Israel Welcomes Renewed, Stronger Mandate for UN Peacekeeping Force in Lebanon

Algemeiner Staff

UNIFIL peacekeepers patrol the border with Israel near the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, Dec. 4, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Ali Hashisho.

Israel welcomed a United Nations Security Council vote on Thursday afternoon that renewed and strengthened the mandate of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

The new provisions in the mandate include a clear call on the Lebanese government to allow access to UNIFIL forces and increased reporting on the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups in Lebanon such as Hezbollah, a political and military proxy of the Iranian regime.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, commented in a statement that the “updated mandate sends a clear message to the Lebanese government: restrain Hezbollah.”

Danon asserted that Hezbollah’s “grip on southern Lebanon is intended to only harm the State of Israel and endanger the entire region.”

He continued: “Israel will not accept such a reality, and calls on the international community to act resolutely against the Iranian proxy in Lebanon.”

The strengthened mandate of UNIFIL — a force of more than 10,000 UN peacekeepers from countries including India, France, Ireland, Nepal and Ghana — was a result of diplomatic efforts by Israel and the United States to strengthen the peacekeeping force following revelations of Hezbollah attacks on UNIFIL personnel.

Danon made clear that while UNIFIL was “required to take responsibility and act according to its mandate, Israel holds the Lebanese government solely responsible for Hezbollah’s activities on its territory.”

UN Must Help Bring Home Israeli Soldiers Whose Bodies Are Held by Hamas

Algemeiner Staff

Israeli Ambassador to UN Danny Danon with Leah and Simha Goldin at a meeting in New York, Aug. 21, 2019. Photo: Israeli UN Mission.

The parents of the late Lt. Hadar Goldin — an IDF soldier who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge and whose body was kidnapped by Hamas and is still being held by the terrorist group — met in New York on Wednesday with Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.

According to a statement published by Danon’s office, the diplomat told Leah and Simha Goldin that Israel was “continuing to focus its efforts at the UN and with senior members of the international community on returning Israeli prisoners and missing persons to their homes.”

Hadar Goldin is one of two IDF soldiers — the other being Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul — who died in the summer 2014 Gaza war and whose remains have yet to be handed over to Israel.

“Holding our boys hostage is a blatant violation of international law, which requires that UN officials work to bring them home,” Danon said after Wednesday’s meeting with the Goldins. “Hadar and Oron were captured during a UN-initiated cease fire, and the organization must now fulfill its humanitarian duty and assist in efforts return our soldiers for a proper burial in Israel.”

In the coming days, the Goldins will also meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and a number of diplomats from around the world.

Israel avoids multi-front war – TV7 Israel News 04.09.19

  TV7 Israel News

GREENBLATT TO UN: HELP RELEASE IDF SOLDIERS, CIVILIANS FROM HAMAS

OMRI NAHMIAS

It is believed that both soldiers are dead.

Lt. Hadar Goldin (left) and St.-Sgt. Oron Shaul were killed in action in the war against Hamas in 2014. (photo credit: Courtesy)

WASHINGTON – Jason Greenblatt, special assistant to US President Donald Trump, wrote a letter to the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, urging him to advocate for the release of two missing IDF soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, and two captured civilians, Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

Greenblatt wrote the letter ahead of the UN General Assembly, which will open in New York in three weeks

Greenblatt recently met with Leah and Simcha Goldin, Hadar Goldin’s parents, who were visiting the US. The Goldins also met with Guterres.

Goldin was captured by Hamas toward the close of the last major escalation with Hamas in Gaza in 2014. Shaul was captured at the same time.

It is believed that both soldiers are dead.

“This week marks the fifth anniversary of the terrible pain they are living with, being unable to give their son a proper burial,” Greenblatt wrote in his letter. “I am writing to express the support of the United States of America for continuing to frame all conversations dealing with Gaza beginning with the specific mention of the reprehensible behavior of Hamas holding the bodies of Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, along with imprisoned Israeli civilians Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

Greenblatt wrote that:

“I strongly urge you to raise the tragic issue of Hadar and Oron, as well as Avraham and Hisham with each leader who you meet with at UNGA High-Level Week, who might be able to help,” the special envoy concluded.

It was reported that the secretary-general assured the Goldin’s during their meeting that he would raise the issue with relevant leaders during the UNGA High-Level Week.

Neo-Nazi Website Publishes Photos of Thousands of Yeshiva University Students

Algemeiner Staff

Yeshiva University in the Washington Heights section of New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

In a bid to intimidate Jewish students, a US neo-Nazi website with the tagline, “No Jews, Just Right,” has published the photos of thousands of students and faculty at Yeshiva University (YU) in New York City.

The photos were posted on the Vanguard News Network (VNN) forum, a white supremacist platform that identifies as an “uncensored forum for whites.” Yeshiva University’s newspaper, The YU Commentator, reported that campus security called the content “appalling and offensive” and informed students that they had found “no direct threat to the individuals appearing in the photos or to Yeshiva University.”

While the discussions on the forum generally revolve around mocking Jews, a handful of pages are dedicated to ridiculing members of the YU community alone. The discussion thread concerning YU students and staff started around May 2018, and the pictures appear to have been taken from public sources, such as YU’s Flickr page.

The YU Commentator said it had been tipped off about the forum by a student journalist with The Justice of Brandeis University, who was investigating the publication of Brandeis’ students photos on the same site.

Dr. Jess Olson — an associate professor of Jewish history at Yeshiva University — told the paper that the demeaning antisemitic comments posted alongside the photos were “sadly and unacceptably a well-worn motif historically in antisemitic rhetoric and iconography.”

Continued Olson: “It is an embarrassment to our country that we have arrived at a place that such ideas are flaunted with impunity.”

Students who discovered their pictures online were very distressed by what they saw, the YU Commentator noted. One student featured on the forum commented that “it is very concerning that something like this is developing so quickly, especially in the United States.” Being featured on a neo-Nazi website made her feel “vulnerable and small.” As a proud Jewish American, she was disturbed that she was being “targeted” as a member of “a people and a religion.”

VNN is published by Alex Linder, a former activist with the neo-Nazi National Alliance Party who has been active in white supremacist and Holocaust denial circles for several years.

Linder was arrested in May 2007 in Knoxville, Tn., for assaulting a police officer during a racist protest.