[ Ed. note – Arguably the refugee crisis in Europe is a direct result of US and Israeli regime change/balkanization policies in the Middle East and North Africa. So how ironic is it that the Jewish National Fund, one of the oldest Zionist organizations in the world, has come forward to offer its “unique knowledge” in an effort to ease the problems brought on by millions of refugees flooding into Europe from war-torn regions like Syria?
“Israel serves as the defensive front line of the Western world against fundamentalist Islamic terrorism,” claims Danny Atar, world chairman of the Jewish National Fund.
One of course wonders whether it’s in reality a “defensive” front line or perhaps more of an “offensive” one. And one might also wonder whether the “Western world” is really as fundamentally “against” fundamentalist Islamic terrorism as it claims, and whether a lot of Western leaders might not be perfectly fine with aforementioned fundamentalism as long as its acts of terror are confined to Syria–a country whose secular government both the US and Israel just happen to want to see overthrown.
The JNF is often referred to these days as the JNF-KKL. This is a splicing together of the English and Hebrew acronyms for the group’s name, although sometimes, as in the article below, the Hebrew acronym is placed first. At any rate, the organization proudly lays claim to having made “the desert bloom” in Occupied Palestine–while its critics have accused it of illegally confiscating Palestinian lands. And now it seems it is entering the European market where it plans to offer its expertise on forest rehabilitation to a certain unnamed country, in the course of which it plans to hire Syrian refugees to plant trees.
And oh yes, as you’ll read below, the JNF views this enterprise as “the Israeli answer to the BDS movement and the delegitimization of Israel.” Presumably the people in this unnamed European country will be so grateful for the new trees they will forget all about the illegal settlements, home demolitions, attacks on Gaza, and the like. ]
Israel’s largest green organisation joins efforts to ease the refugee crisis in Europe…
BRUSSELS (EJP)—In order to help alleviate the refugee crisis in Europe, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael- Jewish National Fund (KKL- JNF), Israel’s largest green organization and the oldest green organization in the world, will provide employment for thousands of Syrian refugees and other refugees who are currently living in Europe and are unemployed by overseeing forest rehabilitation activities in a major refugee absorbing country.
At a meeting with Jewish community leaders in Brussels on Monday, KKL-JNF World Chairman, Danny Atar revealed that KKL-JNF has responded to a major European country’s address for help and will, at a first stage, provide professional management services to a forest rehabilitation project near one of Europe’s capital cities.
“Israel serves as the defensive front line of the Western world against fundamentalist Islamic terrorism,” said Chairman Atar to the Jewish leaders, and stressed that “KKL- JNF has a proven track record of sustainable development that integrates environmental improvement with improving the quality of life of the population in general and immigrant populations and refugees in particular.’’
He added: ‘’We are proud to provide our unique knowledge – which is all blue and white, in order to improve the European and refugees’ quality of life as well as the environment”.
Danny Atar emphasized that ‘’this project and others like it, are the Israeli answer to the BDS (Boycott-DivestmentSanctions) movement and the delegitimization of Israel. Those who promote hate and strife will continue to demonstrate against Israel and, subsequently, against all Western European values. However, we – KKL-JNF and the State of Israel – will continue creating more solutions that will benefit both – the refugees who escaped terror in their own countries and their hosts, the European peoples”.
The KKL-JNF Chairman also mentioned that KKL- JNF is currently examining additional projects that may also prevent the worsening of the refugee crisis in Europe, as well as create employment through sustainable projects in other countries.
He noted that he came to Belgium in order to strengthen the spirit of the local Jewish community in the wake of the horrific terror attacks of last March. After meeting with representatives of youth movements in Belgium and speaking to community leaders, he said he is confident in the strength of the communities and their ties to Judaism and Israel – as a source of inspiration for dealing intelligently and vigorously with the challenges Europe had to face in recent years.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment