Middle East Children's Alliance. What a difference a year makes

You would think the Middle East Children’s Alliance would be concerned about  missing children in the Middle East.

You’d be wrong.

 The Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) is a non-profit organization working for the rights of children in the Middle East , but not if those children are Jews. And not if those children are Israelis.

 Two 16 year olds and a 19 year old have been kidnapped. They have vanished without a trace.  Their families are distraught. Their people have united in prayer. Their government searches for them. And the Middle East Children’s Alliance, who purportedly works for the rights of children  instead dismisses them, dehumanizes them.  To Barbara Lubin’s non-profit, these boys have no names,  no identities. They are missing “settlers”, not even granted the dignity of a name.

To the Middle East Children's Alliance, a 15 year old Palestinian is a "boy", but a 16 year old Jew is a settler. What a difference a year makes.

Never you mind, MECA. Some of us will continue to hope for a world where all children are cherished, regardless of their religion or national origin 

An Open Letter to Ali Abunimah

Ali Abunimah will be on the road again. Locally, he'll be making an appearance at yet another Sabeel conference and at a fundraiser for the Middle East Children's Alliance (rated a 2 star charity because of its lack of accountability and  transparency)

He's been challenged to a debate by a local community activist. Will he meet the challenge?
 
Originally posted at Bluetruth by DrMike

Anti-Israel activists have frequently complained that our Jewish community institutions are not open to hosting their point of view. While I completely support that policy, in the firm belief that doctrinal anti-Zionism is indeed the modern, politically correct form of anti-Semitism, it does reduce the opportunities for members of the pro-Israel community to debate anti-Israel partisans.  It's not that the anti-Zionists are really seeking honest debate; they're happy to get the camel's nose into the tent, as it were, to start undermining those Jewish institutions--especially on campuses. And their typical campus or community events typically feature a panel with an anti-Israel Arab, and then for "balance", an anti-Israel Jew.  But an open, honest, moderated debate between pro- and anti-Israel activists is a rare event.

One of the more prominent members of the American anti-Israel community is Ali Abunimah. Born in Washington DC, educated at Princeton and the University of Chicago, and now a resident of Chicago, Abunimah has written a book called "One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" and now has a new book "The Battle for Justice in Palestine" for which he is embarking on a speaking tour.  He'll be in Berkeley on April 22.

I'm sure that Ali, as a professional writer and speaker, is more than willing to defend his ideas against challenges-- he is undoubtedly ready to justify his support of BDS and of Hamas, and his calls to eliminate the Jewish people's right to national self-determination.  

So, Ali-- let's have a real debate. Not a circus-like event in front of your river-to-the-sea cheering section, but at a legitimate venue, with a moderator acceptable to both of us. Let's debate what is clearly the core of the issue-- the right of the Jewish people to have a state in at least a portion of the historic Jewish homeland. You want to re-litigate the 1947 endorsement by the United Nations of dividing the British Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state? Let's have that discussion, with all of its ramifications. 

The Silence of Their Friends. The Hypocrisy of the Middle East Children's Alliance

International relief organizations are warning of the risk of mass starvation across Syria, with 4 million people at risk.   According to the Moadamiyeh Media Center, six people have died of starvation in recent days- two women and four children ages. 15 other children are in intensive care in clinics, suffering from malnutrition.

From Save the Children UK, from Hunger in a War Zone.

 The devastation caused by the conflict has forced almost 7 million people into poverty.  Deprived of their income and assets, and with food prices rocketing, thousands of parents have been pitched from lives of relative comfort into destitution. While inflation is estimated to be around 50%,  food-price inflation is as high as 100%. impoverished by the conflict and faced with this rampant inflation, 40% of families across seven governorates report that they lack enough food; what used to be a comfortable state salary is now insufficient to buy enough basic food for families in areas like Deir-ez-Zor.

With food so scarce and so expensive, half of an average family’s expenditure is now on on basic food. This is already proving unsustainable for many families. According to one survey, one family in five is spending over a week a month without any food in the house because they cannot afford any.  More and more families are sinking into destitution and debt, selling off what little they still have and sliding nearer the point when they simply cannot feed their children.

