Comments on: US to cut UNESCO funding over Palestine membership vote

By: Ben Israel

Ben Israel — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 04:23:42 +0000

Another titanic symbolic victory for the Palestinians. I’ll bet at least 1% of the people in the world have heard of UNESCO and may 1/10 of that number know what they do.
The Palestinians couldn’t care less about “world heritage sites”, they move to be accepted is part of their international political war of attrition against Israel. Last year I visited the Biblical archaeological site of Shomron which is near the village of Sebastia in Samaria. It is one of the largest Biblical archaeological sites in the country. The site is under control of the Palestinian Authority but many Israelis visit there. It was the site of the capital of the Biblical Kingdom of Israel built by Kings Omri and Ahav. Their palace has been uncovered. There were a group of signs in English put up around the site, funded by the Norwegian gov’t, and the signs said in English “Sebastiya is one of the most important Greco-Roman archaeological sites in the country”. NO MENTION OF THE BIBLICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SITE. The Palestinians completely negate any Jewish-Hebrew connection with the county. The stupid Norwegians are even willing to deny their own Christian roots.
So please don’t give us any stories about how the Palestinians want to join UNESCO for “cultural” or “historical” reasons.

By: Sherri Munnerlyn

Sherri Munnerlyn — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 04:11:29 +0000

@Michael I am reading more and more about a possible war with Iran. And what I am most concerned about is Israel will start a war with Iran just to get the attention off of the Occupation, the Apartheid, the human rights abuses, and Palestine. What better way to shift the attention off of what Israel is doing in the OPT then turn everyone’s attention to Iran? Iran will not start a war, they have not started a war with any nation for hundreds of years. A war between Israel and Iran would be disastrous for the Middle East and our world. If over a million have died in Iraq, I can’t even stand to think what kind of fatalities we could be looking at with a war with Iran. And always it is children and innocent civilians who suffer most in these wars, that is always the case. And for what purpose, Israel needs the attention off of Israel’s human rights abuses in Palestine.

By: Sherri Munnerlyn

Sherri Munnerlyn — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:57:12 +0000

There are positives in all of this. The US leaves UNESCO, they lose their influence in UNESCO. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe, a little isolation for the US will do some good, make the US see they need the rest of the world, too. And they cannot order the rest of the nations around. We really are entering a new era,the US influence in the world is in decline.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:04:09 +0000

It’s not so much Hamas I feel sorry for, rather all the perfectly blamless civilians who are trapped on Gaza.

“don’t you think another Cast Lead, in the West Bank, should be avoided, for America’s sake?” – do you intentionally phrase this as if it is a form of blackmail? Do what we want or we’ll bomb the west bank and things will be even worse… Is how I read this, don’t know about other people.

Do you really believe that the US’s most effective way of achieving stability in the middle east is to unconditionally support Israel in all matters.

Because very few others in the world appears to see it that way…

By: RichardNYC

RichardNYC — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:27:13 +0000

“The idea of “war” between Hamas and Israel is frankly ridiculous to many people.”
Well its not ridiculous to Israel, which, as you’ve astutely observed, will bomb the eff out of Palestinians if it feels threatened. So, leaving aside the small violin you’re playing for Hamas, don’t you think another Cast Lead, in the West Bank, should be avoided, for America’s sake? Or is stability in the Middle East not in America’s interest?

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:05:46 +0000

I think a regional war is mostly to occur as a result of Israel attacking Iran.

The idea of “war” between Hamas and Israel is frankly ridiculous to many people.

On one side is a highly militarised nation with F16′s, a large standing army and nuclear weapons. On the other is a stateless guerilla force, trapped in a refugee camp with small arms and home- made rockets.

It’s like the UK being at war with the welsh nationalists and claiming to the world they are under “existential threat”.

By: RichardNYC

RichardNYC — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:12:33 +0000

@MICHAEL
“embarrassing diplomatic knots the US is tying itself in – simply to avoid upsetting Israel.”
–>Do you think Hamas takeover of the West Bank and regional war are in the US national interest, as far oil and $ are concerned?

By: RichardNYC

RichardNYC — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:10:32 +0000

@ARISTEIDES
“And “your ilk” is desperate to keep people from stating what is obviously true, but it’s not working any longer.”
–>You’re mistaken. Your pronunciations save me the trouble of making serious arguments. This is a totally seriously point. Please continue Jew-baiting. I also liked your self-contradictory nonsense about the law of “fait accompli” w/r/t Iran’s nuclear program. More of that too please.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:28:40 +0000

Richard
OK fair enough – we could argue semantics all day about what constitutes antisemitism, a straw man, or a canard.

And I know you’d like to keep the discussion there – poring over technicalities.

It still doesn’t change the fact that many members of the public and many journalists are now starting to openly express amazement at the embarrassing diplomatic knots the US is tying itself in – simply to avoid upsetting Israel.

And they are rightly concluding that this is due to pressure exerted within the domestic US political environment rather then from diplomatic pressure applied by the Israeli state.

By: aristeides

aristeides — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:22:10 +0000

RNYC – I don’t need to defend what I wrote – it is obviously true, and the UNESCO fiasco only makes it more obvious. And “your ilk” is desperate to keep people from stating what is obviously true, but it’s not working any longer.