospitals continued to treat patients from Gaza even at the height of the fighting in November.

To make things even more complicated, many of the Israeli doctors who treat these patients are also soldiers in the IDF, in which service is mandatory. In fact, Dr. Dror Levin, the oncologist treating Zilker and Imran, spent the entire week of Operation Pillar of Defense patrolling the border with Gaza alongside the rest of his reserve platoon.

Though such contradictions might sound crazy to anyone else, here in the Middle East, it’s par for the course.

“It’s actually quite simple,” said Dr. Levin, now out of uniform. “Qsuy is not a representative of Gaza. All I see when I look at him is a boy who needs my help. That’s where it begins and that’s where it ends for me.”

Despite the bloody battle raging between their governments, Zilker and Imran seemed less concerned with geopolitics than with playing a game of virtual soccer, their favorite pastime.

The two met in May, when Zilker came in for his biopsy. An MRI done just days earlier revealed a tumor in his left knee. Imran was the first person he met at the oncology floor of the hospital.

They hit it off immediately.

Having gone through surgery to remove his osteosarcoma—an aggressive bone cancer—less than a week before, Imran was a “veteran” in hospital protocol. He quickly took Zilker under his wing and gave him the lowdown, carefully explaining what to expect should Zilker’s biopsy come back positive. (Imran’s father, who speaks Hebrew, translated for the boys, who also used a lot of pantomime.)

The fact that Imran had the same cancer that Zilker was suspected of having, in the exact same place, made their meeting—as they say in this corner of the globe—“bashert”: meant to be.

“At the time, we needed every bit of information,” said Anat, Zilker’s mother. “Qsuy was the only person we knew who had the same cancer. He became our lifeline.”

Imran’s father, Jihad, whose name incidentally means “holy war” in Arabic, became their unofficial guide through the difficult maze of doctors and treatments. “This terrible fate brought us together in a way that’s hard to explain,” said Anat.

Jihad says Anat has been a ray of hope for his family as well. Being a resident of Gaza, he and Imran are not allowed to leave the hospital except for a few organized trips. For the last 10 months, Anat has been bringing him and Imran home-cooked meals and clothes. Being so far away from his family and friends, he turned to Anat and her son for comfort.

“One of the only good things to come out of this is the fact that I found a new family,” said Jihad, referring to the Zilkers.

When the rockets began flying over Israel in November, Anat rushed to make sure the Imrans were OK. She was a bit worried at first about how the war would affect their newly formed friendship. “I wanted them to know it didn’t matter to us and that we loved them,” she said. “I knew it wasn’t their doing.

A self-proclaimed liberal, she says she never thought of them as anything but friends. But the experience has opened her eyes in one respect. “I knew Palestinians love their children. But I also knew that they were willing to send them on suicide missions. I guess I was surprised to see that they love their kids the same way we love ours. I look at Jihad’s dedication to Qsuy and it’s the same. No difference.”

Zilker wanted to know if Imran’s relatives were safe. “I asked him if any of the missiles hit his hometown. I felt bad.”

Asked whether he was worried at the time that their friendship might suffer, he said no. “We’re best friends.”

Imran wasn’t worried either. The only argument they’ve ever had is who’s better at PlayStation. They’re still fighting about that.

Jihad, who is a construction worker by trade, says he knew there were “good Israelis” from his days working in Israel before the blockade. But he was touched by the level of care he received during his stay in Tel Aviv. “They treated us like family. I have nothing but love for the doctors and staff and Anat and Tal, of course.”

Zilker summed it up perhaps the best, the way only a 17-year-old can. “I used to think that there were some good Palestinians but most of them were bad. Now I know that it’s the opposite. There are a few bad ones, but most of them are good.”

Both Zilker and Imran are getting ready to return home. In both cases, doctors were able to successfully remove their tumors. Imran says he’s looking forward to school, but the first thing he’ll do is dust off his soccer ball and hit the playground. Zilker is planning a trip to California.

They don’t know when or where they’ll be able to see each other next. But in the meantime, they plan on meeting on the virtual soccer field for their first ever post-cancer game, to settle the score once and for all.

What is HAMAS Celebrating?

What is Hamas actually celebrating today? 25 years sonce their inception? How about all the terro targetting Israel?  Under each of the comments below is a link to a video which shows the true face of Hamas. Amd Abbas wants us and the UN to believe he is seeking peace? Do me a favour.

Watch the 4 videos i

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dTWlXRnZbVc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r-kd0NcoxFU



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_ARQ6MHUXEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PPvc-eTym-Q



Pregnant Women Deploys Iron Dome

The National newspaper Ma'ariv posted an interesting story by reporter Achikam Moshe David:-


Pregnant woman in 9th month directed deployment of Iron Dome battery to defend Tel Aviv. Maariv 30.11.2012 features a photo of HIla, the 28 year old head of the testing division responsible for the testing and transfer of Iron Dome batteries to the Air Force who is in her 9th month of pregnancy (expecting to give birth next Sunday).

The battery was completing a series of testing at the testing field when Israel assassinated Ahmed Jabri. The team realized that they could close the gap between testing and deployment and in the course of 60 hours were able to deploy the Iron Dome battery to defend Tel Aviv.

Hila is an aeronautical engineer married to an Air Force officer. When her husband’s commander told him he was sending him home to be with his wife as she was about to give birth, he replied that his wife wasn’t home.

Israel's response to the November 29, 2012 UN Vote

By:- Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought”

The November 29, 2012 UN vote to upgrade the Palestinian Authority (PA) to a "non-member observer state” – in violation of the 1993 Oslo Accords - was an expected derivative of Israel's policy towards the PA since 1993 – critical concessions, retreats, indecisiveness, submission to pressure and appeasement.

What has Israel done since 1993?

Unprecedented Israeli concessions – such as
a) the legitimization, importation and the arming of 60,000 Palestinian terrorists from Sudan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Tunisia  b) the evacuation of Gaza and 40% of Judea and Samaria – resulted in unprecedented Palestinian hate-education and incitement, terrorism and non-compliance.

The flabbier the Israeli policy and the frailer the Israeli response to Palestinian terrorism, the more flagrant is the Palestinian abrogation of agreements.
For instance:-
a) 270 Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorists between 1978 and the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accords, compared with some 2,000 murdered since Oslo, mostly by PLO terrorists.
b) In 2000, Prime Minister Barak offered to uproot all Jewish settlements; Mahmoud Abbas and Arafat responded with unparalleled wave of suicide-bombings in the pre-1967 area of Israel.
c) Prime Minister Sharon's 2005 uprooting of 25 Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria and Gaza induced an unprecedented barrage of missiles on pre-1967 Israel.
d) Israel's inaction in the face of the 2009-2012 amassing of long-range missiles in Gaza triggered a daily barrage of missiles at pre-1967 Israel.

The post-Oslo conduct by Mahmoud Abbas and Arafat – role models of intra-Arab subversion and international terrorism, Holocaust deniers and allies of the Communist Bloc, Khomeini, Saddam Hussein Bin Laden, North Korea and Hugo Chavez - has reaffirmed that the PLO does not change its spots, only its tactics. Mahmoud Abbas is not troubled by the size – but by the existence – of the Jewish State in the Middle East.

The systematic Palestinian effort to leverage terrorism and diplomacy, in order to eliminate the Jewish State, behooves Israel to resurrect the steadfastness and defiance which characterized most Israeli Prime Ministers from Ben Gurion (1948) through Shamir (1992).

What should Israel do?

a) Israel should extend Jerusalem's municipal lines, which is a prerequisite for the transformation of Jerusalem's steady decline into long term growth, through a dramatic upgrade of Jerusalem's infrastructures of transportation, industry and housing.

b) Greater Jerusalem should stretch from Gush Etzion and Nokdim (south) to the Dead Sea (east), Mt. Ba'al Hazor (northeast) and Kiryat Sefer (northwest),

c) Israel should embrace the former Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy Report. The July 2012 report reconfirmed that according to international law, Judea and Samaria are not "occupied territory,” since no foreign entity was sovereign in the area in 1967. The 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention is not applicable since it prohibits the coerced transfer of people to settlements, while Israeli settlers have settled of their own volition. Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are legal. The Jewish State's historical and legal rights in Judea and Samaria are based on the 1922 British Mandate. These rights were preserved by Article 80 of the U.N. Charter, which provides continuity of Jewish rights in the Jewish Homeland. And, the report calls on Israel to allow construction in the settlements, enabling Israelis to directly purchase land in Judea and Samaria.

d) The Israeli law should be applied – and transportation infrastructure should be upgraded in area C, which is controlled exclusively by Israel according to the Oslo Accords.

e) All VIP benefits, by Israel, to all Palestinian officials should be annulled, pending the elimination of hate-education and incitement from the PA education, divinity and media sectors.

