Syrian blood libel at UN Human Rights Council

On Wednesday at the UN's Human Rights Council meeting, Syrian diplomat Rania Al Rifaiy declared: “ Let me quote a song that a group of children on a school bus in Israel sing merrily as they go to school: ‘With my teeth, I will rip your flesh with my mouth I will suck your blood.’ ”      

 

Are you sure you understand the Middle East? // Mark Finkelstein, jcrc@dmjfed.org

 

 

American Jewish Committee's  UN Watch Testifies Against Syrian Blood Libel at UN Human Rights Council

June 9, 2010 – Geneva – Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, AJC’s affiliate in Geneva, testified today before the UN Human Rights Council on Syria’s grotesque accusation against Israel that was presented to the Council yesterday.

The full text of the UN Watch statement follows:

Mr. President, we had prepared a speech on violations the world over.  Instead, I am obliged to address a human rights violation that occurred here, in this chamber.

I am referring to remarks that violate the anti-racism prohibition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I am referring to the Syrian statement falsely accusing Israel of being a state that is not only “built on hatred…and a paranoid feeling of superiority,” but also one that glorifies the “ripping of flesh” and the “sucking of blood.”

Mr. President, this crude and coded language echoes the libel voiced by Syria on 8 February 1991 at the Human Rights Commission, when its delegate accused Jews of killing Christians to use their blood, whereupon she cited the book “Matza of Zion” by former Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas. That speech was condemned at the time by 29 countries.

We remind Syria that the EUMC working definition of Anti-Semitism includes, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic Anti-Semitism, e.g. [the] blood libel, to characterize Israel or Israelis.”

Mr. President, yesterday’s patently false and hateful remarks are historical incitements to prejudice and violence. They have no place in the United Nations, and we call on all stakeholders to condemn them.

Sadly, these words did not arise in a vacuum. For last week, during this council’s urgent debate on the flotilla, we heard similar motifs as Israel was speciously depicted as an attacker of innocent humanitarians—when in truth it was defending itself from violent Jihadists bent on martyrdom.

Once again, Israel was singled out by those seeking to delegitimize it. A resolution was adopted condemning Israel, creating yet another investigation where the guilty verdict was declared in advance.

Tellingly, many accused the Jewish state of being “inhuman,” including Pakistan for the OIC, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Nicaragua.

Mr. President, word is father to deed. History teaches that when nations turn to dehumanization and demonization, the world remains silent at its peril. 

Thank you, Mr. President.

AJC source:

http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=849241&ct=8431271

 

 

Obama, Israel & American Jews: The Challenge?A Symposium conducted by Commentary

Commentary magazine has released the responses to their survey.

http://www.jidaily.com/I3AITOg/f

Commentary asked 31 prominent American Jews to respond to this
statement:

The open conflict between the Obama administration
and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has created tensions between
the United States and Israel of a kind not seen since the days of the
administration of the first President Bush. And those tensions are
placing unique pressure on American Jews, who voted for Barack Obama by a
margin of nearly 4-to-1 in 2008 after being assured by Obama himself
and by his supporters in the Jewish community that he was a friend and
an ally of the State of Israel despite his long association with, among
others, the unabashedly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic Reverend Jeremiah
Wright.

We argue that American Jews are facing an
unprecedented political challenge, and at a crucial moment, with the
need to address the existential threat to Israel—and by extension to the
future of the Jewish people as a whole—from a potentially nuclear Iran.
How will American Jews handle this challenge? Can Obama’s Jewish
supporters act in a way that will change the unmistakable direction of
current American policy emanating from the White House? Will American
Jews accept Barack Obama’s view that the state of Israel bears some
responsibility for the loss of American “blood and treasure” in the
Middle East? Will they continue to extend their support to the Obama
administration and to Barack Obama’s political party?
Their responses appear on the following pages
in alphabetical order

U.N. Security Council Passes Iran Sanctions

June 9, 2010
U.N. Security Council passes new Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The United Nations Security Council passed new sanctions against Iran, setting the stage for new and tougher U.S. sanctions.

The vote Wednesday expands existing sanctions and creates a basis in international law for nations to target Iran's energy and banking sectors.

Read more: <http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/06/09/2739532/un-security-council-passes-iran-sanctions>