By Dr. Rephael Ben-Ari, JCPA

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has become one of the largest UN programs, with over 30,000 personnel operating in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. It remains the only UN agency whose area of operation is not global but regional,and which deals with a single group of people; it is also unique in that it directly provides government-like public services to its beneficiaries.

Undoubtedly, since its inception nearly sixty-five years ago, UNRWA has accomplished significant major achievements, providing relief and humanitarian aid in one of the most complex geopolitical arenas, under the challenging conditions of political uncertainty and physical insecurity. Nevertheless, within the last few decades, the vast, quasi-state machinery into which the Agency has evolved has attracted considerable criticism. Some of UNRWA’s long-standing policies have made it susceptible to political manipulation, in particular by extremist groups. It is evident that the Agency has become deeply involved in Middle-Eastern politics, in a way that might overshadow its significant accomplishments.
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By Alex Markovsky                

The following is an excerpt of a New York Times report of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s views on the state of the black community and other social issues.

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” Mr. Bundy said. He recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.”

 “And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children; they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.” Read more…

By Yossi Verter, HAARETZ

The reality, though, is apparently more complex. Very important officials in Jerusalem this week received authoritative reports from the United States about anger being aimed at Netanyahu. He pushed Abbas into a corner, senior figures in Washington were saying. He did not agree to present a plan and insisted on starting from zero. He demanded that the Palestinian president commit himself to recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, a demand that has not been made of any other Arab leader with whom Israel has held talks. The premier displayed no flexibility on the core issues of Jerusalem and refugees. He wanted a process for its own sake.

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By BINYAMIN NETANYAHU, JPOST

Prime Minister’s memorable Holocaust Remembrance Day speech.

The last time I visited Yad Vashem I accompanied the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people.

We went through the exhibition rooms which present heartbreaking documentation of the destruction of European Jewry.

Today in my office, I met Fela, an 82 year old Holocaust survivor. It was important for her to tell me on this day of her memories as a child of seven who was forced to leave her two year old sister. Those memories are always with her.

She told me, “I don’t remember what happened yesterday or the day before that, but as is the way of memories at my age, I remember the sad, tearful eyes of my two year old sister whom I left behind to die”.
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By Ted Belman

The Goldberg File is written by Jonah Golberg and published by the NRO. I have extracted a certain segment of this week’s issue dealing with the pernicious effect of Soviet propaganda.  Arafat and Abbas were schooled in Soviet methodology which they put to good use in their efforts to establish a new reality in their war against Israel.  To Israel’s chagrin, they have been successful beyond their wildest dreams.

[..] Lots of people have noted that Vladimir Putin is using the KGB playbook in his effort to carve up Ukraine. That involves not only lying, but manipulating events in such a way so as to make it easier for others to believe the lies. Anne Applebaum describes the techniques very well. Lots of people have discussed how Russia Today is a pigpen for Russian propagandists providing a useful slop trough for modern-day useful idiots.

But what hasn’t been discussed is what all of this talk about “KGB tactics” suggests about the past, and our understanding of it. Anyone roughly my age or older (“Ah yes, you are the measure of man!” — The Couch) probably remembers how the Soviets and their defenders used to bend and manipulate logic, facts, and truth to make it seem like there was a plausible case that the Soviet Union had the better economic and social model. But what is less well-remembered among older folks and completely unknown to most younger folks is the damage done by the Soviets to our understanding of the world.

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Rand Paul wants to introduce a bill this week to cut foreign aid to the Palestinian government unless it recognizes Israel’s right to exist. The Israeli government has always lobbied the US to not cut off aid because it would destabilize the Palestinians and because Israel makes a lot of money selling to the Palestinians.

NEWSMAX

A bill that could potentially cut off foreign aid to Palestinians has some surprising opposition: the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobby, says Sen. Rand Paul, who is sponsoring the legislation.

“Ironically, the group AIPAC is pushing back this bill and this is to me very troubling,” Paul told “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV.
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Let them go.  The  C of P is organized on the principle of one vote for each organization.  This works to the disadvantage of Reform who have the most members by far.  The C of P would have no purpose if it didn’t embrace a certain viewpoint. It cannot represent everyone because of how diverse their opinions are.  The ZOA presents an independent policy and will no be silenced.  Neither will any other Zionist organization.  Similarly the Reform should get together with J Street and other like minded organizations and do their thing.  One Organization cannot speak for all Jews in the US. Ted Belman

Times of Israel

WASHINGTON — Declaring that the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations needs an overhaul, the Union for Reform Judaism said leaving the umbrella body could be an option

The Reform group posted a statement Thursday on its website in the aftermath of the Presidents Conference rejecting J Street in its bid for membership on Wednesday.

