Sunday, May 01, 2016

Report of Park Slope Coop Protest against the BDS Workshop who is upset that Soda Stream is displacing Bedouins in the Negev

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We stood outside of the Park Slope Food Coop in the chilling penetrating rain handing out fliers.  I've done this before but was surprised at the number of people going in and out of the Coop and even just passing by who refused to even take the flier.

The Park Slope Coop does $1 million of business per week. $50 million a year.  Many Brooklynites, representing all Nationalities, including Jews of all persuasions, including a substantial number from neighboring Lubavitch Community of Crown Heights, do their shopping while helpful Coop Members with their welcoming Coop Vests serve the shoppers in every way possible.  They offer affordable, healthy produce. The Coop is a pleasant place to shop and meet friends and neighbors.

But that is no longer the case for 4 long standing members who have been suspended for protesting the General Committees BDS Agenda items.

For the past 8 years BDS has infiltrated the Coop trying to force an antiSemitic BDS Agenda the agenda of the Coop. 

It appears like many Park Slope Coop members had been "educated", (indoctrinated is a better word), as per the righteousness of the Palestinian cause.   Even many Jewish Park Slope Coop Members  support BDS as they have been educated to believe that the Palestinians are victims of the awful Israeli Occupation,  having to wait long hours at checkpoints and that many Palestinians are victims of Terror by Israel who is "Occupying the West Bank Palestinian Territory".

I did my best to explain to those who had a very biased and anti Israel education,  quite likely coming from the Park Slope Food Coop Gazette and Reading Groups, that the Checkpoints were to prevent terror attacks which was commonplace on roads in Judea and Samaria accessed by both Settlers and Palestinians.  A sizable number of Palestinians in a recent survey defend road terror on the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria and on Israel's civilian population in general .  They throw rocks, ram their vehicles into civilians waiting at populated bus stops and go on stabbing sprees which are encouraged by Imams at the mosque. The Palestinian population,  glorify the terrorists, naming schools and institutions after them and educate their children to die as martyrs against the "Israeli Occupation".  Children practice and play stabbing Jews and Infidels, carrying suicide belts and playing with rock throwing dolls.  It is for this reason that roadblocks for the Palestinians are necessary and justified. Once Palestinians put a stop with the constant terror education and attacks on Israeli civilians, then surely there would no longer be a need for checkpoints. 

I also attempted to explain that what they consider to be the murder of  innocent Palestinian lives was actually Israeli's, both armed civilians and military,  killing Palestinian terrorists who were engaged in acts of terror against innocent Israeli civilians defending their very lives.  There are weekly terror attempts counting in the hundreds.   

The Park Slope Food Coop has done an amazing job at brainwashing a sizable percentage of their membership.

But even more upsetting was that those that understood that BDS is a terror front did not want to address the theological foundation of the entire BDS narrative. 

If the Palestinians are accusing Israel of Occupying Palestinian Territories that is precisely the point we must address.   This is what justifies their armed struggle.  It justifies their terror attacks. They see a moral equivalency between Palestinian attacking Jews Occupying their land and Jews whom they claim are terrorists because they are defending themselves. 

This brings us to a more fundamental question. Is our fight against BDS merely a political fight or is it a religious fight as well? For the Arabs it is clearly a religious battle and they call it Jihad. 

We can only beat them by disabling their religious justifications that they use to defend their weapons.  Unless we can assert our Biblical Claim to the Land of Israel, all other claims that are based on legal and security arguments alone are dismissed by our enemies.

Many Jews are afraid to speak about G-d and the Torah. 

Jews feel threatened for good reason.

Har HaBayit: Giving a Tour - Mistaken as a Gentile and then recognized as a Jew. by Shalom Pollack

Mentioning our connection to Temple Mount, Har HaBayit is like opening up a Pandora's box. UNESCO recently has gone out of it's way disconnecting Israel from its Biblical roots. http://shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com/2016/05/fwd-unesco-lies-about-mount-of-olives.html  UNESCO as well has gone out of their way to disconnect any Jewish Connection from the Tomb of the Patriarchs, Rachel's Tomb and Joseph's Tomb,

Bringing up these basic Biblical historical facts generates great fear as they are met with accusations of offending and provoking Muslim sensitivities.  

in addition, when we bring up that the Torah is the foundation of universal morality, Jews steer clear of this discussion as well experiencing great discomfort especially if they are atheists.  This reaction was quite evident today in Park Slope.  

