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VIDEO ROUNDUP: Watch The Highlights Of The Trump-Kamala ABC News Debate
DEVELOPING: Multiple Fatalities Reported After IDF Chopper Crashes In Gaza [VIDEO]
Harris Campaign Calls For Second Debate After Trump’s Performance Is Panned By Critics
A representative for Kamala Harris wasted no time in requesting a follow-up debate, making the call within the hour after the initial one wrapped up.
“That was fun. Let’s do it again in October,” Harris campaign communications director Brian Fallon posted on X.
In a separate campaign release, the Harris team reiterated their desire for another debate in October.
“Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?” questioned Harris-Walz campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon.
“Donald Trump was completely incoherent. He appeared angry and shaken,” commented O’Malley Dillon, referencing the former president’s responses on issues like abortion, the January 6th events, and the looming Project 2025.
{Matzav.com}
READ IT: Montage of Twitter Reaction Following Trump-Harris Debate
US Sanctions National Iranian Airline for Shipping Ballistic Missiles to Russia
The Biden administration announced new sanctions on Iran’s national airline on Tuesday in response to its role in shipping ballistic missiles to Russia.
Speaking at a press conference in London, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the administration had warned Iran repeatedly against giving missiles to Moscow to use against Ukraine.
“We’ve warned Tehran publicly. We’ve warned Tehran privately that taking this step would constitute a dramatic escalation,” he said. “Russia has now received shipments of these ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians.”
Blinken said that while Russia has its own ballistic-missile arsenal, the Iranian weapons will be used for shorter-range targets, freeing Russia to use its domestic stockpile to attack deeper into Ukraine. He added that in exchange for delivering the missiles, Russia is providing Iran with nuclear and space information technology.
In response to the missile delivery, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that it is imposing sanctions against Iran Air for its role in shipping cargo to Russia for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated foreign terror organization.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom announced that they are also pursuing sanctions against Tehran and canceling their bilateral air services agreements with the Islamic Republic. Iran Air previously operated flights to London, Paris, Cologne, Munich and Hamburg and was the only Iranian carrier permitted to operate in European airspace.
Iran has long used its ostensibly civilian airlines for military purposes. In 2019, France banned Iran’s Mahan Air from entering the country for its role in shipping troops and arms to Syria and other Middle Eastern hotspots.
John Kirby, the White House national security communications advisor, told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday that it was not clear why Iran decided to deliver the ballistic missiles.
“I wish I could get inside the head of the supreme leader here and figure out why he’s doing what he’s doing. I can’t do that,” Kirby said. “Now we have seen, in fact, this deal get consummated, and so we’re making that public and doing something about it. But as for the exact timing, it’s difficult for us to know how they executed on this particular timeline.”
“What’s most relevant is that now Russia will have available to it additional ballistic missiles to rain down on the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian infrastructure,” he added.
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that U.S. claims that Iran provided ballistic missiles to Russia are intended to distract from American support for Israel.
“Spreading false and misleading news about the transfer of Iranian weapons to some countries is just an ugly propaganda and lie with the aim of concealing the dimensions of the massive illegal arms support of the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he wrote.
(JNS)
GEHENNOM FREEZES OVER: CNN Exposes Kamala’s Radical 2019 Policy Positions, ‘She Actually Supported That?
During a segment on CNN, investigative reporter Andrew Kaczynski spoke with host Erin Burnett about Kamala Harris’ radical policy positions from 2019; “Kamala Harris was trying to get to the left of Bernie Sanders,” Kaczynski told Burnett.
Burnett: Taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for detained migrants. She actually said she supported that?
Kaczynski: She both wrote and answered in the affirmative when she was asked this. And she said she also supported it for federal prisoners.
…
Burnett: I mean, these are things that, you know, it would be hard to think that you would come up with, taxpayer-funded gender transitions for detained migrants, and yet, as you say, written and verbally.
Kaczynski and Burnett also discuss Kamala’s immigration policy, drug policy, and more.
Watch the clip above.
X owner Elon Musk shared the clip on his social media platform with a simple message: “Believe her.”
