UN Disintegration > Trump targets three UN Agencies; Israel Quits UNHRC; Argentina begins procedures to pull out of the WHO

 

Trump targets ‘anti-American’ UN agencies

The US president has ordered the withdrawal of the US from the Human Rights Council and suspended financial support for the Palestinian refugee agency

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump. ©  Rebecca Noble / Getty Images

US President Donald Trump has taken action against UN agencies that his administration claims exhibit anti-American bias and propagate “anti-Semitism,” in an executive order signed on Tuesday. Trump's initiative comes after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House. 

The US president has ordered the country's withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and prohibited funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). He has also ordered a State department review of US participation in the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The three bodies have drifted from the UN’s core mission of promoting peace, and instead “act contrary to the interests of the United States while attacking our allies and propagating anti-Semitism,” the document claimed.

West Jerusalem has accused the UNHRC and UNESCO of anti-Israeli bias when handling cases related to Palestinian rights and cultural heritage. It also alleged that UNRWA employees took part in the October 2023 surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which resulted in Israel responding with a 15-month military campaign – currently paused under a UN-brokered ceasefire.

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 US will ‘take over’ Gaza – Trump

The UNRWA, established in 1949 to assist Palestinians displaced in the Arab-Israeli conflict, has denied these allegations. Trump’s order insists that the UNRWA has been “infiltrated” by terrorists and echoes Israeli claims that the group was involved in the Hamas incursion.

During a signing ceremony in the Oval Office, Trump said the UN has “tremendous potential” that merits continued US support, provided that its leaders “get their act together.” He stressed that the UN must be “fair to countries that deserve fairness,” without naming any nations. Trump also suggested that the US makes a disproportionate contribution to the UN budget. The UN system is primarily funded by member states based on their gross national incomes.

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 Trump plans withdrawal from Syria – media

The first Trump administration pulled the US out of the UNHRC and defunded the UNRWA in 2018. In 2021, President Joe Biden reversed these actions during his term in office.

Speaking alongside Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump announced that the US will “take over” and “own” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” He reiterated his position that the Palestinians should be permanently resettled elsewhere, which critics argue would amount to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian enclave.

The UN estimates that over 90% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or seriously damaged in the latest escalation of violence, resulting in the displacement of an overwhelming majority of the local population, or around 1.9 million people. On Monday, the local authorities updated the death toll in the enclave to over 61,700, saying they now presume thousands of missing individuals to be dead.

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Israel quits UN human rights council over ‘discrimination’

The move follows Washington’s withdrawal from the UNHRC

FILE PHOTO. A meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. ©  Global Look Press / Xinhua / Lian Yi

Israel has pledged to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), hours after the departure of the United States from the body. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has accused the council of attacking a democratic country and propagating anti-Semitism.

In a statement posted on X, the top diplomat criticized the UNHRC for allegedly disproportionately targeting Israel while paying less attention to human rights violations in other countries.

The council “obsessively demonizes the one democracy in the Middle East—Israel,” Saar wrote, adding that “Israel will not accept this discrimination any longer!”

Israel is the only nation with a permanent agenda item in the council and has faced over 100 condemnatory resolutions, more than 20% of all resolutions passed, surpassing those against Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela combined, he said.

Israel’s announcement follows Washington’s withdrawal from the UNHRC on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump also left the body during his first term in 2018. Announcing the move, Trump also pledged to reevaluate Washington’s relationship with other UN agencies over their stance on Israel and alleged anti-American bias.

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Argentina to exit WHO membership after Trump again withdraws U.S.

By Chris Benson

On Wednesday, a government spokesman stated that Argentine President Javier Milei (seen in New York City in Sept. 2024) directed Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein to initiate steps "to withdraw Argentina’s participation" in WHO. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Argentina will follow the United States by pulling out of the World Health Organization.

A government spokesman said Wednesday that Argentine President Javier Milei directed Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein to initiate steps "to withdraw Argentina's participation" in WHO.

He claimed it was over "deep differences regarding health management especially during the [COVID-19] pandemic."

Reports say Milei is expected to sign an executive order for the withdrawal in the coming days.

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"We Argentinians will not allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health," presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said at a news conference.

Milei, a far-right libertarian often compared to U.S. President Donald Trump, is a known friend and ally of his American counterpart.

Trump originally cut ties with the U.N.-backed WHO in May 2020 while the United States was in the throes of COVID-19, which killed an estimated 7 million people globally.

WHO works in more than 150 locations around the world and has directed international responses to health emergencies from Ebola to yellow fever and cholera.

"Today, evidence suggests that the WHO's prescriptions don't work because they are the result of political influence rather than being based on science," a statement by Milei's office in Bueno Aires read.

