New Report Gives UN Rights Chief Mixed Reviews on Confronting Rights Violators

A performance evaluation on Louise Arbour. It ain't pretty. Excerpted from UN Watch:

A new study on Louise Arbour's performance as UN rights chief gives her mixed reviews on confronting violators, and urges her replacement, Navanethem Pillay, to adopt a stronger approach toward UN heavyweights such as China, Russia and Egypt. The Right to Name and Shame, a 48-page report by UN Watch, a human rights NGO in Geneva that monitors the United Nations, was presented today at the inaugural meeting of the UN Human Rights Council's expert advisors. The report is the first to scrutinize the tenure of a UN high commissioner for human rights. Click Here for Full Report: "The Right to Name and Shame"

On the Arab-Israel conflict, while Arbour’s approach could not be compared to that of the Arab-dominated Human Rights Council, whose resolutions have justified Hamas and Hezbollah terrorism, her statements were disproportionately weighted against Israel. Arbour rarely if ever criticized Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria or other countries in the Middle East with highly problematic records.

Louise Arbour to quit UN job?

Good news, for once. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, who endorsed the Arab Charter on Human Rights which contains anti-Semitic provisions, and who blamed Israel instead of Hezbollah for the Lebanon war is expected to announce in the coming weeks that she will not seek a second four-year term as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Arbour's pending departure also comes as she experiences increasing frustration over attempts by a powerful group of countries in the UN's 47-member Human Rights Council to extend their influence over her officially independent office.

Leading that charge have been Algeria, China and Cuba, but all involved have poor human rights records. Their aim, observers say, is to try to gain as much control as possible over who's hired and the work they do. It is part of a wider campaign that has seen them structure the council's rules so that only Israel can easily be singled out for criticism when the body - of which Canada is a member - meets. Arab and Muslim countries lobbied for Israel to be made the exception.

For background on Louise Arbour, click here. For other articles on Louise Arbour, see this.

UN Watch Welcomes Clarification by UN Rights Chief on Arab Charter

Lousie Arbour responds to global complaints about her lack of moral clarity. Via UN Watch:

UN Watch welcomed the new clarification issued today by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, in response to its Jan. 28, 2008 letter protesting her endorsement of the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which contains anti-Semitic provisions.

“Last week the High Commissioner endorsed the Arab Charter, but today she has shown courage in criticizing its ‘incompatibility… with international norms and standards,’ and that’s a step forward,” said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch executive director. “We welcome Ms. Arbour’s recognition today that the Arab Charter includes ‘inconsistencies’ in regard to its approach to the death penalty for children, the rights of women and non-citizens, and anti-Zionism.”

“At the same time, we await a response to our demand that the UN official who advised the High Commissioner to sign the initial January 24 announcement be held fully accountable,” said Neuer. “We are talking about someone who recommended the endorsing of a charter that promotes classically anti-Semitic themes, describing Zionism, the Jewish national liberation movement, as uniquely evil, and advocating its ‘elimination.’ We trust that the High Commissioner — whose mandate centers on the notion of individual responsibility and accountability, and who opposes the culture of impunity — will lead by example and ask the responsible adviser to draw the necessary conclusions.”

“This latest episode only underscores the kind of dangers that are up ahead. With Ms. Arbour serving as secretary-general of the Durban Review process — ostensibly UN meetings to combat racism, but which is chaired by Libya with the help of Iran and Cuba — we trust that she will immediately and forcefully oppose any similar efforts to hijack the language and idea of human rights for anti-Zionism or to denigrate Western democracies,” said Neuer.

http://www.unwatch.org/

For background on Louise Arbour, click here.

Who is Louise Arbour?

Louise Arbour is the current UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. According to Wikipedia, in July, during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Louise Arbour stated that "those in positions of command and control" could be subject to "personal criminal responsibility" for their actions in the conflict.

According to the Weekly Standard, and I am in agreement with their analysis, her talk about "proportionality" and anyone else who frames Israel's defense of her own border with that predjudice, actually means "they don't like Israel."