“As of yesterday, it is clear that the Conference of Presidents, as currently constituted and governed, no longer serves its vital purpose of providing a collective voice for the entire American Jewish pro-Israel community,” URJ President Rick Jacobs said in the statement.

“In the days ahead, Reform movement leaders will be consulting with our partners within the Conference of Presidents to decide what our next steps will be. We may choose to advocate for a significant overhaul of the Conference of Presidents’ processes. We may choose to simply leave the Conference of Presidents. But this much is certain: We will no longer acquiesce to simply maintaining the facade that the Conference of Presidents represents or reflects the views of all of American Jewry.”

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By Moshe Feiglin, Jewish Leadership Blog

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By Pamela Geller, BREITBART

Nigeria’s Daily Trust reported Monday that “most of the 234 Borno schoolgirls in Boko Haram captivity have been ferried abroad to Chad and Cameroon after they were married off to sect members on N2,000 bride price each.”

Two thousand Nigeria naira amounts to $12.45 for each girl.

Even as this savagery escalates, however, no one is discussing the ideology that compels this war on innocents. These young girls are considered war booty under Islam. This is consistent with Islamic teaching and with what Muhammad, “the perfect model,” did with the spoils of jihadi war.

Imagine, for the moment, the horror, the terror that that these young girls are facing now, and probably will face for the rest of their lives. Unimaginable. But Islamic supremacists and Islamic apologists are working furiously to make sure that no one talks about it.

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Truth To Tell, The Sky Is Not Falling. Just the Opposite

David M. Weinberg..ISRAEL HAYOM

In recent months, the imperious American Secretary of State and others have warned Israel that unless it rapidly proceeds to establish a full-fledged Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, the sky will come crashing down on the Jewish state.

The doomsday diviners are certain that unless the “two-state solution” is promptly implemented, Israel will moulder, or atrophy into apartheid and inch into isolation.

Well, guess what, they’re wrong. The wisdom and utility of a two-state settlement aside, its absence is not a catastrophe for Israel. In fact, Israel will continue to prosper and achieve, despite long-term lingering conflict with the Palestinians and notwithstanding the apocalyptic agonizing of well-meaning friends like John Kerry.
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The West lives in a state of denial.

Prof. Paul Eidelberg, INN

Unlike diversity, pluralism is a doctrine, an “ism” that professes to be true, even though pluralism, by definition, denies any ultimate truth.

Beneath the surface of the “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a denial of the clash of civilizations between Islam and the West. This denial is rooted in the rejection of Truth concerning how man should live.

The West lives in a state of denial. This is postmodernism. Contrary to the 18th century, “Enlightenment,” or what is sometimes called the “Age of Reason,” postmodernism denies the existence of any universal or objective standards by which to determine whether the way of life of one individual, group, or nation is intrinsically superior to that of another. Hence, there is no objective standard of what constitutes human excellence.
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By MARTIN SHERMAN, JPOST

More than exposing his personal prejudices, John Kerry’s recent remarks illustrate how biased against the Jews – i.e. anti-Semitic – the entire discourse on the Palestinian issue has become.

A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state – or… a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state. Once you put that frame in your mind… which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two-state solution.
– John Kerry before the Trilateral Commission, cited by The Daily Beast, April 27

John Kerry’s recent use of the term “Apartheid” in reference to Israel’s future was an anti-Semitic act.
– Caroline B. Glick, The Jerusalem Post, April 29

From the outset John Kerry was an ill-advised choice for the position of secretary of state. His history of embarrassing gaffes made his appointment as America’s top diplomat clearly imprudent and inappropriate.

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By Caroline Glick, JPOST

For most commentators, President Barack Obama’s biggest achievement in his four-nation tour of Asia was the enhanced defense treaty he signed with Philippine President Benigno Aquino. The pact permits US forces to operate on Philippine military bases and sets the conditions for joint training of US and Philippine forces, among other things.

There are two problems with the treaty, however.

And they reflect the basic problem with US foreign policy generally, five-and-a-half years into the Obama presidency.

First, there is the reason that the treaty became necessary.
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By HERB KEINON, LAHAV HARKOV, JPOST

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pledged on Thursday to promote a Knesset basic law defining Israel as a Jewish state, telling critics they cannot demand Jerusalem withdraw from the West Bank to protect the country’s Jewish identity, and then be unwilling to recognize that Jewish identity.

Proponents of a two-state solution – including everyone from US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid – consistently argue that the only way Israel can remain a Jewish and democratic state is if it withdraws from most of Judea and Samaria and establishes a Palestinian state.
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Heads of Judea and Samaria communities write Netanyahu that he has hurt the region more than any leftist government.