Our enemies understand better than ourselves the Biblical root foundation of our rights to the Land and this causes them to bully, intimidate and tantrum whenever we come close to the source by mentioning the Bible.

Confronting lies with truth surely has its downsides but how else can we defend their accusations that Israel has stolen Palestinian Land which then justifies terror masquerading as an "armed struggle against the Occupation of Palestine".  

Better that we are met with hostile indignation than endless terror attacks. 

Let us speak about the Torah and the the Biblical Path to Peace, the 7 Noahide Laws. 

Let us speak of the Biblical Boundaries Promised by G-d to the Nation of Israel as delineated in the Bible. This delineation includes all of Judea and Samaria.  Temple Mount is the focal point.

Furthermore, the Balfour Declaration, the Mandate of Palestine of the League of Nations and the San Remo Resolution  of April 25, 1920  and the League of Nations awards the Nation of Israel,  a historical and legal right to the Land of Israel inclusive of Judea and Samaria which is consistent with our Biblical claim as well. 

Wars fought and won in 1948 and 1967 further supports our claim to the Land  inclusive of Temple Mount, Judea and Samaria based on rules of International Warfare. Otherwise, America would need to give back the 50 States to the Native Indians. 

We are now approaching the 50th Year anniversary of the 6 Day War in 1967. It is a time to celebrate a glorious victory that was accomplished only because of Divine Intervention and Open Miracles.  Let us declare, Dror Freedom from foreign occupation whether it comes from unwanted Palestinian Statehood or from the United Nations being egged on by the Obama Administration!  

Vehaya Hashem Lamelech Al Kol Haaretz Bayom Hahoo Yiheh Hashem Echad Ushmo Echad: And it will be that G-d will be the King over the entire earth on that day He will be One and His Name will be One.


San Remo: The Forgotten Milestone
By Salomon Benzimra, April 26th 2015

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/16835#.VuoK-ptf1Hg

Ninety five years ago, prime ministers, ambassadors and other
dignitaries from Europe and America gathered in the Italian Riviera.
Journalists from around the world reported on the upcoming San Remo
Peace Conference and the great expectations the international
community placed on this event, just a year after the Paris Peace
Conference had settled the political map of Europe at the end of World
War One.

On Sunday, April 25, 1920, after hectic deliberation, the Supreme
Council of the Allied Powers (Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and
the U.S. acting as an observer) adopted the San Remo Resolution -- a
500 word document which defined the future political landscape of the
Middle East out of the defunct Ottoman Empire.

This Resolution led to the granting of three Mandates, as defined in
Article 22 of the 1919 Covenant of the League of Nations.  The future
states of Syria-Lebanon and Iraq emerged from two of these Mandates
and became exclusively Arab countries.  But in the third Mandate, the
Supreme Council recognized the "historical connection of the Jewish
people to Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national
home in that country" while safeguarding the "civil and religious
rights" of the non-Jewish population.

Subsequently, the British limited the Jewish Homeland in Palestine to
the area west of the Jordan River and allowed eastern Palestine to be
gradually administered by the Hashemites.  The territorial expansion
to the east eventually gave birth to the Kingdom of Transjordan, later
renamed Jordan in 1950.

The importance of the San Remo Conference with regard to Palestine
cannot be overstated:

For the first time in history, Palestine became a legal and political entity;
The Jewish people were recognized as the national beneficiary of the
trust granted to Britain in Palestine for the duration of the Mandate
-- a "sacred trust of civilization" as per the League Covenant;
The Balfour Declaration of 1917 -- which "viewed with favour" the
establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine -- was now to be
"put into effect"and thus became a binding act of international law;
The de jure sovereignty of Palestine was vested in the Jewish people,
though it was kept in abeyance until the Mandate expired in 1948;
The terms of the San Remo Resolution were included in the Treaty of
Sèvres and remained unchanged in the finally ratified Treaty of
Lausanne of 1923.
The Arabs received equivalent national rights in all the remaining
parts of the Middle East -- over 96% of the total area formerly
governed by the Ottoman Turks).

The San Remo Conference was hailed as a major historical milestone.
Celebrations were held throughout the world with tens of thousands of
people marching in London, New York and Toronto.  But the Arabs of
Palestine, led by the Mufti of Jerusalem, were strongly opposed to any
form of national Jewish homeland: the first anti-Jewish riots erupted
in Jaffa just before the San Remo Conference convened -- a harbinger
of the violent Arab rejectionist stance that continues to threaten the
existence of Israel to this day.

