DAILY ALERT
Friday,
December 21, 2018


In-Depth Issues:

Iran's Nuclear Archive Confirms Gchine Uranium Mine and Yellowcake Production Plant Never Stopped Operating - David Albright, Olli Heinonen, Frank Pabian and Andrea Stricker (Foundation for Defense of Democracies)
    Iran's nuclear archive, captured by Israel, contains documentary evidence showing Iran's deceptions in its declarations to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about its past military nuclear activities.
    One case of deception involves the Gchine uranium mine and yellowcake production plant in southern Iran near Bandar Abbas.
    Gchine represented key nuclear source material toward Iran's production of highly enriched uranium (HEU) for nuclear weapons.
    The new documents show that Gchine was originally part of Iran's covert nuclear fuel cycle aimed at the production of nuclear weapons and directly contradict Iran's multiple declarations to the IAEA.
    See also Anatomy of Iran's Deception and How Iran Benefited (Institute for Science and International Security)



Half of American Troops to Be Pulled from Afghanistan - Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Mujib Mashal (New York Times)
    The Trump administration has ordered the military to start withdrawing 7,000 troops from Afghanistan in the coming months, two defense officials said Thursday.
    Besides the current contingent of 14,000 American troops, there are also 8,000 NATO and allied troops deployed in Afghanistan, tasked with training and advising the Afghan forces.
    More than 2,400 Americans have died in Afghanistan since 2001, and this year 13 were killed in combat.



The Palestinian Authority Maintains Security Cooperation with Israel to Quell the Terrorism It Encourages - Hillel Frisch (Jerusalem Post)
    The Palestinian Authority, which encourages "martyrdom" on behalf of the Palestinian cause, maintains a level of security cooperation with Israel that is almost unprecedented to quell the very terrorism it encourages.
    The PA pursues Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and disrupts and destroys their organizations.
    Intelligence flows freely between senior Israeli IDF officers and their Palestinian counterparts in Abbas' security services.
    Israelis who mistakenly find themselves in PA-controlled areas and are then attacked are often rescued by PA security forces.
    The writer is a professor of political and Middle East studies at Bar-Ilan University and a senior research associate at its BESA Center.



Palestinian Authority Calls Visit to Israel by Arab Journalists a "Crime" and a "Sin" - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
    The Palestinian Authority on Thursday called for punishing seven Arab journalists who visited Israel this week.
    The journalists work in France and Belgium, and some hail from Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria and Morocco.
    The PA Ministry of Information said that it "rejects all forms of media normalization with the Israeli occupation, which is considered an unacceptable crime" and a "political and national sin."


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Israeli Company Creates Blood Test for Lung Cancer - the Number One Killer - Benjamin Kerstein (Algemeiner)
    Israeli company Savicell has developed a successful blood test for lung cancer, allowing the disease to be detected and treated in its earliest stages, thus boosting the chances of recovery.
    Dr. Shafrira Shai, development and production manager at Savicell, said: "This gives us exact information on the condition of the person, if he's in a pre-cancerous condition, the beginning stages of cancer, or other possibilities."
    Eyal Davidovitch, vice president of operations, said: "Statistics indicate that if you discover lung cancer in an early stage, the chances of recovery wander on average between 50-80%. If you identify it at a late stage, we're talking about 4%....Lung cancer is the number one killer."
    Current methods for detecting lung cancer tend to be cumbersome and time consuming, and are usually employed only after severe symptoms develop.
    With the new test, however, "you come to the doctor for a test and identify cancer," said Davidovitch. "It's simply a life-saver."



Israel Offers Training in Advanced Radiotherapy to Tanzanian Cancer Care Professionals - Diana Rubin (International Atomic Energy Agency)
    Tanzanian cancer specialists have completed advanced radiotherapy training at leading Israeli cancer centers this month.
    The International Atomic Energy Agency facilitated training for two radiation oncologists and two radiation therapists from the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar es Salaam at Assuta and Sheba Medical Centers in Israel.



Israeli AI Healthcare Platform Raises $25 Million (Globes)
    Israeli AI-powered free primary healthcare platform startup K Health has raised $25 million in a financing round.
    The K Health platform simulates the diagnosis process. Users answer several dozen questions about their background and their symptoms.
    Checking against 2 billion historical health cases over the past 20 years, K Health compares users to those with similar symptoms and medical histories before providing a diagnosis.



