Abolish UNRWA?

In The New York Times, an opinion piece by Bret Stephens.

Abolish the U.N.’s Palestinian Refugee Agency

[T]he fundamental problem with the agency isn’t that it appears to be infested with terrorists and their sympathizers, or that their salaries are paid by naïve foreign donors. It’s that UNRWA may be the only agency in the U.N. system whose central purpose is to perpetuate grievance and conflict. It should be abolished.

Think of it this way. The United Nations has two agencies dedicated to the plight of refugees. One, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, is responsible for the well-being of nearly all the world’s more than 30 million refugees, with a mandate to help them resettle in third countries if they can’t go home.

The other is UNRWA, which theoretically operates under the umbrella of the high commissioner but is really its own organization. No other group except for Palestinians gets its own permanent agency.

Why? ....

Read more about UNRWA at Wikipedia

The UN, the Gazans, the terrorists

- from Wikipedia, Hamas terrorists kidnapping Israeli civilians

Why countries are pulling funding from the U.N. agency for Palestinians

[...] Leaked documents have detailed some of Israel’s accusations against U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East employees, either during the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 or in the days after. One of the dozens of UNWRA workers named was said to be a teacher who housed an Israeli hostage in his house, according to a report in Israeli media.

“We discovered that there are UNRWA workers that actually participated either directly or indirectly in the Oct. 7 massacre,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Britain’s TalkTV. “UNRWA is perforated with Hamas.” ...

Intelligence Reveals Details of U.N. Agency Staff’s Links to Oct. 7 Attack

At least 12 employees of the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency had connections to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and around 10% of all of its Gaza staff have ties to Islamist militant groups, according to intelligence reports reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Six United Nations Relief and Works Agency workers were part of the wave of Palestinian militants who killed 1,200 people .... Two helped kidnap Israelis. Two others were tracked to sites where scores of Israeli civilians were shot and killed. Others coordianted logistics for the assault, including providing weapons ...

Details Emerge on U.N. Workers Accused of Aiding Hamas Raid

[...] The Israeli dossier, presented to U.S. officials on Friday, lists the names and jobs of the UNRWA employees and the allegations against them.

The dossier said that Israeli intelligence officers had established the movements of six of the men inside Israel on Oct. 7 based on their phones; others had been monitored while making phone calls inside Gaza during which, the Israelis say, they discussed their involvement in the Hamas attack.

Three others got text messages ordering them to report to muster points on Oct. 7, and one was told to bring rocket-propelled grenades stored at his home, according to the dossier ....

The Israelis described 10 of the employees as members of Hamas, the militant group that controlled Gaza at the time of the Oct. 7 attack. Another was said to be affiliated with another militant group, Islamic Jihad.

Yet seven of the accused were also said to be teachers at UNRWA schools, instructing students in subjects like math and Arabic. Two others worked at the schools in other capacities. The remaining three were described as a clerk, a social worker and the storeroom manager ...

Lost In Time

My latest science fiction check-out from the library is Lost In Time by A.G. Riddle.

Here's one of the blurbs ...

"Crichtonesque thrillers don't come much better than this intricate outing which combines a fantastic premise – a time-travel device known as Absolom is used to imprison dangerous criminals in the prehistoric past – with a closed-circle whodunit ... Riddle keeps the twists coming, including a mind-bending jaw-dropper that sets up the book's second half. By creating sympathetic and complex characters, the author makes suspending disbelief easy. Readers won't be able to turn the pages fast enough" ... Publishers Weekly Starred Review

You can read the Kirkus review here.

A time-travel murder mystery with dinosaurs :) So far it's really pretty good.

$83 million

Hah!

UNRWA

UN agency probes staff suspected of role in Oct 7 attacks on Israel

GENEVA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Friday it had opened an investigation into several employees suspected of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel by Hamas and that it had severed ties with those staff members.

"The Israeli authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on October 7," said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General.

"To protect the agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay."

Lazzarini did not disclose the number of employees allegedly involved in the attacks, nor the nature of their alleged involvement. He said, however, that "any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror" would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution ....

The U.S. State Department said it was extremely troubled by the allegations, which it said pertained to 12 UNRWA employees. It said it would provide no additional funding to the agency until the allegations were addressed.

"The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them," spokesperson Matthew Miller said ...

There have bee allegations for some time about the connection between UNRWA and Hamas. Read more ...

UNRWA sacks staffers who allegedly participated in Oct. 7 attack; US halts funding

Widening Mideast CrisisFour Countries Join U.S. in Pausing Funding for U.N. Aid Agency in Gaza

Press briefing

Here I am at lunchtime, eating a veggie burrito and watching the State Department's daily press briefing.

I've seen reports in the news that Israel is not allowing any aid trucks into Gaza. I actually saw an NBC news video in which the correspondent for that region said this a few days ago.

In the press briefing I'm watching today, the State Dept guy said ... "On January 24, two hundred and ten trucks with food, medicine, and other supplies entered the Gaza Strip."