{Matzav.com}
‘HERE’S WHAT I THINK…’: JD Vance Absolutely Shreds Kamala Harris’ Policy Positions in X Thread
Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance shared his thoughts on Kamala Harris’ recently uploaded policy positions in a lengthy X thread this week; he’s not a fan.
Vance addressed the fresh policy positions point by point.
“It has been 50 days since Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party,” Vance’s first post said.” In the dead of night yesterday, she finally released her campaign policy page. Here’s what I think of it.”
1) Kamala Harris claims she wants to cut taxes for middle-class families, but here’s what’s in her plan:
IRS Audits for working families: Getting audited is a horrendous experience, even if you’ve done nothing wrong. Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to hire 87,000 IRS agents to audit more people. As recently as last summer, 63% of new audits fell taxpayers earning less than $200,000.
The IRS, like Kamala Harris, claims that it’s not going to increase audits on people making under $400K, but the Treasury Inspector General stated the agency’s strategic plan, “did not include specifics on how the IRS was going to ensure it met this commitment.” That’s because they have no intention of ensuring they’re not going to audit middle class families—that’s where they’re going to find the money to pay for their massive spending proposals.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, under questioning in the House, could not deny that 90 percent of new audits under the IRA would be on households earning less than $400,000. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that the majority of additional taxes the IRS recommended from audits from 2010-2021 came from taxpayers with income less than $200,000.
It’s even harder to pretend that taxing working men and women isn’t their focus when you think about the reporting requirement Biden-Harris signed into law to require businesses to fill out a 1099K form on transactions over $600 made using third-party payment platforms. The reporting threshold before their bill was $20,000.
There’s no minimum number of transactions in their bill, so a single transaction over $600 that triggers the reporting requirement creates more paperwork. Even Senate Democrats have backed different bills to blunt the impact of this enormously burdensome mandate.
The Government Accountability Office found this aspect of the Harris tax record would result in at least 30 million new 1099K forms getting sent out in 2024. The Joint Committee on Taxation found that over 90 percent of the tax burden will fall on middle class families and gig workers.
The Biden-Harris tax plan, as explicitly outlined in their formal budget request to Congress would increase taxes by $5 trillion. That’s going to stack on top of her inflationary climate spending bills and drag the economy down further. It’s been estimated that “the tax changes in the Biden-Harris budget would reduce long-run GDP by 1.6 percent…wages by 1.1 percent, and employment by about 666,000 full-time equivalent jobs.”
That’s nearly a million people out of work and lower wages for everyone in order to shift money towards the Harris Green New Deal—as she said to CNN in her first interview after nearly a month as the Democratic nominee, her values haven’t changed on that policy, which she supported enthusiastically when she was in the Senate.
All in all, the Biden-Harris record has been a massive wealth transfer from working people to the Green New Deal’s constituencies—the Harris tax plan is going to be more of the same, no matter what kind of claims she makes during the campaign.
Kamala wants to give every first time homebuyer a $25,000 check toward downpayment assistance. What she fails to leave out is that this would likely raise the average home price by the same amount, making her plan moot. We also haven’t heard how the debt-burdened federal government would pay for such a plan …
There’s also no guarantee that this down payment assistance will be limited to citizens. The campaign has yet to lay out what requirements there will be, beyond being a first time homebuyer and having a two year history of rental payments …
Vice President Harris also mentions how she’ll spur the construction of ‘3 million more rental units.’ While she outlines an admirable plan, it’s tough to take it seriously. This Vice President has overseen an administration that has enacted new red tape for multi-family and single-family construction. We’ve seen her Housing and Urban Development Department enact green energy requirements for new rental units, mandatory strictly-cosmetic updates to public housing units, and more regulations that will make it harder to grow the rental supply.
That’s not the end of it. The Vice President seems to think that the ongoing housing crisis is strictly due to a supply problem, but it’s not. Her policies have also driven demand for housing through the roof, particularly when looking at the price and availability of rental units …
When a city’s immigrant population increases, the area’s home prices and rental costs rise by a comparable amount. But the effects vary by neighborhood: home values are negatively correlated with the immigrant concentration. The result: only current homeowners in non-immigrant, wealthy neighborhoods stand to benefit from mass immigration. Working-class residents see their rental costs soar, and their home values decline.