Louise Arbour was impugning Israel but Israel doesn't target civilian concentrations. Clearly, Louise Arbour doesn't get it.

Israel Unity Coalition, a Christian and Jewish alliance, is now informing us about the blatant anti-Semitism in the new Arab charter on human rights. This document was endorsed by Louise Arbour on January 24th in a statement in which she welcomed it's ratification by saying it is, "an important step forward" in strengthening the enjoyment of human rights in the Arab world.

The Arab Charter is in fact just the opposite by equating Zionism with Racism.

Why?

UN Watch stated that the newly ratified Arab League document "contains several provisions that promote classically anti-Semitic themes."

UN Watch monitors the UN's compliance with its charter and is associated with the American Jewish Committee. Their letter pointed to troubling sentences in the Arab Charter, one

"rejecting all forms of racism and Zionism, which constitute a violation of human rights and a threat to international peace and security."

Another sentence says,

"all forms of racism, Zionism and foreign occupation and domination constitute an impediment to human dignity. . .all such practices must be condemned and efforts must be deployed for their elimination."

According to Israel Unity Coalition, the Arab league originally adopted the Arab charter in 1994 but it was never enforced as it was not ratified by the required number of 7 member states.

The Arab states that just ratified this charter are:
the United Arab Emirates,
Jordan,
Bahrain,
Algeria,
Syria,
Libya,
and the Palestinian Authority.

These indictments of Zionism by the Arab Charter on Human Rights are an unacceptable distortion of the true mission of Zionism which is:

"the movement for Jewish self-determination that asserts the inherent and internationally-acknowledged right of Israel to exist."

The letter from UN Watch said

"A text that equates Zionism with racism, describes it as a threat to world peace, as an enemy of human rights and human dignity, and then urges its elimination, is blatantly anti-Semitic. Even if the Arab Charter may contain other, constructive provisions, nothing can justify any endorsement of a text with such hateful language."

Anyone with any moral clarity would hope that Louise Arbor's office would issue a strongly worded retraction and that the responsible person in her office would be identified and held fully accountable for this blatant acceptance of misinformation.

Haveil Havalim #95 - Thanksgiving Edition

"Hinei ma tov uma na'im shevet achim gam yachad."

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is to be united like brothers and sisters in one family and one community." --- Psalm 133:1

Folks, I am pleased to host this edition of Haveil Havalim, the weekly round up of posts from all over the JBlogosphere. There were lots of great submissions to choose from this week, resulting in a profound reflection of thought, opinion, rant, observation, religion, and talent. The JBlogosphere is a great community and I'm proud to part of it.

Ok, let's get started. For starters, what in the world is the J-Blogosphere? (As if you didn't already know. ) But, if you didn't already know, click here for more information.

One of the earliest HH submissions that I received was from Bagelblogger, who I only recently discovered. Bagel Blogger's funny Mr Bagel, a cartoon character, is the site's mascot spokesperson. After doing many single frame cartoons, Mr Bagel breaks out and does his first cartoon strip. You might notice Bagelblogger's new masthead too. Bagel has his fourth caption contest running, and pointed out, that despite what the Palestinians would have the world believe, Palestinian women are becoming more and more active in waging Jihad against the Israeli State. And their language? Their convoluted propganda talkspeak? Read about it here.

AbbaGav writes about how he met his wife Sharon, in a post inspired by West Bank Mama, who according to AbbaGav, was inspired by Treppenwitz.

If Ariel Sharon were to awake from his coma, what would he say about the State of Israel? Rafi translates from a Hebrew post and gives us some insight. He also writes about restarting his shechita learning, and about Arkadi Gaydamak, an Israeli billionaire.

Bacon Eating Atheist Jew admits it; he was going to watch the OJ interview and would have turned the channel during the commercials, but since Murdoch has cancelled the tv program, none of us can watch. Thank goodness.

Ahhh, Banagor. One of my favorite bloggers, although he is neither Jewish nor Israeli, Banagor came out of a one month hiatus from blogging to write one of the most absolutely brilliant posts I've ever read, ever. Read Banagor's brilliant Exasperation he has - and that I also share - with the Democrats and the Muslim world.

