Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/17/2014

A Malaysian jetliner en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in the eastern part of Ukraine, killing all 295 people on board, more than half of whom were Dutch nationals. The US government revealed that satellite data indicate that a surface-to-air missile brought down the plane. The Ukrainian government blamed the pro-Russian separatists in the area where the jet crashed, but a spokesman for the rebels denied that they were responsible.

In other news, Israel has commenced its long-expected ground operation in Gaza, entering the areas closest to the border to find and destroy the tunnels that allow the infiltration of terrorists into Israel.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Kitman, MC, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Italian Inflation Drops to 0.3%, Lowest Since 2009
 
USA
» Man Sets House Afire Trying to Kill Spider With Lighter, Spray Paint
» Union Reports Tentative Deal to Avert L.I.R.R. Strike
 
Europe and the EU
» Britain’s Top Selling Newspaper the Sun is Stirring Up the Anti-Israel Frenzy
» Czech Republic: New Mosque Opens Without Much Fanfare
» Italy: Priest Arrested for Drug Pushing at ‘Cocaine Party’
» Italy: Stalemate on EU Posts, Renzi Stands Firm on Mogherini
» UK: I’ll Never Vote for Them Again, Says Teacher Who Lost Job for Backing Gove at Tory Conference
» UK: Kincora: ‘Highest Profile People Connected to Abuse’ Claim
» UK: Nick Clegg Today Lashed Out at Tory Plans to Curtail Human Rights Laws, Claiming David Cameron’s Dramatic Reshuffle Was Proof ‘The Headbangers Have Won’.
» UK: Newport School in Leyton ‘Ditches Ramadan Rest Policy’
» UK: Police Investigate Kent and London Mosque Visits
» UK: Plans to Expand Stockport Mosque Dropped After Backlash From Residents
» UK: Tesco Apologises After Muslim Checkout Worker Refused to Sell Customer Ham and Wine Because it Was Ramadan
» UK: Today in London My Best Friend’s Wife Was Assaulted by Muslim Anti-Israel Demonstrators
 
Balkans
» Albanian Armed Forces to Receive NATO Standard Weapons
 
North Africa
» Militants Kill 14 Tunisian Soldiers in Mountain Ambush
» Tunisian Soldiers Killed in Militant Attack
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» EU Urges Israel to ‘Act Proportionately’ In Gaza
» IDF Launches Ground Operation Against Gaza
» IDF Nabs 13 Terrorists Entering Israel Through Terror Tunnel
» IDF Starts Gaza Ground Invasion
» Isolated Rocket Fire Hits Israel Despite UN Humanitarian Cease-Fire
» Israel Orders Ground Offensive in Gaza; Heavy Shelling on Border
» Israel Begins Ground Assault in Gaza
» Israel’s UN Ambassador Calls for ‘Immediate’ Suspension of UNRWA Spokesman Chris Gunness
» Obama’s Hamas Betrayal
» Undeterred by Rockets, 400 French Jews Made Aliyah to Israel
» Who Will Save the Christians in the Gaza Strip?
 
Middle East
» Iranian Commanders on Front Line of Iraq’s Fight Against ISIL
» Iraq: ISIS Stops Rations for Christians and Shiites in Mosul
» Saudi Arabia: Arab Women Visitors Accuse Officials in Prophet’s Mosque of Racism
» Syria: Captive Women Herded and Sold in Slave Markets
» Turkey: 129 Women Killed in Last Six Months, Lawmaker Says
» UAE: 3,000 Parking Spaces for Zayed Grand Mosque
 
Russia
» East Ukraine a No-Fly Zone After Malaysian Plane Crash
» Malaysia Airlines Jet Crashes in Ukraine
» Malaysia Jet Crashes in East Ukraine Conflict Zone
» Ukraine Air Disaster Leaves 295 Dead, 154 Are Dutch Nationals
 
South Asia
» Afghanistan: Militants Killed After Audacious Attack on Kabul Airport
» Afghanistan: Gunmen in Rocket Attack on Airport
 
Far East
» Ignoring China’s True Character
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia Becomes First Developed Nation to Repeal Carbon Tax
» Mystery Bendigo Mosque Objector Withdraws Opposition After Being Revealed
» ‘Stop the Mosque’: Vietnam War Hero Drives Truck Splashed With Anti-Islamic Message Protesting Construction of Religious Building
 
Latin America
» Luis Fleischman: Soccer Politics as Relating to Brazil, Argentina and Other Latin American Countries
 
Immigration
» Bulgaria Under Fire Over Anti-Refugee Border Fence
 
Culture Wars
» UK: ‘Paedophilia is Natural and Normal for Males’
 
General
» The West Has Drifted Away From Israel — And Itself
 

Italian Inflation Drops to 0.3%, Lowest Since 2009

Low price rises seen as alarming sign for economy

(ANSA) — Rome, July 15 — Italy’s annual inflation rate fell to 0.3% in June from 0.5% in May, the lowest level since October 2009, Istat said Tuesday confirming its preliminary estimate for last month. The national statistics agency added that the month-on-month inflation rate was 0.1% in June. When inflation is so low it is usually seen as an alarming sign for the economy. Price rises have been dampened by Italy’s longest postwar recession, which the economy is still struggling to recover from. Indeed, food prices actually dropped by 0.6% on the year in June, the biggest dip since September 1997, Istat said.

