Jerusalem News (13 May, 2015, 24 Iyar, 5775)
Contents:
1. How Israeli 'Human Rights' Groups Threaten Our Very Existence by Shimon Ohayon
2. The Top 30 Armies in the World
3. GIULIANI TO IDF SOLDIERS: BY DEFENDING ISRAEL, YOU DEFEND THE US by Cynthia Blank
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1. How Israeli 'Human Rights' Groups Threaten Our Very Existence
http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/05/12/how-israeli-human-rights-groups-threaten-our-very-existence/
by Shimon Ohayon
Extracts:
The State of Israel was established during a period of intense focus on human rights issues. All the leading political movements during that period dedicated a significant part of their platforms to human rights.
The institutions and laws established in Israel reflect the central place of human rights at the heart of the State's ideological foundations. It is therefore not surprising that human rights organizations have always been prominent and active in Israeli society.
However, in recent years we have seen the rise of new organizations which, while they call themselves 'human rights organizations,' are in fact of a completely different ilk from the tradition. Contrary to what one would assume, these organizations' activities raise questions as to the sincerity of their concern with human rights, questions that are motivated by the agendas and goals that are guiding them.
These organizations constitute a coordinated coalition, and they have selected a limited number of core issues in which they have invested the greater part of their resources. One major issue is that of the migration of infiltrators into the State of Israel. 'Human rights' organizations are doing everything possible to eradicate the Israeli State's ability to stop this flow of illegal migrants: petitions to the Supreme Court, demonstrations, information centers, and categorical opposition to any law that imposes sanctions on people who cross the border.
Masterminding these efforts is the New Israel Fund, which has created a forum in which members of organizations such as ASSAF (Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel), Physicians for Human Rights, the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, and others can work together and sometimes operate as a single entity. The stated purpose of the forum is to grant permanent resident status to these migrants. The funding for this forum comes from foreign entities such as the EU, the U.S. State Department, and from the budgets of various European governments.
The result has been the accumulation of approximately 100,000 illegal migrants in Israeli cities, living in poverty and dire conditions and turning entire neighborhoods into hubs of crime. Despite the clear evidence that indicates that these infiltrators were not being persecuted by the regimes in their home countries...
This undercuts the idea that these people are endangered refugees, rather than economic self-seekers. Yet to Israeli NGOs they are stateless, helpless refugees. Of course, what they really represent to these NGOs are ways to diminish the Jewish character of Israel, the ultimate agenda of the NIF and its many funded human rights NGOs.
A second core issue in the activities of these organizations is the 'right of Palestinian Arab return.' Groups like Adalah, also supported by the New Israel Fund, and Zochrot, which, while not supported by the NIF, enjoys the support of European governments and NGOs, advocate 'Nakba' awareness, which considers the establishment of the national home for the Jewish people a 'catastrophe,' and regards Palestinian Arabs as 'refugees' who must be restored within Israel's borders. These displaced people are to be granted citizenship, and will of course (and by design) profoundly impact Israel's ethnic identity.
... Conversely, and not surprisingly, alongside the politically motivated issues on which these 'human rights organizations' focus are actual bona fide human rights crises, which these organizations totally ignore.
For example, for years Hamas has been committing crimes against humanity, shooting rockets into population centers, digging terror tunnels leading to Israeli communities, and systematically murdering anyone who opposes it politically within the Gaza Strip. The residents of south Tel Aviv are afraid to leave their homes at night after numerous incidents of rape and severe violence have been committed by infiltrators who harass and intimidate locals, especially the elderly.
On the Temple Mount freedom of worship is denied to Jews, who are prohibited from praying there; recently an Arab attempted to kill a human rights activist who was active there.
In all these cases, so-called 'human rights Israeli organizations' have remained silent. In the rare instances when they have spoken out, their response has always been reluctant and half-hearted. Occasionally, their condemnation has referred to 'violence on both sides' or to 'provocations which led to the attack.'
Once again, and not surprisingly, an important common thread to all these problems is that most of the victims have been Jewish.
One distinguishing feature of this new generation of Israeli 'human rights organizations' is extensive foreign funding. Huge amounts are contributed to these organizations from countries and state-like entities such as the UN and the EU, as well as from the New Israel Fund. Many more millions have been funneled by European governmentally-related NGOs, funded by their respective governments.
There is simply no parallel to this extent of intervention by foreign countries in the public activities of a democratic country anywhere else in the world.
Contrary to all logic, this unique state of affairs is fostered by the absence of any legislation that would restrict, or at least regulate, such activities. Such legislation is in fact the norm in other democratic countries, such as the U.S.
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2. The Top 30 Armies in the World:
http://www.msn.com/he-il/news/photos/
1. USA
2. Russia
3. China
4. India
5. Britain
6. France
7. Germany
8. Turkey
9. South Korea
10. Japan
11. Israel
12. Italy
13. Egypt
14. Brazil
15. Pakistan
16. Canada
17. Taiwan
18. Poland
19. Indonesia
20. Australia
21. Ukraine
22. Iran
23. Vietnam
24. Thailand
25. Saudia
26. Syria
27. Switzerland
28. Spain
29. Sweden
30. Czechia
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3. GIULIANI TO IDF SOLDIERS: BY DEFENDING ISRAEL, YOU DEFEND THE US
by Cynthia Blank
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/195376
Extracts:
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani met Tuesday with ten Israeli soldiers wounded in last summer's Operation Protective Edge.
Giuliani met with the soldiers at a midtown Manhattan kosher restaurant, on their last day of a ten-day trip to New York City, arranged by the Chabad-affiliated nonprofit group Belev Echad (With One Heart).
Echoing previous criticisms of the Iranian nuclear deal, Giuliani noted his hope that Congress stops President Barack Obama's pact with the Islamic Republic, a country, he said, who was led by a man who "appears to be insane and wants to destroy the state of Israel."
"I would not make a deal with Iran," Giuliani asserted. "I don't believe in making a deal with a government that's run by a person who appears to be insane."
"He has continually all throughout our negotiations said he wants to destroy Israel so what's the point of making peace? What's the point of making a deal on nuclear capacity with a country that's run by a man who wants to destroy the state of Israel?"
Noting American admiration for the Israelis' service to their country, Giuliani praised one of America's "greatest allies" for also helping to defend the US against terrorist threats.
"We're both fighting, America and Israel, the same terrorists, the same ideas about Jihad and because of Israel I think the United States gets a lot of help and a lot of support. We learn a lot about security … Hamas is an enemy of the United States also," Giuliani argued.
"Thank you very, very much for what you're doing because by defending Israel you're also defending America," he said with gratitude.