Blog
"Federations & Mossawa"
"Sir, - In "Not with my money" (February 14), Lori Lowenthal Marcus made irresponsible statements about United Jewish Communities (UJC) and the Jewish Federations of North America. She disregarded facts and leveraged controversy surrounding Mossawa in an attempt to score political points for the Zionist Organization of America, which she represents. For the record: UJC and Federation dollars do not fund Mossawa. Most distressingly, her op-ed could give pause to donors who enthusiastically support UJC and the Federations and the critical humanitarian, educational and community-building services and projects underwritten by our annual campaign and Israel Emergency Campaign. All who support UJC and the Federations do so in the knowledge that their dollars help meet the needs of all Israelis at a time of great need. We pride ourselves on this fact, on the generosity of our donors, and on the great accountability and transparency with which we deal with our supporters. "
"Out of context"
"Sir, - Lori Lowenthal Marcuss accusations against the Jewish Agency in "Not with my money" (February 14) were preposterous and totally out of context. The Jewish Agency for Israel has never funded the Mossawa organization. In 2005 the Jewish Agency funded projects of the New Israel Fund to the sum of $96,664, and $58,366 for 2006. All these funds went to NIF projects relating to immigrant absorption, empowerment of immigrant women and religious pluralism."
Gerald Steinberg, Letter to the Guardian in response to Adam Leach, Oxfam UK "Give Palestine a chance for peace," The Guardian
Powerful charities such as Oxfam should focus on humanitarian aid, not produce simplistic political statements (Letters, February 10). Adam Leach may be well intentioned, but he presents a highly distorted and patronising view of the causes of Palestinian suffering and the absence of peace. The massive diversion of aid to support terror and the corruption in the Palestinian Authority is well documented. Mr Leach prematurely claims that the agreements signed in Mecca will end civil violence, while more prudent and experienced analysts note the obstacles to the implementation of this agreement.
Letter to the editor of the Jerusalem Post, "Funds for demonization", in response to "Pinochet judge visits to see if officials culpable for house demolitions" by Tova Lazaroff
Sir, - "Pinochet judge visits to see if officials culpable for house demolitions" (February 7) was irresponsible publicity for Jeff Halpers one-man NGO, the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD). It repeated, verbatim, ICAHDs claims to hold Israel "accountable to human rights," and ignored its record of anti-Israel campaigning...
"Egypt questions alleged spy's Canadian citizenship"
An Egyptian being held in a Cairo prison on charges of spying for Israel is a Canadian citizen. ...Amnesty International Canada continues to sound the alarm over el-Attar's alleged confession, arguing Egypt's record of mistreating prisoners, and using torture to obtain confessions is cause for concern. "The fact that this person instantly confessed to these actions causes us to pause and consider how the evidence was obtained," Amnesty spokesman John Tackaberry said...The organization says the Canadian government should push hard for private access to the prisoner.
"Palestinian aid policies backfiring "
"Concern is mounting in the international aid community that policies aimed at isolating the Palestinian Authoritys ruling Hamas movement have backfired by further impoverishing the people of Gaza and the West Bank without seriously undermining the Islamists .The British charity Oxfam joins the debate on Wednesday with an appeal for Europe to scrap an emergency aid programme that bypasses Hamas and revert to direct funding of the PA government that it controls. The way that European aid is currently being delivered is undermining Palestinian basic services and damaging a highly fragile economy, said Barbara Stocking, Oxfams director."
"British embassy funding Israeli NGO study on impact of separation fence"
"The British Embassy in Israel is helping to fund research on the enclaves created by the separation fence around Palestinian villages in the West Bank. ...The study is being carried out by the non-governmental organization Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights. Officials from Bimkom say that the embassy contributed about 10,000 pounds ... A source in Israels Foreign Ministry on Monday criticized the action. "It is interference by Britain in an internal Israeli matter. How would they react in London if our embassy was to fund research on a British organization that is trying to promote an agenda that is critical of [the government]? This is not acceptable in international relations."
"The Work of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch: Evidence from Colombia"
We process the main written output of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Colombia covering the period 1988-2004, recording all numerical conflict information and accounts of specific conflict events. We check for internal consistency and against a unique Colombian conflict database. We find that both organizations have substantive problems in their handling of quantitative information...
"Three people killed in Eilat blast"
"Btselem strongly condemns the attack in Eilat.... in which three people were killed. Attacks aimed at civilians undermine all rules of morality and law. Palestinian organizations raise several arguments to justify attacks on Israeli civilians. The main argument is that all means are legitimate in fighting for independence against a foreign occupation. This argument is completely baseless , and contradicts the fundamental principle of international humanitarian law . This principle is part of international customary law; as such, it applies to every state, organization, and person, even those who are not party to any relevant convention. BTselem calls on the armed Palestinian groups to immediately cease all attacks directed at civilians."