The Italian small and medium business association Confesercenti called the inflation level a “potentially fatal risk” to the Italian economy when Istat released its preliminary estimate.

“Inflation’s slowdown in June is worse than expected, and now a scenario of negative inflation appears more realistic,” explained Confesercenti in a statement that called for lower taxes and easier credit for businesses.

The group, which claims 350,000 member businesses, said the inflation numbers “reflect a domestic demand that is still extremely weak due to the difficulty of businesses and high unemployment”.

“To prevent stagnation or deflation, a more incisive picture of European stimuli is needed, as much on the monetary front as on fiscal support for demand,” said the chief economist for the Italian think tank and consulting group Nomisma, Sergio De Nardis.

Maurizio Petriccioli, chief of the Catholic trade union CISL, called for “extraordinary measures” to tackle the “strong crisis of internal demand and consumption”.

Petriccioli demanded that Premier Matteo Renzi’s signature tax cut of 80 euros per month for low earners be extended to the retired and people on disability benefits , and that more growth measures to reward “virtuous” companies be undertaken.

Consumer group Codacons said it was “extremely worried” over the Istat inflation data.

“In particular, the fall in food prices is absolutely alarming,” said Codacons President Carlo Rienzi.

“Prices fall only when consumers no longer buy, and if they don’t buy anymore, thousands of small businesses are destined to close”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Man Sets House Afire Trying to Kill Spider With Lighter, Spray Paint

SEATTLE — Fire officials say a West Seattle man was using a lighter and a can of spray paint to kill a spider in his laundry room when the house went up in flames. Fire crews were called to a home in the 10200 block of 34th Avenue SW just before 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Union Reports Tentative Deal to Avert L.I.R.R. Strike

A “tentative agreement” has been reached to avert a strike on the Long Island Rail Road, one of the railroad’s unions told members on Thursday.

The announcement, posted on the website of an electricians’ union involved in the continuing labor dispute, came hours after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said he begun participating directly in the negotiations.

A union member, who requested anonymity because a deal had not been announced officially, said that strike organizers had received text messages telling them to ease strike preparations on Thursday.

[Return to headlines]
 

Britain’s Top Selling Newspaper the Sun is Stirring Up the Anti-Israel Frenzy

by Edgar Davidson

The UK has now become the kind of place where Jews walking in the centre of London are accosted by mobs of Muslim antisemites — protected by the police — raging against Israel. It is the place where the average person knows absolutely nothing about foreign affairs but is certain that “Israel is an apartheid state that murders Palestinians for fun”.

To understand how Britain got this way in such a short time you need to know the role of the Sun newspaper and not just the BBC…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Czech Republic: New Mosque Opens Without Much Fanfare

Prague, July 17 (CTK) — A new mosque was opened very inconspicuously in the center of Prague about two weeks ago, the daily Lidové noviny (LN) writes today.

It is situated in an internal wing of an old block of flats in Opletalova Street near Wenceslas Square. A number of Arab shops and restaurants are situated nearby, and some 50 meters from the new mosque is a house of prayer and the Islamic Foundation’s center, which Czech police raided three months ago on suspicion of the publication and distribution of a racist book…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Priest Arrested for Drug Pushing at ‘Cocaine Party’

‘Depressed’ cleric already convicted of fraud

(ANSA) — Turin, July 17 — A priest serving in the Piedmont town of Stresa has been arrested on suspicion of drug possession for dealing after being discovered at a ‘cocaine party’ in Milan, judicial sources said.

Police detained Don Stefano Maria Cavalletti, 45, after being called out to investigate noise and shouting during a party in Piazza Anghilberto last Thursday. There they found traces of white powder throughout the apartment, with the majority in the lavatory together with the priest’s shredded passport. Don Stefano told police he had started to use cocaine as a form of ‘self-treatment’ for depression after first running into trouble with the law.

Last September he was convicted by a court of first instance of fraud against an elderly woman whom he allegedly convinced to pay 22,000 euros into his bank account.

The diocese of Novara announced Don Stefano’s arrest on Tuesday evening but said it did not know the reason for the provision, entrusting him “to the Lord in prayer” pending “clarification”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Stalemate on EU Posts, Renzi Stands Firm on Mogherini

EU leaders set to meet again August 30

(ANSA) — Rome, July 17 — Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he was standing firm behind Italy’s bid to see Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini nominated as the EU’s new high representative for foreign affairs after Wednesday’s summit on top European posts ended in stalemate. European Union leaders are set to meet for another summit to seek to find an agreement on the positions on August 30, outgoing European Council President Herman van Rompuy said.

The foreign-policy post is set to go to a representative from Europe’s Socialist bloc, which Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD) belongs to, as part of the deal that saw Jean Claude Juncker — the candidate of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) — nominated as president of the European Commission.

Renzi has been pushing for Mogherini and has won the support of the Socialist bloc.

But 10-11 countries are reportedly against Mogherini, above all Poland and other Eastern European countries, on the grounds that she is too inexperienced and may be soft on Russia.

Mogherini, 41, became foreign minister in February after Renzi unseated his PD colleague Enrico Letta to take the helm of government. Despite the opposition, Renzi reportedly knocked back a deal to drop Mogherini’s bid so that an Italian, Letta, could land an even more prestigious job — European Council President. “For the high representative for foreign affairs role, there is no candidate other than the one from Italy,” Renzi said early on Thursday after the summit went on long into the night. “I didn’t see any opposition to Mogherini”. French President Francois Hollande, a Socialist, said that “the Italian candidate has my support”, while acknowledging that several newer member States had expressed reservations about Mogherini.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UK: I’ll Never Vote for Them Again, Says Teacher Who Lost Job for Backing Gove at Tory Conference

Michael Gove’s sacking risks ‘killing the goose that laid the golden eggs’ of school reform, one of his allies warned last night.

