Dear Ms. Smardon,
Thanks to information forwarded to me by a friend who recently attended a Confab at the United Nations on Global Anti-Semitism, I was able to once again see the disproportionate and biased focus the United Nations puts on the Palestinian people at the expense of the State of Israel. While attending this Confab my friend took notice of the UNWRA message boards displayed on the tour provided. These boards lead to me ask some very direct questions to the powers that be. Let it be noted that when I use the word “you” in asking these questions I am referring to the organization of which you are Executive Director.
First question is, do you work directly for the Palestinians?
Second question, and certainly connected to the first one, is why in all your mentions of the wars Israel has had to fight do you subtly leave out the threats Israel was facing, particularly in being attacked almost immediately following the declaration of an independent state in 1948.
I ask these question as direct reaction to the information posted on these boards. I will address them as they appeared.
In 1948, as a result of the war between Israel and neighbouring Arab states.
Let me make this clear since the United Nations/Palestinian propaganda machine refuses to do so, that entire sentence is an attempt at misdirection regarding what took place after Israel became an independent country. “As a result of the war between Israel and neighbouring Arab states”, if written by an honest and objective party, would have read, “After Israel was attacked by neighbouring Arab states.” This subtle way of diverting the attention from what started this war allows the UN to blame Israel for the fact that…
almost 750,000 Palestinians were uprooted, dispossessed and became refugees.
In reality, had the neighbouring Arab states allowed Israel to begin building its country in peace, this “question” as the United Nations likes to call it, would never have been asked.
The plight of Palestine refugees remains unresolved to the present day.
Another clever UN/Palestinian media subtlety, maybe lost on some but not on me. There was no such thing as “Palestine” in 1948 or before 1948, so the term Palestine refugees is in itself a falsehood. You even, most likely unwillingly, show that in the next statement.
An Arab State-Palestine-did not come into being.
The boards go on to mention the 6 Day War, and subsequently what took place by indicating how when the war was over, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Sinai and the Golan. As a result of this “occupation”, the boards read as follows:
At least 500,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes; about half of them for a second time since 1948.
Misleading, since most of them left on their own and were invited back in by the Israeli government about a month after the war. And as long as language such as “half of them for a second time since 1948″ is being used, an unbiased and balanced introduction to that statement would have been, “After Israel was drawn into conflict for the second time since establishing its independence”. That’s assuming we don’t address the events surrounding the 1956 conflict and time leading up to it. But that would not go along with the pro-Palestinian theme your organization consistently perpetuates.
And then the boards say:
Since 1967, successive Israeli governments have established settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
I believe the capital O is also no coincidence, rather another clever method of branding. It represents the official name your organization has chosen to give the West Bank and Gaza despite Israel not occupying Gaza and successive Israeli governments showing a willingness towards a 2 State Solution consistently sabotaged by Palestinian leadership.
The posters go on to state:
An estimated 1.26 million Palestinians, about 30% of the population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, are food-insecure
I think it is more likely that comes from the monies provided being misappropriated than mistreatment by the “occupying force.”
Now that I know that the UNWRA was established to provide emergency relief to Palestinians, I can’t help but wonder if that means allowing missile launchers to be stashed away in schools in Gaza. You might want to look into that, if of course it’s considered important enough. I am confident if Israel was accused of doing that an investigation would be swiftly forthcoming.
I also highly suggest you retrain your tour guides, as the one present on the day of my friend’s visit made a point, after he mentioned what a wonderful organization UNWRA is and how much it does for Palestinians, of muttering under his breath something along the lines of, unfortunately they are under attack now. He might as well have said, those damn Jews and Zionists. They’re just never happy are they?
We Jews will no longer be silenced when we witness such blatant prejudice against our people and the State of Israel. I am sure that some reading this will accuse me of calling everything anti-Semitic, or even worse, saying my criticism of the boards indicates lack of compassion for the innocent people who are suffering. However, I am fully aware that those arguments are just 2 more forms of intimidation being used against Jews and Zionists to allow organizations such as yours to take liberties and openly display bias against Israel. It is so openly cynical that it makes me wonder if it is not about improper monitoring of funds but corruption on a most grand and cynical scale. It’s very disturbing and most ironically does more to harm the Palestinians than to help them, since its focus is more on vilifying Israel than on impacting positively to the needs of the Palestinian people.
It’s not that a few message boards and an unprofessional and biased tour guide are the worst things in this world, but in this particular case they represent something that is quite heinous and damaging to truth, justice and the betterment of all mankind.
I do not expect a response since the United Nations does not generally show that kind of respect to Jews and Zionists, but that doesn’t mean there is not a growing number of people disgusted by this continuing pattern. Maybe for once some modicum of respect will be displayed to us and your organization will respond. Then again, I suspect the response would be far from satisfactory even if we did get one.
Sincerely,
David Groen
Global Coalition for Israel
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