Full X thread over at Not The Bee:
{Matzav.com}
Delta Jet’s Wing Severs Tail of Another Plane on Atlanta Taxiway
The wing of a huge Delta Air Lines jet hit a regional jet at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Tuesday morning, appearing to shear the tail off the smaller aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and images from the scene. No injuries were reported.
The Airbus A350 was taxiing to a runway bound for Tokyo when it clipped a Bombardier CRJ900 operated by Delta subsidiary Endeavor Air shortly after 10 a.m., according to the FAA. The larger plane was carrying 221 passengers, while the smaller jet had 56 passengers on board.
The difference in size between the two aircraft is immense. An A350 stretches about 220 feet long and stands 55 feet tall. The CRJ900 is only about half as long and tall.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was launching an investigation. Delta said it would cooperate.
Airport officials said passengers from one plane were being taken back to the terminal by bus and that the other plane returned under its own power. The incident was expected to have only minimal impact on other flights, officials said.
The Delta pilots did not initially appear to know what had happened, according to archives of radio traffic with air traffic controllers. One of the pilots asked to stop before adding: “We just hit something on the taxiway. Could you tell us what it was?”
A controller confirmed they had hit the regional jet, according to archives maintained by LiveATC.net. Sirens could soon be heard over the radio.
An emergency responder who arrived at the smaller plane summed up the situation: “We’re standing by on your rear end. It appears your tail section has been knocked over.”
Delta said passengers had been put on alternative planes and apologized.
The regional jet was headed to Lafayette, La. It was carrying a number of journalists traveling to help with coverage of Tropical Storm Francine.
Jason Adams, a meteorologist for WFTS-TV in Tampa, described hearing “very jarring, metal scraping sounds then loud bangs.”
(c) Washington Post
Netanyahu: ICC Prosecutor Pushes ‘Pure Antisemitism’ by Again Asking Court to Arrest Israelis
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu immediately criticized the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court after he urged justices on Tuesday to issue a swift ruling on arrest warrants for the Israeli premier, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two top Hamas terrorist leaders.
Karim Khan’s comparison between Israel, “which is fighting murderous Hamas terrorism in accordance with the laws of war, and war criminal [Yahya] Sinwar, who executed Israeli hostages in cold blood, is pure antisemitism and a moral disgrace of the highest order,” he stated.
“Unfortunately, we have seen from the beginning that the proceedings in The Hague are politically biased and have no professional legal basis whatsoever,” the premier added in a statement published by his office.
In a filing to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber on Monday, Khan expressed frustration with the court’s delay in issuing the arrest warrants, urging action ahead of Netanyahu’s scheduled address to the United Nations General Assembly later this month, Israel’s Ynet outlet reported.
“The prosecution respectfully requests that the Chamber issue its decision on the applications for the warrants of arrest against Yahya Sinwar, [Mohammed] Deif, Bibi Netanyahu, and Yoav Gallant with utmost urgency,” Khan wrote in a six-page letter to the ICC justices.
The arrest of the four, the prosecutor insisted, “is necessary to, inter alia, ensure that they do not obstruct or endanger the investigation or court proceedings, prevent the continuing commission of the crimes alleged and/or the commission of other Rome Statute crimes. “
In May, Khan demanded the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes. He lumped the two Israelis together with then-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, Hamas “military” leader Mohammed Deif and Hamas “political” head Ismail Haniyeh. (Deif was reportedly killed in Gaza and Haniyeh in Iran, both in July, by Israeli forces as part of Swords of Iron.)
The ICC has no jurisdiction as Jerusalem is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the court. But in a legalistic sleight of hand, the court claimed jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, even though no such state exists under international law.
The 123 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute are obligated to act on any arrest warrant it issues, raising the possibility that the two Israeli leaders could be placed under arrest while visiting these places.