A teacher who lost her job after giving a speech to the Conservative Party conference in which she condemned the standard of state education said she would withdraw her support for the Tories.

‘I never thought much of Cameron and now I think even less of him,’ said Katharine Birbalsingh, who is opening a free school in London. ‘There goes my vote for the Conservatives.’

The Tory Right has reacted angrily to Mr Gove being moved to Chief Whip in Tuesday’s reshuffle…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Kincora: ‘Highest Profile People Connected to Abuse’ Claim

Mr Saunders, the chief executive of Napac (National Association of People Abused in Childhood), said the crimes at Kincora had been “swept under the carpet for generations”.

He told BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster: “I cannot name names on live radio, but there are certainly names of the highest profile connected with these outrageous crimes.

“The truth has to out. If the truth doesn’t come out, then our children remain in danger for the future.”

On Wednesday, a former PSNI assistant chief constable said that allegations that British intelligence services were linked to Kincora “need to be investigated”.

He said: “Allegations have persisted that paedophilia at Kincora was linked to British intelligence services, with claims that visitors to the home included members of the military, politicians and civil servants, and that police investigations into abuse at Kincora were blocked by the Ministry of Defence and MI5.”

           — Hat tip: Kitman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Nick Clegg Today Lashed Out at Tory Plans to Curtail Human Rights Laws, Claiming David Cameron’s Dramatic Reshuffle Was Proof ‘The Headbangers Have Won’.

The Deputy Prime Minister condemned the ‘removal of moderate internationalist voices’ like Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve who were dumped from the Cabinet.

Mr Cameron is preparing to introduce a new law to limit the power of judges in Strasbourg, to make clear that the UK Parliament in Westminster is supreme.

Several senior Tories think Britain should leave the European Convention on Human Rights, and replace it with a Bill of Rights. However, the Lib Dems are opposed to any change.

           — Hat tip: Kitman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Newport School in Leyton ‘Ditches Ramadan Rest Policy’

A primary school which said children fasting during Ramadan must go home for a rest has ditched the policy after complaints from parents, according to reports.

Newport Primary School in Newport Road, Leyton, told parents in a letter that pupils should take a break during the day for health and safety reasons and must be picked up by an adult, according to the BBC.

Parents are said to have complained as some were not available due to work commitments, leaving Muslim children unable to fast during the holy month…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Police Investigate Kent and London Mosque Visits

Police investigations have started in Kent and London after three mosques were targeted by a far right group.

Kent Police is investigating after members of Britain First visited two mosques in Gillingham to oppose plans for a new place of worship.

Members also went to a mosque in Crayford, south-east London on Sunday, and demanded the removal of signs for separate entrances for men and women…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Plans to Expand Stockport Mosque Dropped After Backlash From Residents

The Cheadle Muslim Association has withdrawn plans to runs Cheadle Mosque and Community Centre in Heald Green, tabled plans to redevelop the Wilmslow Road site

Controversial plans that could have seen a mosque and community centre TRIPLE in size have been dropped after a backlash from residents.

In April, The Cheadle Muslim Association (CMA), which runs Cheadle Mosque and Community Centre in Heald Green, tabled plans to redevelop the Wilmslow Road site.

Bosses said a growing Muslim community in Stockport meant it needed to expand its facilities. The current site consists of a main building, an annexe, mobile classrooms and a detached house…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Tesco Apologises After Muslim Checkout Worker Refused to Sell Customer Ham and Wine Because it Was Ramadan

A Muslim cashier at a Tesco store refused to serve a customer buying ham and wine because he said it was Ramadan. The till operator told Julie Cottle he would not touch the items as they are considered forbidden by Islam and said she should use the self- service tills instead.

When Miss Cottle, 43, from Neasden, north-west London, complained to the manager, he backed the worker’s right to refuse to serve her because it was the holy month of Ramadan and he was fasting.

But Tesco has now apologised for Monday’s incident and said the worker had been ‘spoken to’.

Miss Cottle said her treatment left her furious. ‘He pointed at the ham and wine in my basket and said “I can’t serve you that because I’m fasting”,’ she said. ‘When I told him he should be serving customers not turning them away he still refused, telling me to go to the self-service. I know he has his beliefs — I’m a Christian myself — but he should be able to do his job properly. I’m disgusted. If he is refusing to do his job he shouldn’t be there.’…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Today in London My Best Friend’s Wife Was Assaulted by Muslim Anti-Israel Demonstrators

By Edgar Davidson

The UK’s anti-Israel frenzy knows no bounds. My best friend’s wife “Charlotte” (a 5 feet tall 57-year old lady who wants this story publicised but wishes to remain anonymous) was surrounded and assaulted by several Muslim anti-Israel fanatics in the middle of Oxford Street in broad daylight. She was shopping there when the demonstrators came marching down the road shouting “Free Free Palestine and Zionists murderers”. The photos she took here are from just before the assault (next bit is an update to the original posting). Charlotte (who is a proud Jew) said:

