Elder of Ziyon has a piece on the latest UN report on poverty in countries around the world. This “Multidimensional Poverty Index” is arrived at by studying health, education, and the standard of living, based on ten weighted indicators. It turns out that in the “State of Palestine,” there is less poverty than in more than one hundred other countries.
We were once assured, just after 9/11/2001, that terrorism was a function of poverty. Alberto Abadie, a researcher for the National Bureau of Economic Research, in 2005 published the first detailed study of the relationship of poverty to terrorism, demonstrating that the incidence of terrorism was the same in poor as in rich countries. Others then pointed out that the most famous terrorist in the world, Osama bin Laden, was the multi-millionaire son of a billionaire; that Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, was a well-off doctor from one of the most prominent Egyptian families; his mother was related to Azzam Pasha, the Secretary-General of the Arab League and his wife, Azza Nowair, was from one of the richest Egyptian families; that Mohamed Atta was from an upper middle-class family; that Nidal Hassan was a doctor in the American army earning $90,000 a year; that Maher “Mike” Hawash had been earning $300,000 a year as an Intel engineer; that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called “underwear bomber,” was the son of one of the richest men in Nigeria. And there are many more examples of millionaire Muslim terrorists.
Now the UN Multidimensional Poverty Index makes clear that the incidence of terrorism by nation is unrelated to poverty. It turns out that there very little or no terrorism in the 100-odd countries whose people are poorer, and in some cases, much poorer (see Niger, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Chad) than the Palestinians. There must be some other explanation for the Palestinians having the highest incidence of terrorism in the world. Might it have something to do with Islam? More on this just-released UN study of “multidimensional poverty” can be found here: “‘Palestine’ ranks better than most countries in ‘multidimensional poverty’ and ‘human development index,’” Elder of Ziyon, April 2, 2023:
The UN Human Development Reports of the UN Development Program defines a “Multidimensional Poverty Index” (MPI.)
The MPI looks beyond income to understand how people experience poverty in multiple and simultaneous ways. It identifies how people are being left behind across three key dimensions: health, education and standard of living, comprising 10 indicators. People who experience deprivation in at least one third of these weighted indicators fall into the category of multidimensionally poor.
The MPI score is based on these metrics:
How do Palestinians do?
While Western nations are not listed in this chart, the Palestinians are shown to be in far better shape than over 100 countries that are listed. I call out some of them.
Anti-Israel activists like to pretend that Palestinians have “no choice” but to turn to terror, and one of the reasons they like to trot out is how impoverished they are.
If that was the case, then why are we not seeing the same support for terror in the 100 countries who have a higher poverty score than they do?
Until COVID, Palestinians had also been steadily getting better scores every year in UNDP’s Human Development Index, but even after a brief setback they are ranked “high” in various metrics….
If the Palestinians are doing this well, think of how much better they would be doing if only they did not suffer from colossal corruption by their leaders. Just two leaders of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal and Mousa bin Marzouk, have each managed to help themselves to $2.5 billion from the aid donors intended to be provided to the people of Gaza. And in the West Bank, President-for-Life Mahmoud Abbas has, with his sons Tarek and Yasser, managed to accumulate a family fortune of $400 million. And both in Gaza and in the Palestinian Authority, hundreds of loyalists of the top leaders have been allowed to help themselves as well to a few million dollars apiece. It adds up. A billion here, and a billion there, and as Senator Everett Dirksen famously said, it begins to add up “to real money.”
But say this for the Palestinians: they have managed to convince almost everyone that the world owes them a living. Though they are far richer than many others, they continue to receive billions of dollars in aid from donors who give both directly to the Palestinian Authority, and indirectly, through UNRWA. Unlike people in 100 other countries, who never know what the next year’s national income will look like, the Palestinians can always count on billions in aid, year after year. Only the “State of Palestine” is in that position. Not Niger, not Chad, not Ethiopia or India or Jamaica. Only “Palestine” — uber alles.
