Monday, October 31, 2011

Howard Grief to EU: Mind your own business

October 31, 2011


FIND ISRAEL ON THE MAP ...
NOW, SPLIT IT LIKE AN ATOM FOR THE PALESTINIANS!

Howard Grief writes to:

European External Action Service Reference

Directorate North Africa, Middle East, Arabian Peninsula,
Iran and Iraq, Middle East Division

I thank you for your letter dated June 14, 2011 in response to my letter of May 17, 2011 to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Lady Catherine Ashton, in regard to the recommendations put forward by the European Former Leaders Group in December 2010, of which you honestly inform me “have of course been taken into account by the European Union and are being considered very carefully”.


It should not be the business of the European Union to determine that another Arab state carved out of former Mandated Palestine is a sine qua non for Israel in order to achieve a so-called peace with the Arab world. If a new Arab state is officially established in Judea, Samaria and Gaza in what international law decided in the post-World War I years was part and parcel of the internationally recognized Jewish National Home and future independent Jewish State, that will not bring “peace”, but rather actually serve as a new springboard for Arab and Muslim imperialism to destroy finally the Jewish State of Israel.

It should be clear to you that the tenets of Islam, as expressed in the Hadith as well as Islamic jurisprudence, that Israel is defined as waqf land or Moslem territory and a part of Dar-el-Harb (the House of War), temporarily under non-Islamic control, which must be wrested back from the accursed Jews. Thus it is no surprise that Islam and the Arab world deny Israel’s inherent right to exist, as shown conclusively by the empirical evidence of the last century.

Europe certainly has enough internal problems of its own to deal with, especially in Belgium itself, where you are seated; Europe should therefore not stick its nose into the domestic affairs of the Land of Israel, that is indisputably Jewish land and a part of the Promised Land confirmed even by the Koran (sura 5:20, 21). The Holy Land was defined by Abu Ja’far el-Tabari, Islam’s most famous exegete, to embrace Palestine west of the Jordan as well as some of present-day Jordan, Sinai and Syria (p. 543 of my book, The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law). Europe must desist from dictating its own solution to solve the Arab conflict with Israel, when it cannot even resolve the ills that beset it, not only in Belgium where there is irreconciliable strife between the French-speaking people of Wallonia and the Flemish ethnic community in the northern provinces embracing Flanders, but also in Greece and other states comprising the European Union. No one has appointed the European Union to decide on a new and destructive partition of the Jewish National Home and compel Israel to give away Jewish land to the Arabs for their nefarious aim to eradicate the Jewish State. The Israel Labour Party-initiated “Oslo Accords” have been an unmitigated disaster for Israel’s Jews and one day hopefully not too distant the “Palestinian Authority” will be removed from the Land of Israel in order for the State of Israel to live in real security, free of Arab-Islamic terrorism which has been incessant or never-ending ever since Yasser Arafat became ensconced in Ramallah – which, incidentally, is an ancient Jewish town dating from the First and Second Temple Periods.

The “Palestinian people” is a fiction invented by the Arab League with the close aid and support of the United Nations that acts in many ways as an extension of the Arab League. No Arab nation by that name ever existed in history, as evidenced by Arab historians themselves, particularly the renowned Philip K. Hitti, the author of several books on Arab history. This appellation is derived from the Hebrew word for “invaders” or pelishtim to designate the invading Philistines that most scholars believe came from the island of Crete and settled along the eastern Mediterranean coast of what the Greeks and Romans later called “Palestine”. This term has no linguistic connection to Arabic, nor does it have any close affinity to Arabs at all, either historically, culturally or ethnologically. Until 1948, the Jews of Palestine were called the “Palestinians”, a term of national identity that was derisively rejected by most Arab spokesmen since they associated it with Palestinian Jewry, but that changed when they saw the merit in 1969 of using this appellation in order to fool the rest of the world and gain its sympathy – that they are, so to speak, the indigenous people of the country who were unjustly displaced by foreign Jews who had no right to be there. This was a massive swindle and hoax perpetrated particularly on the gullible West and the rest of the world, which has unfortunately gained near universal recognition.