Anne, at Boker Tov, Boulder, posts an excerpt from the speech that Abba Eban gave at the Commonwealth Club in California on November 14, 1970. Anne writes that although the excerpt is no more than a blip in the "long and unending dialogue between the Jewish people and the rest of mankind," she hopes it will strengthen us nonetheless. We need all the strengthening we can get.

Olah Chadasha points out the mythology that Palestinians don't use or get used as human shields at Greetings From The French Hill. OC is also at a crossroad in a career decision. I wish him peace of mind.

Cosmic X points out how truly unrepresentative of the Jewish people are the self-elected representatives of the Jewish people, in a dissection of this article by Dr. Muli Peleg.

Sarah enjoys taking photos and presents Leaf Glow posted at her site ~ Sarah's View ~.

Another blog that I had not heard of before, is Shifting the Paradigm, written by anonym00kie, who from the get-go, blogged that G-d believes in us more than we have so far learnt to believe in ourselves. Sometimes, despair makes us forget that.

Omri excels at puncturing mere rhetoric when he hears it, and this time, harpoons Reuters propaganda mouthpiece Nidal al-Mughrabi and raises the AP Bias Alert Level: Obvious (Grandma Suicide Bomber Edition).

Avromi, of daf notes, writes about the new ruling issued by the Tzitz Eliezer on smoking on Yom Tov.

Yid With Lid asks if Olmert is losing control of his govt? Um, yes, he is, Yid, and that's a good thing because another government, a better one, must replace it. Maybe Israel's citizenship is waking up. I also worry that Israel's government is losing its focus on HaShem. Yid also demonstrates that France still manifests its Vichy disposition. As you might already know, Vichy France was established after France surrendered to Germany on June 22, 1940, and took its name from the government's administrative centre in Vichy, southeast of Paris. While officially neutral in the war, Vichy actively collaborated with the Nazis, including their racial policies. Sometimes it seems that Israel's UN ambassador Dan Gillerman is the only one in the government who owns a backbone.

Batya makes great points in I've been saying that. Batya asks "why do signs in Yad Veshem say that the Jews "perished" in Nazi Germany? They ignore the "m" word. Instead of hammering away with the true fact that man murdered man, the picture is of a natural disaster, like everyone perished in the flood except Noah and his family." Excellent points, Batya.

Soccer Dad opens our eyes on how some people foolishly idolized James Baker, including Carla Anne Robbins, an editorial observer for the New York Slimez Times.

Akiva at Mystical Paths writes about an eerie manifestation of the Rebbe at 770, and links to a video that a visiting chosid filmed with his cell phone on Thursday. Watch closely at seconds 9-12...Video in 770.

ZionistYoungster writes that regardless that there are moderate Muslims, they are no more relevant to our situation than were Germans who saw Nazism as nothing more but a movement to heal German society internally.

Yoni Tidi writes how the security fence has been breached around Jerusalem. Wake up, Olmert, wake the heck up.

Avi at Tel Chai Nation warns about a subliminal message in a crossword puzzle that a Spanish teacher at Smithfield-Selma Senior High School handed out that some students and parents said teaches hate against Israel and America.

Solomonia issues a "1930's in color" alert, warning us of yet another anti-Amerian animated film on Iranian TV.

The most submissions to HH #95 that I received were from Israel Matzav, also known as Carl In Jerusalem. In one post, Israel Matzav spears the detestable Louise Arbour, who earlier this week refused to meet with the families of kidnapped IDF soldiers Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, deciding that Israel is 'more to blame' than Hezbullah for human rights violations during the war in Lebanon. Carl also submitted an article about Palestinian Human Shields he found on American Thinker. And in another, Israel Matzav describes the twisted thought process behind Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shalah's statement that Israel's 'security fence' is a significant obstacle to the 'Palestinian resistance.' Shyeah, according to that line of thinking, I suppose killing Jews is no obstacle to getting approval from Allah. And in yet another post, Harvard Professor and lawyer Alan Dershowitz did what needed to be done to Dhimmi Carter's new book in a New York Sun review yesterday: Israel Matzav tells us he tore it to shreds for being the one-sided piece of garbage that it is. And in a flying pig moment, Israel Matzav tells us Human Rights Watch has come out against the use of 'Palestinian' civilians as human shields for their terrorist leaders.

