American officials say that the evidence points to pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine as the likely culprits in the shooting down of the Malaysian jetliner yesterday. Russia, however, suspects Kiev of launching the missile — it says Ukrainian air defense systems cover that region, and showed evidence of activity at the time the plane was downed.
In possibly unrelated news, experts told a congressional committee that United States is too dependent on Russian rocket engines for military satellite launches.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, JP, Kitman, LS, The Independent, 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.
Two Thirds of Greek Businesses Unable to Service Loans
Two thirds of Greek businesses are unable to service their loans, according to the Bank of Greece.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mormon Church Hasn’t Budged on Gender Roles in 40 Years
The Mormon Church has not shifted its official positions on the roles of men and women since the 1970s, a new study finds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Philadelphia Mosque Leaders Try to Cut Off Man’s Hand — Police
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) — Two men described as leaders of a Philadelphia mosque were accused of trying to cut off the hand of a suspected thief, whose wrist was sliced so deeply it required hospital treatment, police said on Friday.
The 46-year-old victim said two officials in the mosque accused him of stealing jars of money from the house of worship after morning prayers on Monday.
The officials, described in police reports as the mosque’s imam and amir, dragged the victim to the rear of the mosque, and attempted to chop off his hand with a machete, according to a police statement.
He sustained a severe laceration to his right wrist, and was transported to a nearby hospital by medics.
Officers served a search warrant on Thursday on the mosque, located in a house in the city’s Overbrook section, where they arrested Merv Mitchell, also known as Mabul Shoatz. They recovered a 2-foot-long machete from the scene.
The mosque’s imam, an unidentified 35-year-old male, has not yet been located, police said.
Mitchell was charged with aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, simple assault, reckless endangerment, and related offenses.
| — Hat tip: LS | [Return to headlines] |
by Pat Buchanan
To observe the decades-long paralysis of America’s political elite in controlling her borders calls to mind the insight of James Burnham in 1964 — “Liberalism is the ideology of Western suicide.”
What the ex-Trotskyite turned Cold Warrior meant was that by faithfully following the tenets of liberalism, the West would embrace suicidal policies that would bring about the death of her civilization.
The crisis on our Southern border, where the left, and not only the left, is wailing that we cannot turn away desperate people fleeing wicked regimes and remain true to our liberal values, is a case in point.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Too Dependent on Russian Rocket Engines, Experts Tell Lawmakers
Should the Russian government yank its supply of rocket engines for United States launches, critical national-security satellite missions could be delayed up to four years, experts told a joint Senate hearing Wednesday (July 16).
United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket is the workhorse of heavy satellite launches in the United States, but the booster requires a Russian RD-180 engine to get off the ground.
Recent geopolitical disputes between Russia and the United States have thrown this arrangement, which has been in place for decades, into turmoil. In Twitter remarks in May, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin threatened to ban all sales of RD-180 engines to the United States intended for use in military launches.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Timon Dias
With Western countries as enemies, why would jihadists need friends?
In Western Europe, cultural relativism is still the norm. There is no such thing as better or worse, there is only different. One should not consider one value superior to another value, no matter what these values actually are. And it had better be different the way one thinks it should be: not “politically incorrect.”
Former Netherlands Chief of Defense Peter van Uhm says that he respects jihadist fighters in Syria because they are fighting for an ideal. That this ideal refutes every Western ideal that he himself holds dear, apparently does not affect his apparent respect for jihadists.
Dutch national law, however, has now been subordinated to European Union law.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: “No Palestinian Flags on Brussels Buses or Trams”
The Brussels local transport company, the MIVB is clamping down on drivers displaying Palestinian flags and showing their support for the people of Gaza. The company has sent staff an ‘urgent reminder’ that such behaviour conflicts with its code of contact.
In recent days more and more MIVB buses and trams had been flying Palestinian flags. Françoise Ledune, the bus company’s spokeswoman, says that the MIVB has distanced itself from such protests and has taken action: “Everybody has a right to an opinion, but this should not be expressed when you are wearing an MIVB uniform or are at the wheel of one of our vehicles. It’s against our code of conduct and we’ve sent staff an urgent reminder”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Mixed Reactions to Microsoft Job Cuts Announcement
Shock was widespread in Microsoft’s Oulu office on Thursday at the news that the company intends to shut down the plant and axe 1,100 jobs across Finland. Elsewhere, however, there was optimism at the software giant’s plans to make Tampere and Salo the focus of its handset product development operations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Flags at Half Mast as the Netherlands Mourns Air Crash Victims
Public buildings in the Netherlands have their flags at half mast on Friday in the wake of Thursday’s plane crash in Ukraine in which 154 Dutch nationals lost their lives.
It is increasingly likely that the Malaysia Airlines plane which crashed in Ukraine close to the Russian border was shot down by pro-Russian separatists, experts said on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Nuclear Talks Extended by Four Months, Diplomats Say
Iran, the United States and the five other countries negotiating over the future of the Iranian nuclear program have agreed to a four-month extension of the negotiations, giving them more time to try to bridge a major difference over whether the country will be forced to dismantle parts of its nuclear infrastructure, according to diplomats involved in the negotiations.
The original deadline for an accord was July 20, though a temporary agreement that has been in effect since November envisioned a possible extension.