Trump, meanwhile, cited a perceived "mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states" for why he once more pulled the United States out.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in an email to staff members how the United States leaving "has made our financial situation more acute." He said he regrets Trump's decision, adding that the United States gained from its membership.

Milei was the first world leader to meet with Trump at his Florida estate after November's election, and he attended the Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington -- the same day Trump announced the United States will withdraw from WHO.

According to Adorni, WHO membership costs Argentina about $10 million annually. He claimed that leaving it behind will provide the South American country a greater flexibility to better serve its own interests.

WHO was created in 1948 by the global community "to coordinate the response to global health emergencies, but it failed during the biggest challenge," the statement read in part. "It advocated eternal lockdowns without scientific backing during its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic."

Meanwhile, Milei's spokesman did not rule out Argentina possibly exiting other treaties or international agreements, such as the Paris climate accord.

"The president is very determined when it comes to making Argentina freer," Adorni added Wednesday. "So any link that Argentina has with bodies that go against its freedoms, we're going to do our utmost to prevent them from interfering in the lives of Argentines."

Palestinians Demand Qumran Scrolls for Their Otherwise Empty Museum

Palestinians need something, anything, to put in their museum;

it is empty!

Evangelici d'Italia Per Israele 

On Palestinian demand, UNESCO is about to request Israel to return the rolls of qumran, as they are the heritage of the Palestinian people.

For Pure curiosity, note that the scrolls are dated 100 BC, they are written in Jewish (Hebrew?) and Aramaic characters, and that at that time there was no Palestinian people, nor the Arabic language, nor did the word "Palestine" exist.

The Arabic language was born around 500 AD, thanks to the creativity of the Christian Arabs of Aleppo. Arabic then spread into the Arab world thanks to Islam.

The Word "Palestine" was invented by the ancient Romans, which in 135 AD renamed Judea, Galilee, the, the plain of Dan La Samaria.

Jesus was not born in Palestine, but in Judea, and he was not Arabic but Jewish. No one knows today whether he wants to start a new religion or not.(??????)

The term "Palestinian people" is much more recent, it was forged and used for the first time in Cairo by Egyptian Yasser Arafat in 1964, to the foundation of the plo, the organisation for the liberation of Palestine.

Until the 50 s, the Palestinians were called " Arabs of Palestine " and Jews were called the " Jews of Palestine ", and everything was managed by the British mandate of Palestine.

There has never been a Palestinian State, this mythical state has never had a capital, there is a substantial difference between an Arab of the west bank and one of the transjordan, one of Jaffa and one of Damascus, one of Haifa and one of Beirut.

Arab Historian Admits There is No Palestinian People

The " Liberation of Palestine " is another name given to the operation " destruction of Israel ", and with the excuse of fighting the oppressor, he tries to destroy the Jewish state as such.

(CIT. Gabriel Levy)

9,000 Photos from 1800’s British Mandate of Palestine – with No Trace of ‘Palestinians’

Czech Parliament Recognizes Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel

On Jerusalem Day, the Czech Republic Parliament approved the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; Members of parliament call on the government to adopt the same position and stop payments to UNESCO.

Itamar Eichner World News

The Czech Parliament approved on Wednesday the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Jerusalem Day celebrating the 50th anniversary of the city's unification under Israeli sovereignty. In addition, the Czech Republic decided to condemn the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) following its recent anti-Israel resolutions.

Czech flag

112 of the 156 MPs in Prague supported the resolution. Members of Parliament called on their government to adopt the resolution and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, alongside opening direct and unconditional negotiations with the Palestinians.

Jerusalem

The parliament also condemned the recent UNESCO decisions that do not recognize the rights of Jews to Jerusalem, and call on the government to stop payments to UNESCO, in light of the incitement against Israel and the politicization of the organization.

Following the Czech Parliament's vote, a special event was held in Prague on the occasion of Jerusalem Day at St. Vitus Cathedral. The event, attended by Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman, was attended by hundreds of Jews and Christians.

The decision was made following a move promoted by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, the largest Christian-Zionist organization in the world, through its Czech Republic Branch Manager, Vladimir Kalos. In the past few months, he has led the attempts to persuade members of parliament to approve the law.

Europe's Compassionate Hatred of Israel

by Bat Ye'or

The Jerusalem Declaration of UNESCO seeks to Islamize, with the help of many governments in Europe and other Christian countries, the ancient history of the people of Israel.

But what does this declaration mean for Europe and Christianity? Wasn't Christianity born out of Israel? Wasn't Jesus a Judean Jew, as were the apostles and evangelists? Or was it Islam that Jesus was preaching, in Arabic and in the mosques?

Where are the great Catholic or Protestant voices to protest against this Islamization of Christianity? This passivity, this indifference makes you think that Europe will soon look more like Lebanon.

European countries recognize terrorism everywhere except in Israel, where they themselves are allies of these terrorists whom they call "freedom fighters" or "militants", against "occupation".

