This whole Israeli / Palestinian thing stinks!

Dear Readers:

YES, Israel is treating its Palestinian citizens badly, and the problem of West Bank settlements will not go away because it is the  Jewish State's undeclared intention to fill the entire area with Jewish settlements so that in the future there will be no Two State solution possible ...., but this does not excuse what is happening at the United Nations.

First of all, it is obvious to all member nations of the U.N. that Israel is proceeding on its own timeline and agenda with the absorption of all occupied Palestinian territories into the Jewish State, but this still does not excuse or explain the official animosity displayed by various U.N. agencies against anything and everything Jewish. (I purposely use the word Jewish here rather than Israeli, because the Arab States have used this issue to foster antisemitism whenever and wherever possible, which makes it so much more personal rather than just blaming the State of Israel itself.) 

The latest example of this smear campaign is addressed by Daniel Gordis, a writer for the N.Y. Times: Rejecting Zionist Principles Is a Rejection of Jews!

The chief mistake that many Jewish-American organizations make is to respond angrily to criticism of Israel, without acknowledging that there is any legitimate criticism. This inadvertently leaves the impression that they believe that no critique of Israel is legitimate. But that is absurd. Israel, like all countries, makes grievous mistakes, and can fairly be critiqued by Israelis and by non-Israelis, by Jews and by non-Jews. 
Yet much of the criticism of Israel to which we are witness today goes far beyond the pale of legitimate critique. The United Nations is ground zero in this phenomenon. Last month, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women condemned only one country for violating women’s rights. It was Israel, which it accused of violating the rights of Palestinian women. Coincidentally, on the very same day, as the U.N. Human Rights Council closed its session in Geneva, it condemned Israel five times more than any of the U.N.’s member states. Is Israel a greater violator of human rights than Syria? Than North Korea? Than Yemen? Any such suggestion is so patently laughable that one cannot escape asking what lies behind this cascade of opprobrium. 
The lopsidedness and relentlessness of critique to which Israel is subjected (and from which Palestinian leadership and policy are largely exempted) is fueled by a fundamental rejection of the idea of a Jewish State. Given that the State of Israel was created first and foremost to ensure the safety and flourishing of the Jewish people, that rejection constitutes an assault on the safety of the Jewish people. It is thus by definition the newest form of the centuries-old virus called antisemitism. It is illegitimate. It is immoral. And it needs to be stopped.  

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/04/04/is-anti-zionism-anti-semitism/rejecting-zionist-principles-is-a-rejction-of-jews

------------------------------

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH:  Leave it to the Israelis to come up with an ingenious crowd control method! For those who want less violent means used in handling protests, this seems to be the perfect fit.  This is a riot control weapon that really  works.  Non-toxic, non-lethal, but very effective.