The United States and its negotiating partners — Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia — have argued that Iran must dismantle major elements of its uranium enrichment program, and envision the restrictions going on for a decade or more. It is unclear whether, in four months, the two sides can bridge that gap.
| [Return to headlines] |
One secret to happiness may lie in genes, a new study suggests.
Denmark and other Scandinavian countries regularly top world happiness rankings, and while many factors influence happiness, genetics may play a larger role than previously thought, according to the study authors.
The new research examined the average genetic makeup of people in more than 100 countries, and compared how similar their genes were to people living in Denmark — a measurement called genetic distance. They found that the greater a nation’s genetic distance from Denmark, the lower the reported well-being of that nation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New ‘Common Sense’ British Bill of Rights is Set to Replace EU’s Human Rights Laws
COMMON sense Tory plans to limit the powers of meddling EU judges emerged today.
Prime Minister David Cameron is preparing to introduce a new law to make clear that the UK Parliament in Westminster is supreme. The proposals, in a British Bill of Rights, would mean that parliament would rule on what constitutes a breach of human rights.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly hit out at the way the concept of human rights has been “distorted” by the ECHR’s decisions…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Outrage as France Become First Country in World to Ban Pro-Palestine Demos
France’s Socialist government provoked outrage today by becoming the first in the world to ban protests against Israeli action in Palestine.
In what is viewed as an outrageous attack on democracy, Socialist Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said mass demonstrations planned for the weekend should be halted.
Mr Cazeneuve said there was a ‘threat to public order’, while opponents said he was ‘criminalising’ popular support of the Palestinian people.
He welcomed a legal procedure instigated by the Paris police prefecture to ban the march, despite it already being widely advertised.
Anyone who turns up to an illegal demonstration now faces up to a year in prison, and a 15,000 euro fine.
If they hide their faces to avoid being identified, this sentence can be increased to three years, and a 45,000 fine.
Even those who publish details of an illegal rally on social media face up to a year in prison, and a 15,000 euro fine.
This can be increased to seven years and a 100,000 fine if the postings lead to violence.
Mr Cazeneuve also advised other prefects across France to examine planned marches on a ‘case by case’ basis, and to ban ‘if appropriate’.
But Michele Sibony, of the Jewish Union for Peace, said: ‘By outlawing free speech by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, France puts itself in a unique position in the world and Europe.’
And Youssef Boussoumah, of the Party of the Indigenous of the Republic (PIR) said: ‘France is criminalising any show of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Trojan Horse: No Evidence of ‘Anti-British Agenda’ In Schools
An investigation into the schools implicated in the alleged Trojan Horse takeover plot has found no evidence of a conspiracy to promote an “anti-British agenda, violent extremism or radicalisation”.
The Birmingham City Council report into the schools in the east of the city did find “key individuals” were “promoting and encouraging certain Islamic principles” within those schools, however…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Two people have escaped with minor injuries after a car crashed into a branch of Starbucks in south west London. The silver Vauxhall Corsa hit a Wimbledon branch of the coffee chain, smashing the glass front of the shop just before 9am this morning. The driver of the car was taken to hospital with minor cuts, Scotland Yard said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Halifax Mosque to Unveil Multi-Million Pound Refurbishment
A prominent Halifax mosque is to unveil a multi-million pound refurbishment.
The £2.5m refurbishment of Madni Mosque, Gibbet Street, has replaced the old facade of the building with a new Islam inspired facade; the dome is to be replaced; and the mosque interior has been refurbished with a new heating and electrical system in the redevelopment project carried out by Archi-Structure — architectural and structural design consultants, based in Shipley…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: School Chiefs Accused in Plot Probe
Key individuals were “promoting and encouraging certain Islamic principles” in Birmingham classrooms amid poor oversight from education chiefs, a city council investigation into the alleged “Trojan Horse” takeover plot has found.
However, the Birmingham City Council inquiry carried out by Ian Kershaw also concluded: “There is no evidence of a conspiracy to promote an anti-British agenda, violent extremism or radicalisation in schools in east Birmingham.”
But his report’s conclusions differ to those of a leaked draft of former Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism chief Peter Clarke’s own investigation, commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE), which found a “sustained, co-ordinated agenda to impose segregationist attitudes and practices of a hardline , politicised strain of Sunni Islam”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Slough Gang Rape: Hunt for Fiat Punto-Type Car
Police hunting a group of men who gang raped a teenager in woods in Berkshire are trying to trace a small car.
The 17-year-old girl spoke to the men before they attacked her near the Jubilee River in Slough on 27 June.
Officers want to trace a grey or silver car that looked like an older style Fiat Punto. Police have also said the men responsible are believed to be Romanians, not Asian as previously thought…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Trojan Horse: Leaked Report Reveals ‘Aggressive Islamist Agenda’ In Birmingham Schools
Draft report from ‘Trojan horse’ inquiry uncovers evidence of coordinated plan to impose hardline Islamist ethos
A report into the “Trojan horse” scandal in Birmingham schools has uncovered evidence of “co-ordinated, deliberate and sustained action to introduce an intolerant and aggressive Islamist ethos into some schools in the city”.
The conclusion is contained in a leaked draft of a report, commissioned by the former education secretary Michael Gove and written by Peter Clarke, the former head of the Metropolitan police’s counterterrorism command, which is due to be published in the next 24 hours…
[Reader comment by cargill55 on 18 July 2014.]