While the Middle East peace process has been going on for over two
decades, it is astonishing that San Remo and the ensuing Mandate for
Palestine have hardly been mentioned.  Is it deliberate? Is it a mere
omission?  How could there be peace and reconciliation without
acknowledging fundamental historical and legal facts?

Middle-East diplomacy has often relied on "constructive ambiguity", a
concept earlier introduced by Henry Kissinger to keep the dialogue
open and avoid discussing core issues deemed problematic.  In the
ongoing peace process, the ambiguity of language did not produce
constructive results.  On the contrary, layer upon layer of
distortions and gross falsehoods piled up over the initial ambiguity
of "land for peace."

When the notion of "occupation" took root, it soon turned into
"illegal occupation", then "brutal oppression" and, finally,
"apartheid" which is a crime against humanity in international law.
Once corrupted language describes a distorted reality and the
distortion spreads, thought becomes corrupt and any resulting action
is bound to fail.

Commemorating the San Remo Conference should be more than a mere
remembrance. It enjoins us to consider the legal reach of the binding
decisions made in 1920 and to ensure that we do not entertain
incompatible positions when political expediency clashes with
unassailable rights enshrined in international law, namely the
acquired rights of the Jewish people in their ancestral land.  No
wonder the Palestinian Authority -- intent on eliminating the "Zionist
entity," as spelled out in the PLO Charter -- abhors the provisions of
the San Remo Resolution, which they view as the root of a catastrophe
engineered by "Zionist gangs."

In reality, the San Remo Resolution and the ensuing clauses of the
Mandate for Palestine are akin to a treaty entered into and executed
by each and every one of the 52 member states of the League of
Nations, in addition to the United States which is bound by a separate
treaty with Great Britain, ratified in 1925.

So next time you hear about the "occupation of the West Bank" and its
supposedly "illegal settlements" -- an almost daily occurrence in the
discourse of the Palestinian Arabs and their supporters -- you should
remember that this territory, as the rest of Israel, was lawfully
restored to the Jewish people in 1920 and its legal title has been
internationally guaranteed and never revoked ever since.  Any
negotiation toward achieving a lasting peace should be based on this
premise.

Last but not least, San Remo marks the end of the longest colonization
period in history. After 1,850 years of foreign occupation, oppression
and banishment by a succession of foreign powers (Romans, Byzantines,
Sassanid Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Mameluks and Ottoman Turks), the
Nation of Israel was reborn in April 1920, thus paving the way for the
proclamation of the State of Israel 28 years later.  This liberation
from foreign rule should normally be celebrated by all the progressive
elites who have traditionally supported every national freedom
movement.  But it isn't so, for reasons that defy reason.

More on this topic:

This Sunday May 1st Noon: PSFC (Park Slope Food Coop) BDS Meeting about the "Displacement of Bedouin Palestinians in Israel" and Soda Streams Role. COME AND PROTEST!!!!!

Please protest another BDS promotion workshop at the Food Coop http://shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com/2016/04/re-please-protest-another-bds-promotion.html


--
Sincerely,

Robin Ticker

Israel Advocacy Calendar (www.IsraelAdvocacyCalendar.com).
Activist emails sent to my list  are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch.  May their memories serve as a blessing. 

Most of these emails are posted on Shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com 

Personal emails to individuals will not be posted to my blog. "

Har HaBayit: Giving a Tour - Mistaken as a Gentile and then recognized as a Jew. by Shalom Pollack

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--- ENTER YOUR CONTENT HERE -I am often asked, what is my favorite place in Jerusalem?

Well, as a tour guide , I love sharing so many special places with my guests, but it  is the most "controversial" spot  that rivets my imagination , my soul and yearning..

If Jerusalem is our eternal capital and God's chosen home on earth, then the Temple Mount is the inner sanctum - literally

Yes, I know that today, the Israeli government, in it's weakness, is  colluding with  and appeasing our enemies to make  a Jewish  visit as unpleasant  as possible.

It is  just this  absurd,  shameful reality  that underlines just how special this spot  must be.
If we Jews don't get it  than our enemies certainly do...

 I had the honor of guiding a young gentleman who I would describe as a believing Christian and a great supporter of Israel.

He asked me to accompany him up to the Temple Mount among some other Jerusalem sites.
I told him, I would  be honored to do so but warned him  that if he  were associated with an identifiable Jew it may be a surprising experience. He  was willing to take the chance.