Elisson writes movingly about a Bar Mitzvah boy who lost his beloved mother to cancer two months later.

Jewish Blogmeister tells us about the escalation of a discussion regarding modesty of women's clothing within the Haredi Yeshiva world.

And guess what? Israel Perspectives is back and writes that true Jewish multi-culturalism begins at home, with the Jewish People in the Land of Israel.

WestBankMama celebrates her one year blogiversary with her own roundup of "only in Israel" stories. Happy Blogiversary!

I wish the leaders of Israel would have some clarity and resolve like Patrick. Patrick dilineates for us the failure of Olmert's government in Israeli Ghost Towns.

Daniel Pipes questions the future of Kadima, an incoherent party now headed by an incoherent coalition, which Pipes believes, will ultimately fade into oblivion.

The South African blog, It's Almost Supernatural, continues its expose on Ronnie Kasrils, a minister in the South African government, who has been on record for his vile accusation that Israel behaves like nazis.

Maryland Conservatarian righteously goes after the filthy Scott Wilson piece in the Washington Post which claims that Israeli settlements are built on palestinian property. So, who really owns palestinian land?

Meryl Yourish responds to Dean Esmay.

Freedom's Cost, also a site new to me, reminds us again that the BBC has managed to perfect George Orwell’s Newspeak in a way the author of Brave New World, never thought possible.

Topics from 192 countries writes about Thanksgiving in Israel.

Elder of Ziyon shows us smiling "peace activists" happily talking with people who want to see the terror groups continue to kill Jews with impunity.

And Yehuda Berlinger, of Jerusalem Games, who normally tries to avoid politics, has created a terrifically creative board game and is willing to offer $1000 to anyone who can win.

The Israeli Tikkun Blog revisits, with great sadness, the 2006 Election Day Vote and Sderot.

The very poignant Jack's Shack writes about growing up with his brother and being fortunate to come from a long line of stubborn that you really don't want to be on the wrong side of.

Batya asks why the OU is honoring Olmert. Jameel wants to know also. I also wondered why American Magen David honored Hillary Clinton, who kissed the (blech, ugh, eeek, yuck) cheek of Suha Arafat after she accused Israel of poisoning palestinian water.

Muse writes about remembering the fallen who gave their lives for Israel during the Yom Kippur war and teaches us about King Solomon--In what order did he write his books?

Heichal HaNegina writes about the 44th yahrzeit of HaRav HaGaon Aharon Kotler (1892-1962), Rosh Yeshiva of Beis Medrash Gavoha, in Lakewood, New Jersey, and the "father" of the American yeshivos and kollelim and about the 160th yahrzeit of Rebbe Tzvi Hirsch ben R. Yehuda Leib HaKohen of Riminov, known by all as Reb Hersh M’shareis [the Attendant].

Bookworm applauds John Bolton — defending truth, justice and the American way.

HouseOfJoy tells us about sponsoring ChayyeiSarah, whose dream is to bring the UYO seminar to Israel.

CozyCorner discusses moderate Muslim politics on Israel.

Elie exposes another quick pshat [idea] on this week's parshah of Toldos.

Modern Uberdox addresses his concerns about the Agudah coming down on blogs in a letter - and publishes the thoughtful reply.

AidelMaidel is crushed. Falling in love can be heartbreaking, but how long should one wait for their soulmate?

Why set a side a special day for Thanksgiving? Irina reccommends that we always count our blessings and be thankful for the good things in our lives.

To view life simply and to acknowledge HaShem, that is A Simple Jew's goal, and here he reawakens us to the beauty of clouds.

Letters of Thought, on the other hand, is down in the lumps.