"The world has stood and watched as the children of Syria have been shot, shelled and traumatized by the horror of war," said Roger Hearn, Save the Children's regional director for the Middle East. "The conflict has already left thousands of children dead, and is now threatening their means of staying alive."

The witness statements gathered by Save the Children paint a bleak picture of the devastation wrought by the 2 1/2 year long civil war.

• It was very dangerous for me and my children — we had no food and were always hungry. When this hunger had continued for two months and we were very weak, that is when we decided to flee. We realized we would starve if we stayed in Syria. – Roula, mother
• The price of food doubled in my village and we couldn't afford to eat at all. Milk, bread, everything — doubled. The children became very hungry all the time. And with no nutrients, they also became sick. – Jinan, mother of Siba, 3
• Because of a lack of food, my children didn't grow as they should. They started losing weight, and it was all we could do to keep them alive. – Maryam, mother of two

Faced with this colossal  humanitarian crisis, you would expect the  Bay Area  "Human rights" organizations to have mobilized. 

It hasn't happened.

The Middle East Children's Alliance pays scant attention to the plight of Syrian children on their website, instead promoting  its usual unvaried menu of anti-Israel programming 

September 25, 2013 7:00pm Berkeley, CA: "Welcome to Hebron" Film Screening

October 05, 2013  6:30pm - 9:30pm A Cultural Benefit for Children in Palestine Traumatized by War

October 17, 2013  7:00pm - 10:00pm Children's Rights in Palestine & The U.S. as a Dishonest Broker

MECA pays mere lip service to the suffering of the children in Syria. There are no links to the Save the Children Report.  There is no programming to alert the world to the suffering of the children of Syria. There are no protests, no marches, no 10-K runs to raise funds. For MECA,  what defines worthy victims are their perceived oppressors.

There is something fundamentally dishonest about an organization  called the "Middle East Children's Alliance" that can look the other way in the face of such suffering. There is something fundamentally vile about an organization  that picks and chooses its morality based on the racist equation "Can we blame Israel for this?"

Real Children's Art from Gaza

An exhibit of children's art from Gaza is currently on exhibit in London, at the London Muslim Centre.

A photo essay of the art is shown at the UK's "Guardian"






"Gaza's children reveal their hopes and fears – in pictures
The children of al-Zarqa, one of the Gaza Strip's poorest areas, have been affected by a conflict outside their control. An exhibition of drawings made by primary school children from the area, which was damaged during a three-week military assault in 2009, is on show in Whitechapel. It highlights a collective yearning for a clean, safe neighbourhood"


So, does anyone remember the controversial Gaza art exhibit "A child's view of Gaza" from Oakland of last year?

Part of the controversay was, well, the drawings seemed rather, professional.
From FresnoZionism:



".....The Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) claims that the pictures were drawn by children from 9 to 11 years of age. That’s nonsense. Look at the drawing above. Note how the viewer’s eye is drawn to the slightly off-center focal point, the child cowering in the corner, the suggestion of despair evoked by the black shading around him. Look at the effective representation of the soldier’s face with a few strokes. Look at the sureness of the lines, the bold strokes. Whoever drew this was either an adult artist or a remarkable prodigy, sophisticated both artistically and politically."





"The paintings (color drawings) are highly sophisticated especially in relationship to detail. Did you see the barbed wire? Also, there is a carefully drawn Star of David in each work. The authenticity of the painting is remarkable for a child’s hand. The drawing of the planes and helicopters, the man in the tower, the dynamic brushstrokes that are well conceived and controlled all seem to project a more mature approach to art. Could these “children” be in their late teens, college age, or young adults [MECA says they were 9 to 11 years old]? According to the the quote, “much of the artwork was produced by children.” I wonder how “much”? Also, it is possible that the “children” were directed by an adult who supervised and perhaps completed the initial drawing."

Artist and teacher Juniper in the Desert commented...

"As an artist and teacher I can safely say... They are faked to look like children, but the detail is too pointed and expert - the helicopters for instance. The proportions and stance of the woman and child are a creation of a professional. The boot and flag, the lines are not those of a child.?"





And the Elder of Ziyon pointed outremarkable resemblances between the "children's art" and American anti-Israel propaganda posters.