As a matter of historical fact, the Jews have been settled in what the 5th century BCE Greek historian, Herodotus, first called “Palestine” but what the Jews have always called the Land of Israel since the days of Joshua Bin-Nun, about 14 centuries before the Common Era, and it is rather the late-coming Arabs who were the alien invaders and usurpers of the Jewish land, and not the other way around. Do I have to throw a bible at you and your colleagues to help you understand that elementary fact? Did you never learn this in “Sunday school”? The Arab homeland is in Arabia, Iraq and Syria, but not in Palestine, which was created as a legal and political entity on April 24-25, 1920 at the San Remo Peace Conference solely for the purpose of being the Jewish National Home only. European meddling in support of the Arab side will not alter that basic legal fact.

You allege that the so-called “Palestinians” have a “right” to statehood, which should be “realized” if peace is to prevail. I have spent many years as a trained attorney studying the Palestine Question and all its ramifications in international law. In my humble opinion, no such “right” has ever been enunciated in any binding document of international law. Neither the UN General Assembly Partition Resolution 181 (II), nor UN Security Council Resolution 242, nor the Israel-PLO Accords, nor the Road Map Peace Plan championed by the artificial conglomerate known as the Quartet, which you mention in your letter to me, qualify as or constitute “international law” in any meaningful sense of this term. The only nation or people who have a legal right to statehood in what was once Palestine, as it existed between 1920 and 1948, is the Jewish People, notwithstanding Arab and European pretensions to the contrary.

As regards your bizarre statement that I have presented a “selection of legalistic arguments” to buttress the ironclad legal case of Israel to keep and govern Judea, Samaria and Gaza which are integral parts of the Jewish National Home, I am more than curious to know what is your “selection” of international law documents that counters mine. In fact, there are no such binding documents that give the Arabs (the so-called “Palestinians” of today) the legal right to the land making up Palestine.

I am sorry to learn from you that the European Union is considering very carefully the recommendations of the European Former Leaders Group. Since this group recommended “punitive measures” against Israel if it does not withdraw to the “Auschwitz-borders”, which are the former Armistice lines that existed prior to the outbreak of the Six-Day War, this is equivalent to criminal extortion or blackmail that could be the subject of a legal action against the European Union if it adopts those baleful or exceptionally evil recommendations. I hope the EU will come to its senses and give up its self-appointed task and uncalled-for interference in creating a completely unnecessary 22nd Arab state in the heartland of the Jewish People. That will undoubtedly bring down the wrath of Divine Providence and be the catalyst of a new war.

Yours sincerely,

Howard Grief,
Attorney

Posted by Ted Belman @ 5:19 pm - Israpundit


For ‘Palestine’, all is permitted


MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2011

9-11 do more than never forget - stop islam

‘Palestine’ was admitted today to UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and  and Cultural Organization. The Voice of America reports that

France voted for the motion, along with almost all Arab, African, Latin American and Asian nations, including China and India. Israel, the United States, Canada and Germany voted against it. Japan and Britain abstained. A two-thirds vote was required by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s 193 members. [but see below regarding the part in italics]

The contributions of ‘Palestine’ in these areas is well-known. It’s about time they were recognized.

Take for example, the educational achievement of both the PLO and Hamas, who have educated an entire generation with such vicious hatred of Jews and Israelis that they are prepared to die in order to kill them (including babies).

Palestinian advances in rocket science are also remarkable. The new Qassams have a range of up to 30 miles and can carry a payload of up to 100 pounds of explosive. Sure, they don’t compare to the Russian-designed Grad missiles that have been landing on Israeli towns lately, but they show what can be done with simple technology and available materials, if only you have enough desire to commit murder.

And culture — well, a picture is worth a thousand words:


I know that all rules and normal standards are suspended when the Palestinians are involved, but it appears that ‘Palestine’ isn’t even eligible for membership, according to the UNESCO charter, which allows for the following to join: UN members, states which are not UN members (on a 2/3 vote of the UNESCO General Conference), and finally

Territories or groups of territories which are not responsible for the conduct of their international relations may be admitted as Associate Members by the General Conference by a two-thirds majority of Members present and voting, upon application made on behalf of such territory or group of territories by the Member or other authority having responsibility for their international relations.

I think that applies to entities like Puerto Rico. ‘Palestine’ is none of these. But hey, who’s counting? This is ‘Palestine’!

But here is some excellent news (also from the VOA item linked above):

The United States says it is cutting off financial contributions to the United Nations cultural agency following its vote Monday to grant Palestinians full membership.

The State Department said Washington will not make a $60-million November payment to UNESCO because of a longstanding U.S. law that prohibits American support for any U.N.-affiliated body that accepts Palestinian membership.

Washington currently is UNESCO’s biggest funding source, supplying 22 percent of the agency’s budget.