“As they passed by with their disgusting chants I said ‘Why are the Palestinians firing rockets at my daughter in Tel Aviv?’ At that point they cried out “get her” and several of them left the march and came on to the pavement. They surrounded me, pushing and yelling Jew/Zionist/murderer/thief. One of them stole my phone, but a steward who witnessed what happened was able to recover it 5 minutes later. I was shaking and my neck now hurts. It was awful for me — how is this possible in Oxford Street in 2014?”…

The police have now allowed 4 violent anti-Israel demonstrations in central London in the last 2 weeks and another massive one is planned for Saturday…

the Police never seem intervene and never make arrests. yet as I reported here when 800 (mainly Jews) wanted to hold a vigil outside the embassy in memory of the murdered Israelis teenagers the Police did not allow us to stand on the pavement in the main road outside the embassy — we were instead herded into a tiny side street…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Albanian Armed Forces to Receive NATO Standard Weapons

TIRANA, July 17 (Xinhua) — Albanian Defense Minister Mimi Kodheli said Wednesday that Albanian armed forces will this year be equipped with NATO standard weapons, the Albanian Telegraphic Agency reported Thursday.

“The government’s program is composed of a wide range of challenges concerning the creation of military capabilities. One of the first and most strategic documents was that on the new armed forces structure, in response to the current realities we face,” Kodheli was quoted as saying…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Militants Kill 14 Tunisian Soldiers in Mountain Ambush

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) — At least 14 Tunisian soldiers were killed when dozens of gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades attacked two checkpoints in the remote Chaambi mountains, one of the deadliest militant strikes on the north African country’s armed forces…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisian Soldiers Killed in Militant Attack

More than a dozen Tunisian soldiers have been killed in an attack by suspected Islamist militants on the Algerian border. The army has been trying to flush out jihadist fighters in the region.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Urges Israel to ‘Act Proportionately’ In Gaza

EU condemns firing of rockets from Gaza but also what it calls “the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.”

European Union (EU) leaders on Wednesday condemned the firing of rockets into Israel while urging the Israel to “act proportionately” and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire, AFP reports.

Voicing “great concern” over continued violence in Israel and Gaza, EU leaders said the bloc “condemns the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

IDF Launches Ground Operation Against Gaza

The Prime Minister’s Office has issued a statement that says the IDF has embarked on a ground assault into Gaza against Hamas’s tunnels.

The operation is deemed as “limited” and will probably not go further than two or three kilometers into Gaza’s territory. This is deemed to be deep enough in enemy land to find the openings into Hamas’s attack tunnels, like the one that was used in Thursday morning’s infiltration into Israel by 13 terrorists.

Egypt, meanwhile, has issued a statement saying that Hamas is to blame for the possible deaths of hundreds of Gazan civilians. The statement appears to have purposely been issued simultaneously with the statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.[…]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

IDF Nabs 13 Terrorists Entering Israel Through Terror Tunnel

A major terror attack was prevented when soldiers identified and eliminated a threat emerging from a Gaza terror tunnel.

The IDF authorized for publication Thursday morning that soldiers had successfully prevented a major terrorist incursion into Israel by Gaza Arab terrorists. The terrorists had attempted to sneak into Israel via a terror tunnel. The terrorists had managed to dig their way into a kibbutz near the border, IDF officials said.

In the early morning hours of Thursday, the army said, IDF soldiers identified a group of 13 terrorists attempting to enter Israel via a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip. The tunnel was one of several the IDF had recently uncovered that were to be used to smuggle terrorists into Israeli cities…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

IDF Starts Gaza Ground Invasion

Netanyahu’s office says purpose of mission is to destroy terror tunnels and seriously harm the infrastructure of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza.

IDF ground forces began to move into the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, the prime minister’s office confirmed.

The purpose of the operation was to destroy the Gazan terror tunnels leading to Israel, according to a statement released by the prime minister’s office…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Isolated Rocket Fire Hits Israel Despite UN Humanitarian Cease-Fire

Three rockets launched from Gaza land in Eshkol region; no injuries reported in attack that marks first interruption of cease-fire due to last until 3 p.m.

A rocket attack on southern Israel around noon Thursday broke the tense quiet of a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that was supposed to last until 3 p.m. to allow relief aid in the Gaza Strip.

Three rockets launched from Gaza landed in the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries were reported…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Israel Orders Ground Offensive in Gaza; Heavy Shelling on Border

(Reuters) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday instructed the military to begin a ground offensive in Gaza, an official statement from his office said.

Reuters witnesses and Gaza residents reported heavy artillery and naval shelling and helicopter fire along the Gaza border.

“The prime minister and defense minister have instructed the IDF (Israel Defence Force) to begin a ground operation tonight in order to hit the terror tunnels from Gaza into Israel,” the statement said.

Israel and Palestinian militants in the densely populated enclave have been fighting a cross border war for 10 days.

The Israeli military says Gaza militants have fired more than 1,300 rockets into Israel. Palestinian health officials say 233 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air and naval strikes. One Israeli civilian has been killed by fire from Gaza.

A statement from the Israeli military said the operation will include “infantry, armored corps, engineer corps, artillery and intelligence combined with aerial and naval support.”

Before dawn on Thursday, about a dozen Palestinian fighters tunneled under the border, emerging near an Israeli community. At least one was killed when Israeli aircraft bombed the group, the military said.