Palestinians continue to violate the human rights of Israeli Jews. Palestinians have fired more than 1,000 rockets from Gaza into the Israeli city of Sderot so far this year; and more than 1,300 rockets since August 2005 (when the last Jew left Gaza); and more than 3,500 since 2000 (when the Palestinians began a new war after being offered a state). Rick Richman tells us that every one of the rockets was intended to kill civilians.

Ever hear of the Darwin Awards? Jameel tells us about two excellent candidates.

Jewish Blogmeister interviews Life-of-Rubin who also authors The Jewish Connection as well as the most recently created "The Shtus Blog".

The Atheist Jew writes about his experience with irrational Muslims on a Yahoo forum board.

Dry Bones Blog draws a cartoon on airport security.

JudeoPundit noted an essay from Mark Levine blaming Israel for the Gemayel assassination. The essay has now appeared in the Huffington Post. At first and for quite a while, the comment thread is a festival of uninterrupted approval.

Kesher Talk notes that some kind of vandalism or riot hit the Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, earlier this week, but it's hard to figure out who was doing what from this article, which comes with loads of photos. It sounds like some kind of internicine brawl based on theological matters.

Whats wrong with Olmert's govermnent? Daled Amos confirms our worst fears because the answer is: everything. Plus a sad reminder that the dysfunctional "Peace Now," the internationally funded foreign agent in Israel has made its latest move on behalf of its paymasters to disrupt and discredit Israel.

Minor Fast Days writes about Finland's Jewish community which gathered Sunday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Helsinki synagogue.

Nice Jewish people should vote for Mitt Romney and Nice Jewish Boy tells us why.

Ocean Guy quotes Benjamin Netanyahu who compares Iran to Nazi Germany in 1938. And Tigerhawk goes a step further to compare Czechoslovakia to Israel as the object of a hostile regime's desires. Both comparisons should be taken to heart.

Oxmyx at OyVayBlog posts yet another example of Israel-bashing in the media.

In spite of the world turning against Jews and especially, Israel, Rishon Rishon links to Israeli/Lebanese peace/war songs for some hope.

Dag had the privilege of meeting the exalted one, Ezzie.

Ben-Yehudah notes that Festivus falls on Shabbath Hanukkah this year.

As for me, I have noticed that some of the JBlogs that I linked to for HH #95 do not have Smooth Stone in their blogrolls. Maybe this superb roundup will change their minds.

Well, folks, that about wraps up this edition of Haveil Havalim. I hope you all enjoyed it. And thank you, Soccer Dad, for the opportunity.

G-d Bless Israel. G-d Bless America. Amen.

Technorati Tags: Blog carnivals, haveil havalim, Israel, Judaism

U.N. official condemned for comparing Israelis to nazis

This story makes an interesting read. Congratulations to U.N. Watch for ‘making it happen’ and for bringing a small match-glint of light into that black cavern of ‘in-human’ rights called the United Nations. Here's what happened:

Jean Ziegler is at it again. No surprise there. The notorious Israel-basher cum U.N. official as Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food two weeks ago used Nazi-terms – again - while telling a crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Geneva that the Gaza Strip is “an immense concentration camp” and compared Israelis to concentration camp guards. He then called on Europe to boycott Israeli goods.

The Surprise: In no time, Ziegler was denounced by the spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and then again by the spokesman for High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour. Never before in the history of the U.N. has one of its independent experts been condemned in this fashion.

NGOs Target Israel at UN Human Rights Meeting. Again.

Folks, NGO Monitor (NGO: non-governmental organizations) is one resource that should be part of your daily reading. The aim of NGO Monitor, as outlined in their mission statement, is to end the practice used by certain self-declared 'humanitarian NGOs' of exploiting the label 'universal human rights values' to promote politically and ideologically motivated anti-Israel agendas. Click NGO (non-governmental organizations) for the definition of NGO's.

Until recently, NGOs, which receive significant financial support from generous donors, philanthropic institutions, and government budgets, have not themselves been subject to independent and critical analysis.