I first immersed myself in the mikva( ritual bath) and made sure to wear non leather shoes as prescribed by halacha ( Torah Law).

We proceeded to the long line waiting at the entrance to the mount. There was a large group of yeshiva students who were,  as usual, being  harassed and delayed for hours as the tourists flitted past them to the Mount.

They were suspect; They had to be severly warned not to even think about prayer. on the holiest site.  To see this process of intimidation  is painful.

 I decided  therefore to wear a cap and hide my kippa. This subterfuge worked and we three tourists  were smoothly admitted.

As we entered the mount I saw the usual scene; tourists, prowling, arrogant 'Wakf" Muslim officials - the ones who keep an eagle eye out for the stray Jew who may have slipped through the kapo selection.

We looked harmless enough  to the many peering eyes. I noticed  the large groups of Muslim women whose job is to accost any Jews who are "caught" looking Jewish. It was eery to be sure but it was not my first time there.

I was  able to show my guests where millions of Jews for centuries, packed the seventeen foot ball field size platform on the holidays. I showed him where the Levites  sang their praises to God and where the priests  brought the sacrifices and incense and bread  offerings.

I recounted the kings and prophets who stood where we were standing. I tried to  reconstruct the glory  of the place  where  all the Nations met  to  brought their offerings to the one true God and represented His eat on earth.

He got it. I caught the  tears welling up in his eyes.

 I turned to him and said,". Are you willing to be  associated with an identifiable Jew on this place?

 Are you ready for some action"? I took off my hat and disclosed my kippa. I let my fringes fly.  I was  no longer a Jew in hiding.

With in seconds they came to life. The women in black in their head to toe shock troop gear and the "Wakf", prowlers emerged from every corner and surrounded us.  A crescendo of "Allah hu Akbar" filled the air  and  walkie talkies began crackling;
 "Yahud! Yahud!"(Jew! Jew!)

My guest was visibly  shocked and frightened.. He grabbed my arm.

"You must leave the mountain. Your time is up" they shouted.
I said,"what time?" I pointed to other tourist leisurely walking near us.

One finally pointed his finger accusingly, "You are a Jew!."
 I admitted to the crime., "Yes".

 He was sure that  this admission of guilt  was enough to make us flee the m
ount.
I moved far too slowly for him and a large number of police (ninety percent of the police in the old City are Arabs)of ever higher ranks were called to the "scene of the crime."

 They physically nudged me on in the direction of the gate. I asked "what law did I break?" "Why are other tourists allowed... "?

One officer explained, "had you identified as a Jew from the beginning (and not get the better of their selection) they would have accompanied me "for my own safety" I said, "OK you may accompany me now for my safety. There are lots of you here".

They were  not amused.

 Ever increasing threatening signals were sent my way.

 At one point, an older Arab man with a huge  walking stick yelled at me "You are stupid"! I returned the compliment and he had murder in his eyes as he raised his weapon. A police officer addressed him with great deference and plead with him not to do what he obviously wanted to do to me.

Boy, if they could, they would!

We  were  expelled  from  our holiest  ground by threatening Muslims and  their Jewish police servants.

We  saw a group of yeshiva boys dancing and singing outside the gate after being allowed up for a five minute visit ( after waiting three hours). They  were  heavily accompanied by the police to make sure they do not provoke the Muslims by moving their lips in prayer. One student  was surrounded by high ranking officers as he attempted to drink from the public fountain. They suspected that he might make a blessing  before drinking and thus  cause a riot...

I joined these amazing young people in their dance and song as  Muslim curses rang in our  ears..

Turns out, one of the young men was badly hurt by an Arab on the mount. We saw him being accompanied to an ambulance with his arm in a sling.

 I asked him what happened?. He said an Arab began pushing him and he responded by pouring water on him. At that point the Arab threw him down and pummeled him while the police just looked on.
I have heard of these things happening but to interview the boy in the sling and hear his story ....what can I say?.

My guest certainly did not bargain for this education but he was very grateful and commented, "no one knows what is happening up there! Its unbelievable!

He also told me that he always wondered if he would ever in his life be in a position where he stood  unflinchingly with  good against evil

He thanked me for fulfilling that quest on that day.

All other amazing places in our beloved city  are in another league

 www.shalompollacktours.co.il

  


--
Sincerely,

Robin Ticker

Israel Advocacy Calendar (www.IsraelAdvocacyCalendar.com).
Activist emails sent to my list  are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch.  May their memories serve as a blessing. 