Israeli-German Mini-Satellite System May Improve Weather Forecasting (Xinhua-China)
    A system of ten Israeli-German mini-satellites will be launched in the coming years to improve weather forecasting, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology said Monday.
    The new system will provide data on the internal composition and external structure of clouds that are not well measured by current satellite technologies.
    The CloudCT project won a $15.9 million grant from the European Research Council - the first time Israeli scientists received such a grant.



Germany Extends Lease of IAI Heron Drones until 2020 (Globes)
    Germany has extended the operation of its Israel Aerospace Industries Heron 1 drones until 2020.
    The German Air Force has been using the Heron 1 in Afghanistan since 2010 and in Mali since 2016.
    The Heron 1 is used for detection of IEDs from the air, convoy and patrol unit escort, route exploration and supervision, as well as object and camp protection.
    "In Afghanistan and Mali, the services model has proven its performance capability by reaching a system availability of more than 98%," said Ralf Hastedt of Airbus DS Airborne Solutions GmbH, which acts as the contractor for the German government.



Israeli Student Wins Global Business Simulation Challenge (Israel21c)
    Meir Cohen, an MBA candidate at Bar-Ilan University's Graduate School of Business Administration, has become the first Israeli ever to win first place in the Capsim Challenge, a competition that challenges contestants to run a multi-million dollar simulated company.
    Some 200 teams competed against a computer simulating five competing companies.
    In the finals, Cohen competed against other teams for seven consecutive hours, simulating eight years of management.


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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
  • Trump Defends U.S. Withdrawal from Syria - Kyle Balluck and Michael Burke
    President Trump on Thursday defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. He tweeted: "Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there [sic] work." Those countries would now have to "fight ISIS and others" without the U.S. He also asked if the U.S. wants to be the "Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever?"  (The Hill)
        See also U.S. Secretary of Defense Mattis Resigns over Troop Withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan - Paul Sonne (Washington Post)
        See also France Says Islamic State Not Defeated, Troops to Remain in Syria - John Irish and Jean-Baptiste Vey
    France will keep troops in northern Syria for now because Islamic State militants have not been wiped out, officials in Paris said. France has special forces deployed alongside Kurdish and Arab forces, and carries out air strikes against ISIS. (Reuters)
        See also below Commentary: U.S. Withdraws Troops from Syria
  • U.S. Fundraising Site Suspends Palestinian Israel-Boycott Account
    Donorbox, a U.S. software company which makes fundraising management software, said Friday it blocked the fundraising account of the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel following a complaint that the campaign has links to militant organizations. The complaint from Shurat HaDin, an Israeli advocacy group, was submitted in coordination with Israel's Strategic Affairs Ministry.
        The complaint noted that the boycott movement's membership includes the "Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine," an umbrella group that includes Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which have been branded terrorist organizations by the U.S. (AP-New York Times)
  • British Taxpayers Still Funding Palestinian Schools Where Children Are Made to Stage Mock Executions - Daniel Martin
    British taxpayers are still funding "lessons in hate" at Palestinian schools. It emerged last year that the UK's Department for International Development has helped pay the salaries of officials who drew up a new curriculum that teaches children the virtues of becoming a jihadi. Plays put on at schools and summer camps have even included pupils staging mock executions. One in Hebron featured a child draped in Palestinian colors "shooting" another dressed as an Israeli soldier.
        Textbooks teach five-year-olds the words for "martyr" and "attack," while teenagers are told that those who sacrifice themselves will be rewarded with "72 virgin brides in paradise." Joan Ryan MP, chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel, said aid to the Palestinian Authority should be suspended until the books are removed. Britain is giving the Palestinian Authority 70 million pounds in the current financial year. (Daily Mail-UK)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
  • Netanyahu: U.S. Supports Our Response to Iran in Syria - Tovah Lazaroff
    After the U.S. announced the withdrawal of its troops from Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, "We will continue to act in Syria to prevent Iran's effort to militarily entrench itself against us. We are not reducing our efforts; we will increase our efforts. I know that we do so with the full support and backing of the U.S."
        Netanyahu spoke by phone on Thursday with President Trump, their second conversation this week on Syria. Netanyahu's office said that the two leaders discussed ways to continue their joint cooperation against Iranian aggression. (Jerusalem Post)
  • Israeli Army Begins Destroying Hizbullah Tunnels on Lebanon Border - Yaniv Kubovich and Noa Shpigel
    The Israel Defense Forces announced on Friday that it started destroying the attack tunnels dug by Hizbullah into Israeli territory under the Lebanese border. The army blew up a cross-border tunnel dug from the Lebanese village of Ramia on Thursday night. (Ha'aretz)
  • Israel Works to Defuse U.S. Concerns over Chinese Control of Haifa Port - Michael Wilner
    The Israeli government is working to defuse any problems that may arise from a planned Chinese takeover of Haifa Port in 2021, senior officials told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. "The State of Israel is dealing with all aspects connected to the establishment and management of infrastructure by foreign companies in Israel," said Intelligence and Transportation Minister Israel Katz, who pioneered the project and is also a member of the security cabinet.
        Israeli officials confirmed that the government was reviewing how to ensure that Chinese construction and management of the port does not adversely impact ties with the U.S. The Americans are said to be concerned that China will use the port to gather intelligence on U.S. interests. The Israeli security cabinet recently convened to discuss issue and agreed to set up a mechanism to prevent possible problems.
        Israel understands American sensitivities regarding China's presence, another official explained, but faces a challenge finding international companies with expertise in building and managing ports. China's Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), which operates the largest port in the world in Shanghai, was the sole bidder for the Haifa project. (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:

    U.S. Withdraws Troops from Syria

  • Is the U.S. Withdrawal from Syria Premature? - Dore Gold
    After the U.S. announced it was withdrawing from Syria, Dore Gold, former director general of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: "Western intervention on the ground in the Middle East has produced two results that need to be avoided. The first is a quagmire and endless war. But the second is that premature withdrawal emboldens the forces of jihad that will claim the West is weak. This latter problem arose when the Soviets left Afghanistan and al-Qaeda was born. It was seen when Israel withdrew from Gaza and Hamas took over. This could give ISIS a new lease on life. It could also give Iran the sense that it is winning on the battlefield, regardless of the sanctions it faces."
        "A careful balancing act is needed. Only the U.S. can calibrate the necessary mix of force and diplomacy that will be needed, since the lives of American soldiers are involved. But Israel will be there to the extent that its assistance is sought."  (Jewish Insider)
  • Israel Has Been Dealing with Security Threats on Its Own - Ariel Kahana
    In its decision to withdraw American forces from Syria, the Trump administration has sent Israel the message that it will need to deal with the worst players in the region on its own. This is, in fact, how Israel has conducted itself until now. The number of U.S. forces stationed in Syria was fairly small to begin with, and Israel has been operating inside Syrian territory as it saw fit and without American assistance.
        This move by the Americans teaches Israelis that the guiding principle of the man in the Oval Office will always be to act in what he believes is America's best interest, even if doing so means damaging America's image in the short-term. Trump also believes that even if the move is chided by various experts in the field, the average American citizen is with him. Israel's takeaway must be that when it comes to foreign affairs and security, no one will do our work for us. (Israel Hayom)
  • American Withdrawal from Syria Shakes Up the Middle East - David M. Halbfinger
    The American decision to withdraw its 2,000 troops from Syria clears the way for Iran to expand its influence across the region. A pullout would free Tehran to treat the Iraqi border as fully porous, easing the movement of fighters and weapons. "This leaves us alone in the arena with the Russians," said IDF Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Michael Herzog, a fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
        The Kurdish forces who fought alongside the U.S. in Syria feel betrayed and are threatening to free 3,200 Islamic State prisoners if the U.S. abandons them. A Western official said, "The best result of terrible options is probably for the Syrian regime to take custody of these people. If they are released it's a real disaster and major threat to Europe." Analysts said it is likely that the Kurds will seek an agreement with Syrian President Assad that grants them limited autonomy in eastern Syria in exchange for their loyalty. (New York Times)
  • The Kurds Are the Biggest Losers in U.S. Withdrawal from Syria - Zvi Bar'el
    The U.S. decision to withdraw from Syria means the U.S. will evacuate the base at al-Tanf on the Syrian-Iraqi border, which acted as a deterrent to the entry of Shi'ite militia units into Syria. The U.S. will also evacuate its northern bases, which served as a base for strikes against ISIS, and it will also give up the idea of setting up observation posts along the border with Turkey which would protect the Kurds.
        This would leave the city of Manbij, now under Kurdish rule, open to a Turkish occupation, from where it could spread to other Kurdish enclaves east of the Euphrates. The Kurds will have to decide whether to wage a long and possibly hopeless war against Turkey, or to seek shelter with Moscow. (Ha'aretz)