(JNS)
Australia Plans Social Media Minimum Age, Citing Mental Health Concerns
The Australian government plans to set a minimum age limit for teens to use social media, citing mental health concerns, a move that has broad political support but that has some experts warning of harmful unintended consequences.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Tuesday that his government would introduce the legislation in Parliament this year – ahead of an expected May election – but that the precise age limit was yet to be decided.
Both the center-left Labor government and the conservative coalition in opposition have embraced the issue, and some states have already moved to implement social media age limits.
“This is about letting children have a childhood,” Albanese told a Sydney radio station on Tuesday, adding that he favored an age limit as high as 16. “There’s nothing social about some social media taking our young Australians away from real friends and real experiences.”
He said his rationale was “pretty simple.” “We want to get young Australians off their devices and onto the footy field or the netball court or the swimming pool or the tennis court and engaging with each other. And we know that social media is causing social harm.”
Some experts say the issue isn’t so simple, however, as an age limit could prevent struggling younger teens from finding the help they need or force them to use social media secretly, exacerbating the dangers.
“What Australia is looking for is a bit of a simple fix or a simple answer to what is really a very complex question,” said Lisa Given, a professor of information sciences at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. “The question is, is this more about politics and headlines versus an actual solution that is going to protect children?”
Australia is one of many nations wrestling with the negative effects of children being online, especially on social media, at an early age.
Some U.S. states have passed similar social media age limits – a few going so far as to ban anyone under 18 from using the platforms without parental permission – though the initiatives’ fate remains uncertain. Congress is also considering such legislation.
In a sign of escalating concern over social media’s impact, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy recently called for placing tobacco-style warning labels on social media to alert users that the platforms can harm children’s mental health.
The European Union passed legislation almost a decade ago banning children under 16 from accessing online services, including social media, without parental consent, although the law was amended to allow countries to opt out of the age ban, Given said. Spain recently raised its minimum age for setting up a social media account from 14 to 16.
Many nations with age limits already in place have found enforcing them difficult, as children use VPNs and other methods to circumvent the restrictions, Given said.
The idea nonetheless has gained momentum in Australia as the next election approaches.
South Australia’s premier recently outlined a bill that would bar children under 14 from using social media altogether and require 14- or 15-year-olds to obtain parental permission. New South Wales and Victoria, the country’s most populous states, also have backed the general idea, which came up last week during Albanese’s meeting with state leaders.
“It’s time to give parents the power to push back – not against kids, but against the tech giants,” Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, said in a video posted on Monday to social media.
But some experts say the push for legislation is rushed.
Daniel Angus, director of Queensland University of Technology’s Digital Media Research Center, said the government should wait for the joint inquiry into social media in Australia to reach its conclusions.
“No doubt this populist policy will sell well with the older demographics, but it’s a misguided distraction from the necessary structural reforms that would provide long term benefit to youth in this country,” Angus wrote in a LinkedIn post.
Australia’s eSafety commissioner, who monitors cyberbullying, cyber abuse and illegal online content, has sounded a similar note of caution.
“If age-based restrictions are imposed, eSafety has concerns that some young people will access social media in secrecy,” the commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said earlier this year. “This may mean that they access social media without adequate protections in place and are more likely to use less regulated non-mainstream services that increase their likelihood of exposure to serious risks.”
Social media can also play an important role in connecting struggling teens with online support or health information.
“There are lots of reasons why children need to access information on their own,” said Given, the RMIT professor. “Particularly kids in regional or remote areas. They may not even have ready access to a library nearby. They may be home-schooled.”
Unlike in the United States, where free speech concerns have already sidelined some states’ attempts at social media age limits, such challenges are less likely in Australia, where there is greater support for government intervention and fewer free-speech protections.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, however, children should have the ability to get information from the internet, so long as it isn’t harmful, Given noted.
Earlier this year, South Australia commissioned a former High Court chief justice to review the idea of implementing a social media age limit. The report, released Sunday, warned of bullying and other problems for children using social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Discord, YouTube and X.
Many of those platforms already prohibit children under 13 from using them, however. And Australia’s proposed legislation could distract from efforts to hold those social media companies responsible for policing themselves, experts said, a concern also raised on Tuesday by the director of the Australian Association of Psychologists.
(JNS)
IDF Officer Who Led Surfside Rescue Op Injured In Collapsed Tunnel In Gaza
US Official Warns That War With Hezbollah Would Be “Catastrophic”
Channel 12 Journalist: “Knock Down A Building In Beirut”
US Charges Terror Leaders with Planning Crimes, including against Jews
The U.S. Justice Department announced a 15-count indictment on Monday against two men who it said lead a “transnational terrorist group,” and who allegedly solicited hate crimes and the murder of federal officials and sought to support terrorists.
Dallas Humber, 34, of Elk Grove, Calif., and Matthew Allison, 37, of Boise, Idaho, were arrested on Friday, per the Justice Department. Each leader of the Terrorgram Collective faces up to 220 years in prison, the department added.
“Today’s indictment charges the defendants with leading a transnational terrorist group dedicated to attacking America’s critical infrastructure, targeting a hit list of our country’s public officials and carrying out deadly hate crimes—all in the name of violent white supremacist ideology,” stated Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general.
The duo, which is accused of soliciting the crimes on the Telegram platform, allegedly sought to enlist “others to engage in hate crimes and terrorist attacks against black, immigrant, LGBT and Jewish people,” according to Kristen Clarke, assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights.
“Hate crimes fueled by bigotry and white supremacy, and amplified by the weaponization of digital messaging platforms, are on the rise and have no place in our society,” Clarke stated. “Make no mistake, as hate groups turn to online platforms, the federal government is adapting and responding to protect vulnerable communities.”
Humber and Allison allegedly operated with a “hit list” with “U.S. federal, state and local officials, as well as leaders of private companies and non-governmental organizations, many of whom were targeted because of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or gender identity,” per the Justice Department.
A person who shot three people—killing two—outside of a gay bar in Slovakia, one who planned to attack New Jersey energy facilities, and a third who stabbed five people near a Turkish mosque were allegedly inspired by the two defendants, the Justice Department said.
Per the 37-page indictment, one target on the “hit list” was identified for being “an anti-white, anti-gun, Jewish senator.”
The third of the 15 counts alleges that the two defendants “solicited, commanded, induced and otherwise endeavored to persuade other people to commit bias-motivated attacks targeting Jewish people.”
(JNS)
WATCH LIVE 9 PM ET: Donald Trump And Kamala Harris Face Off In Their First Presidential Debate
DOJ: Google Harmed News Publishers With Ad Monopoly
Federal authorities have launched their second antitrust lawsuit against Google, a case that may benefit prominent news outlets that share a percentage of their ad revenue with the tech giant for handling their online ad placements.
The Justice Department is accusing Google of misusing its influence in the digital ad market, which they claim forces advertisers to pay inflated rates while publishers receive lower profits, impacting the production of news and other valuable content for readers, according to The Washington Post’s report on Tuesday.
The DOJ’s lawsuit argues that Google has maintained dominance in the sector “by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers, and brokers, to facilitate digital advertising.”
The department further asserts that Google takes at least 30% “of each advertising dollar flowing from advertisers to website publishers through Google’s ad tech tools … and sometimes far more,” according to Ars Technica.
Media giants like Gannett and News Corp. have been significantly affected by Google’s stronghold over the online ad landscape, according to The Post.
The DOJ is pushing for Google to sell off its Ad Manager suite, the platform responsible for displaying ads across numerous web pages, especially on top and side banners.
Prosecutors argue that Google achieved its dominance in the advertising space by acquiring its competitors, eventually securing a majority share of the market.
Additionally, Google operates a digital exchange that connects advertisers with publishers, enabling the company to retain at least 30% of each advertising dollar.
Google counters these allegations, claiming its clients prefer the convenience of working with a single company. During Monday’s opening arguments in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Justice Department attorney Julia Tarver Wood noted that Google’s acquisitions have bolstered its dominance, and the company has allegedly manipulated ad auction processes for its own advantage.
In response, Google refuted the DOJ’s claims, stating in court that “success is not illegal” and emphasizing that customers select Google over its rivals because it delivers superior service.
