Col. Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, made a remarkable statement during his testimony before the United Nations Human Rights Council.

“The IDF,” he said, speaking on behalf of UN-Watch, “did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare” (Oct. 16, 2009).

In fact, he said it twice. Watch his testimony below:

Col. Kemp’s testimony has been largely ignored by mainstream news reporters, but was quoted in an Op-Ed in The New York Times by Robert L. Bernstein, the founder of Human Rights Watch and its chairman emeritus who distanced himself from Human Rights Watch’s Israel-bashing agenda.

Hamas is condemning the United Nations for switching to a new textbook for Gaza eighth-graders that includes a chapter on the Holocaust.

According to an Aug. 31 report by JTA:

In an open letter sent Sunday to the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which runs schools for 200,000 Gazan children, Hamas called the systematic murder of Jews during the Holocaust ‘a lie invented by the Zionists’ and said it would ‘refuse to let our children study’ it.

Moreover, Hamas religious leader Younis al-Astal on Monday “called the teaching of the Holocaust to Palestinian children a ‘war crime’ and the ‘marketing a lie and spreading it,’ ” according to the Associated Press.

An UNRWA spokesman told Reuters that the Holocaust was not part of the current curriculum, and would not comment on any possible changes.

The questions that arise are:

(1) Why didn’t U.N. textbooks include information on the Holocaust BEFORE now? How many years has UNRWA been responsible for providing textbooks to Gaza schoolchildren?

(2) Why wasn’t the Holocaust part of the curriculum before? And why won’t the U.N. take a public position on whether it will be included in the students’ curriculum in the future?

(3) Will any mainstream newspaper report this?

Israeli doctors have saved the life of an 8-year-old Iraqi girl.

According to Nexis , only Ynetnews.com covered this heartwarming story. Why does the mainstream media have no interest in such a human interest story?

The girl, named Alla, was born with several heart defects and was on the verge of death when she arrived in Israel. Iraqi hospitals had been unable to treat her, and Syria, Germany and Italy refused to help, citing citizenship or financial reasons. Doctors say she wouldn’t have survived another two weeks without the surgery. The Israeli hospital is footing the entire bill for her treatment and rehabilitation.

The girl’s mother commented: “When I arrived here I was only concerned about Alla, because they said the surgery is complex and she could die. I knew nothing about the people here or about Israel. The big surprise for me was to see the doctors playing with and warmly treating all the children, regardless of who they are. I am very touched and delighted by this.”

Shevet Achim, the Israeli nonprofit that brought her to Israel, has assisted about 80 other Iraqi children, and Alla is the third Iraqi child brought to Sheba Medical Center in Israel. Doctors in Israel have also treated many Palestinian children and an Iranian child in recent years.

The original article is posted online at ynetnews.com.

– Stephen A. Silver