Most of these emails are posted on Shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com 

Personal emails to individuals will not be posted to my blog. 

Fwd: UNESCO Lies About Mount of Olives “Jewish Fake Graves” While Thousands Gather for All-Day Inaugural Jerusalem Passover Event

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Zionist Organization of America" <info@zoa.org>
Date: Apr 28, 2016 4:49 PM
Subject: UNESCO Lies About Mount of Olives "Jewish Fake Graves" While Thousands Gather for All-Day Inaugural Jerusalem Passover Event
To: "Subscribers" <faigerayzel@gmail.com>
Cc:

ZOA.org


Zionist Organization of America 

Press Release

  DONATE NOW  

 
UNESCO Lies About Mount of Olives "Jewish Fake Graves" While Thousands Gather for All-Day Inaugural Jerusalem Passover Event

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For more information contact Morton A. Klein 212-481-1500

NEW YORK, April 28, 2016

Author: ZOA Staff

Six months of ICPHH planning with Culture Minister Miri Regev (shown left) and others, thanks to major allocations from Regev's ministry and the Jerusalem Development Authority, came together during the Passover holiday break for a first ever full day of performances and tours on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives.

Regev, with whom ICPHH's Israel co-chair Jeff Daube has been working closely for years to facilitate Jewish presence and activity on the geostrategic Mount of Olives, said she was so delighted with the outcome that she expects to schedule this combination festive celebration and education opportunity annually.

The resolution, which also erases the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall, was approved by 33 states, including France, Russia, Spain and Sweden.

ZOA Israel with ICPHH, the International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim, have been steadily bringing about changes—not just so visitors can frequent the mountain's historical sites and holy Jewish cemetery in safety, but to put the lie to Arab fictionalizing of its Jewish connection as they go about trying to wrest control from Israel, for starters, in eastern Jerusalem.

Proof of such a need is in the latest UNESCO draft resolution, reviving a years old libelous claim about "Jewish fake graves" Israel has planted on the Mount of Olives and in other "Muslim [sic] cemeteries."

The resolution, which also erases the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall, was approved by 33 states, including France, Russia, Spain and Sweden.

As if to answer the UNESCO challenge, at least three thousand visitors, according to police estimates, swarmed the all-day Mount of Olives event, responding enthusiastically to the entertainers and tours (one shown above at the undeniably Jewish cemetery). Regev's calls for Israeli and world Jewry to proclaim the mountain's central importance, both as a repository of our shared national past and integral to shaping a shared national future, received special applause.

Coverage in Hebrew with video is viewable here. Besides Regev, concert presenters and attendees included ICPHH U.S. representative Rabbi Pesach Lerner and Israel co-chair Harvey Schwartz (in center photo with Regev and Schwartz's co-chair, ZOA Israel Director Daube), Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Moshe Leon (ICPHH ally Mayor Nir Barkat was overseas), Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and ZOA friend and eastern Jerusalem resident Simon Falic (bottom right, seated next to Regev).

As with the two previous concerts on the Mount of Olives, Daube likened the event to former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani's Central Park rescue strategy, which in the mid-1990s had included offering regular attractions there to draw public interest. In Israel, Daube refers to his committee's Mount of Olives revival strategy as Jew-lianizing.

 

Full story can be found here: 

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About the ZOA

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is the oldest and one of the largest pro-Israel organizations in the United States. With offices around the country and in Israel, the ZOA educates the public, elected officials, the media, and college/high school students about the truth of the ongoing Arab war against Israel. The ZOA works to strengthen U.S.- Israel relations through educational activities, public affairs programs and our work on Capitol Hill, and to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in the media, in textbooks, in schools and on college campuses. Under the leadership of such presidents as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, and current President Morton A. Klein, the ZOA has been - and continues to be - on the front lines of Jewish activism. www.zoa.org. For more information contact Morton A. Klein 212-481-1500.





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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

This Sunday May 1st Noon: PSFC (Park Slope Food Coop) BDS Meeting about the "Displacement of Bedouin Palestinians in Israel" and Soda Streams Role. COME AND PROTEST!!!!!

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Background:

In April 2015, in a Park Slope Food Coop General Meeting, the BDS movement within the Brooklyn Park Slope Food Coop succeeded in placing a BDS Agenda Item to Boycott Soda Stream because they, an Israeli, Jewish Company was situated in Judea and Samaria aka  by Israel's enemies as the "Occupied West Bank". Soda Stream employed Jew and Noahides alike among them 50 Palestinians offering them great work conditions, pay and benefits.  

