Apparently, the Guardian only approves of UN reports that its staff agrees with.
Just Journalism takes apart the Guardian’s editorial that (I know, shocking) takes issue with the Palmer Report. Here’s my favorite line in the editorial itself:
It was Turkey’s decision to waive its veto that allowed Israel to join the OECD.
So let me get this straight. The fact that Turkey, one member of a 34-member economic cooperation body, did not exercise a veto to stop Israel from joining should be celebrated? No other member wanted to veto Israel’s accession. (And no other member, in point of fact, is a majority-Muslim state. That’s never pointed out when discussing the veto.) The Guardian has this exactly backwards: The fact that Turkey might have vetoed Israel’s membership is the fact that should be noted. Because here’s what the OECD is all about:
The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
The Palestinians tried very hard to prevent Israel from joining. They failed.
Steinitz said Israel was being accepted into the club responsible for dictating the world’s financial guidelines. “There is also a political gain here. We are receiving a stamp of approval… that Israel belongs to the world’s most advanced and developed countries, and not just financially – in civil rights, a clean and independent court system, regulations, equality, and steps to eliminate discrimination,” he said.
The thing that the Palestinians, and the Israel-haters, fail to understand is that the disputed territories are not Israel. They are, someday, going to be a Palestinian state, if the Palestinians ever give up their hope to make Israel part of their “greater Palestine”. And as they are not part of Israel proper, their economy is their own, not part of Israel’s. In point of fact, 96% of the West Bank is under Palestinian control, not Israeli control. Which makes moot claims like this:
“If you include … the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, or those working in the settlements, Israel would be one of the most unequal countries in the world, and therefore ineligible under OECD criteria,” says Hever.
Israel Derangement Syndrome knows no bounds, either. Here is the crux of the matter; what the OECD is all about, and why Israel absolutely belongs in this organization:
Drawing on facts and real-life experience, we recommend policies designed to make the lives of ordinary people better. We work with business, through the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, and with labour, through the Trade Union Advisory Committee. We have active contacts as well with other civil society organisations. The common thread of our work is a shared commitment to market economies backed by democratic institutions and focused on the wellbeing of all citizens. Along the way, we also set out to make life harder for the terrorists, tax dodgers, crooked businessmen and others whose actions undermine a fair and open society.
Turkey is the state that doesn’t belong in the OECD. Not that the Guardian editors would agree with that. In fact, they’re even supportive of Turkey taking Israel to the ICJ.
Israel will be able to do so no longer. Where the Mavi Marmara went, Turkey will follow by challenging the Gaza blockade in the international court of justice. And rightly so. The Palmer panel’s finding went against every statement the UN secretary general has made about Gaza, the Goldstone report and a report by the UN human rights council in September. If, as Palmer found, the siege is legal in international law, the occupation is too. This must be challenged in court.
Most analysts think that if Turkey does follow through with the ICJ, it’s going to be rebuffed out of hand, as a UN commission has already found that the blockade is legal. But never forget that when the rulings go in favor of Israel, the haters always reject them and insist on a do-over, just to make things right with their world. Just Journalism also points out that in citing the reports above, the Guardian ignores the anti-Israel bias of both the reports and the committees that authorized them. But that’s how it works in Israel-Hater World. Only official reports condemning Israel can be right; in everything else, the fix is in.
The Guardian long ago crossed the line from criticism of Israel to outright hatred. That’s why I rarely even mention it. Everyone knows it is staffed with rabid Jew-haters who use the cover word “Zionists” and think it excuses their bigotry.
Not here it doesn’t, you Jew-hating sons of bitches. Here, we call for the Yourish.com mantra on Jew-haters: Anti-Semites of the world, just die already. We won’t mind at all.
Given the Guardian recently wrote a love-letter to Daphne Liff (sp?), one of the protest leaders, I’d say her best option right now is to distance herself as much as she can from it, or risk losing all popular support if Bibi is smart enough to utilize this.