On Thursday night, loud thuds and flashes of orange light lit the sky in the eastern Gaza strip as Israeli gunboats fired shells and tracer fire, while artillery and helicopters fired over the border, Reuters witnesses on both sides of the border said.

Gaza residents and medical officials reported heavy shelling along the eastern borders from the southern town of Rafah up to the north of the enclave.

Shells landed by the al-Wafa rehabilitation hospital east of Shejaia, an eastern suburb of Gaza. “We were not able to evacuate all the patients, the staff can barely evacuate themselves at this point. It’s a desperate situation,” Basman Alashi, head of the hospital, told Reuters.

“The hospital has been hit many times,” he said.

Sirens had sounded in southern Israel earlier in the day at the end of the ceasefire requested by the United Nations, giving way to renewed Palestinian rocket salvoes and Israeli bombing.

Naftali Bennett, Israel’s hawkish economy minister and a member of the decision-making security cabinet, said earlier in the day that time was running out for Hamas, the Islamist group dominant in Gaza.

“We are moving from Iron Dome to an iron fist,” Bennett said, referring to an anti-missile system that has intercepted many of the rockets in 10 days of warfare.

The military said rockets headed towards Tel Aviv, the southern city of Beersheba and Ashkelon. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

[Return to headlines]
 

Israel Begins Ground Assault in Gaza

Israel began a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip Thursday night, saying it would target tunnels that can infiltrate its territory after ceasefire talks failed to de-escalate the air war that has raged for 10 days.

[Return to headlines]
 

Israel’s UN Ambassador Calls for ‘Immediate’ Suspension of UNRWA Spokesman Chris Gunness

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor called for the “immediate” suspension of a UN spokesperson on Tuesday.

The move came as Israel is in the midst of a full-flung campaign against terror group Hamas to end rocket fire from nearby Gaza.

Prosor asked for action to be taken against Chris Gunness of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, after the spokesman encouraged reporters to interview a professor with a history of supporting terror attacks against civilians…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Obama’s Hamas Betrayal

… U.S. law mandates that any Palestinian regime involving Hamas, which the administration lists as a terrorist group, trigger a cutoff of American aid. But at the beginning of June, the Obama administration announced that it would work with the new government in spite of Hamas’s involvement.

America has always maintained that Palestinians must renounce terror in order to be recognized. So this decision, possibly prompted by secret (and illegal) talks between Washington and the Gaza-based Islamists, is a repudiation of decades of American policy. The administration claims that PA leader Mahmoud Abbas has merely appointed technocrats who are not technically members of Hamas. But these front men are fooling no one. The new PA is run by the kleptocrats of Fatah and their new Hamas allies. That means that U.S. taxpayer dollars will flow to corrupt Fatah operatives who oppose peace as well as to Hamas killers who have not even gone through the motions of renouncing their party’s charter, which calls for Israel’s destruction…

(Emphasis added)

[Return to headlines]
 

Undeterred by Rockets, 400 French Jews Made Aliyah to Israel

France has the largest Jewish community in Europe, but that may not be true for much longer as record numbers of French Jews emigrate to Israel.

A group of 400 French Jews are arriving in Israel this morning on two special El Al flights organized by The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption. Even better, the group is largely composed of families with young children, including 195 minors and 18 babies according to the Jewish Agency.

Most of them are from the Paris area, which isn’t surprising considering the assaults on Jews there. I imagine they would much rather face rockets in Israel with the IDF to defend them than mobs of Arabs attacking them on the streets of Paris with a government that apparently isn’t overly efficient in protecting its Jewish citizens:

While aliyah from France has been steadily rising for several years due to economic stagnation and rising anti-Semitism, 2014 has seen a particularly dramatic rise. Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption and The Jewish Agency expect more than 5,000 French Jews to immigrate to Israel by the end of the year — compared to 3,289 in 2013. Those figures are made all the more remarkable by the fact that 2013’s figures themselves represented a full 60% increase in aliyah from France to 2012, when 1,917 French Jews moved to Israel.

That trend is continuing in 2014, with approximately 2,600 French Jews arriving in Israel during the first six months of the year alone, compared to 812 during the equivalent period in 2013.

[Return to headlines]
 

Who Will Save the Christians in the Gaza Strip?

by Khaled Abu Toameh

“We only hear voices telling us not make too much noise. Today it is happening in the Gaza Strip, tomorrow it will take place in Bethlehem. In a few months, there will be no Christians left in Palestine.” — Christian man, Gaza City

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iranian Commanders on Front Line of Iraq’s Fight Against ISIL

A powerful Iranian general has emerged as the chief tactician in Iraq’s fight against Sunni militants, working on the front lines alongside 120 advisers from his country’s Revolutionary Guard to direct Shiite militiamen and government forces in the smallest details of battle, militia commanders and government officials say.

The startlingly hands-on role of Iranian Gen. Ghasem Soleimani points to the extent of the Shiite-led Iraqi government’s reliance on its ally Tehran. It also strikes a strong contrast with the more methodical, cautious approach of the United States, Iran’s rival for influence in Iraq.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: ISIS Stops Rations for Christians and Shiites in Mosul

(AINA) — ISIS has ordered government workers to stop giving rations to Christians and Shiites in Mosul, according to a report by Younes Thonon for ankawa.com. The official in charge of distributing rations in the Rifaq neighborhood said he had received orders from ISIS to cut the rations…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia: Arab Women Visitors Accuse Officials in Prophet’s Mosque of Racism

Several Arab women visitors to the Prophet’s Mosque here have alleged that they have been racially discriminated against by Saudi women guards.

They claimed that they were being forced to vacate their places for Saudi women and were not allowed to stay more than a few minutes in Al-Rawdah Al-Sharif [the spot between the dais and the room of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)].

Local daily Al-Bilad this week quoted a number of Arab women visitors as saying that it was unfair to designate special places for Saudi and Gulf women inside the mosque…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Captive Women Herded and Sold in Slave Markets

By Raymond Ibrahim

The above picture recently appeared on several Arabic social media and websites. Its caption says: “First female slave market in Deir ez-Zur,” a Syrian region that is 20 percent Christian and is currently occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Regardless of its origin or authenticity, it’s true significance is that it perfectly relays what we do know is going on in Syria — from fatwas permitting men to rape women, to fatwas calling on women to engage in the sex jihad, including against their will.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey: 129 Women Killed in Last Six Months, Lawmaker Says

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JULY 17 — Some 129 women were killed in the first half of the year, up from 88 in the same period a year earlier, daily Hurriyet online reported quoting Aylin Nazliaka, a main opposition Republican People’s Party deputy, at a press meeting at the Parliament. The figures came at time when the number of overall murders in the country showed a sharp increase, separate reports cited. Nazliaka said 58 women and children were raped as 292 women were wounded, adding that the country was facing “systematic murders” in the last decade. Only last month 17 women and girls were killed, she said as the number of rape incidents reached 26. Some other 56 were wounded.

Some 17.6% of the victims were killed because they wanted to divorce. A separate report shows that murder rates in Turkey have increased up to around seven murders per day in the first 10 days of Ramadan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UAE: 3,000 Parking Spaces for Zayed Grand Mosque

New parking lots for the Tahajjud prayer (Night Prayer) during the last 10 days of Ramadan

Abu Dhabi: The Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque, in cooperation with Abu Dhabi Municipality, has allocated 3,000 new car parking spaces around the mosque for the Tahajjud Prayer (night Prayer) during the last ten days of Ramadan…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

East Ukraine a No-Fly Zone After Malaysian Plane Crash

Ukrainian authorities on Thursday declared the east of the country a no-fly zone after a Malaysian airliner carrying 295 people crashed in the volatile region, European flight safety body Eurocontrol said.

European and US airlines rerouted their flights as Kiev said the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in a “terrorist” attack and a US official said intelligence analysts “strongly believe” it was downed by a surface-to-air missile.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Malaysia Airlines Jet Crashes in Ukraine

A Malaysia Airlines flight with nearly 300 people aboard crashed over eastern Ukraine near the Russian border on Thursday, the Ukraine government and a regional European aviation official reported, and the Interfax news agency said it had been shot down.

Ukraine’s president, Petro O. Poroshenko, said in a statement that he was calling for an immediate investigation of the crashed flight, a Boeing 777. He did not rule out that it might have been shot down.

Eastern Ukraine has been roiled for months by a violent pro-Russian political separatist movement.

[Return to headlines]
 

Malaysia Jet Crashes in East Ukraine Conflict Zone

A Malaysian airliner carrying 295 people has crashed in east Ukraine on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, amid allegations it was shot down.

Bodies are scattered around what is believed to be the wreckage of the jet near the village of Grabovo, which is under the control of separatist rebels.

Flight MH17 had been due to enter Russian airspace when contact was lost. Ukraine’s president called the loss of the plane an “act of terrorism” as the rebels denied shooting it down.

The separatists are believed to have shot down two Ukrainian military planes over the region in recent days.

Leading airlines have announced they are now avoiding eastern Ukraine…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine Air Disaster Leaves 295 Dead, 154 Are Dutch Nationals

At least 154 Dutch nationals were on board the Malaysian Airlines plane thought to have been brought down by a rocket over Ukraine.

The Ukraine authorities say the plane was brought down by pro-Russian separatists but this has been denied by the groups themselves, broadcaster Nos said.

According to American media reports, the plane was brought down by some form of rocket. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has described it as ‘an act of terrorism’.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Afghanistan: Militants Killed After Audacious Attack on Kabul Airport

By Mirwais Harooni and Abdul Saboor

KABUL (Reuters) — Militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked Kabul International Airport in the Afghan capital on Thursday in one of the most audacious assaults on the facility, used by both civilians and the military, in a year…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Afghanistan: Gunmen in Rocket Attack on Airport

Afghan forces say they have surrounded gunmen who used rockets to attack Kabul International Airport.

The gunmen occupied two buildings which were under construction 700 yards north of the airport and were using them as a base to fire rockets and gunfire toward the airport and ISAF jet fighters flying over the capital, said Afzal Aman, a general in the Afghan army.The pre-dawn attack comes during a tense time in Afghanistan as a recount is under way from the second round of a disputed presidential election…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ignoring China’s True Character

by Frank Gaffney, Jr.

The United States has long chosen to ignore the fact that Communist China is a hostile power — not just an economic competitor, let alone a friend.

Take, for example, Team Obama’s indifference to the giant Chinese internet provider, Alibaba, raising capital here via a huge initial public offering. That means a vast new platform from which the PRC can penetrate and subvert us from within.

Then, on Tuesday, a federal appeals court piled on. It ruled that Chinese investors are entitled to have access to unclassified, but sensitive, U.S. government documents — the sort used to justify the rare decision barring China from buying up strategically sensitive American companies.

In both cases, we are playing by different rules than China — a situation the Chinese exploit to their benefit and our detriment. This must stop.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Australia Becomes First Developed Nation to Repeal Carbon Tax

Tony Abbott Pledged to Get Rid of the Tax Last Year

CANBERRA, Australia—After almost a decade of heated political debate, Australia has become the world’s first developed nation to repeal carbon laws that put a price on greenhouse gas emissions.

In a vote that could highlight the difficulty in implementing additional measures to reduce carbon emissions ahead of global climate talks next year in Paris, Australia’s Senate on Wednesday voted 39-32 to repeal a politically divisive carbon emissions price that contributed to the fall from power of three Australian leaders since it was first suggested in 2007.

Australia, the world’s 12th largest economy, is one of the world’s largest per capita greenhouse gas emitters due to its reliance on coal-burning power stations to power homes and industry.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mystery Bendigo Mosque Objector Withdraws Opposition After Being Revealed

AN objector against the proposed Bendigo mosque dramatically withdraw her case today after her name became public.

Monika Evers was unmasked as the mystery applicant fronting the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal case against the mosque on behalf of the Concerned Citizens of Bendigo. She also admitted to being one of the administrators of the Stop the Mosque in Bendigo Facebook page, which regularly posts anti-Muslim propaganda.

Ms Evers unsuccessfully tried to suppress her name from becoming public citing fears for her personal safety and possible loss of income to her business…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

‘Stop the Mosque’: Vietnam War Hero Drives Truck Splashed With Anti-Islamic Message Protesting Construction of Religious Building

A Vietnam war veteran driving a truck with the slogan ‘Stop The Mosque’ splashed across the side, has been driving around Bendigo, Victoria, blasting an Islamic Call to Prayer from his vehicle.

Charles Mollison is the founder and chairman of vocal anti-Islamic website Restore Australia and travelled from Queensland to protest the construction of a mosque in the city.

Victorian Police confirmed in a statement they pulled the man over around 4pm on Wednesday in Bendigo’s central business district.

‘Police were responding to noise complaints about the vehicle, the driver received a warning regarding the noise,’ the statement said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Luis Fleischman: Soccer Politics as Relating to Brazil, Argentina and Other Latin American Countries

After Brazil’s overwhelming loss to Germany in the World Cup semifinals, the question asked by many was whether or not such a defeat would have political consequences for the future of Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff. While many believed this would be the case, the situation turns out to be more complex

To be sure, it is not that the World Cup was devoid of politics. For example, “Telesur”, the Latin American TV network whose existence was inspired by Havana and its funding comes from Caracas, broadcast a nightly program during the World Cup, called “De Zurda”. The name “De Zurda” alludes to goals scored with the left leg. The key word here is “left”. The program was accompanied by a song especially written for the program that says that kicking the ball with “the left” does not apply only to soccer but also to the world itself that is in need of an injection of “left”. The program and the song focus on Latin America as a whole. Thus, it remained neutral with regard to specific national teams as long as the winning team is some Latin American country. Of course, that fits Chavez’s dream of the “big country” or a united (left leaning) Latin America.

Another such program is one conducted by well-known announcer and journalist Victor Hugo Morales, who has ties to the Argentinean government of Cristina Kirchner. The program was co-hosted by retired Argentinean soccer star, Diego Maradona. Maradona, himself, is a fierce supporter of the Bolivarian Revolution and the Castro Regime and was adopted by Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. In fact, in one of the programs Maradona read with great emotion a letter sent to him by the aging and sick Fidel Castro. The program did not spare comments in praise of “Commander Chavez”, Castro and everyone else associated with the Latin American left.

[Return to headlines]
 

Bulgaria Under Fire Over Anti-Refugee Border Fence

Overwhelmed by an influx of mostly Syrian immigrants, Bulgaria has taken steps to secure its EU border — including building a barbed-wire fence — but now faces criticism from rights groups.

The 30-kilometre fence, standing three meters high and fortified with razor wire coils, was completed this week.

Covering the least visible section of Bulgaria’s 275-kilometre border with Turkey, it aims to stem a flow of refugees that saw more than 11,000 people enter the country illegally last year — 10 times the annual figure before the Syrian conflict.

The sudden influx caused a humanitarian crisis in Bulgaria, already the poorest member of the EU, as asylum seekers were crammed into deserted army barracks and tents in the middle of winter with no heating, basic sanitation or food.

But the small Balkan country’s attempts to tackle the problem have also been a matter of concern, rights agencies say.

Amnesty International condemned Bulgaria and Greece — another EU neighbour of Turkey, which has become a key transit point for Syrian refugees to Europe — for repeatedly rejecting refugees.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Paedophilia is Natural and Normal for Males’

How some university academics make the case for paedophiles at summer conferences

By Andrew Gilligan

“Paedophilic interest is natural and normal for human males,” said the presentation. “At least a sizeable minority of normal males would like to have sex with children … Normal males are aroused by children.”

Some yellowing tract from the Seventies or early Eighties, era of abusive celebrities and the infamous PIE, the Paedophile Information Exchange? No. Anonymous commenters on some underground website? No again.

The statement that paedophilia is “natural and normal” was made not three decades ago but last July. It was made not in private but as one of the central claims of an academic presentation delivered, at the invitation of the organisers, to many of the key experts in the field at a conference held by the University of Cambridge.