The pro BDS presenters at this PSFC General Meeting started presenting their agenda by hanging untruthful,  misleading offensive pictures of the IDF "terrorizing" Palestinians terrorists or terrorist wannabees.  The membership present at this Park Slope Meeting passionately protested this provocative BDS Agenda Item.   Because of the "disruption" by the anti BDS group,  the BDS presenters were unable to present their BDS Agenda item. In retaliation, the Disciplinary committee of the Brooklyn Park Slope Food Coop brought charges against 4 of the protesters.  Those that protested this BDS agenda item was far greater than these 4 individuals. (Recently the trial was held and these long time members of the Park Slope Food Coop were suspended for a year.) 

Due to BDS pressures, Soda Stream was forced to move from Judea and Samaria, leaving 50 Palestinians jobless. 

Not satisfied with succeeding in disciplining the Anti BDS protesters, and sufficiently stopping Soda Stream,  this BDS group within the Coop are at it again, now protesting Soda Stream moving to the Negev Industrial Park. This is their flier:

The Displacement of Bedouin Palestinians in Israel. What is Soda Stream's role



ANTI BDS PROTESTERS WILL NOT BE SILENCED!
Notice to all Pro Israel individuals and  groups to come and picket this BDS Meeting which is unlawful according to the Park Slope Food Coop regulations: 

Protest the Park Slope Food Coop BDS Meeting at 782 Union Street, West of 7 avenue. Q to Seventh Ave., 2 3 to Grand Army Plaza.

B67, B69 to Union Street, B41 to 7 Ave,

The BDS meeting is to take place at 12 noon. It would be a good idea if people arrived at about 11.30 so we could hand out fliers as people enter the coop. Please tell everyone. 

We Demand that the PSFC stop their terror funded BDS agenda items and present the truth. We expect them to hold meetings to present the following Agenda Items in answer to the Hamas terror funded BDS AGENDA. HATEFULE BDS Agenda must be banned from the PSFC (Park Slope Food Coop) because not only does it wish to destroy Palestinian and Beduins job opportunities, it promotes Terror and out to destroy Israel!


For  more on this topic:

Please protest another BDS promotion workshop at the Food Coop http://shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com/2016/04/re-please-protest-another-bds-promotion.html

Sincerely,

Robin Ticker

Israel Advocacy Calendar (www.IsraelAdvocacyCalendar.com).
Activist emails sent to my list  are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch.  May their memories serve as a blessing. 

Most of these emails are posted on Shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com 

Personal emails to individuals will not be posted to my blog. 

Fwd: The PA's Billion Dollar Fraud

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "PMW Report" <pmw@palwatch.org>
Date: Apr 27, 2016 6:44 AM
Subject: The PA's Billion Dollar Fraud
To: <faigerayzel@gmail.com>
Cc:

PMW
          

Report     

April 27, 2016

 
PMW Special Report

The PA's billion dollar fraud
d
The Palestinian Authority is deceiving Western donor countries,
falsely claiming to have stopped paying salaries to terrorist prisoners,
and reaping more than a billion dollars/year in return


by Itamar Marcus

This special report by Palestinian Media Watch reveals a major fraud by the Palestinian Authority, through which it is reaping more than a billion dollars in foreign aid yearly.

In 2014, the PA announced that in order to continue receiving more than a billion dollars in financial support annually, it was acceding to US and European donor countries' demands that the PA stop paying salaries to terrorist prisoners. The PA claimed the money for prisoners salaries would no longer be paid by the PA but instead by the PLO.

Even though PMW warned at the time that this was a "ploy," the US and EU countries accepted the PA's assurance, and continue to give the PA over a billion dollars in financial aid every year.

This PMW special report cites numerous official PA sources and statements by officials, showing that the PA is violating the trust of the US and EU donor countries. According to all these sources, the PA Ministry of Finance continues to make the decisions and remains the source of the money for paying salaries to terrorist prisoners.

In addition, PMW has studied records of the PA Ministry of Finance that show money transfers the PA made to the PLO in the years 2012 - 2015. These transfers show a noteworthy money trail used to transfer money that is needed for terrorist salaries from the PA to the PLO. In 2015, after the PA had assured Western donors it was no longer paying the salaries, and after it had closed the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, it suddenly transferred more than double what it had transferred to the PLO in previous years. The additional amount transferred by the PA to the PLO in 2015 was almost identical to the budget the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs used to have. This extra money the PLO received from the PA in 2015 matches the amount the PLO now needed to pay the salaries of terrorist prisoners.
 