This is the problem with the liberal left zealotry of Liblabcon. They allow mass uncontrolled immigration because they hate Britain and the nation state.
They say to the millions of immigrants who come here, just do what you want, no need to integrate, set up your sharia courts, do whatever you used to do in your last country, so we have female discrimination, FGM, honour killings, approval of or failure to condemn terrorism, no go areas and areas where foreign cultures have totally taken over, gender abortions and separation.
See where it gets our country, it rips Britain apart and immigrants have a sense of entitlement to do what they want and ignore our core values and culture.
[Reader comment by disgusted on 18 July 2014.]
Labour dominated council (77 members out of 120), where Islamic representation on the council is high and all Labour-party affiliated. The Islamic cancer is spreading, becoming more virulent and our government complacently does nothing to address the problem because it knows that to do so would sabotage the daft “multiculturalism” agenda that is ruining this country.
Any council shown to promote Islamic fundamentalism should be removed. Any mosque preaching it should be closed. Anything less will lead to social unrest and violence in the not-too-distant future. It’s time to drop appeasement and take firm action.
[Reader comment by colin harrow on 18 July 2014.]
And will this report cut any ice with the BBC? I wouldn’t bank on it. Our publicly funded, national megaphone for the wonders and benefits of mass immigration and multiculturalism has been in overdrive denying the Trojan Horse allegations of Islamist infiltration of Birmingham schools for weeks. Their news coverage has been over-loaded with interviews with Muslim parents, pupils, governors, teachers and community spokespeople rubbishing the Ofsted reports and claiming it’s all an Islamophobic plot.
On one recent BBC 4 Today programme they went over the top even for their biased reporting on this issue running interviews with two pupils from Park View, a school singled out by Ofsted for special criticism. Although one of the pupils was painfully inarticulate the item was totally one-sided without any pretence at all of providing balance for their claims that the reports were not only wrong but had been produced deliberately in an attempt to substantiate false claims of infiltration.
It was nothing more than an uninterrupted anti-Ofsted rant and their comments not only went unquestioned by the interviewer but were even prompted by her. It was a completely unbalanced piece of journalism and merely emphasised .just how biased the BBC’s coverage of this story has been throughout.
When they mentioned the leak of this document this morning they made sure they got in the fact that a Birmingham City Council report had denied it. No doubt all in the name of balanced reporting they would say. However that’s something that had been sadly missing in their pro-Islamist coverage so far.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
An agenda of ‘segregationist attitudes’ was forced on children in schools in Birmingham, the Metropolitan Police’s former counter-terrorism chief has claimed in a leaked report.
In the official government document, Peter Clarke concluded there was a ‘co-ordinated, deliberate and sustained action to introduce an intolerant and aggressive Islamist ethos into some schools in the city’.
He claimed that if education officials had not intervened, hundreds of children would have been destined to live lives of intolerance…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Warning to All Fasting Muslims!
by Rod Liddle
Are all of Britain’s fasting Muslims about to die because of the heatwave? This is what’s worrying me as I sit in my darkened room — curtains drawn and lights down low, according to the official government advice. Dr Paul Cosford of something called ‘Public Health England’ said:
‘Many members of the Muslim community may be fasting during the current period of Ramadan. During hot weather it’s important to balance food and fluid intake between fasts and especially to drink enough water.’
One can only hope and pray that as most of England’s Muslims come from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, where the temperature exceeds on a daily basis what we’re experiencing for a few hours, they might be ok, Paul — huh?
Is it possible for our public health officials to be any more patronising or sensationalist?
[Reader comment by Blindsideflanker on 17 July 2014.]
Anybody want to go under a Muslim surgeon’s knife late in the day after he has been starving himself of food and water for 8 hours, or be driven by a Muslim train driver whose attention is wandering for lack of nourishment?
Rather than worrying about Muslims putting themselves through a bit of dietary flagellation , public health authorities should be more worried about the dangers Muslims pose to the rest of us during Ramadan.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center warned Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday that the radical terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a threat to Netherlands’ Jewry…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt to Seize 66 ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ Companies
Muslim Brotherhood tycoon Hassan Malek’s Istikbal among the firms targeted in an ongoing crackdown on the banned organisation’s assets.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisian Leaders and Political Parties Rally Against Terror
(ANSAmed) — TUNISIA — Tunisian institutions, political parties, and civil society responded overnight with united force against a terrorist attack on Mount Chaambi that claimed the lives of 14 soldiers Wednesday. A nocturnal march against violence was held by the leftist Popular Front, the social democratic Al Massar party, and the centrist Al Joumhouri party along Tunis’ central thoroughfare Bourguiba Avenue Thursday night. Shortly before the march, Tunisian President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki and Premier Mehdi Jomaa reaffirmed on television that the state is stronger than terrorism. Marzouki promised to increase defence spending to allow more resources for the military.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey PM Slams Egypt’s ‘Illegitimate Tyrant’ Sisi
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday slammed Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as an illegitimate tyrant, saying that Cairo could not be relied upon to negotiate a ceasefire with Israel.
“Is Sisi a party (to a ceasefire)? Sisi is a tyrant himself,” Erdogan told reporters. “He is not different from the others,” he said, adding that it was Egypt’s current rulers who were blocking humanitarian aid channels to the Gaza Strip ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement.
