Posts Tagged ‘Gaza’
What’s Wrong with UNRWA
January 31, 2024
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been in the news after key donor countries suspended funding to the organization. The agency was created in 1950 to implement UN General Assembly Resolution 194, which called for “the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees.” Since then, UNRWA has not resettled or rehabilitated a single refugee. Rather, it has become one of the United Nations’ largest agencies, serving millions of Palestinians in five countries. It provides food, shelter, education, and medical services, and – as has become glaringly obvious recently – is a breeding ground for terrorists.
What went wrong? The answer can be found on multiple fronts: institutional failures, ideological bias, long-time ties to terrorism, and complicity in the October 7 atrocities. Read the rest of this entry »
On Proportionality (Part 1)
August 14, 2014
Critics of Israel’s military offensive against Hamas have decried—during Operation Protective Edge as well as previous rounds—what they see as the “disproportionate” Israeli response, even as they lament the unwarranted and unprovoked attacks by Hamas. Even supporters of Israel wonder aloud whether the IDF acted “proportionately” or overreacted. They correctly point out that Hamas’ rockets and attack tunnels do not constitute an existential threat to Israel, and that few Israelis were actually hurt by them. In comparison, the extent of the destruction and devastation in Gaza, as well as the casualty figures, seem quite high. To answer the question of whether Israel’s actions were “proportionate” or “disproportionate,” we must start by considering what the term actually means. Read the rest of this entry »
Gaza Civilian Casualties
August 10, 2014
Many in the media, political leaders, and the public have been asking about the carnage in Gaza. Why are were so many civilians killed and injured? Richard Kemp wrote for the Gatestone Institute that the IDF spokesperson, Peter Lerner, was challenged by a reporter to explain whether the IDF was intentionally targeting civilians, or simply incompetent. Kemp writes, “To suggest that military incompetence is the only explanation for civilian deaths other than deliberate mass murder reveals a breathtaking but unsurprising ignorance of the realities of combat.” Continue reading this article…