  • Other Issues

  • Australia's Recognition of Jerusalem Hardly Warrants the Hysteria - Alex Ryvchin
    The announcement by Prime Minister Scott Morrison that Australia now recognizes that Israel's capital is located in Jerusalem was balanced, moderate and affirmed Australia's long-standing support for a negotiated end to the conflict on the basis of two states for two peoples. Even though the announcement dealt only with uncontested western Jerusalem, the reaction by the Palestinians produced a standard mix of boilerplate condemnations and Mafioso-style allusions to impending economic and physical harm.
        In his remarks, the Prime Minister denounced the "anti-Semitic agenda masquerading as defense of human rights"; he observed that the "ritual denunciations [of Israel]" stemming from this agenda "are getting in the way of progress [to end the conflict]"; and he declared that "Australia's national interests are well served by our productive and increasingly diverse relationship with Israel." The writer is co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. (ABC-Australia)
  • Australia's Partial Recognition of Jerusalem Is Partially Welcome - Yaakov Ahimeir
    I am not particularly enthusiastic about Australia's recognition of "west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel" while its embassy remains in Tel Aviv. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's recognition of half of Jerusalem means that Australia has decided, even before negotiations with the Palestinians, that "east Jerusalem" will be the capital of a Palestinian state. This is a unilateralist, premature, determination which should have been withheld until the sides properly negotiate the matter.
        On the matter of Jerusalem, Israel should insist on the united city principle, under one sovereign country and beholden to one law enforced equally in both parts of the city. The writer is a senior Israeli journalist. (Israel Hayom)
  • Is "East Jerusalem" Palestinian Territory? - Avi Bell
    What country has legal sovereignty over Jerusalem? Israel's answer is well-grounded in international law: the State of Israel. The Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) answer is contemptuous of international law.
        In a lawsuit against the U.S. at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over its locating its embassy in Jerusalem, the PLO first claims (incorrectly) that it has the right to sue in the ICJ as a "state," and, second, (incorrectly) that every state can invoke the court's jurisdiction when an embassy is located in the wrong place.
        The PLO then claims (incorrectly) that the Vienna Convention only permits embassies to be located within the territory of the "receiving state," and (incorrectly) that none of Jerusalem is territory of the "receiving state" because all of Jerusalem is a "corpus separatum" - an internationalized territory to which no state can claim sovereignty.
        Experience teaches that Palestinian claims need not persuade or even be logically consistent to succeed, as long as they aim at disadvantaging Israel. The writer is a professor at Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law and the University of San Diego Law School. (Times of Israel)
  • Misrepresenting the Texas Anti-BDS Law - Jonathan S. Tobin
    Critics are misrepresenting Texas' anti-BDS law. Such laws that have been passed by Texas and 25 other states are actually protecting a core value of U.S. law: the prohibition of discriminatory commercial conduct.
        The purpose of BDS is not to protest the Israeli government's policies. As BDS supporters make clear, what they want is no Israel at all. BDS is a cause that seeks to eliminate the one Jewish state on the planet and to deny its people rights - such as self-determination and self-defense - that they seek to deny to no one else. As such, it is a form of discrimination against Jews, i.e., anti-Semitism.
        The First Amendment protects even hateful speech. If she wishes, Bahia Amawi can call for Israel's destruction or support the Palestinian cause as much as she likes in either the public or private spheres. What she - or any other vendor doing business with the state of Texas - cannot do is engage in discriminatory commercial conduct.
        It is well understood that those connected to the state government cannot discriminate against African-Americans, Hispanics or other minority groups without running afoul of the law. What anti-BDS laws do is to extend those protections to Israel and Israelis because they are subject to an international campaign of discrimination that is indistinguishable from anti-Semitism. (JNS)
  • Palestinian Identity Is Based on the Elimination of Israel - Dror Eydar
    The Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza don't have a positive "Palestinian nationality" that distinguishes them from the rest of the Arabs of the Middle East. The thing that unites them is the rejection of Jewish sovereignty and the elimination of the State of Israel. This is their identity. It's not that they want a state, but rather that they don't want us to have one.
        No Arab or Palestinian leader thinks that the conflict began in 1967 when Israel seized territory in the Six-Day War. They talk about 1948, and some even begin with the 1917 Balfour Declaration. The Arabs of the region won't agree to any solution other than reverting back to the point in history that they have chosen - before the establishment of the State of Israel. (Israel Hayom)