The payments may be made by the PLO, but the money is still PA money.

Since it continues to fund salaries to terrorists, thereby clearly violating its promise to donors, the PA should be ineligible to receive Western donor money. However, through this deception the PA is still reaping over a billion dollars in foreign aid.


Continue reading the executive summary here: 
 

The PA's billion dollar fraud
 
The PA's claim that it no longer pays
salaries to terrorist prisoners is false
  
  •  Claiming to have complied with demands of international donors, the PA announced in August 2014 that it had stopped funding salaries to terrorist prisoners, and that the PLO would fund those salaries instead
  •  This PMW report documents that the PA's claim to have stopped funding terrorist prisoners' salaries is false. The PA Ministry of Finance continues to make the decisions and allocate the money for salaries.
  • The PA's pledge that it fulfilled donor countries' demands is false. Therefore, the PA today is fraudulently receiving the $1 billion/year it receives in foreign donor money
 
by Itamar Marcus and PMW staff
 
Overview:
 
2011: PMW exposes that the PA pays high salaries to terrorist prisoners jailed in Israel, among them murderers serving many life sentences.
 
2012-2014: Western donor countries condemn these payments and threaten to cut off funding unless the PA meets their demand and stop paying salaries to imprisoned terrorists.
 
August 2014: PA claims to acquiesce to international pressure, announces that it has closed the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, and that salaries to prisoners will no longer be paid by the PA but by a newly formed PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs.
 
The new PLO Commission is identical to the old PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs in everything but name. The Commission and the salary payments to prisoners remain under the "supervision" of the "Palestinian presidency," i.e., Mahmoud Abbas. The PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs became the director of the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs.
 
2014-2016: Western donors accept PA assurances that the PA has stopped paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and the PA continues to receive foreign aid.
 
April 2016: This PMW report shows that the PA has misled donor countries and in fact continues to fund salaries to terrorists. The PA today is fraudulently receiving aid from Western donor countries of approximately $1 billion/year.
 
- The PA Ministry of Finance is identified by official PA sources as the body responsible for paying salaries to terrorist prisoners.
- The PA Ministry of Finance continues to be responsible for policies regarding salaries to terrorists.
- PA officials openly talk about the PA's continued payment of salaries to prisoners based on current PA law that mandates that the PA pay them salaries.
- When the PA was short on cash, it announced that it cut salaries to terrorist prisoners (and civil servants) by 60%.
- In 2014, the last year the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs operated, its budget was 442 million shekels. The year after the "closure" of the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, the PA raised the amount it transfers to the PLO by 481 million shekels: from 294 million (2014), to 775 million (2015). The additional 481 million shekels ($128 million) the PA gave to the PLO in 2015 is the amount the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs needed to take on the responsibilities of the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, which is primarily paying terrorists salaries. The previous year's amount, 442 million shekels, plus approximately 10% yearly rise matches the additional 481 million shekels the PA gave the PLO in 2015.
- The source of the money for salaries to terrorist prisoners thus continues to be the PA.
 
Conclusion
- Western donors are being intentionally misled by the PA, which continues to fund the salaries to imprisoned terrorists.
- By creating the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs in order to hide that it continues to fund salaries to terrorists, the PA has succeeded to fraudulently receive $1 billion/year in foreign aid from the donor countries.
 
 
Executive Summary
 
The Palestinian Authority receives over a billion dollars in international aid yearly. Several EU countries and the US threatened to stop funding the PA after Palestinian Media Watch exposed in 2011 that the PA pays high salaries to terrorist prisoners and released terrorists. Among the terrorist prisoners on the PA payroll are murderers who are serving many life sentences for killing Israeli civilians and orchestrating suicide bombing attacks, such as Abdallah Barghouti who is serving 54 life sentences for building bombs that murdered civilians in cafes, buses, and at the Hebrew University.
To counter the international condemnation and to continue receiving donor funding, the PA announced in August 2014 that it had closed the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs and established a new institution, the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs, which the PA claimed would instead fund the salaries from non-PA sources.
 
However, the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs was new only in name. The PLO Commission has the same responsibilities and pays the exact same amount of salaries to prisoners. The payments are based on PA decisions and PA law. The former PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Karake, became the director of the new PLO Commission and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas retained overall supervision of the PLO Commission. (All sources appear below.)
 
