Testimony of Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch
Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs
House of Representatives, United States Congress
January 25, 2010

Distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. The urgent problem that I wish to address concerns the state of human rights at the United Nations.

Egypt: The American Debate Has Gone Stark, Raving Crazy

February 3, 2011

As I pointed out recently the mass media in America generally presents only one side of the debate nowadays. Then, it publishes nonsense which survives because it is protected from the withering critique it deserves. And even people who should know better are just losing it.

Consider one example (Roger Cohen has gone beyond ridicule so let's focus on someone who should know better). I regret criticizing Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution as he is one of the smarter, saner people.

04 Feb 2011 11:03 AM PST

The genuinely (relatively) moderate Palestinian Daoud Kuttab wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that beautifully shows the kind of thing Israel and Israelis and those friendly to Israel have to deal with daily.

He wrote:

"Palestine television, which falls under the president’s [Mahmoud Abbas's] powers, was totally revamped and cleaned of anti-Israeli incitement."

February 3, 2011

Iran perceives the Egyptian revolution as the direct continuation of the Islamist revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini. In Tehran’s view, the events in Egypt validate Iran’s political doctrine, according to which “true Islam” is the only alternative to the decades-long American hegemony in the Middle East and the path toward independence and the resurrection of the Islamic nations. Iran has stressed the similarities between the two nations and added that the fate of Mubarak will be similar to that of the Shah.

8 February 2011
Although they express admiration, Saudis and Gulf residents have no desire to see the chaos on the streets of Cairo and Tunis repeat itself in the squares of Jeddah and Riyadh. Gulf regimes are autocratic, but they do not engender the type of hatred demonstrated towards Mubarak and Ben Ali, and they do not run police states.

09 February 2011

C.Western Blindness on the Muslim Brotherhood's Extremism is Beyond Ridiculous

Doug Saunders, chief foreign affairs writer for Canada's Globe and Mail, considered the country's best newspaper, writes an article, "Who's Afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood?"

Answer: I am and so is every sensible person.

But I'm also afraid of the Doug Saunders of the world whose blindness is likely to produce disaster. Here's the key section:

Israel Diary – Jeremy Bowen in Wonderland
Ray Cook on February 1st, 2011
I had to laugh at BBC Middle East reporter Jeremy Bowen’s take on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on the BBC News website:

Unlike the jihadis, it does not believe it is at war with the West. It is conservative, relatively moderate and non-violent. But it is highly critical of Western policy in the Middle East.

February 13, 2011
The dramatic fifty-word statement on Feb.11 by Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman announcing that President Mubarak had decided to step down from the office of the President of the Republic and had charged the High Council of the Armed Forces with administering the affairs of the country has raised many questions about the whole procedure, its legality, and its relevance to the Egyptian Constitution.

In fact, the resignation statement does not comply to the formulations of the constitution and in fact is unconstitutional because of the following:

February 12, 2011
Pay close attention. This is an important signal of where the Egyptian regime is going. Tarek Heggy, one of Egypt’s most distinguished intellectuals and a man who, more than anyone else I know, predicted the course of events there, has written an analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It is the best thing on the Brotherhood written recently and I think it reflects what Egypt’s current rulers believe.

14 February 2011

February 16, 2011
The Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Under Field Marshal Tantawi: A Recipe for Revolution or More of the Same?

Egypt is ruled today by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, under the leadership of Field Marshal Muhammad Hussein Tantawi. The country is now ruled under military law, something which the masses did not expect and which does not fit in with the idea of democratic reform.

16 Feb 2011
The Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora affairs in Israel today published its new-improved Hasbara initiative called Faces of Israel.

The plan involves a disparate group of young people representing a cross-section of Israeli society who will travel yo the USA and Canada initially and present a different image of Israel from the usual political, diplomatic and high-prestige personalities who are the norm.

Here is what is proposed:

I never supported settlements. But,the settlement issue is not the major issue between Israel and the Palestinians. The real issue is the "right of return."

Until 1967 there were no settlements in Gaza or the Western bank. Still, the Palestinians rejected 4 opportunities to have a state along Israel because they were against a Jewish state altogether:

1936/7 – the Peel Commission proposed a Jewish and an Arab state to solve the conflict. The Jews agreed – the Palestinians rejected the proposal.

February 21, 2011
It's not clear what role Libya is playing in developments in Tunisia. Mu'ammar Qaddafi, a close friend of deposed Tunisian President Ben Ali, contended that the Ben Ali regime was preferred by the Tunisians.

The elected Tunisian prime minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, is himself a product of the Ben Ali system and his perspective is not assumed to differ from that of his predecessors. The composition of the interim Tunisian government demonstrates the direction the regime has chosen. The new faces in the government are all members of the legal opposition.

22 February 2011

For years, King Abdallah has successfully steered Jordan's ship through the turbulent waters of a tempestuous regional context and a complex economic and social situation within the country. However, the country has not been immune to the wave of unrest sweeping the region following the revolts that toppled President Ben Ali in Tunisia and President Mubarak in Egypt, and the king will have to institute greater and more fundamental reforms in order to maintain the basic pact between the monarchy and the people and to prevent Jordanians from beginning to question the legitimacy of his rule.

Libya, holder of Africa’s largest oil reserves, is the latest Arab nation to be rocked by protests that culminated in the ouster of Tunisia’s president and the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. But, unlike Tunisia, Egypt, and other “orderly” Arab states, any end of Kaddafi’s four-decade rule may not be enough to stabilize the country since Libya has no succession procedure.

A.Media and Middle East: Wow, These People Are Repressive Dictators! Who Knew?
B.Egypt: The Muslim Brotherhood and Democracy: Listen to Those Who Know Best
23 Feb 2011

A.For those of us who have been trying to talk about Middle East dictators for a long time--I wrote my book on the subject, Modern Dictators, more than a quarter-century ago--it is amusing to see how people are lining up to be "horrified" by those evil repressive regimes.

24 February 2011
While the Iranian police are using tear gas and electric prods to crack down on anti-government protesters, the UN Commission on the Status of Women is preparing to welcome the Islamic Republic as its newest member when its 56th session gets under way in New York.

Is Judge Richard Goldstone packing his bag for Tripoli
26 Feb 2011
apparently.

Last week I accused the UNHRC of double-standards for not calling for an enquiry into Gadaffi’s attack on his own citizens.

Today, at last, they have listened to me.

See the UN News centre report here.

The United Nations Human Rights Council today strongly condemned the recent violence in Libya and ordered an international inquiry into alleged abuses, while also recommending that the country’s membership in the UN’s top human rights body be suspended.