Turkey’s government has had a strained relationship with Egypt since the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, which Erdogan repeatedly called a “coup”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
An Israeli pilot speaks. She flies the most advanced Israeli fighter jet. This is a rare clip, since the IDF doesn’t usually allow pilots to be photographed.
| — Hat tip: The Independent | [Return to headlines] |
Can Everyone Please Stop Posting Photos of Dead Palestinian Children All Over the Internet?
By Brendan O’Neill
Harrowing photos of dead or injured Palestinians kids are appearing everywhere. They’re being splashed across newspapers, under headlines such as “The terrible price Palestinian children pay for Israel’s war with Hamas”, “Palestinian children play amid the rubble in Gaza”, and “WARNING — GRAPHIC CONTENT: Four Palestinian children killed in Israeli bombardment of Gaza”. They are all over Twitter and Facebook. Photos of those tragic four kids killed by an Israeli bomb on a beach in Gaza have been retweeted thousands of times. Many of the photos being published under the Twitter hashtag #GazaUnderAttack feature children wailing, howling, covered in blood, battered, bruised and sometimes even dead. They all get retweeted an incredible amount, alongside broken-heart emoticons or phrases such as “Grieve for the children of Palestine” and statements like: “Every time I close my eyes, I see the innocent children of Palestine running, I hear them scream.”
It all has the look and feel and sound of moral pornography, designed less to enlighten people about what is going in Israel-Gaza — war harms children? Who didn’t know this? — than to provide something shocking for us all to stare at and be collectively horrified by. There is a terrible irony to this widespread publishing of photos of battered Palestinian children — the aim seems to be to show that we the right-minded folk of Twitter and the Western media really care, but the question it immediately raises in my mind is this: “Well, if you care about children so much, why didn’t you publish photos of dead kids from the Congo? Or Aleppo? Or Sri Lanka? Do you only care about one group of children — Palestinians — and no others?” So a photo-sharing frenzy aimed at advertising our caring tendencies actually has the opposite effect: it makes one wonder why this alleged caring instinct is so picky, so partial , attaching itself firmly to the child-victims of one conflict but rarely finding expression in relation to any other conflict…
[Reader comment by Paul Weston on 18 July 2014.]
Surely these twitterers and social media types should be asking some rather different questions, to whit: “What sort of human being surrounds his rocket launchers with his own children prior to lobbing explosives into Israel? What sort of human being then uses his dead children (after he deliberately killed them) for propaganda purposes? And what sort of cretinous Western human beings fall for this type of indefensible and morally obscene behaviour?”
[Reader comment by colin harrow on 18 July 2014.]
You will not stop pictures of dead Gazan children being published in the press, on TV and on the internet as long as Hamas and their deluded supporters in the West can continue to use them as cynical anti-Israeli propaganda and as long as people fall for it.
The more Palestinian civilians. particularly women and children die, the more Hamas rejoices. That’s why they will prolong the conflict for as long as possible, refusing to abide by ceasefires which would instantly stop the killing. And only those who are terminally stupid, naïve or who are driven by an atavistic hatred of Jews fail to realise this.
If the conflict stops they will lose the only weapon they have that persuades misguided liberals in the West to support them. They don’t need to persuade fellow Islamists who see this as a religious war anyway and have already demonstrated their own contempt for civilian casualties throughout the Muslim world. And those who fall for this cynical propaganda are as much to blame as those Hamas militants who have gone of TV to boast that they “love death more than the Israelis love life” and prove it by deliberately putting their own civilian population, including children in the firing line.
This was so succinctly put today by an Israeli spokesman who said: “We use our weapons to protect our civilian population, Hamas uses their civilian population to protect their weapons.” But pictures of dead children make good copy and Hamas knows this and the so-called representatives of the people who pose wailing, sobbing and tearing their clothes as they hold blooded bodies of children up for the avid and gullible world’s press don’t give a single solitary damn for civilian deaths, children or otherwise as every single one serves their purpose.
In fact they and their fellow Muslims have already caused more civilian deaths in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc than Israel has ever done or could ever do in a millennia of conflict. And unlike the Israelis their rockets are deliberately aimed at civilian targets with no military value whatsoever. Yet the liberal media and their odd and crude anti-Semitic bedfellows just lap it by the toxic gallon.
[Reader comment by artemis in france on 18 July 2014.]
Yes, Brendan, it’s halo-polishing in its most gruesome form, but the insidious message it is meant to deliver is that the Palestinians are helpless against Israeli might. As Rod Liddle recently suggested — do the media really think that Hamas wouldn’t like to be as successful with their rocker attacks as Israel are with their counter attacks? Quite why the media is so opposed to Israel is a mystèry to me unless it is pure anti-semitism mixed with envy that thèse Israelis are such a damned clever bunch of people. Their hospitals are first-rate, their intelligence service seems all-knowing and all-seeing (how nice it would be if the West could generally say that about its own spy chiefs), and their armed forces seem capable of fighting off continuel and cynical rocket attacks from Palestine because they have a sophisticated system for detecting such attacks. That they would probably prefer not to have to call on such forces and have repeatedly tried in the past to make peace with Palestine is often forgotten. And the Palestinians have only themselves to blame because Hamas seems prepared to sacrifice many more children to their “cause” — the eventual oblitération of every Jew on the planet. Gerald Kaufman and all please note.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: How to Win in Gaza
Israel deployed ground forces in Gaza Thursday night both because Hamas’s terror tunnels into Israel have become an unacceptable threat, and because it had to break the deadlock that had developed between it and Hamas.
