What's New

Resources updated between Monday, July 24, 2017 and Sunday, July 30, 2017

July 29, 2017

Palestinian UN representative Riyad Mansour (File photo)

"A controversial General Assembly vote to increase the U.N.'s, and consequently the U.S.'s, funding of a Palestinian refugee agency was postponed Friday, a move that an unhappy Palestinian ambassador suggested to Breitbart News was because of U.S. opposition.

The resolution up for a vote, first reported by the New York Post's Benny Avni, would increase the funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The agency has proved controversial in part because Palestine is alone in having its own refugee body – all other refugees are covered by the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) – but also because of its alleged anti-Israel bias and linksto Hamas...

A letter signed by all 100 U.S. Senators in April called on UNRWA to 'pursue reforms or risk significant consequences.' The Times of Israel noted at that time that a third of UNRWA's budget comes from the U.S. Fox News reported that the U.S. donates $600 million a year to the body.

But the resolution, recognizing what it calls the "extremely critical financial situation" of UNRWA, recommends 'a gradual increase in the support to be provided to the Agency from the regular budget of the United Nations.'

This is controversial as it would not only give more money to UNRWA, but it would place an ever-increasing burden on the U.N.'s general budget, of which the U.S. is the greatest contributor. As the New York Post noted: 'Eventually the entirety of America's contribution to UNRWA will be decided by U.N. members rather than Congress.'

The move was one unlikely to be received well by Republican members of Congress.

'I have a deep concern with shifting UNRWA funding to the U.N.'s regular budget,' Sen. James Risch (R-ID) told Breitbart News. 'Just because other countries fail to honor their voluntary contributions should not require the American taxpayer to fund yet another U.N. program with a track record of poor management and support for terrorism.'

The resolution, scheduled to be taken up by the U.N. General Assembly Friday morning, was postponed just hours before the vote was due to take place.

A grumpy Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour told a handful of reporters that the vote had been postponed. Breitbart News asked why this was. 'I'll leave it your imagination why,' he responded, 'especially since we have 147 co-sponsors not counting the Europeans, who are endorsing unanimously, so if you have that, you have close to 177 co-sponsors.'

When Breitbart News asked if the American delegation had been loud in opposing the measure, Mansour said: 'You are on the right track.'..."

U.S. postponed U.N. vote to fund Palestine Refugee Agency Article

The scene after the knife attack in Hamburg, Germany

A knife-wielding man reportedly screamed "Allahu Akbar" during a wild attack inside a Hamburg supermarket that killed at least one person and left four others bloodied and wounded on Friday.

German police arrested the suspected attacker in the Barmbek district after witnesses followed the man and alerted authorities. The suspect was overwhelmed by passers-by and slightly injured in the process, police said.

The assailant entered the supermarket and stabbed one person, who died at the scene, before fleeing the scene. While on the run, the suspect stabbed and injured four other people.

Officials wrote on Twitter that "the motive and the number of injured persons" were not yet known, but did confirm that "one person died."

It was not immediately known if the assault had any connection to terror. ISIS has been urging its followers to use knives or vehicles in order to facilitate more attacks and Germany has been the site of past Islamist incidents.

But both German newspaper BILD and a witness to the assault said the man yelled "Allahu Akbar" during the bloody spree. The phrase, Arabic for "God is great," is frequently shouted by Islamic extremists before an attack.

Police initially said they were looking for a second person in connection with the attack, however, later they said the man in custody was the lone suspect.

The supermarket was blocked off by police as they investigated the incident.

Knife attacker in Germany screams "Allahu Akbar" while killing one, wounding four Document

July 28, 2017

Simorgh rocket launched at the Imam Khomeini Space Centre, Iran, July 27, 2017

U.S. says Iran rocket test breaches U.N. resolution Article

The room where a 16-year-old girl was raped

Pakistani council orders "revenge rape" of 16-year-old girl Document

July 27, 2017

Ng Lap Seng, who was found guilty in a corruption scandal involving high level UN officials (File photo)

"A U.S. jury on Thursday found Macau billionaire Ng Lap Seng guilty on charges he bribed two United Nations ambassadors to help him build a multibillion-dollar conference center.

Ng, 69, was convicted on all six counts he faced, including bribery, money laundering and corruption, in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Jurors needed less than a day to reach a verdict, following a four-week trial.

'In his unbridled pursuit of even greater personal fortune, billionaire Ng Lap Seng corrupted the highest levels of the United Nations,' Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said after the verdict.

'Through bribes and no-show jobs, Ng turned leaders of the league of nations into his private band of profiteers.'

Tai Park, a lawyer for Ng, said in court that his client had 'substantial' legal issues to raise on appeal. Park later declined to comment to reporters. The United Nations also had no comment. Prosecutors accused Ng of paying more than $1 million of bribes to bypass the normal hassles of dealing with the U.N., with a goal of winning 'fame and more fortune' by developing in Macau what he thought of as the 'Geneva of Asia.'..."

U.S. jury finds Macau billionaire guilty in UN bribery case Article

UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic

"Despite years of 'zero tolerance' of the sexual abuse crisis by United Nations' peacekeepers, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), which has been at the center of the worst U.N. sexual abuse scandal in years, is still a bureaucratic shambles when it comes to recording, investigating and keeping track of those crimes, as well as training its personnel to avoid them, according to a U.N. internal report.