By Ido Ben Porat, INN

The heads of the communities in Judea and Samaria on Thursday sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in which they said he was seriously harming the future of the settlement enterprise in the region and that he had caused it more harm than even the most leftist of governments.

In the letter, a copy of which was seen by Arutz Sheva, the local council heads wrote Netanyahu that in recent years they have encountered various delays in the planning process and in the publishing of new construction tenders in Judea and Samaria.

“As you know, the issue of construction is critical. Promotion of planning, construction and development of communities are the main artery for the development of the settlement enterprise, and they allow to keep the second generation and of new young couples in local communities and educational institutions,” the letter said.
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DEBKAfile Special Report May 2, 2014, 8:40 AM

Shelly Dadon, 20, from Afulah, was murdered Thursday, May 1, in a deserted wood near the Migdal Haemek industrial zone in northern Israel, by a gang of Israeli Arabs belonging to an terrorist organization called “The Galilee Liberators.” She died after multiple stab wounds were inflicted savagely on her upper torso. The killers planted clues at the scene that broadcasted their affiliation. However the local police spoke of “various lines of inquiry’ – a regular cliché they use to play down Palestinian terrorist action. At this time of year, the police prefer to avoid aggravating Arab-Jewish tensions before Israel’s national Day of Remembrance Day for the Fallen and 66th Day of Independence early next week.
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INSS Insight No. 544, May 1, 2014

Zvi Magen, Gal Perel

According to a number of media reports published in late April 2014, Egypt is soon to sign a large arms deal with Russia for the purchase of 24 MiG-35 fighter jets. If the arms deal is completed, it will represent a significant event in the Middle East strategic picture, another sign of reduced United States involvement in the region. For Russia, this would be a meaningful strategic achievement in its global struggle against the West. For Israel, one or two squadrons of aircraft such as the MiG-29 would not have much tactical significance. At the same time, the strategic significance could be decisive if the conflict between Russia and the West escalates and Russia gains an additional foothold in Egypt. However, the deal has not yet been signed, and there are many obstacles to its conclusion – technical, operational, economic, and most of all, political and strategic.
Egypt
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We are told that Netanyahu will begin consultations exploring policy options if Hamas-Fatah pact consummated. If deal falls through, he is ready to renew direct talks. WHY? Oh and Hamas gets to keep their rockets. Kerry’s aides said that he would again try to get the sides back to the negotiating table after a pause of several months. Ted Belman

By HERB KEINON, KHALED ABU TOAMEH, JPOST

Hamas is committed to holy war against Israel, its leader Khaled Mashaal affirmed on Wednesday, one week after it signed a reconciliation pact with Fatah.

“Our path is resistance and the rifle, and our choice is jihad,” he said, in his first public comments since the deal with Fatah was announced.

Israel handed the bodies of the two brothers to the Palestinian Authority more that 16 years after IDF soldiers killed them outside Hebron.

Mashaal said that in wake of the failure of the peace talks with Israel, the Palestinians were in need of a unified political decision and a joint strategy that would lead to the “liberation of our lands and holy sites and the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes.”
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by David Wilder,

A couple of days ago a new youtube video surfaced, filmed just outside my Beit Hadassah home in Hebron. It shows an Israeli soldier, guarding on the road outside the building, being first verbally, and then physically attacked, first by one Arab, and then by a second, who joined in. The soldier, realizing he is being threatened from two sides, loads his weapon, pointing it at the attackers, who then leave.

 Following release of this video, the soldier, named David, who belonged to the Nachal IDF division, was relieved of his post, put on trial, jailed and told that he would no longer serve in a combat unit.

By Ted Belman

A year and a half ago, Dialog conducted a survey of Israeli Jews which was reported on in an article in Haaretz, entitled  “Most Israeli Jews wouldn’t give Palestinians vote if West Bank was annexed”:

“The majority of the Jewish public, 59 percent, wants preference for Jews over Arabs in admission to jobs in government ministries. Almost half the Jews, 49 percent, want the state to treat Jewish citizens better than Arab ones; 42 percent don’t want to live in the same building with Arabs and 42 percent don’t want their children in the same class with Arab children.

“A third of the Jewish public wants a law barring Israeli Arabs from voting for the Knesset and a large majority of 69 percent objects to giving 2.5 million Palestinians the right to vote if Israel annexes the West Bank.

“A sweeping 74 percent majority is in favor of separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. A quarter – 24 percent – believe separate roads are “a good situation” and 50 percent believe they are “a necessary situation.”
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