In spite of these mere cosmetic changes, the international community accepted the PA's assurances that the PA was no longer paying the salaries to terrorist prisoners. One example is this statement issued by the Dutch Government:
 
"The responsibility for payments to prisoners was transferred to the PLO and will no longer be charged to the budget of the PA, and these [payments to prisoners] are not funded by PA tax revenues or donor funds. The PLO pays such costs from their own income, where the [Dutch] Cabinet has no access."
[Question and Answer session, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 22, 2015]
 
The United States apparently also accepted that this change was enough. When challenged by a member of Congress to cut funding to the PA because of the salaries the PA paid to terrorists, Assistant US Secretary of State Patterson, three months before the announced closing of the PA ministry, explained that the US was aware the PA would "phase that out" and therefore it was not necessary to cut US funding to the PA:
 
"I frankly know that they're going to try and phase that out and we should give them an opportunity to do so."
[House Committee on Foreign Affairs' website, April 29, 2014]
 
Palestinian Media Watch has uncovered extensive and definitive evidence from official PA sources, proving that the PA assurances to the Netherlands, the US and other donors are false (all sources in full below):
 
- In August 2014, the PA announced that salaries to prisoners would no longer be paid by the PA but by the PLO. Yet, in October 2014, two months later, the PA announced that there were more than 200,000 recipients of PA salaries, which "includes the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) and wounded, as well as the prisoners' and released [prisoners]."
 
- In January 2015, five months later, the PA Ministry of Finance announced that the PA budget for the Gaza Strip includes salaries to prisoners from there who are in Israeli jails.
 
- When Israel withheld PA tax money in early 2015, the PA announced that prisoners receiving more than 2,000 shekels/month would only receive 60% of their salary- the same reduction that was imposed the previous day on all PA civil servants. Were the PLO paying prisoners' salaries from non-PA sources, Israel's holding up tax money from the PA would have no impact prisoners' salaries. Clearly, PA money is still the source paying terrorist prisoners' salaries.
 
- In December 2015, an internal dispute started within the PA. The PA, not the PLO, had decided to stop salary payments to a small number of prisoners and released prisoners for various reasons. This is significant because the PLO Commissioner of Prisoners' Affairs and PA officials all criticized the PA Ministry of Finance for stopping the salaries. No one complained to the PLO, as they should have, were it the PLO that paid the salaries. Nearly a year and half after the PA claimed not be involved in salaries, the PA was still deciding and allocating the money for the terrorist prisoners' salaries. Significantly, the head of the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Karake, personally complained to the PA Ministry of Finance over the new PA policy regarding salaries to prisoners. Why would he complain to the PA if he himself and the PLO were in charge of the salaries?
 
- When released prisoners were protesting against new conditions to receive salary payments that had recently been imposed, they protested in the offices of the PA Ministry of Finance and not in the offices of the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs.
 
- Finally, PMW has uncovered PA Ministry of Finance documents that indicate a money trail, showing the transfer of money from the PA to the Palestinian National Fund (PNF), the body that funds the PLO, in the amount needed to pay the salaries to terrorist prisoners:  

A. In 2014, the budget of the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, which then paid the salaries to terrorist prisoners, was 442 million shekels.   

B. In 2015, after the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs was closed, the PA raised its annual transfer to the PLO via the Palestinian National Fund by 481 million shekels ($128 million):
2014 transfer - 294 million shekels
 2015 transfer - 775 million shekels    
 
C. The additional 481 million shekels the PLO received from the PA in 2015 was the amount it needed to fund the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs, undertaking the responsibilities of the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs. The transfer of 481 million is virtually identical to the budget of the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs in 2014 (442 million), plus 10% yearly growth due to rising prisoners salaries. According to PA law, the salaries of terrorist prisoners rise the longer they are in prison.)

D. This route - money transfers from the PA to the PNF and then to the PLO - is the way the PA is transferring money to the PLO in order to continue funding salaries to terrorist prisoners, and to keep their payments hidden from donor countries.
 
All the above documentation shows that while the PA fraudulently claims to donor countries that the PLO is paying salaries to terrorist prisoners from non-PA sources, in fact the PA continues to be the source of the rewards to the terrorists.
Unaware that the PA continues to fund salaries to terrorists, the donor countries continue to contribute nearly one billion dollars a year to the PA.
 



 
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