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Resources updated between Monday, July 13, 2015 and Sunday, July 19, 2015

July 19, 2015

Hamas members (file photo)

On Monday the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will vote on granting UN NGO status for the "Palestinian Return Centre," an NGO with close ties to Hamas. UN NGO accreditation gives an NGO the opportunity to speak at designated UN gatherings, like the UN Human Rights Council. Accrediting this NGO, in effect, will give Hamas - a terrorist organization - a voice at the meetings of the UN's top human rights body.

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) is a London-based organization affiliated with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gave the keynote address at its annual meeting in 2009. According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, leaders of the PRC have actively recruited and fundraised for Hamas through the organization Interpal, which is designated as a terror organization by the United States. In December 2010, the Israel Security Agency under the leadership of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared the PRC to be an "unlawful association because it is part of the Hamas movement."

At the same time that ECOSOC will be taking up the Palestinian Return Centre, it will not be granting UN NGO status to the NGO "Zaka Rescue and Recovery." Zaka is the Israeli-based NGO whose members voluntarily undertake the gut-wrenching task of picking up the body parts left behind by Hamas terror, for burial. Zaka is also active in the fields of emergency response, search and rescue, and accident prevention, and was among the first responders at the Tsunami in Japan, the earthquake in Haiti, and terror attacks in Turkey, Mombasa and Taba, among others. In June 2015, the UN committee on NGOs, that considers the NGO applications for UN status prior to final approval by ECOSOC, decided to "defer" Zaka Rescue and Recovery over the objections of the United States and Israel. In an effort to prevent their accreditation, Zaka's application has been deferred five times since it was first introduced in June 2013.

Spear-heading approval of the Palestinian Return Centre is Sudan. Sudan is a member of the UN NGO Committee, along with 18 other states - including countries that routinely subjugate the rights of NGOs and their members: Azerbaijan, Burundi, China, Cuba, Iran, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Turkey, and Venezuela.

At the UN, the fact that Sudan's President is currently under indictment by the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity, does not affect Sudan's ability to decide what is and what is not an NGO that operates consistently with the purposes and principles of the United Nations - the essential requirement for accreditation.

UN To Vote on Accrediting Hamas-Affiliated Organization Article

July 17, 2015

Israeli commandos raid the Mavi Marmara in 2010 (AP)

ICC Judges: Prosecutors Must Revisit 2010 Israeli Flotilla Raid Article

The Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. (Wikimedia Commons)

The ICC Declares War on Israel Article

July 16, 2015

A child executes a prisoner in front of an ISIS flag during the Tikrit massacre

ISIS released video footage of last year's massacre in Tikrit, now claimed to be the worst attack initiated in Iraq. Images of the group's largest one-day massacre shows militant fighters shooting men who are face down to the Tigris River. The video was uploaded on the jihadist forum channels.

Most of the victims from ISIS' murder spree last year are Shiite military recruits in Tikrit. They plead for their lives, explaining they just recently joined the Iraqi army.

According to the report released by the Agence France-Presse, there were at most 1,700 people captured by the terrorist group at the military base in Speicher, located near Tikrit. The captured men were executed in different places, but most of them were at the city's former presidential palace complex.

Screenshots of the horrible massacre were posted by some who keep track of ISIS social media activities; the 22-minute video includes earlier and newly released footage of the "industrial-scale" massacre. It shows the victims falling from dump trucks into shallow mass graves, laying side by side then shot one by one.

"The killing went on into the night and the video shows an excavator being used to move piles of bodies," stated Agence France-Presse.

Other images show a young boy executing prisoners on the banks of the river leaving a trail of red water behind. The boy, holding a pistol, ignores pleas for mercy as prisoners are thrown in front of him to be shot.

"This is a message I address to the whole world and especially to the Rafidha dogs, I tell them we are coming," said the unidentified ISIS official seen in the video wearing a military uniform.

The term "Rafidha dogs" was an insult the Shiite Muslims. The video was released just four days after 24 men were sentenced to death by hanging in Baghdad because of the Speicher massacre.

Images from ISIS' Biggest Massacre Released Showing Child Killing Prisoners Document

A UN Security Council meeting on September 19, 2014 (US State Department)

"A draft U.N. resolution on the Iran nuclear deal that says U.N. sanctions would 'snap back' if Iran fails to meet its obligations also contains a surprise: The crucial mechanism will end in 10 years.

The draft, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, states that none of the seven previous U.N. resolutions on Iran sanctions 'shall be applied' after 10 years, and 'the Security Council will have concluded its consideration of the Iranian nuclear issue.'

But a U.S. official familiar with the details of the resolution said the five veto-wielding permanent members of the council agreed that a new resolution would be adopted at the end of 10 years to reinstate the snap back mechanism for an additional five years. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The U.S. introduced the draft resolution Wednesday, and diplomats said they expect a vote on it early next week.

President Barack Obama has cited the snap back mechanism as a main defense of the Iran deal in responding to sharp criticism from the U.S. Congress and some American allies...

But Russian officials have given mixed accounts of how the mechanism would work.

Moscow has traditionally opposed any voting procedures in which it would lose its Security Council veto power..."

UN Resolution Would End Iran Sanctions in 10 Years Article

July 15, 2015

President Obama at the UN General Assembly on September 24, 2014. White House officials said that their plan is to first get the UN to agree to the Iran nuclear agreement to put more pressure on Congress (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

White House Iran Strategy: Get U.N. Blessing Before Congress Votes Article

July 14, 2015

A Yemeni woman cries over the death of relatives in a reported air-strike by the Saudi-led coalition on the capital Sanaa on July 13, 2015 (AFP Photo/Mohammed Huwais)

Aden Residents Angry at UN for Failing to Deliver Aid Document

The United Nations General Assembly (file photo)

The UN's Obsession with Israel by the Numbers Article

July 13, 2015

Islamic State fighter (file photo)

An orphaned baby was reportedly strapped to a booby trap device and blown up as part of a sickening ISIS training camp exercise on improvised devices.

The sadistic act is thought to have taken place near ash-Sharqat in the northern Iraqi province of Salahuddin, where ISIS still holds considerable territory.

Using a remote control detonator, the baby was destroyed by the explosives to show the trainee terrorists how to assemble improvised explosive devices.

The booby-trapping of the baby was a training mission for Isis to teach its elements the booby-trapping mechanisms,' according by Sadiq al-Husseini, head of the security committee in Diyala province.

al-Husseini claims the baby's father had been arrested and swiftly executed for killing several ISIS militants. It is unclear what happened to the baby's mother.

As punishment for its father's attack on ISIS fighters, the baby was brought to the training camp and used as part of a horrific demonstration on assembling booby traps, al-Hussaini told Iraqi news.

al-Husseini commented: 'The organisation does not care for the most basic human values.'

ISIS Blow Up a Booby-Trapped BABY While Teaching Militants How to Use Explosives Document

Lt. Col. Neria Yeshurun (Yoni Kempinski)

Analysis: IDF vs. ICC Phase 2 - More Talking, More Controversy Article

The entrance of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is seen in The Hague. (REUTERS)

Palestinian Authority Ignores Hamas War Crimes, Investigates Israel Instead Article

A protest outside the Chinese consulate in San Francisco against the detention of lawyers and human rights activists on July 12, 2015. (Steve Rhodes/Demotix/Corbis)

China Targets Lawyers in New Human Rights Crackdown Document