On Sunday, Google issued a blog post cautioning that dismantling its ad business could cause disruption for its users.
“Google’s ad tech fees are actually lower than reported industry averages — hardly a sign of monopoly abuse,” the company argued.
Karen Dunn, Google’s lead lawyer, remarked in her opening statements that the company’s heavy investments in research and development have driven innovation in the sector and that it is “intensely competing” against major players like Microsoft and Disney.
Dunn also pointed out that the online ad market has grown substantially, from $8 billion in 2008 to $140 billion in 2022.
A victory for the DOJ could provide a boost to Google’s competitors — including Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and TikTok — which are “all ascendant while Google’s share is falling,” Dunn noted.
Wood said the prosecution intends to call witnesses from several media organizations, such as USA Today, News Corp. (owner of The Wall Street Journal), and The Daily Mail.
This year, Google has already lost two antitrust cases. In August, a federal court in Washington, D.C., ruled that Google holds an unlawful monopoly in online search.
Furthermore, in December, a San Francisco jury ruled in favor of Epic Games in a case that found Google’s app store to be an illegal monopoly.
{Matzav.com}
Israeli Envoy Offers Sinwar Safe Passage Out Of Gaza In Exchange For Release Of All Hostages
MAILBAG: It’s Time To Flip The Script And Stop Acting Like Girls In Shidduchim Can’t Handle Rejection
Swiss Parliamentarians Vote to Stop UNRWA Funding
The Swiss House of Representatives voted on Monday to immediately halt payments to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) over its ties to terrorism.
The decision, which still needs to be approved by the Swiss Senate, was the latest back and forth between the two governmental chambers over funding to the agency, and mirrors similar moves taken last year.
The 99-88 vote to suspend funding was adopted along with a separate motion calling on Switzerland to directly support aid efforts by other organizations in the Gaza Strip.
“This is a very powerful signal and a continuing vote of no-confidence in UNRWA,” Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch, told JNS on Tuesday.
Neuer, who testified before the Swiss parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee this spring, said the vote was a “slap in the face” to Swiss UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, who had lobbied furiously to prevent it from happening.
The head of the Geneva-based watchdog organization said that the dispute would not be resolved for several months yet, and would likely relate to next year’s funding.
Bombshell intel report causes only temporary freeze
An Israeli intelligence report released earlier this year showed that at least a dozen UNRWA employees actively participated Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, and that the agency has hundreds of “military operatives” belonging to Hamas and other terrorist groups on its payroll.
The revelations prompted 17 countries—led by the United States and Germany, UNRWA’s biggest donors—including Switzerland to suspend funding. Nearly all have since resumed funding due to concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“The freeze was performative following the U.S. lead, and not something they wanted to do,” said Neuer. “It did not reflect a policy decision or true concern.”
The United States—UNRWA’s largest donor, accounting for some 30% of the agency’s budget—has frozen its donations until at least next year.
Switzerland is UNRWA’s ninth-largest donor nation, contributing more than $21 million in funding in 2023.
In May, the Swiss government approved a contribution of CHF10 ($12 million) to UNRWA for emergency aid.
The atrocities in southern Israel on Oct. 7 have placed renewed international focus on UNRWA’s terrorism ties, leading to calls from across the Israeli political spectrum to break with the organization and work with alternative aid groups. Meanwhile, the heads of the agency—backed by the outgoing E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borell—successfully placated most international donors with a contested U.N. investigation into its alleged wrongdoing.
UNRWA, which the U.N. established in 1949 to carry out relief and work programs for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes during the 1948 War of Independence, defines refugee status as being hereditary. As a consequence, the number of Palestinian refugees registered with the organization has mushroomed from 750,000 in 1950 to nearly six million today.
The main U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, which cares for the rest of the refugees in the world, has no such policy.
Earlier this year, a former legal adviser to UNRWA told the Knesset that Israel can prevent the agency from operating in Gaza and should be using the current international spotlight on its malign activities to plan for its closure, regardless of any continued foreign funding it receives.
Three months ago, the Swiss House of Representatives also rejected a motion to recognize Palestinian statehood.
(JNS)