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Rafat Alian, the Jerusalem spokesperson of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, cited UN Director-General Ban Ki-Moon in justifying the attack on the Old City's Damascus Gate in which Hadar Cohen was murdered. [...] Alian said the "occupation" of the "Palestinian nation" demands a "natural response" - in a direct quote from Ban, who two weeks ago caused outrage by sympathizing with Palestinian terror and saying, "it is human nature to react to occupation." Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon wrote an official letter to Ban, demanding that he take back his statements that grant legitimacy to...

UN Director-General Ban Ki-Moon spoke at Park East Synagogue in New York on Saturday, in a speech for International Holocaust Remembrance Day - but he was met with boos in light of his recent virulently anti-Israeli statements. Two weeks ago on Tuesday Ban expressed sympathy for murderous Palestinian terrorism in Israel, saying, "it is human nature to react to occupation." The comment was met with outrage in Israel. In his speech at the synagogue Ban steered completely clear of Israel, instead only speaking about the universal messages from the Holocaust regarding the need to combat racism and violence. But the...

In an effort to ameliorate Israeli anger over recent comments in which he appeared to express sympathy for Palestinian terror attacks, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon published an op-ed in The New York Times on Sunday, pleading, “Don’t shoot the messenger, Israel." "In Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories," Ban writes, "2016 has begun much as 2015 ended - with unacceptable levels of violence and a polarized public discourse." According to Ban, that polarization was evident in the United Nations last week when he pointed out the so-called "simple truth" that "history proves that people will always resist occupation." ...

snip In other words, no one in the West Bank knows how the next leader will emerge — “and Israeli intelligence officials, whose entire job is to predict such things, have no idea either,” says Gal Berger, Israel Radio’s indispensable Palestinian affairs correspondent. When the time comes, the Fatah men who in the last few weeks started jockeying for position will duke it out for real. Such chaotic political fighting often leads to violence. Once that violence ebbs, a new strongman will emerge. But not a peaceful, democratic state of Palestine. This week, the UN’s Ban Ki-moon said Palestinian terrorism...

Can we start calling the Hate Israel crowd anti-Semitic yet? Because between the boycotts of Jewish businesses, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and overt justification for anti-Jewish violence, whatever distinction may have existed in the past is gone. Case in point, Rony Brauman, the former president of Doctors Without Borders suggesting that Jews wearing Kippahs, a Jewish religious garment, are bringing violence on themselves by pledging allegiance to Israel.

In an article published on National Public Radio's (NPR) website Monday, a map of the Middle East failed to include Israel, labeling Palestine in its place. The map was an illustration accompanying the article "What Are You Afraid Of In 2016? Globetrotters Share Their Fears." The article referenced travelers' fears of Islamic radicalization and extremism in the region. Immediately following the publication, the website's comment section was flooded with criticism from readers and journalists who questioned the online publication's decision to use an illustration of this nature. As a result of the abundance of complaints, NPR removed the photo and...

India’s relationship with Israel is slowly but surely changing for the better.In recent days, India has reached out to its Middle Eastern partners in a major way. Last week, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj went to Bahrain to attend the first ministerial meeting of the India-Arab League Cooperation Forum. This was an opportunity to engage with the 22 member countries of the Arab League at a time when the region is going through a major crisis and sectarian divisions are rearing their heads like never before. Further cementing the goodwill generated by the visit of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee...

OTTAWA - Canada's new Liberal government said on Monday it was delivering a "tough message" to Israel as a good friend after expressing concern about Israeli-Palestinian violence, Israeli settlements and unilateral Palestinian moves. The statement came a day after Foreign Minister Stephane Dion was criticized for saying Palestinian initiatives toward statehood in international forums and continued Israeli settlements were unhelpful. "We're steadfast allies and good friends, and good friends can occasionally deliver tough messages, but it's by no means to suggest that we're somehow retreating from any kind of support of Israel," said Joe Pickerill, Dion's spokesman. Dion on Sunday...

WASHINGTON — National Public Radio’s (NPR) ombudsman Elizabeth Jensen released an explanation and apology Monday for a map published on the news organization’s website that erased Israel from the Middle East. On January 24, NPR’s blog Goats and Soda, which covers health and culture issues around the world, ran a piece titled, “What Are You Afraid Of In 2016? Globetrotters Share Their Fears.” The post focused on travelers’ anxieties for the coming year, and included an illustration of the Middle East and North Africa, the region of the world that travelers most perceive as being at risk. “The map portion...