An artist commenting ay the Elder's site writes: :

"I've been an avocational artist my entire life and have some experience with the styles of amateurs. The sureness of the color application -- especially in the dense, complicated scenes (which are obviously all done by the same person) -- is at variance with the primitive (faux-primitve, frankly) nature of the sketching. It's the use of color especially that gives it away to me as the product of an older person. But the complexity of the composition in the big scenes is uncharacteristic of 9-11-year-olds as well. Certainly the politicized content is atypical.

The sureness of stroke in these pictures is something you almost never find from a very young artist. The biggest giveaway I see in this regard is not actually in the complex, refined drawings, but in the more primitive ones. For example, the confidence with which the concertina wire is sketched in, in one of the primitive crayon drawings, is just not characteristic of the young. I was accounted an exceptional artist in my K-12 years, and I couldn't have achieved that confident, bold, rapid-stroking effect until I was at least 16. It's one of the hardest things to do, and you really do lack the coordination and focus for it when you're younger. A kid would draw that laboriously, with a lot of short, stubby strokes strung together -- or he would simply achieve a cruder, less symmetrical and more tentative effect."

Compare and contrast the drawings exhibited in London, with those from the controversial MECA exhibit. Do you really still believe that the Middle east children's Alliance drawings were made by children?

Barbara Lubin: Hamas destroys Palestinians Houses in Gaza

Its a 'flying pigs" moment.
Dozens of homes in Gaza were destroyed by Hamas last week, and the world was silent. Until now.

The latest missive from Barbara Lubin of the Middle east Children's Alliance (MECA) is entitled In Gaza, 61 families lost their homes this week. It does take Barbara 4 full paragraphs before she admits that Israel wasn't responsible for the destruction. But for the truth impaired activist, this represents a sea change.

Way to go, Barbara

She writes

"The problem was that the government (not the Israeli Government, the government in Gaza) was demanding that all 61 families move out of their homes in 3 days but the families refused saying that they had lived next to the sea in their homes for 63 years. But they were willing to discuss this as long as the government found housing for all of them near to the sea.

This morning without any more discussion about 100 male and female police officers came to tell the families that they had 1 hour to get all their belongings out of their homes because they were going to demolish the houses. Dr. Mona and I ran down to the homes and pushed our way through the police and the onlookers and found our friend and her family. Everyone begged me to take pictures but the police made it clear that they would take away anyone's camera if they caught them taking photos.

I did get some pictures without being seen [the photos are too large to send via internet from Gaza but we will post them when Barbara returns to the US] and I called Dennis Bernstein at KPFA and talked to him which was pretty difficult because the police kept coming over and threatening Mona and me and all the men, women and children around us and shoving us with their bully clubs. People were screaming and crying. Everyone was going into their homes and carrying out whatever they could. An old man probably around my age (70) just sat in front of his candy store staring out in disbelief.

Mona and I stayed as long as we could unable to stop what was going on, begging the government stormtroopers to stop this nightmare and let us help with some kind of negotiation to deal with the situation, at least to figure out where the families were going to stay. But no all they did was push all of us around and give the peoples a few more minutes to get what they could out of their homes and then they started to threaten Mona and me with arrest and jail. As Mona and I ran from the scene I turned around only to see the enormous earth movers start leveling the homes..."

She continues....

"It is late, Mona and I are exhausted. We have just come home from the Mosque (one of about 15 enormous mosques that have recently been built, some right on the beach near the fishermen's homes) where the families are sitting women and children in one room and men in another. Some of the men have built a huge bonfire outside and are sitting and standing in front of it trying to stay warm."


Stop the presses. The Gaza we've heard about from MECA, and other anti-Israel advocacy groups is under siege. No construction is allowed. How ever were 15 enormous mosques contructed?

Tumbleweed and driftwood, maybe?

Applauses, Barbara, for your new found ability to speak truth. I look forward to more of it.

Censoring Childrens Art from Gaza: MECA does it to themselves

Thanks, Younger Of Zion, for the photo.


Here it is, a bit closer

The Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), sponsors of the "Children's" art from Gaza, have chosen to restrict access to their exhibit. Their signage states "We reserve the right to refuse entry to those who do not support the showing of Palestinian children's art and "A Child's view from Gaza". There is also documentation of people turned away at the door by the MECA thought police, though there are additional reports that a token Zionist was allowed entry.