The money trickles down mingled with blood.
Shame on Western nations for giving their taxpayers hard-earned money to known terrorists! Charity is supposed to begin at home.
Could the reason for this be he West’s hatred of Israel? Are they hoping the Arabs will wipe pesky Israel off the map as they are threatening to do? Shame!
Kind of like what the Eco-Freaks do over endangered Polar Bears which as Not Endangered
Arafat’s widow is sitting on billions of dollars and refused to give one dime to the people it was meant for.
The fakestinians need these billions in welfare so they can dedicate full time to building rockets, IEDs, and suicide vests.
Don’t bother them, they are busy with the “resistance”. In the meantime, the west is happily busy with its role of sucker.
” In the meantime, the west is happily busy with its role of sucker.”
Certainly, the role of “sucker” played by America can be applied to a number of client states,including Apartheid Israel.While the American tax payer is among the most generous in the world,the Jewish lobby is among the most powerful of lobbies,and uses fund raising to pay politicians for political “favors”,favoring Zionist Israel,while the other countries rely on their “begging bowl”. Hopefully,the American taxpayer realizes some gain from both,in conscience and/or global strategy. Just sayin’.
The correct word is theft and extortion, not donation.
“The ‘Poor’ Palestinians Are Not So Poor”
The arrogance of the Occupier.,the Colonizer,the Apartheid Zionist Oppressor.
You would think that a People,like the Jews,who have been victimized,arguably second to none, over time and place,would know better than to put into quotation marks “Poor”, to describe the conditions of victimization and misery the Palestinian People inhabit and have suffered at the hands of Jews,themselves.
We are not talking about a corrupt regime,here,but a People,composed of mainly women and children. It’s not enough they suffer the arrogance of their own corrupt officials,they suffer the arrogance and power of an arrogant and brutal Jewish Occupier.
As to to the millions of “poor” Jews who perished in the Death Camps,including women and children,well, how does it feel to see them in Quotation marks? Hurtful,isn’t it? Disgusting, isn’t it? Evil,isn’t it? Just askin’.
A little of the Golden Rule goes a long way,even for FPM. Just sayin’.
Part 1
“The arrogance of the Occupier.,the Colonizer,the Apartheid Zionist Oppressor.”
The arrogance of the word-salad using, genocide-defending liar.
PS : if you wish to be taken seriously, stop misusing the term “Apartheid.” Israel is not and has never been guilty of it. As you’d know if you bothered studying the actual Apartheid.
In the meantime, “Falestinian Society” has oppressed and murdered itself far more than it has been oppressed by others, worshipping genocidal Fascists like Arafat and the al-Husseinis as idols.
“You would think that a People,like the Jews,who have been victimized,arguably second to none, over time and place,would know better than to put into quotation marks “Poor”, to describe the conditions of victimization and misery the Palestinian People inhabit and have suffered at the hands of Jews,themselves.”
They do know better. Which is what inconveniences Fascist shills like you.
Part 2
It points to the utter, complete, indefensible evil and hypocrisy of the “Falestinian Leadership” , those leaders of the “Falestinian People”, who claim to be serving their people and God but who persecute their own, wage genocidal war against Israelis of every stripe (Jewish and not), and who are avowed enemies of Christ, as the history of the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem show.
In many ways they are far worse than the Herodians. And we know how they ended up, don’t we?
Well, correction: *I* and those of us who bother knowing a whit of the scripture and history know how they ended up. Whether you do is anybody’s guess.
There’s an old legal saying. When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When the law is on your side, pound the law. When neither is on your side, pound the table.
This deflection of yours is a feeble attempt to pound the table to avoid the utterly harsh but thoroughly just judgement it casts on Arafat, on al-Husseini, on Abbas, and all those – “Christian” or not – who supported them while selling their souls cheaply.
Part 3
“We are not talking about a corrupt regime,here, but a People,composed of mainly women and children.”