This alliance has ruined Europe -- because the enemies of Israel are also enemies of Christianity and of Europe. How can you ally yourself with those who want to destroy you, without in fact dying yourself?

The same obsessive hatred Hitler had for Israel, which led to the ruin of Europe, has persisted today in the European Union against the Jewish State. The great irony is that in trying to destroy Israel, Europe has destroyed itself.

Today we are witnessing the coming of the worldwide caliphate. This expression means that the Muslim view of history is currently prevailing in international institutions. We see it with the Jerusalem Declaration of UNESCO, this palace of revisionism. The Jerusalem Declaration seeks to Islamize, with the help of many governments in Europe and other Christian countries, the ancient history of the people of Israel.

The Venice Declaration of 1980, issued by the European Community, which tried to force Israel to survive in an indefensible territory, already prescribed its disappearance and replacement with a people that had never even manifested itself before 1969 -- and all with the assistance of the Soviet Union and especially France. The Islamization of Jerusalem and the delegitimization of the State of Israel were already set out in the Venice Declaration, which to this date the European Union has continued to view as valid.

The Venice Declaration of 1980 was a gift from the European Community to the Arab League, aimed at reestablishing good economic relations with Arab countries, which had been angered by the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979, a peace Europe had not been able to prevent. Jewish holy sites and the survival of the Jewish State were sacrificed by the European Community in exchange for petrodollars.

Since that time, the European Union has expressed remorse for the Holocaust and love and compassion for Israel, but has continued to support, fund and encourage a population whose mission is the destruction of Israel, as proclaimed in its doctrine, and with which Europe is quite familiar. European countries zealously spend billions to promote a worldwide Palestinian campaign of hatred against the State of Israel. They recognize terrorism everywhere except in Israel, where they themselves are allies of these terrorists, whom they call "freedom fighters" or "militants", against "occupation". The so-called "Jewish occupation" of Judea and Samaria refers to land that was conquered by war and occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967, and from where Palestinian Jews were killed, or dispossessed and expelled.

Does not this policy, championed by France, remind you of something? During WW II, the Pétain-Hitler and the fascists' alliance with the Mufti of Jerusalem, head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, sought the extermination of the Jewish people, whom they accused of being the cause of evil. Today, this same policy, this same alliance, has set itself the same objective with the same motivation: Israel, to them, is the cause of the wars in the Middle East and must be wiped out. Men from the 1940s have passed away, but their heirs kept their policy, disguising it under compassion and love, driving Israel to suicide "for its own good". Of course!

During WW II, the alliance of Pétain and Hitler with the Mufti of Jerusalem sought the extermination of the Jewish people, whom they accused of being the cause of evil. Today, this same policy, this same alliance, has set itself the same objective with the same motivation: Israel must be wiped out.

Now, with the declaration of UNESCO, we are witnessing the suppression of the history of the Israeli people - the "Holocaust of Memory", as defined by Giulio Meotti -- with the EU joining in.

But what does UNESCO's declaration mean for Europe and Christianity? Wasn't Christianity born out of Israel? Don't churches tell the history of the people of Israel in their paintings, sculptures and stained glass windows? And isn't the Bible, this historical shrine of the people of Israel for more than two millennia, left open on every pulpit of these churches? Hasn't it been read? Commented on for twenty centuries? Wasn't Jesus a Judean Jew, as were the apostles and evangelists?

Or was it Islam that Jesus was preaching, in Arabic and in the mosques?

If Israel never had a history in Judea, then Christianity and the Bible are lies. Are the ancient texts attesting to the existence of Israel from the time of the Pharaohs, Assyria, the Greeks, the Romans all lies? And the Arch of Titus in Rome, did that Menorah on there come from the mosque? There were not even any mosques around at that time -- not even in Arabia.

What the UNESCO's declaration is forcing us to accept is not just the destruction of our identity and culture, and the replacement of Christianity -- a graft of Israel -- with the Muslim faith, but also the destruction of the principle underlying Western civilization itself: reason, the very thing that lifts man above the beasts. We see that Israel, in its defense of the historical principle of its legitimacy, is also theologically protecting the legitimacy of Christianity, also linked to the Bible.

But if this declaration is not true, then the Jewish State's sovereignty over Jerusalem is legal. And if it is legal, why has no one heard the protests of human rights defenders? How many Christians are there in the world? Two and a half billion? How many of these protested? A million? A hundred thousand? Ten thousand? Fifty, if that? And where are the great Catholic or Protestant voices to protest against this Islamization of Christianity? This passivity, this indifference, makes you think that Europe will soon look more like Lebanon.