NGOs can contribute to democracy through challenging governments and promoting social interests, but they themselves are not democratic institutions and have no democratic accountability. An NGO is only accountable to its particular funding organizations and members. Meanwhile, criticism of a human rights NGO is often dismissed as an attack on the values of human rights themselves.

NGO Monitor was founded to address these issues by tracking the activities of humanitarian NGOs. In this framework, it is important to distinguish between three types of NGOs.

The first group consists of international bodies such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, whose operations are truly global and very influential. Amnesty International, for example, claims a membership of one and a half million, and an annual operating budget of $30 million with projects in 140 countries.

The second group is made up of region-specific NGOs such as Miftah, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR-I), and LAW. These regional "humanitarian" NGOs restrict their activities to the Arab-Israeli conflict and, in most cases, to criticism of Israel.

The third group consists of NGOs that collect funds for a variety of projects and areas, and provide financial and technical support to smaller regional NGOs. Examples include the Ford Foundation, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) New Israel Fund, Christian Aid, and the Advocacy Project.

The recent session of the UN Commission on Human Rights was again characterized by intense political attacks against Israel, in which many NGOs (non-governmental organizations) played a major role. From NGO Monitor:

The 61st Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which took place in Geneva from 14 March to 22 April 2005, was again characterized by intense political attacks focused against Israel, despite the warnings of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and UN Human Rights High Commissioner Louise Arbour. The UNCHR, however, continued the past practice of singling out "Israel and the Palestinian territories" as a separate agenda item ("Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine") in addition to Agenda Item 5 - "The right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation". The UNCHR's failure to condemn Palestinian terror and its assaults against Israel were analyzed in detail by UN Watch.

In the process, the NGO network was particularly active, and its biased reports and rhetoric was echoed in the Commission's discussions and resolutions. The Palestinian NGO Al-Haq, a participant at the 2001 Durban conference, joined with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) to condemn "numerous forms of collective punishment", the "devastating system of checkpoints and other movement restrictions", and the "construction of the Annexation Wall". This submission criticizes only Israel while failing to acknowledge Palestinian violence. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) also continued its anti-Israel emphasis, criticizing "excessive use of force, indiscriminate killing of civilians" and the security barrier. The ICJ, did, however, condemn Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians, marking a change for this NGO.

Save the Children, while refraining from using intemperate language to criticize Israel, failed to acknowledge Israeli security concerns when referring to restrictions on movement and protection of children's rights. Similarly, ignoring the context behind Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip, the highly partisan Habitat International Coalition and Al-Mezan (a recipient of Swiss and Dutch governmental funding) condemned "Israel's systematic and aggravated violations of Palestinian civilians' right to adequate housing" while endorsing the standard Palestinian political demand "for the immediate deployment of an international protection force in the region". Israelis, in these reports, appear to have no human rights.

Demonstrating an amoral equivalence between Palestinian terrorism and Israeli self-defense operations, Medecins du Monde called on both Israel and the PA to prevent attacks against civilians. This NGO also referred to the "mental and physical suffering of Palestinians" caused by Israel's security barrier and checkpoints, while ignoring Israeli suffering in the face of terrorist acts.

Employing the language of extremism and demonization, the International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD) referred to Israel's "war crimes", "ethnic cleansing policy", and "Jenin massacres", while claiming that the "apartheid practiced against the Palestinian people is worse than the former South African one".

Major NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch did not participate in this session of the Commission's activities, instead, questioning the credibility of the UNCHR as a whole. Amnesty referred to "The selectivity and double standards that characterize the Commission's approach to addressing country situations", while HRW expressed "the need to scrap the Commission and replace it with something new and better". HRW also called on the UNCHR to halt the neglect of "abuses by Palestinian armed groups" (i.e., terrorists), to actively condemn "deliberate and indiscriminant [sic] attacks on civilians" and to demand that the Palestinian Authority "undertake all efforts consistent with international human rights standards to curb these attacks". However, HRW's position was highly inconsistent, and included contentious language used to describe Israeli anti-terror policy.