No, we absolutely are talking about a regime here. One so monstrous that it merely being corrupt would be a blessing, and whose ultimate plans would make ACTUAL APARTHEID *BETTER*, GIVEN THEIR GOAL OF GENOCIDE.
One that has intentionally worked to create and sustain a population of women,, children, and young men with no future except hatred through eugenics, weaponized pro-natal policies, and totalitarian propaganda. But while the totalitarian leadership shaped their society and history, it is ultimately kept in place by those who tolerate its evil, in much the same way the Herodians and the Roman Yoke were.
Except even the Romans and Herod did not make suicidal attacks using children a part of their military doctrine.
” It’s not enough they suffer the arrogance of their own corrupt officials,they suffer the arrogance and power of an arrogant and brutal Jewish Occupier.”
So “arrogant and brutal” that actual new Falestinian Converts to Christianity often flee to Israeli territory to avoid being murdered by their governments while their so-called co-religionists DO NOTHING BUT IN FACT EMBRACE THE PERSECUTORS. And you wonder why I have no patience for your nonsense?
Part 4
“As to to the millions of “poor” Jews who perished in the Death Camps,including women and children,well, how does it feel to see them in Quotation marks? Hurtful,isn’t it? Disgusting, isn’t it? Evil,isn’t it? Just askin’.”
No, you’re not “just asking.” You are lying, like you constantly do.
As for how it feels? It does absolutely nothing to help your case. Indeed, it completely and utterly reveals the evilness of your actions and the immoral heart you possess. Especially since even the worst actions by the Israelis (and I can lecture A LOT about things like racist spree killings by Haganah members or the misadventures of the Stern Gang) did not amount to a coordinated, premeditated plan for genocide.
In contrast, the plan laid out by the al-Husseinis was (indeed, they were active co-conspirators with Hitler), and was taken up by Arafat and Abbas. It is no coincidence they partnered with Nazi groups to pull off things like the Munich Massacre.
Part 5
“A little of the Golden Rule goes a long way,even for FPM. Just sayin’.”
Funny you mention that.
The Golden Rule is not a suicide pact. It is not an invitation to ignore judgement when it is due. It is not the demand that one lie down and sacrifice the lives of oneself and one’s family to irrational, genocidal hatred. It is a call to be merciful in victory, as the Israelis have and the Falestinians have not. And it is something that most “Falestinian Christians” need to learn, judging from the regimes they accept.
Especially since the Golden Rule is a natural corollary to the Old Testament’s view of murderers. That those who would unjustly shed the blood of the innocent deserve to have their own blood shed.
Perhaps YOU are the one who needs to learn the Golden Rule and ask yourself: How many times have you or the “Falestinian Christians” said that the Israelis would be justified to assassinate Abbas and other terrorist leaders for things such as sanctioning the stabbing deaths of children or bomb blasts in schools, of perfidiously breaking peaces and of engaging in ethnic cleansing and genocide?
WTH are you even talking about?
Guess the US can stop paying the Palestinians every year.
Corruption is a scourge,that is like an endemic,embedded,chronic disease that drains the confidence,humanity,and will of a people.There is no country free of corruption,but where rule of law,good governance,and strong Institutions prevail,it is not crippling,rather controlled.Like social services/welfare fraud,it may be the price we pay for public services and bureaucracy..
Africa,the Arab countries,Central and South American regions suffer terribly from corruption.Corruption is top down,and at the lower levels the motive is more often survival,at the expense of more vulnerable citizens.
We witnessed in the Arab Spring that citizens can live under the pressing burden of corruption for decades,and the lengths such regimes will go to protect their privilege,they simply get shot down in the streets by their Police/Army.
Countries in sever economic distress,ie Failed/Flawed States,that apply to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for assistance often impose near crippling conditions to bail them out and set them straight,and one of these conditions is to clamp down on corruption.