There seems to be no limit to the hypocrisy of the Middle East Children's alliance. They've stated "For 23 years, MECA has been a witness to how organizations like the Jewish Community Relations Council and Jewish Federation can intimidate groups and individuals who try to present the reality and perspectives of Palestinians.", concealing their own involvement in the intimidation of the Jewish community- through the coordinated interruption of Jewish community events. Barbara Lubin, the director of MECA was arrested 3 years ago at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, for terrorizing participants attending classes given in honor of Israel's 60the anniversary. Eleven years ago, Barbara Lubin accomplished her goal of shutting down alternative voices and physically prevented BenyaminNetanyahu from speaking to a capacity crowd in Berkeley.

The Middle east Children's Alliance have become the Bay area thought police.


Photo from BayCitizen

Oh, yes. Here we have living proof that adults take advantage of children and falsify their art to further their political agenda.

MECA: The Middle East Childrens Alliance. Fanning the Flames of Conflict

Middle East Children´s Alliance (MECA) and its founder Barbara Lubin have dedicated considerable time and energy since 1988 demonizing the only Jewish state in the world.

From NGO Monitor:

According to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) website, “[t]he Middle East Children’s Alliance is the fiscal sponsor for ISM-USA.” Donations for ISM’s campaign to “interfere with the construction of the annexation barrier” can be made to “MECA (ISM-USA Fund).”
MECA organizes delegations to “Palestine/Israel” where participants can “witness the impact of the Israeli occupation and…learn about refugees, land confiscation, political prisoners…” Trip highlights include learning “about the origins of the Palestinian refugees and the Right of Return, and how it can be implemented” (emphasis added).
MECA founder and Executive Director Barbara Lubin wrote “I think that the Jewish State is racist to the core.” Lupin refers to the 1948 “ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population” and wrote that “[t]he concept of ‘Jewish morality’ is truly dead. We can be fascists, terrorists, and Nazis just like everybody else.”
In an interview, MECA Director of Gaza Projects, Dr. Mona El-Farra, explained that MECA refused USAID funding because it came with the condition that they promise “not [to] give any help or any aid whatsoever for the families of the militiamen, or their relatives, or anyone related to ‘terrorist attacks’” because “we consider it resistance” (emphasis added).
MECA raised funds for British MP George Galloway’s “Viva Palestine” convoy “following the massacre in Gaza.”
Partners include pro-Palestinian groups such as Addameer, Badil, the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, Bat Shalom, and Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP). Also partners with the Lajee Center, which refers to the “Israeli regime of Apartheid, colonization, and belligerent occupation.”

Its hard to ignore the hypocrisy of Barbara Lubin, currently whimpering "censorship" to anyone who will listen. The founder and executive director of MECA cut her activist teeth censoring others free speech. She was an organizer of a campaign to prevent Benyamin Netanyahu from speaking in Berkeley, nearly 11 years ago. Protesters, lead by Lubin forced the cancellation of a speech by Netanyahu, leading Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean to declare "We must never, ever forget that Free Speech is for everyone, not just the politically correct."

From Sf Gate:

"Never in America have I waited, and been turned away from a paid lecture that was unofficially canceled by a mob shouting accusations at me," wrote ticket-holder Judy Norris. "Harassed, hassled, with accusations shouted at me and my friend, as though we were Uzi-carrying slayers of children, we, two quiet ladies from Moraga . . . wanted to hear both sides of the issue."

Yep. Thats Barbara Lubin and MECA.

Barbara Lubin also organized a disruption of the San Francisco Jewish Community Center four years ago, terrorizing the seniors, children and others who came to use the JCC’s services. Her justification? There were classes being held at the community center to commemorate Israel's 60th anniversary. Barbara and over a dozen "activists" were subsequently arrested for their 2 1/2 hour rampage.

Given the reputation and history of Barbara Lubin and MECA, her statement "For 23 years, MECA has been a witness to how pro-Israel organizations can intimidate groups and individuals " rings hollow. In truth, for years, the pro-Israel community has been a witness to Barbara and her followers resorting to lies, bullying and veritable temper tantrums, in an effort to stifle their opposition. The situation at the Museum of Childrens Art is just a continuation .

