Prosor: Roar of Gaza rockets fall on deaf ears to UN

Israeli Ambassador to the UN pens letter to UNSC president in response to report stating that Gaza won’t be “livable” by 2020.

Photo: Screenshot

A group of researchers on the moon could have produced a more accurate and balanced report on Gaza than the one the UN produced this week, Israel’s ambassador Ron Prosor wrote Wednesday in a blistering letter to Security Council President Gerard Araud.

“This week, Israel’s children started their school year with the all-too-familiar sounds of sirens and explosions, as terrorists in Gaza fired six more rockets into their communities, Prosor wrote.

“While Israel’s schoolchildren were taking cover in bomb shelters, the UN released yet another biased report about Gaza. Apparently, the roar of rockets flying out of Gaza has not reached the deaf ears of the UN agencies that produced this report.”

What raised Prosor’s ire was a report, billed as the UN’s most comprehensive one to date on the Gaza Strip, that concluded that the region will not be “livable” by 2020 unless urgent action is taken to improve fundamental infrastructure such as health, electricity, water, sanitation, municipal and social services.

A report on the document on the UN website stated that “Gaza remains subject to severe restrictions on imports, exports and the movement of people, by land, air and sea, as a result of the blockade Israel imposed on the area for what it called security reasons after the Hamas group, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, ousted the Fatah movement in the Strip in 2007.”

Prosor said the officials who wrote the document “conveniently failed to mention that Hamas has brutally hijacked Gaza and deliberately targets Israeli civilians in relentless rocket attacks.”

The truth, he wrote, was “plain and simple: Hamas is responsible for the suffering in Gaza.”

Prosor said it was “high time” for the Security Council and other UN bodies to speak out loudly and clearly “against the violence that Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza continue to unleash on the children of our region, Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Israel, Prosor concluded, will continue to hold Hamas responsible for all attacks emanating from Gaza, and will continue to “exercise its right to self-defense, as appropriate, and will take all necessary measures to protect its citizens.

Israel to Arabs: No Recognition of Israel? No Entry

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Date Posted: 2012-08-06 21:37:55

Israel is getting tough with Arab countries that do not recognize Israel and bars them from crossing Jordan to Ramallah.

The Foreign Minister explained that diplomats from Cuba, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh are not being allowed to attend a mini-Non-Aligned Movement conference in the Palestinian Authority headquarters because their governments do not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

A delegation from Algeria was to be barred, but the country told its officials to return home before Israel could bar therm.

The conference was to be held to back PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas; renewed attempt to win recognition from the United Nations, this time as an observer state, but the PA said it will cancel the meeting because of Israel’s action.

Other countries that were to attend include those who have ties with Israel, such as Egypt, Jordan, India, Colombia and South Africa.

Abbas is expected to have no trouble winning a virtually guaranteed majority in the General Assembly, unlike last years’ failed bid for full membership, which requires two-thirds approval from the United Nations Security Council.

The Non-Aligned Movement of 120 countries still is scheduled to hold a meeting in Iran at the end of this month.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to ask the conference for a resolution recognizing the right of developing countries to enrich uranium and develop nuclear power, regardless of limits set out in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

via israelnn.com

Israel’s Unique Hope

August 2, 2012

Shalom,

Being in America for the summer to visit family and Fellowship friends is so wonderful, and there have been many stark reminders that life here in the U.S. is so different from life in the Holy Land. It’s the little things that make Israel so unique, and I’m sadly realizing that much of what defines life in Israel is a byproduct of the terror we have faced for the past 64 years.

In Israel, there is a security guard checking bags at the entrance to every store, restaurant, and building to ensure terrorists and weapons do not enter. After seven years of living in Israel, security checks are something that I have gotten used to. But I’m always reminded that they represent the scary reality that terror can strike anywhere, at any time.

These security checks are so ingrained in my psyche that when I entered a mall in Chicago last week with my best friend, I naturally opened my purse and looked around for a security guard to check my belongings. But there was no security guard in sight. “In America, we enter stores without fear of terror attacks,” my friend reminded me. “Wow, thank God,” I replied, and I meant it with all of my heart. “Land of the free, home of the brave,” was the phrase that repeated in my head and suddenly those words held a deep meaning.

Despite the routines of daily life that are affected by the threat of terror in Israel time-consuming bag checks at the entrance to stores, traffic being halted while the army identifies a suspicious object left on the side of the road, or sending our husbands to an army refresher course for one month each year the Israeli people do not let anything extinguish our hope of eventually living in peace. Every day we beg God to send the peaceful times that our prophets envisioned, when “the wolf will live with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6).

When I visited Texas last week, I realized that, despite the huge percentage of Spanish-speaking residents, the street signs were only written in English. It suddenly gave me a new appreciation, that in Israel the street signs are all written in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. Despite the terror that we face from our Arab neighbors, the Israeli people take unprecedented steps toward building a lasting trust and peace, which I believe is God’s will. “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

As I say my prayers each morning, I beg God to continue blessing America with peace and freedom. Although I am immensely enjoying my time here in the great U.S., it is still crystal clear to me that Israel is my true home, and I yearn for the day when all Jews can enjoy a true and lasting peace in their homeland.
With Blessings,

Yael