President Barack Obama speaks at the Israeli embassy in Washington... Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXHzHVTURs4

As the world on Wednesday marked the Nazis' systematic killing of six million Jews during World War II an official Iranian website linked to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei posted a video quoting the supreme leader's questioning of the Holocaust. "No-one in European countries dares to speak about holocaust [sic] while it is not clear whether the core of this matter is a reality or not," read the English subtitles accompanying audio from an excerpt of a speech by Khamenei, over images of the entrance to Auschwitz and piles of Jewish corpses. "Even if it is a reality, it is not clear...

Anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, and the United States must lead the fight against it, President Barack Obama said in remarks at the Israeli embassy. "Here, tonight, we must confront the reality that around the world, anti-Semitism is on the rise," Obama said Wednesday at a ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. "We cannot deny it," he said. "When we see some Jews leaving major European cities--where their families have lived for generations--because they no longer feel safe; when Jewish centers are targeted from Mumbai to Overland Park, Kansas; when swastikas appear on college campuses--when we see all that...

The statement Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued Wednesday in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day suffered from one very glaring omission. The Holocaust is defined as the genocide of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazi regime and its collaborators, but in his statement, Trudeau did not mention the words "Jew" or "anti-Semitism" once. Instead, the Liberal leader offered "tribute to the memory of the millions of victims murdered during the Holocaust," adding that Canada honors "those who survived atrocities at the hands of the Nazi regime, and welcome their courageous stories of hope and perseverance." ...

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told Army Radio on Monday that he regretted the timing of remarks he made last week that were critical of Israeli policies in Judea and Samaria. Shapiro made the controversial remarks at the Institute for National Security Studies conference in Tel Aviv last Monday. Earlier the same day, Israeli terror victim Dafna Meir had been laid to rest in Jerusalem after being stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant in Otniel the previous day and another Israeli woman, Michal Froman, was wounded in a stabbing in Tekoa. In his speech, Shapiro said, "Too many...

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu strongly condemned remarks made by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, in which the UN chief expressed sympathy for Palestinian terrorist attacks. "The UN Secretary-General's words give encouragement to terror," Netanyahu fired in response. Another aspect of the speech, which was held at a Tuesday UN Security Council Session devoted to "the Situation in the Middle East," is the proportion devoted to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, as opposed to other conflicts that are ongoing – most markedly, the one in Syria. Over 55,000 people were killed in the Syrian civil war in 2015 alone, according to the Syrian...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday once again criticized what he called Israel's "stifling occupation" of Palestinians, just one day after appearing to express sympathy for Palestinian Arab terrorists. The UN chief made clear that he would not retreat from his remarks directed at Israel a day earlier, AFP reported. UN diplomats said privately that Ban had upped the pressure on Prime MInister Binyamin Netanyahu in a final bid to revive hopes for peace before he steps down as secretary-general at the end of the year. "After nearly 50 years of occupation -- after decades of waiting for the fulfilment...

The United Nations says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stands by every word of his criticism of Israeli settlement-building this week and rejects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comment that the remarks justify terrorism. The U.N. chief on Tuesday told the Security Council that settlement activities are "an affront to the Palestinian people," and he called for Israel to freeze them. He also said "it is human nature to react to occupation." ...

A report that the Islamic State has been forced to cut the pay of its fighters in Iraq and Syria has sparked interest in a possible aid package for the beleaguered infant state. "It's a simple matter of fairness," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon observed. "With both Russia and the United States taking military action against them the Islamic State is in deadly peril. Maintaining the necessary fanaticism for those it sends into battle absent adequate financial rewards may be too big of an obstacle for them to overcome. It may be appropriate for us to provide some funding to...

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has "congratulated" Venezuela on winning a new three-year term on the U.N. Human Rights Council, the socialist government reported Wednesday. Venezuela's mission to the U.N. said Ban offered his congratulations during a meeting Tuesday with Venezuelan ambassador to the HRC Jorge Valero in Geneva, the Swiss city that is home to the U.N.'s top human rights body. Ban's reported congratulations came despite the fact that the ongoing election onto the HRC of countries with poor human rights records has long outraged human rights advocates and frustrated democratic governments. ...

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman said Wednesday that projections for rising global unemployment over the next two years are "alarming" and the U.N. chief will keep pushing for job opportunities, especially for youth. The comments from deputy spokesman Farhan Haq were in response to a new report from the U.N. labor agency projecting that the number of unemployed people will increase by nearly 2.3 million in 2016 and 1.1 million in 2017 as a result of the global economic slowdown last year. Haq said Ban has been raising the need for new jobs in discussions with business leaders and others at...