Until the ground invasion, Israel and Hamas were in a holding pattern. Hamas would not accept a ceasefire deal because Egypt’s offers provided the Iranian sponsored, Muslim Brotherhood terror army with no discernible achievements. And absent such achievements, Hamas prefers to keep fighting. Israel for its part is unwilling to make any concessions to Hamas in exchange for its cessation of its criminal terror war that targets innocent civilians in Israel as a matter of course.
As Hamas sees things, it has three ways of winning…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Clashes Erupt in Al-Aqsa Mosque as Israeli Soldiers Intrude
GAZA CITY — Clashes erupted between Palestinian Muslim worshippers and Israeli forces inside East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound after Israeli soldiers stormed the compound early Friday afternoon.
“Around 100 Israeli police officers stormed the Al-Aqsa’s courtyards and assaulted worshippers,” one eyewitness told Anadolu Agency. According to witnesses, Israeli security forces fired rubber bullets to disperse worshippers who were demonstrating against Israel’s devastating military offensive against the blockaded Gaza Strip, now in its second week.
During the melee, Al-Aqsa Mosque director Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani was struck in the leg by a rubber bullet, the witness said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: This Shameful Injustice Will Only End if the Cost of it Rises
by Seumas Milne
The idea that Israel is defending itself from unprovoked attacks is absurd. Occupied people have the right to resist
For the third time in five years, the world’s fourth largest military power has launched a full-scale armed onslaught on one of its most deprived and overcrowded territories. Since Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip began, just over a week ago, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed. Nearly 80% of the dead are civilians, over 20% of them children.
Around 1,400 have been wounded and 1,255 Palestinian homes destroyed. So far, Palestinian fire has killed one Israeli on the other side of the barrier that makes blockaded Gaza the world’s largest open-air prison…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Guardian Editor Defends Hamas’s Right to Kill Israelis, Again
During the last war in Gaza two years ago, Guardian associate editor Seumas Milne defended the Palestinian ‘right’ of armed resistance, while arguing that Israel, as the ‘occupying power’, had no such right to defend itself against Hamas (It’s Palestinians who have the right to defend themselves, Nov. 20, 2012)…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Leader Says Israel Must ‘Lift Siege’ of Gaza Before Any Ceasefire
Exclusive: Khaled Meshaal, Hamas leader, lays out terms for ceasefire with Israel, including ending ‘siege’ of Gaza, freeing Palestinian prisoners and ‘stopping aggression’
Hamas will not agree to a ceasefire deal, until Israel “lifts the siege” on Gaza, the organisation’s political chief has told the Telegraph.
In an exclusive interview, his first since the current conflict in Gaza, Khaled Meshaal has said his organisation will not accept a truce involving only a cessation of fire by both sides, and that any deal should secure long term political and economic gains for Palestinians.
With mediators gathered in Cairo negotiating an end to the conflict, Mr Meshaal, for the first time, laid bare the three principle demands by his organisation…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
IDF Unearths at Least 20 Gaza Tunnels Believed Used to Smuggle Weapons
Israel suffers first casualty of ground incursion; Soldiers exchange fire with militants as units seize ground in Gaza; At least 19 terrorists killed, two soldiers wounded…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The Tunnel Attack That Triggered Israel’s Ground Incursion in Gaza
In the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, July 17th, prior to a five hour UN -negotiated Humanitarian Pause, the IAF intercepted 13 black clothed terrorists emerging from a tunnel near the Shalom Keren frontier with Gaza. Spotted by an armed IAF drone, they quickly scampered back into their tunnel and were promptly dispatched by missiles. Calm returned with the onset of the Humanitarian Pause holding to 3PM Israel time when with a roar a barrage of more than 130 rockets rained down from Gaza on Southern and Central Israel signaling the end of the Pause. At 4:52 PM local time, the IDF announced its limited ground incursion with the express purpose of destroying those Gaza tunnels and underground armories containing upwards of 12,000 rockets and missiles. Israel had flooded Gaza with hundreds of thousands of leaflets announcing that civilians should flee targeted areas. The ground incursion opened with strikes by IAF F-16s and both naval and IDF bombardment of targets in Gaza. 80 Percent of Gaza was plunged into darkness with the loss of power.Who funded the building of underground armories by Hamas that triggered the IDF current ground incursion? It is the gas rich wealthy emirate of Qatar who provided over $400 million to ‘restore’ Gaza following the November 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense. A Qatar noteworthy by its hold on the Administration given its role in filtering arms to Libya to overthrow Qadaffi and into Syria. Qatar provides a luxurious sanctuary for Hamas leaders and senior Taliban commanders including those released from Guantanamo in exchange for captive Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. There was scrambling in Cairo with separate meetings PA President Abbas, Israeli and Hamas delegations. The difference this time is Egyptian President el-Sisi overthrew former President Morsi who brokered the November 2012 cease fire to save his Muslim Brothers of Hamas in Gaza. This time Egypt blamed Hamas for perpetrating the current IDF operation which might have the potential of destroying those tunnels and sending Hamas leaders to exile in Qatar.