Among other things, the 23-page document itemizes the controversial mission's spotty and often-delayed record-keeping of sex abuse allegations, glacial follow-up on investigations, lack of 'risk assessment' examinations of potential problems at more than half of its 37 operating bases where sexual abuse allegations have occurred, and other jaw-dropping issues of delay and neglect.

The leadership of the 10,700-member peacekeeping force, known by its acronym of MINUSCA, has not yet even come up with a final version of a communications campaign to encourage the battered citizens of CAR to repel and report peacekeeper sexual abuse -- or enough safe places where alleged victims of such crimes can report the abuse in private.

The main reason, the report says, is that the vital outreach program 'had to be included in the mission-wide communication strategy that was still pending finalization by the MINUSCA Public Information Office.'

The snapshot provided by members of the U.N.'s watchdog Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) of MINUSCA's sloppy and erratic efforts to handle the sexual abuse crisis go a substantial way to illustrate what U.N. critics have long called its pernicious 'culture of impunity' regarding sexual abuse, which the U.N.'s top leadership has said repeatedly it intends to eradicate..."

UN war on sexual abuse in Central African Republic still a shambles, internal study shows Article

Rohingya people fleeing an attack

"The United Nations' Human Rights Council has replaced the chairwoman of a team investigating allegations of killings and rape by Myanmar's security forces, it said on Thursday, amid concerns over her perceived bias.

Indian Supreme Court advocate Indira Jaising was initially named to chair the fact-finding mission, which has a focus on the western state of Rakhine that is home to the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority.

Council president Joaquín Alexander Maza Martelli had decided to replace Jaising with Marzuki Darusman, a former attorney-general of Indonesia who has previously conducted rights investigations on North Korea, the council said in a statement from its headquarters in Geneva...

The statement did not give any reason for the change of personnel, but a U.N. official told Reuters Jaising agreed to step down after the council president raised concerns about public comments she made that could be seen as indicating bias...

The U.N official and a human rights advocate familiar with discussions around the mission told Reuters that Jaising's comments had stirred concern among U.N. officials in Geneva that she would not be considered impartial.

After her appointment, Jaising was quoted by broadcaster Al Jazeera as saying the Rohingyas' situation in Myanmar 'is especially deplorable because they face the risk of genocide'..."

UN fires expert for "bias" (worrying Rohingya face genocide in Myanmar) Article

A victim of the cholera epidemic caused by UN peacekeepers seeking information on when he will receive compensation

"In a suburb a few miles south of Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince, Vilner Benjamin walks through a concrete maze of unpainted cinder block homes and narrow alleys pointing out the filthy, standing water and the canal that floods with disease-carrying waste whenever it rains.

His cell phone rings nonstop as he makes his way through the neighborhood called Bergamoth, with caller after caller anxiously asking the same question: 'Any news?'

The calls are from Haitian cholera victims who are desperate to know if they'll receive any of the compensation promised by the United Nations after its blue-helmeted peacekeepers infected Haiti's Artibonite River and one of its tributaries with the deadly disease in 2010.

'They are thirsty for information,' says Benjamin, head of ASOVIK'K, the Association of Cholera Victims of Carrefour, which is compiling a list of cholera victims - about 2,700 and growing - in anticipation of U.N. payment.

A treatable but potentially fatal bacterial infection, cholera causes severe diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to dehydration and death in a matter of hours. Unknown in Haiti for at least a century, cholera has afflicted more than 812,000 Haitians, fatally infecting over 9,600 since it was introduced by Nepalese peacekeepers 10 months after the country's Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake...

The United Nations, which after years of denial finally acknowledged its role in the outbreak in August, has pledged $400 million to treat cholera victims and improve sanitation and water infrastructure in Haiti, while also providing "material assistance and support" to those most severely affected. But it's unclear how long Haitians will have to wait, and if compensation is offered, what it might involve.

A suggestion last month by U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed that $200 million of the money would be used to build 'community projects' has been met with anger and angst in Haiti.

Victims and their advocates view it as a betrayal of the promise made by former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who, after offering a long-sought after apology in December for the U.N.'s role, promised the victims would be consulted on any compensation decisions.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for current U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, offered little clarity on the issue when he was asked about individual payments earlier this month at U.N. headquarters: 'I think we will take one step at a time.'

Brian Concannon Jr., executive director of the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), said despite Ban's promise, 'the U.N. has not consulted a single cholera victim about the response, while it is making important decisions.'..."

Anger and angst in Haiti as cholera victims wait for UN compensation Article

July 26, 2017

Russian sappers demining Palmyra

Russia Looks to U.N. to Help It Profit From Syria Conquests Article

Oren Almog and Israeli representative to the UN Danny Danon, July 25, 2017

Israeli blinded in terror attack urges UNSC to stop PA's terrorist stipends Article

July 25, 2017

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon, July 24, 2017

Israeli Ambassador Danon to Security Council: Demand an end to Palestinian incitement Article

July 24, 2017

Jordanian security forces stand outside the Israeli embassy in Amman, July 23, 2017

Israeli stabbed at embassy in Jordan Document

Twitter post by Margot Wallström‏, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs

UN Security Council to hold special meeting on "dialogue" after Palestinian riots and terror attacks Article