And the US would know. Biden appointed a US envoy for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, David Satterfield, and he's in charge of facillitating aid to Gaza ... US envoy said to hold frustrating meet with PM who rejected request to expand aid for Gaza

Just don't

This week's muzak from the grocery store - Don't Dream It's Over (1986) by Crowded House ...

One year old

Today is the one year birthday of the youngest Israeli hostage held by the terrorists in Gaza - Kfir Bibas. He and his four year old brother and his mother were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct 7.

The president of Israel spoke in Davos today, and when asked the inevitable question about what "the day after" the war will look like, he said ...

“If you ask an average Israeli now about his or her mental state, nobody in his right mind is willing now to think about what will be the solution of the peace agreements,” he said in an interview on the WEF main stage, “because everybody wants to know: Can we be promised real safety in the future?” After the unprecedented slaughter in southern Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, “every Israeli wants to know that he will not be attacked in the same way from north or south or east,” Herzog said ...

For more on this subject, there was a really interesting and informative Daily Briefing (Times of Israel) with David Horovitz today. It is worth a listen ...

The chosen one

Trump has just won in Iowa, a state where Evangelical Christians dominate. I find it mind boggling that some Trump supporters believe he has been chosen by God to lead the country.

Backyard

Here I am in the backyard with the cats this morning, on one of the few breaks from the rain.

Here's Misty. She doesn't look very happy but she just ate some canned food, so I think she's ok. Misty is about 10 years old now ...

And here is Fig ...

The backyard is a cobbled-together place. Here's the stump of the dead walnut tree - finally able to get it chopped down - and in the background (L to R) there's an ancient pop tent in front of a rotting shed. There are a couple of patio chairs there for the cats, and also one of some small cat condos my neighbor gifted me with, which is full of straw. Then there's the the less ancient pop tent that keeps the cats' food and water dish dry in the constant rain storms ...

What to post?

I'm not posting about the Iowa Republican primary - I'm sure Trump will win, which is fine, as he has the least chance to beat Biden.

I am tempred to post about the winner of the best song at the Critics Choice awards ... I'm Just Ken ... yay! :) ...



But instead I'm posting a bit from an opinion piece by Max Boot in The Washington Post, which I think is important ...

South Africa’s false charges of Israeli ‘genocide’ carry a heavy price

As Israel’s war against Hamas passed the 100-day mark, Israelis struggled to understand how their country could be accused of carrying out genocide in a war they did not start. If any party to the conflict is guilty of attempted genocide, it is Hamas. This terrorist organization, which is explicitly dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state, has carried out war crimes, including the murder of Israeli civilians, the kidnapping of more than 200 Israelis (including old people and young children), and the widespread use of rape and sexual violence against Israeli girls and women. Yet last week it was Israel, not Hamas, that found itself in the dock at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

How can this be? Part of the answer lies, of course, in the double standard that the world routinely applies to the Jewish state. The government of South Africa, which brought the genocide case against Israel, exemplifies this contemptible hypocrisy ...

I hope people read the whole thing.

Noa

UPDATEd 1/15: Hamas appears to show dead bodies of two hostages after warning Israel

*

It has been 100 days since the Oct 7 massacre in Israel, and more than 100 Israeli and American peisoners still remain in the hands of the terrorists in Gaza. Today Hamas released a hostage video ...

Hamas airs video of Israeli hostages, says it will disclose their fate

Among the hostages in the video was Noa Argamani, 26, whose actual kidnapping was seen on video ...



A current theme seems to be that ti's Israel's fault that the hostages haven't all been released yet.

The only people to blame for the children, the women, the elderly being kept prisoners in Gaza are various Gazan terrorist groups and civilian Gazan mobs as well.

More: Noa Argamani became the face of the Nova music festival hostages

Jesus Is Just Alright

The Doobie Brothers live at UC Berkrley's Greek Theater in 1982, the last stop on their farewell tour ...







I've actually been to the Greek Theater for a concert in the long ago times, but I can't remember who I went to see.

Surrogacy

The real problem with the Pope’s extreme words about surrogacy

[...] Some “progressive Pope.” ...

Oh, did you guys only just now notice that Pope Francis is a conservative sexist?

Having said that, I do think there are valid concerns about surrogacy.

For one thing, it costs a lot (like around $200,000) and it does seem somehow disturbing that a lot of rich and famous people use it .. Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Nicole Kidman, Alec Baldwin's wife, Elon Musk's girlfriend, etc.

There's the worry that this practice will take advantage of poor women who don't have a lot of other money-making options.

I have read that surrogates say they do this out of the goodness of their hearts to help those sad childless couples have a baby, but I'm skeptical.

It seems like the last resort when a person has to make ends meet by selling/renting bits of their own bodies. Whether you're selling your eggs, sperm, blood, or just renting out your underparts for sex work or your womb for surrogacy, it reminds me of cannibalizing yourself when you're starving.