Pray for the save return of IDF service personnel and success of this phase of Operation Protective Edge destroying the terror rockets and tunnels of Hamas in Gaza…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
What if Hamas Had Military Superiority?
by Lawrence A. Franklin
The media also does not mention that Hamas leaders have set up their military headquarters beneath hospitals and established arms storerooms in mosques.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Al Qaeda and ISIS Go to War — on Twitter
After a major offensive in northern Iraq, fighters for the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, or ISIS — which recently started calling itself simply ‘the Islamic State’ — are now also making gains in eastern Syria. In this country, their main target is not President Bashar al-Assad’s troops, but the Al Nusra Front — which is a branch of al Qaeda. The two jihadist groups are waging a bloody battle, both on the ground and on social networks.
The war has spilled over from the battlefied onto social media networks, where fighters on either side trade insults. ISIS fighters have called the Al Nusra Front — which means “the Victory Front” — “the Losers’ Front” and “the Traitors’ Front”. While the Al Nusra fighters relentlessly mock ISIS for declaring a caliphate in Iraq, which they see as a “farce”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IS Jihadists Kill 90 in Syria Gas Field Takeover: NGO
Beirut, Jul 18 (AFP) Jihadists killed at least 90 Syrian regime fighters, civilian security guards and employees when they seized a gas field in Homs province, a monitoring group said today.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described yesterday’s takeover of the Shaar field as “the biggest” anti-regime operation by the Islamic State (IS) since it emerged in the Syrian conflict last year.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Threatens Iraqi Christians in Mosul: Convert, Pay Taxes or Die
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) — Extremists occupying large swaths of Iraq and Syria have issued a threat to Iraqi Christians in the city of Mosul to accept Islam, pay extra taxes to Islamic Sharia courts or face “death by the sword.”
The letters from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, were distributed to leaders of the dwindling Christian minority in the city in recent days.
The message added that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has agreed to “allow them (Christians who do not agree to convert or pay extra taxes) to evacuate themselves only from the caliphate state” by noon Saturday (5 a.m. ET). After that, the message said, “the only option is the sword.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Pulls Diplomatic Staff From Turkey Over Violent Rioting
Violent protests erupted at the Israeli embassies in Istanbul and Ankara on Thursday night, with throngs of shrieking Turkish demonstrators hurling rocks at the embassy and at staff, screaming hate slurs, and waving pro-Palestinian flags and banners.
Hundreds of protesters attacked the Israeli consulate in Istanbul while similar numbers sought to break into the residence of the ambassador in Ankara.
Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon to halt the protests in Istanbul in the early hours of the morning but in Ankara they stood on the sidelines.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman announced Friday that he would be retracting much of the Israeli embassy staff in Turkey following the senseless riots, citing safety concerns and growing anti-Israel incitement from the Turkish leadership.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jihadists Kill 90 in Syria Gas Field Takeover
Jihadists killed at least 90 Syrian regime fighters, civilian security guards and employees when they seized a gas field in Homs province, an activist group said Friday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described Thursday’s takeover of the Shaar field as “the biggest” anti-regime operation by the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria since it emerged in the Syrian conflict last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kurds Struggle to Unify Against ISIS
Experts say the Kurds in Iraq and Syria might fight a successful campaign against ISIS. But cooperation between the two groups seems unlikely.
The Iraqi army was unable to stop the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but the well-trained Peshmerga fighters in the autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq were able to defend themselves successfully.
Now Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, wants a referendum on independence for Kurdistan. Barzani told the BBC recently that Iraq was practically divided already, and that the ISIS advance in the region made the time ripe for Kurdish independence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 5,000 Civilians Killed in Iraq This Year: U.N.
At least 5,576 Iraqi civilians have been killed this year in violence, the United Nations said on Friday in the most detailed account yet of the impact of months of unrest culminating in an assault by Sunni militants through the north of the country.
At least 11,665 have been wounded since January, when Sunni insurgents led by al Qaeda offshoot now known as the Islamic State overran the city of Falluja in the western province of Anbar, the U.N. said in a report.
Last month, the insurgents seized swathes of northern Iraq, including the area’s largest city Mosul. Of the 2,400 people killed in June, 1,531 were civilians, the U.N. said earlier this month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Schools Everywhere in Turkey Transformed Into Imam Schools
After my column about the transforming of the regular teachers’ high school in the inner Aegean city of Afyon into a girls’ imam-preacher high school (the religious vocational high schools), readers’ mails poured in.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Refugees’ Suffering Worsened by Drama of Child Brides
Poverty and fear of sexual violence have doubled the number of girls married before they are 18. Before the start of the civil war marriages of young girls were 13% of all marriages, now the number has doubled. 48% of them are given to men who are at least 10 years older than them. This despite the fact that “girls under 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than adult women”.
Amman (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Poverty and fear of sexual violence have doubled the number of young girls being given in marriage among the estimated 600 thousand Syrian refugees in Jordan. A report by Save the Children denounces the phenomenon stating that before the start of the civil war marriages of girls were 13% of all marriages, but that this number “has doubled since the beginning of the conflict.”
The report states that 48% of girls are forced to marry men at least 10 years older than them. And “the girls who marry before age 18 are more likely to suffer domestic violence than their peers who marry later” and “are at extreme risk if and when they become pregnant.” This is because the consequences of “being involved in sexual activity while their bodies are still developing are devastating: girls under 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than adult women”.