  • Anti-Semitism

  • Anti-Semites on the (Women's) March - Christine Rosen
    On Jan. 19, 2019, women will take to the streets of Washington, D.C., for the third annual Women's March to provide "intersectional education on a diverse range of issues," according to its website.
        Among the four female public faces of the organization is Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American professional activist who has been confidently tweeting her bigotry for years, including "Nothing is creepier than Zionism." Similarly, Tamika Mallory has for years been posting pictures of herself smiling next to Louis Farrakhan, who said Hitler was "a very great man" and who called Jews "termites" and Judaism a "gutter religion."  (Commentary)
        See also Where Are the Jewish Women Who Helped Start the Women's March? - Leah McSweeney and Jacob Siegel
    In the first hours of the first meeting for what would become the Women's March, as the women in the initial group were opening up about their backgrounds and personal investments in creating a resistance movement to President Trump, Carmen Perez and Tamika Mallory allegedly asserted that Jewish people bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people.
        Mercy Morganfield, daughter of blues legend Muddy Waters and a former spokesperson for the Women's March who also ran the D.C. branch, told Tablet, "There are no Jewish women on the board. They refused to put any on. Most of the Jewish people resigned and left. They refused to even put anti-Semitism in the unity principles."  (Tablet)


  • Weekend Features

  • Life in Jerusalem Becoming More Integrated for Jews and Arabs - Barbara Sofer
    In Jerusalem, while we live our lives forever alert to possible terrorism, daily human interactions between Jews and Arabs are becoming more and more integrated. At the Sylvan Adams Sports Center at the YMCA on King David Street in western Jerusalem, Jewish, Christian and Muslim children and adults swim and work out together in an upbeat, congenial atmosphere.
        I do my food shopping at a discount chain that draws large families of both Jews and Arabs who queue up together at the checkout. At the store where I frequently buy clothing for my grandchildren, my favorite saleswoman wears a hijab. At my pharmacy, the pharmacist wears a hijab. The health fund nurse who takes my blood pressure at the local medical clinic wears a hijab. My gynecologist at Hadassah Medical Center is a female Arab doctor. The manager and mechanics at the garage where I have my car serviced are Arab. So is my hairdresser.
        None of this derives from a political agenda. I never make these choices out of a desire to be ethnically diverse. That's just the way life is in Jerusalem. The writer is the Israel director of public relations at Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. (Jerusalem Post)
  • Israel Booms with Babies as Developed World's Birth Rates Plummet - Dina Kraft
    Israel is having a sustained baby boom, and now has the highest per capita rate of population growth in the developed world, experts say. Families here have an average of 3.1 children, compared with 1.7 in other developed countries.
        In the country's Jewish sector there is a lingering post-Holocaust imperative to replace the 6 million who were murdered. Driving this focus, argues sociologist Orna Donath, "is the collective fear of annihilation. It continues to haunt us, and children are seen as symbolizing a continuance of life, of survival." Even among secular Jews, three children is the norm.
        "In America you are an individual who is not necessarily going to live close to your parents. But in Israel the whole basis of society is familial," says Dr. Elly Teman, a medical anthropologist and senior lecturer at Ruppin College. Moreover, "We hear that if we don't have enough citizens, we don't have enough soldiers. And people are acting on those messages [whether] they are aware they are or not."
        She points to the immigrants who came to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Those who came as adults usually had one child. By contrast, those who came as teenagers and absorbed the societal message have gone on to have two to three children. (Christian Science Monitor)
  • Israeli Lawmaker Prepares for the Next Terrorist Attack
    Canadian-born Sharren Haskel, 34, a member of the Likud party, is the first female member of the Israeli Knesset to have served as a combat soldier during her mandatory military service. She still carries a firearm and was at the shooting range for her annual training as required by Israeli law.
