The United Nations treats Palestinians differently from any other group, counting unlimited generations and even resettled people as “refugees.” This includes some 5 million people, who would otherwise not be defined as such according to the standard definition for a refugee.
The real number is thought to be around 30,000. The massive discrepancy makes it significantly harder to reach a just peace in the Middle East.
Fortunately, in 2012 the US State Department commissioned a study based on accepted international standards for refugee status. But the findings have been classified to this day.
Please sign our petition encouraging the White House to release the State Department report, which could breathe new life into progress toward a Middle East peace, based on principles of transparency, truth and real justice: for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
United Arab Emirates authorities have reportedly arrested a number of Iranians in Abu Dhabi and Dubai over the past few days, amid fears of attacks on American and Israeli targets in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.
The development comes as the Jewish state was on high alert for an Iranian revenge attack on the first anniversary of the killing of Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad. There are currently thousands of Israeli travelers in the UAE.
According to local media, Abu Dhabi is believed to be sharing the information it has gathered from the Iranian suspects “with friendly states.”
While the day passed without incident, two former heads of the Mossad and a former national security council chief said on Sunday that Tehran is simply biding its time and will eventually avenge the killing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force leader – probably after US President-Elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20.
HR VIDEO: Who Was Qasem Soleimani?
According to former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit, “they won’t forget to retaliate. Maybe the timing will be not when they are in negotiations with the Americans… They would be foolish to carry out an attack [during negotiations] just because they have an opportunity. But they are very shrewd people, you can’t underestimate them.”
Shavit also believes that when Iran does decide to attack it will, “… use the strategy of deniability. This way, legally no one can bring them to court, but publicly everyone knows they did it.”
The Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday that it had arrested several suspects in the West Bank following a rock-throwing attack earlier in the day that seriously injured Israeli Rivka Tytell while she was driving her car. IDF soldiers made the arrests in the village of Deir Nidham north of Ramallah, near the location of the attack.
Tytell was traveling with two of her kids when the family was terrorized. Local media has reported that after she was hit, one of Tytell’s children managed to take control of the car and bring it to a stop. Medics subsequently treated Tytell before taking her to Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv for treatment for a head injury. Her children were unharmed.
Sunday’s rock-throwing incident came amid a period of heightened tensions. Last month, Israeli mother-of-six Esther Horgen was found dead in a northern West Bank forest where she had gone for a jog.
In possible violation of its own laws, the French government last year transferred almost $10 million to a Palestinian group that plays a leading role in the movement to boycott Israel.
The French Development Agency gave an 8 million Euro grant to the Palestinian NGO Development Center (NDC). Although the group says it promotes “good governance in the West Bank,” the NDC has campaigned to turn the Jewish state into a pariah nation.
In 2008, NDC developed a “code of conduct” for other Palestinian NGOs, which included a call against “any normalization activities with the occupier [Israel],” whether on matters of politics, security or development.
The funding by the government in Paris is in apparent contradiction to French anti-discrimination legislation. On several occasions, BDS activists have been convicted for inciting hate or discrimination.
The year 2020 was a record-breaker for the Arab-Israeli community. Never before did so many members of this sector volunteer to serve in the Israeli army. The IDF recruited over a thousand Muslims, Bedouins and Christians over the last twelve months, more than twice that of previous years.
Not only did the overall number of new voluntary Arab conscripts increase, but the military also noted that more of them joined combat units. The volunteers included Muslims from cities like Taibe, Qalansuwa and Jerusalem, Bedouins from the Galilee region and Christian Arabs from the northern part of Israel.
Israel’s army also received some rather unexpected inquiries. “About 700 would-be volunteers called from Arab countries such as Lebanon and Syria, perhaps as part of the change the region is going through. We could not believe the demand,” the IDF’s Manpower Directorate said.
The Israeli military is currently seeking to recruit up to 2,500 soldiers from the country’s Arab communities. To this end, the Manpower Directorate has opened a new recruitment bureau in the Galilee, where volunteers can study to improve their Hebrew.
- In First, Female Officer to Head Israeli Intelligence Efforts Against Iran (Lilach Shoval, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Morocco: Israel’s Bridge to the Muslim World? (Ariel Harkham, Jerusalem Post)
- Scientists Develop New Gene Therapy For Deafness (Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel2C)
- Small Wonder: How Israel Rolled Up Its Sleeves and Became Vaccination Nation (Nathan Jeffay, Times of Israel)