The data of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) show that among Syrian refugees in Jordan, the rate of marriages of girls has increased from 18 percent of all marriages in 2012 to 25 percent in 2013 and jumped to 32 percent in the first quarter of 2014. UNICEF also highlights the fact that the child brides “also have more limited economic opportunities, as they lose out in schooling and may be the victims of a vicious cycle of poverty.”
“As refugees — states the Save The Children report — Syrian families are reliant on dwindling resources and lacking economic opportunities. At the same time, they are all too aware of the need to protect their daughters from the threat of sexual violence,” it said. “Given these pressures, some families consider child marriage to be the best way to protect their female children and ease family resources.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Woman Stoned to Death for Adultery
Beirut — Jihadists in the northern Syrian province of Raqa have accused a woman of adultery and stoned her to death, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.
It was the first “execution” of its kind by the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, which has proclaimed the establishment of an Islamic “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Army, Islamic State Clash Near Army Airport — Monitor
BEIRUT (Reuters) — Syria’s army clashed with Islamic State fighters outside a government-controlled military airport on Friday, a monitoring group said, as the al Qaeda splinter group seeks to strengthen its grip on the east of the country.
Deir al-Zor airport is one of the last key strategic locations in the province out of the control of Islamic State, which has also seized swathes of territory across the border in northern and western Iraq…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Troops Kill Almost 100 Rebels in Recent Clashes
DAMASCUS, July 18 (Xinhua) — Syrian government forces killed almost one hundred rebel fighters in recent clashes on many frontlines across the war-torn country, local media reported Friday.
As many as 25 fighters from the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front were killed Friday during clashes with the Syrian troops in the town of Mork in the countryside of Hama, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported, spelling no further details…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: 3 Refugees Killed, Dozens Injured on Way to Jordan
(ANSAmed) — RAMTHA (JORDAN), JULY 18 — Three Syrian refugees were shot dead and two dozens injured, some in critical condition, as they tried to cross to Jordan to escape violence in their country, security and medical sources said on Friday.
Hundreds of refugees enter Jordan on daily basis as they seek asylum in refugee camps set up by the UN in the northern and eastern deserts.
Jordan has been crying out over lack of funds to support nearly half a million refugees, most of whom live in major cities and towns, placing pressure on health and education infrastructure.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism, Violence Slain Over 5,000 Civilians in Iraq in First Half of 2014: UN
BAGHDAD, July 18 (Xinhua) — Terrorism and violence have slaughtered no less than 5,576 civilians in Iraq in the first half of this year, with 11,666 more wounded, according to a report released on Friday by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The Fast & the Furious: Are You Hotheaded During Ramadan?
“Don’t make me get angry, don’t make me break my fast!” is probably a popular one-liner you’ll hear if you come across any public skirmish during the holy month of Ramadan in many parts of the Arab world.
In fact, so popular is the notion that it has been used time and again to promote Ramadan deals and offers on television and via other media platforms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
High-Tech Spycraft Tracked Missile’s Path to Malaysia Airlines Jet
Advanced U.S. satellites played a key role in the determination by intelligence officials that a surface-to-air missile shot down a Malaysian jetliner over Ukraine on Thursday.
The assessment was almost certainly based on a technical branch of spycraft known as measurement and signature intelligence, or MASINT, analysts said. The method detects, tracks and identifies a variety of electronic signatures, including radar.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Suspects Kiev of Shooting Down Malaysian Airliner
MOSCOW/KIEV, July 18 (Xinhua) — Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems covered the airspace where Malaysian airliner MH17 was shot down, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.
“The area is covered by two Ukrainian S-200 long-range anti-aircraft missile systems and three Buk-M1 middle-range missile systems,” the ministry’s press service said in a statement.
According to the ministry, Russian air defense monitoring on Thursday detected activity of the Ukrainian radar station Kupol, which is an integral part of the Buk-M1 system…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Cites Evidence Rebels Downed Malaysian Airlines Jet
The United States on Friday ramped up its suspicions that pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine felled a Malaysian jetliner, asserting there was “credible evidence” that a Russian-built antiaircraft system in a rebel-held location had fired the missle that destroyed it, killing all 298 people aboard and scattering the wreckage over miles of rolling farmland.
The accusations, made by Samantha Power, the United Nations ambassador, at an emergency Security Council meeting on the Ukraine conflict, were the first public remarks by a top American official pointing fingers directly at the separatists and their Russian associates for the destruction of the Malaysia Air Lines Boeing 777-200. The aircraft was at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet in a commonly used air route over eastern Ukraine when it was struck on Thursday.
Both Russia and the separatist groups have denied any responsibility, and some rebel leaders have suggested Ukraine’s armed forces may have shot down the plane. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has implicitly blamed Ukraine’s government, saying it created the conditions for the separatist uprising that has escalated into a major crisis. But Mr. Putin has not denied that a Russian-made weapon may have destroyed the aircraft.
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US Investigators: Malaysia Airlines Missile Likely Fired From Ukrainian Soil
The missile that downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 appears to have been launched from inside Ukraine, according to sources, including a senior U.S. official with knowledge of a preliminary classified intelligence report.
“The signature of the missile shows that it was fired from inside Ukraine,” the source said.
