Hillel C. Neuer is the executive director of UN Watch, a human rights non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, that monitors and reports on the actions of the United Nations. Neuer, an international lawyer, diplomat, writer, and activist, was listed in the “Top 100 Most Influential Jewish People in the World,” by the Israeli newspaper, Ma’ariv. Neuer will be the keynote speaker at the Jewish Federation’s 2016 Annual Meeting, to be held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on Thursday, Sept. 15. Here are some excerpts from a recent phone interview with JUF News.
Ethiopian Jews and Israelis celebrate as emergency airlift flights are completed
New York Times’ Joel Brinkley reported,
At the airport this morning, it was difficult to tell who was more joyful — the barefoot Ethiopians who cheered, ululated and bent down to kiss the tarmac as they stepped off the planes, or the Israelis who watched them aglow, marveling at this powerful image showing that their state still holds appeal, even with all its problems…
Bill Clinton tells how Hamas manipulates public perception about Israel
…Hamas is really smart. When they decide to rocket Israel, they insinuate themselves in the hospitals, in the schools, in the highly populous areas, and they are smart. They said they try to put Israelis in a position of either not defending themselves or killing innocents. They’re good at it. They’re smart. They’ve been doing this a long time …
I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state. I had a deal they turned down that would have given them all of Gaza.
Syrian refugees have support and assistance from the last place we expected: Israel and Jews
From Aboud Dandachi, the founder of thankYouAmIsrael.com:
Martin Luther King Jr. once said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that”. For Syrian refugees, these are very dark days indeed. Driven from their country by a brutal war fueled by regional and sectarian ambitions, displaced Syrians find themselves thrown into a world where the environment has over the past year become increasingly hostile towards refugees and asylum seekers.
But while wars and conflicts tend to bring out the very worst in human beings, dark days such as these have also given rise to amazing acts of compassion and humanity. Turned away from Arab countries, increasingly unwelcome in Europe, Syrian refugees have found support, aid and assistance from the last place they could have expected; Israeli and Jewish organizations and individuals.
Must watch: black South Africans speak against the false labeling of Israel as an apartheid state (video)
When I hear that Israel is an apartheid state … depending on the mood I’m in I either pack out laughing or I get really, really angry. Because it’s an absolute lie … To incite violence and encourage the destruction of a people just because you don’t like them, that’s disgusting. You are making what our parents went through – you’re making the struggle – a mockery…
New interactive website helps you see and understand US foreign aid spending
Israel, $3.1B
Four Arabic countries, $4.8B total
Four African countries will, roughly half a billion each
Ukraine, about half a billion
Look at these pictures of Gaza – they show a paradise
These are pictures of Gaza, which Hamas and people hostile towards Israel describe as a concentration camp. These are anything but concentration camp conditions – this is a paradise.
Kasim Hafeez was raised to hate Jews and now defends Israel
Kasim Hafeez is a man raised in a fundamentalist Muslim household to hate Jews and Israel, who had a complete reversal of sentiment, and now loves my people. He established StandWithUs 12 years ago, an NGO that educates people around the world about why Jews and Israel are worth supporting rather than bashing.
No free pass on criticizing Israel & saying it’s not about Jews
When people express a problem with Israel, they are not talking about the many Israeli Arab citizens of the country or the pretty large number of Chinese that now live there. They are talking about Jews. That is why criticism of Israel is criticism of Jews – because when people criticize Israel they are really criticizing Jews, then pretending that is not what they intended to do.
Why Middle East news is so anti Israel
In this well documented article, a former AP editor explains why all major media outlet’s Middle East reporting portrays little Israel as the big, bad oppressor of the long-suffering Palestinians – no matter what the truth is.
For starters, the AP alone has over 40 staffers reporting on ME affairs. And, AP and all other major news outlets’ Middle East reporters are only allowed to write stories that reinforce the “Bad Israel – Oppressed Palestinians” legend. The editors of major media publications simply refuse to publish any other type of stories.