Now it’s time to completely cut off the Palestinian Authority from all US aid. There are plenty of good reasons for doing so, including

    *its direct financial support for convicted terrorists,
    *the continued vicious incitement in its media,
    *its payment of ‘salaries’ to functionaries located in Hamas-controlled Gaza,
    *its abrogation of international treaties including the Oslo accords,

And last, but not least:

    *its reconciliation with the explicitly genocidal Hamas.

Islamists Establishing "Guilt" Through Lies


October 31, 2011

Gadi Adelman

Those that read my articles on a regular basis or are familiar with my work and my radio program know that I always deal with facts. Aside from checking my facts three or four times before putting them on paper, my articles always contain a multitude of links so that the reader can double check what facts I have stated.
 
The last few days I have read no less than 10 articles blasting Dr. Walid Phares. It is one thing to disagree with someone or their views; it’s something else when you blatantly lie, have no proof to back up what you are claiming and then you call it journalism.
 
What’s more, are those in the media that never bother to check something they have read and then they regurgitate it over and over without any basis whatsoever, write their own article using the original lies and still refer to it as “journalism”.
 
I could not possibly put his entire Bio here for lack of room, but it is impressive to say the least. Here are some facts for those that may not know who Dr. Walid Phares is.
 
Author of 12 books including a best seller, he has a degree in Political Science and another in Law from St Joseph University in Beirut and has a Masters in International Law from the Université de Lyons in France and a Ph.D. in International Relations and Strategic Studies from the University of Miami.
 
Professor Phares has been an advisor to the U.S. House of Representatives Caucus on Counter Terrorism since 2007 and has been the Co-Secretary General of the Trans-Atlantic Legislative Group on Counter Terrorism since 2008.
 
He has been teaching Global Strategies at the National Defense University in Washington DC since 2006 and he has been a Professor of Middle East Studies, Ethnic and Religious Conflict at the Department of Political Science at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) from 1993 to 2006. Professor Phares has also been a senior lecturer on the War on Terror and Global Conflicts at the LLS Program of FAU and the IRP Program at the University of Miami. Previously he taught at Florida International University and at Saint Joseph University in Beirut.
 
He testifies and conducts briefings at the U.S. Congress, the European Parliament and Commission, and briefed UN Security Council missions, as well as to U.S. State Department and other foreign ministries worldwide as well as to officials on Counter Terrorism in Europe and the United States. Dr. Phares was an advisory board member of the Task Force on Future Terrorism of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2005-2007) and a member of the NSC advisory task force on Nuclear Terrorism (2006-2007)
 
After relocating to the United States in 1990, he taught at various universities and served with the media and as an expert at U.S. Immigration Courts since 1994.
 
Anyone in the counter-terror field knows of Dr. Phares his books, articles and lectures. But now that Mitt Romney named him as a member of his foreign policy team, his name and background have been slandered with lies and allegations.
 
Throughout the main stream media and left wing blogs he is now farmed as “linked to factions that perpetrated war crimes.” One article in the Daily Beast referred to him as a longtime “lightning rod for charges of Islamophobia and outright aggression toward Muslims”.
 
Another article The New Republic quotes Martha Crenshaw,
 
But Stanford terrorism expert Martha Crenshaw told me that the name did not ring a bell. “He’s not in the mainstream as an academic,” she said. “I’m not familiar with his work on terrorism.”
 
Crenshaw has never heard of Dr. Walid Phares? Since she is a so-called “expert” on terrorism it does not say much for her knowledge if she never heard of this man. Also, as a side note, I have spoken with a former student of hers who dropped her class because she was “always politically correct.” Political correctness and terrorism do not mix.
 
Interestingly, at the end of Crenshaw’s New Republic article they had to put in a correction,
 
*CORRECTION: This article originally identified Iowa Republican Steve King as having held congressional hearings on the dangers of Sharia law.
 
That would have been Rep. Peter King from New York. Such an error highlightsCrenshaw’s knowledge and research on the subject.
 
 
The article that appears to have started it all (as well as more lies than any other) was published in Salon.com and was written by As’asd AbuKhalil. According to real fact-checker and journalist lawyer John Hajjar,
 
As'ad AbuKhalil is not a typical left wing, anti-American, pro-Jihadist, anti-Israel instructor who misinforms students in the classrooms in which he lectures at a California college. Far worse than that, he is the top unofficial US-based propagandist for Hezbollah and its terrorist acolytes.
 
