UN Geneva Meeting Day 2 More Israel Bashing

The Question of Palestine Conference picked up right where it left off yesterday. Phyllis Starkey, a member of the British Parliament for the Labour Party, spoke about her efforts leading the boycott and sanctions campaign against Israel.  She also praised NGOs that exploit British laws by petitioning courts to issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials for war crimes.  She urged visits to Israel and the Palestinian Authority but not with organizations supportive of the Israeli government. Finally, she endorsed a ban on collaborating in scientific and cultural exchanges with Israelis who live in the West Bank.

Yizhar Beer, Executive Director of the EU-funding Keshev, was next to present.  Keshev works in concert with Palestinian NGO, Miftah that praises female suicide bombers.  It is a common practice of anti-Israel supporters to invite Israelis or Jews on the extreme left to appear at their events in an effort to provide balance and credibility. Beer claimed the Israeli media was guilty of demonization, militancy, and incitement.  He criticized Israeli newspapers for putting on their front pages, images of the destruction caused by Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, and in particular, a strike on a Beer Sheva kindergarten.  He also criticized media outlets for giving care packages to Israeli soldiers.

Phyllis Bennis, a far-left U.S. activist, spoke next.  She attacked the UN Security Council, claiming it should be subservient to the democratic UN General Assembly (which is dominated by Arab, Islamic, and Third World states).  She criticized the US operation to root out Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan but praised the Obama Administration for moving the discourse on the Middle East to a more anti-Israel stance.  She accused Israel of acts of apartheid, aggression, and war crimes and called for a strengthening of the boycott and sanctions campaign.

Nasser Al Laham, Editor of the Palestinian Maan News Agency leveled many unfounded charges against Israel, such as that to Israel, nothing is holy in the Holy Land.  In what was a surprise admission, he said that Hamas has absolute control over civilian life and forces the population to become combatants an admission that calls into question many of the unfounded allegations made against Israel.  Al Laham then launched into an anti-Semitic rant accusing Jews of buying everything and controlling a global machine money. 

The final presenter was Haaretz columnist, Gideon Levy.  Levy argued the only way for Palestinians to end the occupation was through terrible bloodshed, sanctions, or by making Israelis feel uncomfortable.   He generalized about Israeli society calling it immoral.  He  compared Israel to a drug addict that needs to be put in an institution and said rocket attacks on Israeli civilians did not merit military action by Israel.