Other presentations included “Liberating the paedophile: a discursive analysis,”…

           — Hat tip: Kitman [Return to headlines]
 

The West Has Drifted Away From Israel — And Itself

By Douglas Murray

Is Israel drifting away from the West? That was Hugo Rifkind’s claim in his column in the magazine last week. Hugo wrote:

‘Israel drifting away. Never mind whose fault it is; that’s a whole other point. But it’s happening. It’s off. No longer does it exist in the popular imagination as our sort of place. Once, I suppose, foes and friends alike regarded it as a North Atlantic nation, but elsewhere. Then a western European one, then, briefly, a southern European one. When was it, do you think, that Israel stopped being regarded as fundamentally a bit like Spain? Early 1990s? Then they shot Yitzhak Rabin, and Oslo didn’t happen, and it set off, perhaps via a sort of listless Greek interim, towards the Orientalish bafflingness of somewhere like Turkey.’

Let’s leave aside that ‘they’ (‘they shot Yitzhak Rabin’? as opposed to lone assassin, Yigal Amir, who remains in an Israeli prison, serving a life sentence after his trial by an Israeli court). And let’s also leave aside the notion that Oslo ‘didn’t happen’ for any reason other than that the terrorist leader Yasser Arafat was unwilling to give up his USP.

What is more interesting is this idea of Israel drifting away from the West. In his heartfelt and admirably frank piece Rifkind says of Israel: ‘I like it far more than Syria, China, Zimbabwe and plenty of other countries, but less than I do north London.’

I can understand why Rifkind and other westerners, Jewish and non-Jewish, might feel more culturally aligned to North London than to Israel. North London isn’t my thing, but life there seems fine. There seem to be few existential questions beyond the discussion of house prices and whether people can afford to send the kids private. Life is easy, life is good. Not especially noble, but nice.

Israel shares many of these characteristics. But it is also a nation which currently has to do what people in countries like this one — even people in North London — used to have to do but seem to have forgotten about: it has to fight for its survival. Israel is surrounded by enemies, as we have been for much of our history. But today we like to think that enemies are a thing of the past. There are no enemies, just phobias we haven’t been cured of yet.

Today Israel is also distinguished by a deep sense of its values and ethics as well as a profound awareness of their source — things we also used to have. Deep questions of survival, the tragedy and triumph of the past, present and future remain the stuff of every Israeli house I have ever been to, though are rarely heard among the residents of North London. So yes, these are very different lives.

Of course there are parts of Europe where such existential questions may re-emerge. I know Jews in France who are starting to think of moving away again. Last weekend in Paris a mob attacked a synagogue, trapping hundreds inside. Across Paris many ‘anti-Israel’ protestors seemed far more interested in ‘Jews’ than ‘Israelis’, up to and including the moment when the petrol bombs came out. ‘Dirty Jewess, inshallah you will die,’ one young Parisian Jew was told. Others were greeted by the crowd with the simpler chant of ‘Death to the Jews.’ But that’s East Paris. And North Paris. A world away from North London.

What I am coming to is that it seems to me — from many visits there, and seeing the country in peace and war — that it is Israel that remains the truly western country. It is Israel which takes its history seriously, thinks deeply about where it is going and what it exists for. It is Israel which takes western values seriously and fights for the survival of those values rather than sitting back and assuming they are simply part of some birthright. Israel’s questions and dilemmas are not the stuff of North London or other parts of western Europe these days, though they remain febrile in much of the US. In conclusion, and despite my admiration for his frankness, I cannot help thinking that Hugo has got this wholly wrong and upside-down. Geography aside, it is Israel that is still truly a western country. Far more than many parts of western Europe now are.

A gap may well be emerging. But not because Israel has drifted away from the West. Rather because today in much of the West, as we bask in the afterglow of our achievements — eager to enjoy our rights, but unwilling to defend them — it is the West that is, slowly but surely, drifting away from itself.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

8 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/17/2014

  1. Where are the humanists to blame HAMAS for rockets, and the tunnels? Have you ever heard one single voice or one politician say: If hamas continues hurling rockets at Israel that are send from Iran and smuggled through the tunnels, the Israel has the right to defend itself. But the unconscionable immoral world can’t think right.

  2. “How some university academics make the case for paedophiles at summer conferences”
    “At least a sizeable minority of normal males would like to have sex with children … Normal males are aroused by children.”

    Monkey males – Yes. It is normal, and can be seen in the monkey world.

    For human males – No. It is not normal. On the contrary, thus normal human societies universally, do anything to avoid children being abused by sexual activities. Civilization has evolved away from the primitive monkey instincts, and paedophilia is largely condemned in the Western civilization.

    • I’m not normally violent, but I’d castrate them with a blunt razor.

      More practically, and even humanely, what’s wrong with chemical castration and electronic tagging for life? One strike and they’re out till death in prison.

      • Is pedophilia going to be the new gay? If we check back in ten years will will be considered mentally ill, ostricised and publicly shamed for objecting to it?

        • You are not pedaphobic are you? we need a pedaphobic pride parade thats one thing normal people can be proud of!

      • Gelding rings done seem to hurt calfs and no one needs to self administer drugs that mess them up and real castration is the only way to protect kids,

    • And this was predicted years ago with the homosexual agenda brit outed as a stepping stone for sex with kids! most of the homosexuals Ive met like em young, before they have made their own mind up!

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