Here's a bit from a past opinion piece in The New York Times ...

Paid Surrogacy Is Exploitative

[...] The problem is exploitation. Women can make a considerable sum of money if they take fertility drugs, agree to the equivalent of medical prison confinement and bear a healthy baby. So what is the problem when a very poor woman makes money and someone goes home with a baby?

The problem is that the only motive for being a paid surrogate is poverty. Forget all the talk about wanting to help others. The only reason a woman in India, South Africa or Ukraine would be a surrogate is for desperately needed cash. If your only way to earn a living is to enter the sex trade or sell your womb, is that really a choice?

Some argue that women in these poor nations are allowed to do other menial, risky and difficult work, like making clothing in sweatshops. But, as the saying goes, two wrongs don’t make a right. The women in the sweatshops are being exploited. They too deserve better choices and better options rather than the relatively well-off buyers who ignore their exploitation because they love the lower cost of clothes ...

I think fairly soon artificial wombs will be available for use and hopefully insurance will pay for that, reducing the possibility of exploitation: FDA advisers discuss future of ‘artificial womb’ for human infants

Ascension

The latest book I'm reading from the public library is Ascension by British writer Nicholas Binge.

I was looking online for recent and good science fiction novels and saw it mentioned in a number of articles. I'm not far into it yet but I do like it. Here's a bit of a review from The New York Times ...

How Did a Mountain Bigger Than Everest Pop Up in the Pacific?

[...] The novel, Binge’s second and the first to be published in the United States, opens with a mystery. Harold Tunmore, a genius physicist, vanished decades ago, leaving a series of bizarre letters in the possession of his brother, Ben. When Ben is alerted to Harold’s presence in a psychiatric hospital, he finds his brother alive yet seemingly driven mad by his experiences. More of Harold’s letters are there, too. “No one can read them,” Harold warns. “If we should know what we are. …” That night, Harold burns himself alive.

This intriguing frame narrative is the first puzzle of many. The rest, and the bulk of the novel, are delivered in the form of Harold’s collected letters. Harold, an engaging narrator, describes being recruited in 1991 by a well-funded yet shady organization to explore an inexplicable phenomenon: A mountain far larger than Everest has appeared in the middle of the Pacific. “How does nobody know this is here?” Harold asks. “Until a couple months ago, it wasn’t,” he is told. Harold is coaxed along by the scientific enigma and a personal one: Waiting on the giant rock is his ex-wife, Dr. Naoko Tanaka, who is the last survivor of the previous expedition ....

Try it - you might like it :)

How to end the war

Watching Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a press briefing in Tel Aviv.

At one point someone asked him about why, conseidering all the civilian deaths, America doesn't make Israel end the war with an immediate cease fire.

Blinken pointed out that Israel has legitimate reasons for the war, but that there was indeed a way for the war to end right now ... if Hamas were set the hostages free and put down their arms, surrendering.

That has slways been an option, but one that pro-Palestinian activists never seem to recognize.

The voters

Yes, Trump, with his let's-make-a-deal mentality, believes that the Civil War should have been negotiated instead of fought.

I know Trump is a crazy and evil piece of garbage. What really depresses and angers me is that at least half our country actually wants this bag of poop to be dictator. The real nightmare isn't Trump, it's those who have, and continue to, support and vote for him.

Nili

On the news tonight, mention of an Israeli task force - Nili - formed to hunt down and kill Hamas memebrs who played a role in the Oct 7 attack ...



This reminds me of a series of novels by Daniel Silva. I first read one of them, The Prince of Fire, when my sister picked out the audio book version randomly at the public library based on its cover art and brought it to me to read ...

Anyway, the book was good and I went back to the beginning of the series to figure out better what was going on. Here's a bit about the main character, Gabriel Allon, from Wikipedia ...

Gabriel Allon is the main protagonist in Daniel Silva's thriller and espionage series that focuses on Israeli intelligence. The main characters refer to their employer as 'the Office', although it is not specified that it is Mossad (known internally in the Israeli intelligence community as HaMisrad [עברית: המשרד], literally 'the Office'). Allon's career began in 1972 when he, Eli Lavon and several others were plucked from civilian life by Ari Shamron to participate in Operation Wrath of God, an act of vengeance to hunt down and eliminate those responsible for killing the Israeli athletes in Munich. Wrath of God is referenced in the books throughout the course of his life.

Beirut

Much in the news about the recent bombing in Iran and the drone strike in Beirut that killed a high level Hamas member. Here Matt Miller, spokesperson for the State Dept, states that there's no reason to believe the US or Israel had anything to do with the Iran bombing. As to the drone strike that killed Hamas terrorist Saleh al-Arouri, Miller didd not condemn it.

That should not surprise us. Let's recall that President Obama supervised the US military entering Pakistan without prior notice to that coutry, and the killing of Osama bin Laden, after a 10 year manhunt.