Is it any wonder that a propagandist for Hezbollah would blast someone like Walid Phares? Abukhalil’s article is full of wrong dates and places, as well as blatant lies.
 
Rather than regurgitating others’ points, I ask that you read the article “As'ad Abukhalil: America's Hezbollah Propagandist” by John Hajjar which explains with facts each of Abukhalil’s mistakes, misinformation and lies.
 
The bottom line is this; these people write about a war they know nothing about. They have no clue on its timeline or those involved. It was a changing war for 15 years with multiple protagonists and the actors often shifted.
 
The Lebanese Forces mentioned in these articles were not just a militia; they were a vast coalition of parties overseeing the defense forces of the Lebanese Christians. They were the local Government during the conflict when the central Government collapsed and were received by the international community and the Arab League. Two leaders from this coalition were elected Presidents of the Republic by the Lebanese Parliament.
 
Phares’ books and articles have spanned a decade; he has offered a thousand lectures and always promoted countering terrorism and promoting pluralist and federalist solutions, which started with his first book, Pluralism in Lebanon.
 
Phares’ intellectual experiences from his younger years in the Middle East were crucial for his career as a scholar and advisor in the U.S. to defend the country against the Jihadi terror threats.
 
He is targeted by these forces precisely because of his capacity as a strategic adviser, which is why as a U.S. citizen he was sought by members of Congress, the European Parliament and many think tanks for two decades. He is not an ordinary academic who repeats what others have written. Phares actually produces new and advanced ideas, hence the reaction of those who wants to mollify American readiness.
 
The real target of these journalists and attackers is not his time spent in Lebanon, which was never questioned because it was public knowledge and archived in the press. It is not because he is now advising a Presidential candidate. It is because of his books, which have constantly uncovered threats and have predicted events in the region long before they occur.
 
Each of the articles mentions that CAIR has asked Romney to drop Phares as an advisor. It quotes a letter that CAIR sent to the Romney campaign calling for his ouster. The letter refers to Phares as “an associate to war crimes” and a “conspiracy theorist,” citing ties to a violent anti-Muslim militia.
 
CAIR, the “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas funding case, doesn’t want a person such as Walid Phares advising a Presidential Candidate.
 
CAIR, whose founder Omar M. Ahmad, stated,
 
“Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Quran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”
 
CAIR, the arm of the Muslim Brotherhood here in America doesn’t want an expert on Jihad and terrorism anywhere near the White House. Go figure.
 
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Gadi Adelman is a freelance writer and lecturer on the history of terrorism and counterterrorism. He grew up in Israel, studying terrorism and Islam for 35 years after surviving a terrorist bomb in Jerusalem in which 7 children were killed. Since returning to the U. S., Gadi teaches and lectures to law enforcement agencies as well as high schools and colleges. He can be heard every Thursday night at 8PM est. on his own radio show “America Akbar” on Blog Talk Radio. He can be reached through his website gadiadelman.com.

U.S. Will Withhold Funds For U.N. Agency After Vote to Grant Membership to Palestinians

unesco.jpg
Oct. 31, 2011: Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki, left, is seen with historian and Ambassador for Palestine at UNESCO Elias Sanbar, left, during a session of UNESCO's 36th General Conference, in Paris.

Published October 31, 2011
| FoxNews.com

The United States will not pay $60 million to a U.N. cultural and educational agency after it voted Monday to accept the Palestinian mission as a full member, triggering a U.S. requirement to cut off funds.

"We are not going to be able to continue contributing to the budget," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "Palestinian membership as a state in UNESCO triggers longstanding legislative restrictions which will compel the United States to refrain from making contributions to UNESCO."

Washington is required by law to cut off funding to any U.N. agency if the Palestinian Liberation Organization is granted membership in any group at the international body.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization voted 107-14 with 52 abstentions on Monday granting Palestinians full membership in the organization. The U.S. voted against the nomination. Eighty-one votes of the 173 UNESCO members were needed for full membership to be approved.
"Long Live Palestine!" one delegate reportedly shouted in French at the meeting.

The U.S. funds about 22 percent of UNESCO's budget, or roughly $80 million annually. Nuland said the $60 million was scheduled to be sent in November.

"We obviously have to comply with U.S. law, to comply with U.S. restrictions. That said, we will have a conversation with Congress on moving forward," she said.

Nuland said that if the U.S. ends up in arrears it could challenge U.S. membership status. 
The U.S. rejoined UNESCO in 2002, after having left the organization 19 years earlier. 
An aide to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the congresswoman supports full enforcement of the law, without exception. 

Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., has also introduced legislation that would withhold U.S. contributions from any U.N. agency or program that "upgrades" the status of the Palestinian observer mission at the U.N, whether full membership or not. 

Ros-Lehtinen has previously argued efforts at de facto recognition of a Palestinian state is an attempt to evade a negotiated settlement with Israel.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said the U.N. vote signals weakness in U.S. diplomacy, particularly since some of the United States' closest allies voted against U.S. wishes.

"So ineffective was Obama administration diplomacy, that France voted in favor of Palestinian membership, and Britain and Japan abstained. U.S. statutes, dating from 1990, now require a full cutoff of U.S. funding, which Congress should insist occur immediately. Should the administration seek changes in the applicable statutory provisions that would eliminate or weaken the funding cutoff, Congress should reject them," Bolton said.

"UNESCO has made its decision: it prefers Palestinian membership to American participation. Now let the rest of the U.N. specialized agencies make their choice," he added.

Nuland said that the U.S. doesn't think it is "helpful" that the Palestinians sought membership with UNESCO while the "Quartet" of nations working on Mideast peace tries to get the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table to create a two-state solution.

"We considered that this was, as I say, regrettable, premature, and undermined the process of getting where we want to go," she said. "It creates tensions when all of us should be concerning our efforts to get the parties back to the table."

Israel's ambassador to UNESCO Nimrod Barkan told Reuters that the vote is a tragedy.
"UNESCO deals in science, not science fiction," he reportedly said. "They forced on UNESCO a political subject out of its competence."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/31/us-could-withhold-funds-to-un-agency-after-vote-to-grant-membership-to/#ixzz1cOs1ucfG

NOTE:
Way past time for the United States of America to remove itself completely from the useless UN.  Now US leaders understand how Israel feels, being betrayed by it so-called allies!  Let the Europeans, Arab nations and whoever voted FOR this Palestinian non-state chip in and pay to support the UN's upkeep, etc. ... oh, and tell the UN to go find some other country to hold its meetings - perhaps the USA can convert the UN building in New York into apartments - it's a lovely area!




UNESCO votes to grant Palestinians full membership

36th session of UNESCO



THE JERUSALEM POST

First UN agency Palestinians have sought to join as full member passes motion; 107 vote in favor; US, Canada, Germany vote against.

PARIS - The United Nations' cultural agency decided on Monday to give the Palestinians full membership of the body, a vote that will boost their bid for recognition as a state at the United Nations.

UNESCO is the first UN agency the Palestinians have joined as a full member since President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full membership of the United Nations on Sept. 23.

RELATED:
PA gains Arab backing for UNESCO membership request


The United States, Canada, Germany and Holland voted against Palestinian membership. Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa and France voted in favor. Britain and Italy abstained.

Washington is likely to cut funding to UNESCO over the vote.

"The action today will complicate our ability to support UNESCO," David T. Killion, US ambassador to UNESCO, told journalists after the vote.

"The US has been clear for the need of a two-state resolution, but the only path is through direct negotiations and there are no shortcuts, and initiatives like today are counterproductive."

US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice called the vote "deeply damaging" to the UN cultural agency and "no substitute for direct negotiations."

The vote highlighted divisions over foreign policy within the European Union, some of whose 27 members voted for and some against Palestinian membership.

Austrian UNESCO ambassador Ursula Plassnik, whose country voted in favor, said she regretted the European Union could not arrive at a common position on the Palestinian issue.

The Palestinians obtained backing from two thirds of UNESCO's members to become the 195th member of UNESCO, with status as "an observer entity". Of 173 countries that voted from a possible 185, 107 voted in favor, 14 voted against, 52 abstained and 12 were absent.

Forty representatives of the 58-member board has voted in favor of putting the matter to a vote earlier this month, with four - the United States, Germany, Romania and Latvia - voting against and 14 abstaining.

Admission will be seen by the Palestinians as a moral victory in their bid for full UN membership but could be costly for UNESCO.

US legislation stipulates that it can cut off funding to any UN agency that grants full membership to Palestinians.

Israel called the vote a "tragedy."

"This resolution is a tragedy for UNESCO...UNESCO deals in science and not science fiction and nevertheless (UNESCO) adopted the science fiction reality," said Nimrod Barkan, Israel's ambassador to UNESCO.

Israel has said the Palestinian bid would amount to politicization of the agency that would undermine its ability to carry out its mandate.