        "Since my service as a combat soldier and commander in the Border Police...I carry a personal firearm. It's my duty to maintain my shooting skills, so I'll be ready for any situation."
        According to Israel Police data, citizens were the first responders in 60% of the attacks in Jerusalem during the "lone wolf intifada" of 2015 and 2016. At the same time, Israel's gun laws are much stricter than in the U.S. and its gun culture is very different. (Pluralist)
  • British MP Describes Visit to Liberated Buchenwald - Shai Ben-Ari
    An official report written by British MP Tom Driberg, part of a delegation from Parliament sent in April 1945 by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to examine the newly liberated concentration camps in Europe, has been discovered in the archives of the National Library of Israel. At Buchenwald, he writes, "One half-naked skeleton, tottering painfully along the passage as though on stilts, drew himself up when he saw our party, smiled, and saluted."
        Driberg described seeing a laboratory "with a large number of glass jars containing preserved specimens of human organs." He mentioned "experiments in sterilization" performed on Jews. He and his colleagues were told of "articles made of human skin," collected by Frau Koch, the wife of the German camp commander. One such item which Driberg saw with his own eyes "clearly formed part of a lampshade." Driberg concluded, "The memory of what we saw at Buchenwald will haunt us ineffaceably for many years."  (Jerusalem Post)
  • Eichman Prosecutor Recalls Witness Who Survived Auschwitz Gas Chambers - Yonah Jeremy Bob
    A key witness in the trial of Adolf Eichmann was someone who was a child when he was sent to the gas chambers but escaped death, said Gabriel Bach, former Supreme Court justice, chief investigator and co-prosecutor of the 1961 Eichmann trial. Speaking Wednesday in Jerusalem, he said the witness described entering "the gas chamber with the doors then locked" on him and 250 other children.
        The witness said "a train had arrived with potatoes and there were not enough men to unload" them, so "they took 30 children out of the gas chambers and they unloaded the potatoes" while the other children were gassed to death. The 30 "surviving" children were due to be shot immediately after finishing moving the potatoes. 29 were shot, but an SS man took a liking to one boy and kept him as his ward. "He was the only one who survived," and gave first-hand testimony of the mass murder of Jews from within the gas chambers. (Jerusalem Post)
Observations:

The Palestinian Authority Is about to Lead the World Group of Developing Nations - Eitan Fischberger (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
  • The "Group of 77" (G-77) developing nations is a powerful entity on the UN and the international stage. It is the largest Third World bloc, today numbering 134 member states with 80 percent of the world's population.
  • The "State of Palestine" - the Palestinian Authority - is set to chair the G-77 for a year beginning on January 1, 2019, and will likely use this clout to advance its own political agenda.
  • The Palestinian Authority should not be allowed to chair the group due to incompatibilities between the principles of the G-77 and the laws, policies, and actions of the Palestinian Authority.
  • These incompatibilities are evident when juxtaposing the Palestinian Authority's laws, policies, and actions with some of the fundamental principles of the G-77, as delineated in their 2014 declaration, "For a New World Order for Living Well." These principles include gender equality, improving the practice of democracy, eradication of poverty, and coexistence with the environment.
  • This study's findings show that the Palestinians have violated over two dozen articles of the 2014 declaration.
  • By appointing the Palestinians as chairman, the G-77 is sending a message that abusive, undemocratic, corrupt governance is entirely permissible and even rewarded.
  • The G-77 should immediately annul the Palestinian appointment, and instead elect one of its numerous other members who would be much more suitable for the position. If the Palestinian Authority were to change its method of government to more closely align with the principles of the G-77, their nomination could be reconsidered.
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