Such steps would trigger international resentment and possibly sanctions. However, pre-1993 Israeli defiance, under harsher circumstances, was initially condemned, but then rewarded with an enhanced posture of deterrence and respect. It demonstrated that Israel would not sacrifice dire national interests on the altar of convenience and wishful-thinking. For example, Prime Minister Ben Gurion defied the 1948/1949 US pressure/embargo to refrain from a declaration of independence, to "end occupation of the Negev” and to avoid the incorporation of – and construction in – Jerusalem and declaring it the capital of Israel. Prime Minister Eshkol dared the 1967 US pressure against preempting Egypt and the reunification of – and construction in – Jerusalem. Prime Minister Golda Meir withstood the 1970 US pressure to repartition Jerusalem, authorizing the construction of four more neighborhoods, the home of some 150,000 Israelis. Prime Minister Begin defied the 1981 US threats and punishments, applying Israel's laws to the Golan Heights. Prime Minister Shamir rebuffed US pressure to freeze settlements, but US-Israel strategic cooperation expanded unprecedentedly.

Will contemporary Israeli leaders follow in the footsteps of Ben Gurion – Shamir? Or, will they sustain the self-destructive Oslo state of mind, ignoring the Palestinian reality and that in the Middle East either you eat from – or become part of – the menu?

What U.N. Recognition of Palestine Really Means

This article by Anne Bayefsky appears on National Review Online.

To comprehend what went down at the U.N. on Thursday when the Palestinians were given “non-member observer state status” by a vote of 138 for, 9 against, and 41 abstentions, consider these statements made in New York over the course of the day:

• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, U.N. “Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” event; (statement delivered by Foreign Minister Riad Malki, New York, Thursday morning: “Israel’s admission to the United Nations in 1949 was accompanied by two conditions: Israel’s commitment to . . . the return of Palestine refugees to their homes…”

• President Abbas, General Assembly, New York, Thursday afternoon: “The Palestinian people . . . miraculously recovered from the ashes of Al-Nakba of 1948 which was intended to extinguish their being. . . . Israeli occupation is . . . an apartheid system . . . which institutionalizes the plague of racism.”

• Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour, opening of a Palestinian U.N. exhibit, New York, Thursday evening: “Today we have legislated a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital.”

So the real deal is this. Israel’s legitimacy is not recognized by the Palestinian leadership. It is conditional and it is conditioned upon alleged prerequisites (of a right of return and the end of a Jewish state) that have not, and will not, be met.

The Palestinian narrative is a fiction. It is deliberately crafted to mirror that of the Jewish people, beginning with the biggest lie of all — that the catastrophe of the creation of the state of Israel is equivalent to the Holocaust.

Israel is alleged to be akin to apartheid South Africa, so that its legitimacy is continually in jeopardy. After all, the South African regime had to be destroyed by lethal politics.

And the whole point of the exercise was to legislate — that is, impose — results on Israel on Palestinian terms. Negotiations are a joke. The U.N. will do Palestinians’ “negotiation” for them.

No wonder the outcome was met by the loud applause of a room full of the representatives of dictators and thugs (the majority of U.N. members are not full democracies), and NGO/“civil society” hacks who had been brought in by the U.N. Division for Palestinian Rights. (A letter of Division Director Wolfgang Grieger states that he had personally reserved at least 100 spots in the gallery.) Sitting in the gallery myself, I noticed that during Abbas’s lengthy speech the outbursts of clapping across the gallery would commence before the translation of Arabic sentences into other languages had finished. It was an exercise in what one might call Benghazi-style spontaneity.

The only question that remains, therefore, is this. Now that decades of Palestinian intransigence and belligerence have been richly rewarded by the U.N. majority, how soon will Palestinians start targeting and harming Israeli Jews with impunity again? .

So once again, as in World War ll, based on the fact that all European countries did not have the guts to vote (apart from the Czech republic) , Israel and the Jews are being cast into the wind.