Something to think about whenthe ghosts and goblins appear on Halloween

I remember doing it myself as a child... trick or treating for UNICEF. It all seemed to right... collect pennies, nickels and dimes for such a good cause. The website sure makes it sound good.

We are such saps. But in the new Info Age, we are more able to "follow the money". And the money trail from UNICEF leads to, among others causes that are genuinely noble, the “Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation”.

Per Dave Kopel in his National Review article, "Tricked by UNICEF":

UNICEF is the primary funder for the “Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation” (PYALARA), which UNICEF calls “a major strategic partner in Palestine.” Materials produced by the group are frequently used in schools operated by UNICEF.

PYALARA publishes a 16-page newspaper for young people, The Youth Times (TYT). It is distributed at Palestinian universities, colleges, community centers, and in the many U.N.-operated schools in Palestinian areas.

The organization claims that its mission is “expanding awareness of one’s roots and identity, environment and culture, as well as of other countries and the world at large.” Yet PYALARA’s products follow the typical line of terrorist propaganda, in which nothing is the fault of the Palestinians, everything is the fault of the Jews, and there is never any effort to consider the merits of Israel’s position on anything.

One such example is the glorification of Abu Ali Mustafa, following the lines of praise found here at the Abualimustafa.org site. Mustafa, best known as one of the founding fathers of the PFLP (along with the more prominent George Habas) and a member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, might be best remembered for his leadership of the PFLP with one word... Entebbe.

Mustafa found safe haven from Israeli eyes after slaughters in Ben Gurion airport and other in the usual suspects... Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Until Israel found him back in his homeland with a well-placed missile attack in 2001, that is...

From the Mustafa.org site:

Abu Ali asserted that "we believe that the Palestinian people, both in the Diaspora and under occupation, have the right to struggle using all means, including the armed struggle, because we believe that the conflict is the constant, while the means and tactics are the variables." Because of its ideology of confronting Israeli occupation and terrorism with armed resistance, the PFLP has been listed by the U.S. government as a "terrorist organization."

Rest in peace, Abu Ali Mustafa... the struggle will continue.

Now that we know who Mustafa was, and his fan base's intents to carry on the violent struggle, back to the childrens' books by the UNICEF funded PYALARA.

So what did the UNICEF-funded PYALARA have to tell young people about the terrorist mastermind Abu Ali Mustafa? That he was “a political leader...whose history prides his nationalistic activism.” Mourning the death of the terrorist, the magazine whined “this is a human being who has a family that awaits his arrival every day.” Sympathy would have been better directed to the many innocents who were murdered at Mustafa’s direction.

Then, in a lie typical of the Palestinian propaganda press, the PYALARA claimed “the Israelis could have turned to Abu Ali Mustafa to talk peace if peace were what they truly wanted.” In truth, Mustafa was always an adamant foe of negotiations, opposed even to Arafat’s strategy of going through the motions of peace negotiations in order to distract attention from his devotion for war.

Doing a bit more outside reading on PYALARA, I found that UNICEF is deeply involved helping give Palestinian adolescents their "voice". From an Oxford Refugee Studies Centre report:

However, our own research with participants in youth-led initiatives in the West Bank and Gaza strongly suggested that such activities may offer a valuable channel for frustrations.

For example, participants in the computer project of al-Muntada in Gaza make a direct
connection between their psychosocial wellbeing and the opportunity to engage in a participatory project that has real meaning for them:

"Our mental health has improved. We now have the capacity to be able to give a new image of Palestine to the world. The world thinks we are backward and chaotic. America thinks it is better than us, but we can do things: we can handle advanced knowledge, we can be scientific, we can organise ourselves - we're not chaotic. By increasing our skills we can become more capable of fighting the occupation with our minds."

Furthermore, as a founding member of PYALARA reflected:

PYALARA has given me motivation to move ahead in life, to go on in spite of the frustrations and to make a difference to society. At the start of (al-Aqsa) Intifada when Mohammed al-Dura was killed,31 we did a brainstorming and realised that most young people are unable to express themselves and that this leads to explosion. I want to spread the word that youth can do something.

Using the anti-Israel/anti-US curriculum as a base, PYALARA programmes heavily focus on creating future journalists. This way they'll have ample skills to voice and perpetuate their hatred to upcoming youth... all courtesy of UNICEF funding.

If that isn't enough chutzpah, UNICEF requested $28.5 million from the US in June 2007 to meet the health, educational, and adolescent needs of the Palestinian children. If this is indicative of the education provided... nurturing future jihadists by instilling hatred for Jews and the US ... then I suggest we find another way to provide an education to the future Palestinian generations. Because UNICEF is not doing us any favors.

So... when the ghosts and goblin knock on your door this Halloween, you may want to provide the treats, but don't get tricked by the pleas for UNICEF donations by unsuspecting dupes... at least not until they stop funding groups glorifying terrorists.