Part 1
“Corruption is a scourge,that is like an endemic,embedded,chronic disease that drains the confidence,humanity,and will of a people.”
To hell with “a people.” Corruption is a blight on the soul of the individual. That is where it is most important. It spreads outwards from those that either partake in it or willingly tolerate and embrace it. Though frankly even that would be too much. Corruption is in many ways one of the lesser problems dealing with Falestinian Society and the Falestinian people, and a symptom of greater problems of tyranny, fanaticism, and totalitarian rule. Of mortal men usurping God-Given Rights and oppressing their brothers.
“There is no country free of corruption,but where rule of law,good governance,and strong Institutions prevail,it is not crippling,rather controlled.Like social services/welfare fraud,it may be the price we pay for public services and bureaucracy..”
That is correct. Now, let us ask: WHY do such conditions not endure in the Falestinian Territories, or places like the self-governing “Refugee Camps” where their authorities take place?
Blaming Jewish or Israeli Occupation is simply stupid and counterfactual.
Part 2
“Africa,the Arab countries,Central and South American regions suffer terribly from corruption.”
Which brings us to the question of Why. It certainly hasn’t been universally true.
“Corruption is top down,and at the lower levels the motive is more often survival,at the expense of more vulnerable citizens.”
The problem is that corruption is not merely top down, but also bottom up. Any serious sociological study of corruption has to address that fact. As the Bible teaches us that The Baptist told to some wayward, conflicted soldiers. One may not be able to fix systems of corruption overnight, and still less the fallen nature of humanity, but one can take a stand and refuse to partake in its evil.
Part 3
“We witnessed in the Arab Spring that citizens can live under the pressing burden of corruption for decades,and the lengths such regimes will go to protect their privilege,they simply get shot down in the streets by their Police/Army.”
But even when that did happen we often saw the turn to totalitarian leaders. Mubarak was thrown out to be replaced by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, who sought to create a totalitarian theocracy. Who were then overthrown for the more “moderate” Military dictatorship when most Egyptians realized they had no stomach for it. And yet the society remained poisoned by corruption, oppression, and grotesque indignity to fellow man, especially Christians.
In many ways, they were all different facets of the same demonic gem. Different sides of the same coin.
“Countries in sever economic distress,ie Failed/Flawed States,that apply to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for assistance often impose near crippling conditions to bail them out and set them straight,and one of these conditions is to clamp down on corruption.”
And how often that does not actually manifest! Especially in the Falestinian territories.
Yea, Egyptians had an opportunity,and I think made the wrong choice.But we have examples,eg Sudan,Zimbabwe,where the military would not step aside anyway,and relinquish their power,so it may not have made the difference we think. So far,only Tunisia has had some limited success,here,but that is tenuous,and fragile.There are so many factors at work.
Most countries with high rates of corruption are under severe stress,anyway,and until those crippling stressors are addressed,corruption will persist. Failed states fail for reasons that may not be apparent,except in the context of their various histories.Books have been written on why States,even Democracies, fail/fall.If we can’t be sympathetic,at least we can try to be understanding.
I bet there is some way to freeze or confiscate the money. It could be done if our leaders had the will/courage.
Why would Abas sit in the west bank with a billion in the bank? Retire, move to Tahiti, get out of that toilet. It doesn’t make sense to have all that money and keep working for anyone!
U.S. politicians could heed this message. If you are worth millions and over 50, why do politics instead of enjoying your life? Must be a mental problem with these people.
Are not the Allaha-hu Akbar attacks public demonstrations that Islamic charity proceeds are expended in the manner intended?
Those who label Israel as an “Apartheid State” simply have NO IDEA what Apartheid means.
“Those who label Israel as an “Apartheid State” simply have NO IDEA what Apartheid means.”
South Africa calls for Israel to be declared an ‘apartheid state’. Think about it.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/26/south-africa-calls-for-israels-proscription-as-apartheid-state
You have to be rich to afford bomb making materials