
 |
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish
April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology
John Ericson: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless torta del re (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious
April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time
Eric Schulzke: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden
Susan Swann: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
Samuel G. Freedman: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Matthew Mientka: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey: Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller: Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson: A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson: Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson: Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld: Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry: Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton: Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti: It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Oct. 11, 2004
/ 26 Tishrei 5765
At U.N., No Division Between Aid and Terror
By
Jonathan Tobin
|  |
|
|
|
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
What does it mean when the head of a United Nations agency tells the press
that he believes that members of a terrorist group are on his payroll and that
he's okay with that?
In the case of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, the answer is that it's simply business as
usual.
The United Nations has long been a bastion of anti-Israel sentiment, but for
those unfamiliar with UNRWA, it's the living example of this bias. It is one
of two refugee agencies run by the world body. UNRWA deals only with the
Palestinians. The other deals with the rest of the world and the countless conflicts
and refugee populations created by every other war that has been fought
elsewhere since Israel's creation.
This division of authority has been the backbone of the Palestinians' strange
status as the only refugee population that relief workers do not attempt to
resettle. In combination with the restrictive anti-Palestinian refugee policies
of the Arab world, UNRWA has helped to keep these people in a state of
impoverished limbo that is useful to anti-Israel propagandists who dream of
destroying the Jewish state.
But how can even the most anti-Zionist of U.N. bureaucrats justify the use
of the agency as a cover, both literally and figuratively, for Palestinian
terrorist activity?
Since the beginning of the current terrorist war against Israel four years
ago, the use of Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances by terrorist groups has been
well documented. Now it appears that UNRWA vehicles may be used in this
manner as well.
An Israeli surveillance drone took photos of what were at first believed to
be a Kassam missile being loaded onto an UNRWA ambulance last week in the Gaza
Strip. UNRWA denied the claim and a closer look at the evidence may prove
their innocence in this case. But the controversy only underlines what is already
taken for granted by Israelis: that UNRWA personnel and facilities are at the
disposal of the terrorist groups. Indeed, Israel has already arrested 13 UNRWA
employees for taking part in terrorist activities.
This notion was reinforced by UNRWA head Peter Hansen who told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that "I am sure that there are Hamas members on
the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime."
It's true that not everyone in Hamas carries a gun or a bomb, but allowing
even unarmed Hamas members the free run of UNRWA resources, at best, makes the agency a facilitator for terror and, at worst, a co-conspirator.
Given this see-no-evil attitude on the part of UNRWA, it's not surprising
that many of its thousands of employees see no barrier to using its facilities,
vehicles and its financial resources to assist the ongoing violence directed
against Israeli civilians.
While no one seriously believes that the Palestinian Authority and its
leadership is interested in stopping the missiles being launched from inside Gaza
into Israel, it is quite another thing for an agency operating in the name of
the world peacekeeping body and the recipient of hundreds of millions of U.S.
taxpayer dollars to play the same sort of shell game.
No one expects the United Nations itself to reprimand Hansen, but the
response from the United States to this should not be tepid. Washington should halt
the transfer of funds to UNRWA until Hansen is fired and the agency's payroll
has been purged of terrorists. Anything short of that would not only be a
violation of U.S. law, which prohibits aid money from being used to support terror,
but also a fundamental violation of trust.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading."
Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
Let him know what you think by clicking here.
Jonathan Tobin Archives
© 2004, Jonathan Tobin
|