An Open Letter from MOCHA: The Museum of Childrens Art in Oakland

After much discussion and introspection the board of the Museum of Children's art cancelled the proposed exhibit of "art" from Gaza. Their explanation follows:


September 12, 2011

Open letter to the MOCHA community:

The Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) was founded as a place where children from all backgrounds could come together to make and celebrate art. MOCHA provides a safe place for children to express themselves through art, and produces programs that are intended to foster insight and understanding.
Our gallery is a multiuse space. Every week, hundreds of children utilize the space for drop-in art, school field trips, birthday parties, camps, and other events. Most children that visit MOCHA are between the ages of 5 and 9, and many children enter our gallery without the supervision of their parents.
With the exhibit A Child’s View from Gaza it was our intent, as it is with all our exhibits, to foster insight and understanding. We understand that, sadly, violence is a part of many children’s lives, and we remain committed to showing artwork that depicts the diverse realties of childhood across the world.
However, as an organization that serves a large and diverse community, we tried to balance this with the concerns raised by parents, caregivers and educators who did not wish for their children to encounter graphically violent and sensitive works during their use of our facility. MOCHA is a facility that must be accessible for our entire community. Although we worked to develop a way to separate the most violent images in the exhibit from our main studio spaces, we ultimately came to the conclusion that MOCHA is not currently set up to effectively accomplish this.
Recognizing this, the MOCHA Board of Directors decided to cancel this exhibit. It is important to note this was not a judgment of the art itself or related to any political opinions. The Board determined that MOCHA simply did not have the space or staffing to accommodate the exhibit in a way that both respected the gravity of the material and our mission to serve all children.
We regret that we did not make this determination earlier. Our next step will be to thoroughly evaluate our exhibit policy so that we can ensure all exhibits—including those of a violent or sensitive nature—are handled in a way that promotes constructive dialogue and ensures that children and adults of all backgrounds feel comfortable visiting MOCHA. We will be developing this policy in the next month, and will then invite all of our partner organizations, including the sponsors of A Child’s View from Gaza the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) to participate in our exhibits in keeping with this policy.
This experience has reminded us, yet again, of the power of children’s voices and visions and of the unique role that art can play in our community. We remain committed to ensuring that art, in all its forms, remains a vibrant part of our lives.

Respectfully,

Hilmon Sorey
Chair, MOCHA Board of Directors
board@mocha.org

Middle East Childrens Alliance Silent on the Death of Middle East Children

Three beautiful children were savagely and brutally knifed to death, while they lay sleeping. The youngest, a newborn, had her throat slit. An older brother was stabbed in the heart. You would think the world would speak out in unison against this horror, yet that hasn't been happening. The Red/Green alliance dismisses the murders, calling the young Fogel family " settlers", as if that, as if anything could justify the deaths. Exploring the blogsphere, you read all sorts of rationale for their death. (Thai workers? Mossad? Settler on settler violence? Anything but the most likely scenario.)

I just visited the website of MECA for Peace, the Middle East Children's alliance. I was anxious to see what they would say about the deaths of these three children in the Middle East. Would the violence be condemned? Would it be justified and dismissed, as we've seen elsewhere? The answer: there was absolutely nothing written. Silence. An organization that claims to "address the terrible harm done to children in the Middle East" has been silent on the deaths of Hadas Fogel, 3 months old, Yoav , 11 years old, and Elad, 4. Why is it Barbara Lubin, that the Fogel children were ignored? Is it because they were Jews?

Nearly 20,000 mourners attended the funeral for the Fogel children, and their parents Udi and Ruth. In his eulogy, Minister Moshe Ya'alon attacked the Palestinian Authority over its anti-Israel incitement. "The murderers, if they'll be jailed, will be recognized as heroes and they will be honored by (Palestinian) schools. Such acts are routine with our neighbors". Rabbi Yona Metzger added "Today there in no Right, there is no Left; there isn't a Jewish heart that isn't bleeding tears of anguish." Perhaps the only answer to MECA's silence is that Barbara Lubin lacks a Jewish heart.