This UNESCO declaration, to which Europe raised no objections -- with the exception of four countries, whose abstention was not a protest, but an act of cowardice -- is the very charter of the Islamization of Europe and of Christianity. It details a policy that dovetails with what we see unfolding with mass-immigration and its consequences starting in 1973, the date when the European Community allied itself with the enemy of Israel, the PLO. It is this policy of alliance with the enemies of Israel that led to the abandonment of the Lebanese Christians when they were attacked by the Europe-supported Palestinians. It was this policy that led to the denial of the history of jihad, of dhimmitude and of the tragedy of Christians, hostages in the Arab world -- because Palestinians embody jihadist and dhimmitude values against Jews, Christians and Europe.

Europe's alliance with the enemies of Israel, for the purpose of delegitimizing and destroying it, has simply continued the policies of Hitler and Pétain; but how can you destroy Israel without destroying Christianity? What would Christianity be without the Bible, the prophets, a Jewish Jesus, the universal values that these teach? This alliance has ruined Europe -- because the enemies of Israel are also enemies of Christianity and of Europe. How can you ally yourself with those who want to destroy you, without in fact dying yourself?

The same obsessive hatred Hitler had for Israel, which led to the ruin of Europe, has persisted today in the European Union against the Jewish State. The great irony is that in trying to destroy Israel, Europe has destroyed itself.

The people of Europe will regain their freedom and identity by extricating themselves from this Euro-Arab alliance that joins them in a genocidal scheme against Israel and the West, in which they themselves are both protagonists and victims. Then and only then will they be able to help those Muslims who are bravely struggling to release their brethren from the hatred disfiguring the human face -- jihadi hatred -- and persuade them to accept human diversity. We have neglected these Muslims. They have been fighting alone for both them and us. It is imperative to help them.

Bat Ye'or is the author of several books on dhimmitude, including Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis. Her forthcoming book, Understanding Eurabia, will be published by Gatestone Institute and RVP Publishers in 2017.

‘Denies History, Boosts Terror’: Israel Suspends UNESCO Cooperation after Bizarre Temple Mount Resolution

© Eliana Aponte / Reuters

Israel has suspended cooperation with UNESCO, saying the body’s recent resolution on the Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem deny Jewish history as the draft text maintains the two holy sites will be referred to by their Arabic rather than Hebrew names.

Tel Aviv accused the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) of ignoring thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and of aiding Islamic terrorism.

“Yesterday’s decision is a denial of history and gives a boost to terror,” said Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett.

UNESCO passed the draft resolution on Thursday. According to the document posted on UNESCO's website and dated October 12, the holy sites will be referred to by their Arabic name, Haram esh-Sharif, while the Hebrew terms will only appear in quotation marks in UN references.

The draft also refers to “Occupied Palestine” and the need to “safeguard the Palestinian cultural heritage and the distinctive character of east Jerusalem,” referencing Islam’s third holiest site, the Al-Aqsa mosque.

On Friday, Israel suspended all UNESCO activities in the country.

“I have notified the Israel National Commission for UNESCO to suspend all professional activities with the international organization,” Bennett wrote in a letter to UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova.

Responding to Israel’s criticism, Bokova said: “Nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space.”

“The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city,” she said.

“To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list.”

The resolution was supported by 24 states, with six countries opposed and 26 abstaining in a vote that received massive condemnation in Israel. Submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan, it will be referred to UNESCO’s executive board for formal approval next week.

The Temple Mount area was controlled by Muslims after it was recaptured from crusaders in 1187. It came under Israeli occupation following the Six-Day War in 1967. Since then, the site has been a flashpoint between Israel and Muslims.

So, according to UNESCO, the real history of Jerusalem started 830 years ago and ended 50 years ago. The last 50 years and the previous several thousand count for nothing in Muslim-run UNESCO. And that, even though 'Palestine' was virtually devoid of Palestinians a hundred years ago.

9,000 Photos from 1800’s British Mandate of Palestine – with No Trace of ‘Palestinians’

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry welcomed the resolution, with Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying: “This is an important message to Israel that it must end its occupation and recognize the Palestinian state and Jerusalem as its capital with its sacred Muslim and Christian sites.”

Palestinian delegate to UNESCO, Mounir Anstas, also defended the cultural body’s decision.

“Israel pretends that in this decision Palestinians and the Arab group denies the historic and importance of the old city of Jerusalem to the Jewish people, actually if you read the third paragraph of the decision you will see that it starts by the recognition of the historic importance for the three monotheistic religions,” he told Euronews.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unleashed his own barrage of criticism in response to the UNESCO resolution.

“The theater of the absurd continues with UNESCO and today the organization has made its most bizarre decision by saying the people of Israel have no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall,” Netanyahu said on Thursday.

“To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall is like saying China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or Egypt has no connection to the pyramids,” the PM added.

The US, Israel’s chief ally, has also registered its opposition to the resolution, claiming it will damage the peace process. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said it would “do nothing to advance constructive results on the ground” and should not be adopted.