Although both the Ukraine and the Russian separatists and their backers in Moscow are blaming each other, the U.S. intelligence community is leaning toward the conclusion that it was fired by separatists
“(We) can’t conclusively say it was separatists but some indicators certainly point that direction,” the senior U.S. official told Fox News.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
2 Killed, 14 Wounded in Eastern Afghan Blast
MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan, July 18 (Xinhua) — Two people were killed while 14 civilians were wounded in an explosion in the eastern Afghan province of Laghman on Friday, said a provincial government spokesman…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
India School Boycotted After ‘Rape’
Indian parents have begun a boycott of a Bangalore school after claims emerged that a six-year-old student had been raped by two staff members.
The parents, who staged a protest on Thursday, have asked the school to step up security for students. The alleged assault happened on 2 July but her parents discovered it only a few days ago after she complained of stomach ache and was taken to hospital…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Quetta: Firing Outside Mosque, 4 People Killed
Four people have been killed in firing outside a mosque in Satellite Town area of Quetta.
QUETTA (Dunya News) — At least four people have been killed in firing outside a mosque in Satellite Town area of Quetta after Friday prayers, Dunya News reported.
Police sources have revealed that two armed men riding a bike opened fire at four people while they were leaving the mosque after offering Friday prayers. The injured were taken to the hospital but died on the way, according to the sources. Police and the rescue service arrived on the spot soon after the incident. The investigation for the killings is underway…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Russians Love Their Chinese Neighbours, Gallup Poll Shows
The 2,000 Russians surveyed gave China a 42pc approval rating and put the EU and the United States near rock bottom
China’s popularity in Russia has reached an all-time high, as opinions of the EU and the US have sunk near the bottom, according to a survey released this week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa: Edenvale Warned of “Rape Hot Spot”
A big “Rape Hot Spot” billboard has been erected in Edenvale, east of Johannesburg, which is grabbing the attention of passing motorists and pedestrians.
The 2.5m by 1.3m home-made billboard which is at the corner of Greenside Road and Aitken street in Edenvale, was erected by a heartsore man who said he put up the sign in response to the rape of his fiancé…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
4 Syrians Dead as Boat Sinks Off Turkey
ANKARA, July 18 (Xinhua) — Four Syrians were killed and one other was missing on Friday as a rubber boat illegally carrying 17 Syrian nationals to Greece sank off the Aegean Sea of western Turkey, local Dogan News Agency reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Mare Nostrum Saves 3,510 Lives in Past 48 Hrs
Refugees and asylum seekers from Eritrea, Syria, and others
(ANSAmed) — Rome, July 18 — Italy’s Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) migrant search and rescue operation has saved 3,510 lives in the past two days, officials said Friday.
The Etna navy supply ship is carrying a total of 2,128 refugees rescued off various boats in distress, including 574 people rescued Thursday night when their vessel began taking on water.
A coast guard vessel on Friday brought 251 Nigerian and Syrian refugees to the resort town of Pozzallo, which is located on the south-eastern tip of Sicily, facing northern Africa. The 224 men, 25 women, three of them pregnant, and two minors were rescued off an 18-meter wooden boat 40 miles off the Libyan city of Tripoli.
As well, two Italian navy vessels are currently taking to Sicily a total of 1,194 people that were rescued in the past 36 hours, with additional help from two civilian vessels. Another 1,278 migrants from Eritrea, Somalia, Syria and Pakistan have arrived on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, which is the first landfall for boats sailing from north Africa.
Among them are at least 176 women and 30 children, said Save the Children child welfare NGO.
A total of 1,171 asylum seekers, half of them Eritrean, reached the city of Trapani on Thursday, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The rest are from Gambia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Palestine, Senegal, Syria, Togo.
“A total of 67,000 migrants and asylum seekers have reached Italy since the beginning of the year, including over 6,500 unaccompanied children,” said IOM mission chief José Angel Oropeza.
“They include many victims of human trafficking,” Oropeza went on. The IOM has set up anti-trafficking teams in Puglia and Sicily to help identify and protect victims of exploitation, he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
San Francisco Presses Feds to End Ban on Gay Male Blood Donations
In 1983, as the AIDS epidemic was raging, gays and bisexual men were banned from donating blood by the FDA. Now San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener has introduced a resolution to end the ban, and the city board is expected to approve it.
He charged, “It’s discriminatory, it has no basis in public health. All donated blood is heavily tested, and it’s depriving our country of a lot of blood that could be donated to help save peoples’ lives.”
Wiener, who is openly gay, acknowledged in 2011 that HIV/AIDS was still a major problem in San Francisco, saying, “We have a large and aging population of people living with HIV/AIDS. Until we minimize or eliminate new infections, we must focus on prevention. We can’t keep letting our community, and particularly our young people, become positive.
The FDA reported in August 2013;
A history of male-to-male sex is associated with an increased risk for exposure to and transmission of certain infectious diseases, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Men who have had sex with other men represent approximately 2% of the U.S. population, yet are the population most severely affected by HIV. In 2010, MSM accounted for at least 61% of all new HIV infections in the U.S. and an estimated 77% of diagnosed HIV infections among males were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Quantum Bounce Could Make Black Holes Explode
If space-time is granular, it could reverse gravitational collapse and turn it into expansion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The link for “An Israeli pilot speaks” no longer works. Here’s a youtube link to the same short video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wANq_MhjML4
“following the tenets of liberalism, the West would embrace suicidal policies that would bring about the death of her civilization.”
That’s not my recollection of Burnham’s position. Burnham argues that liberalism (in the peculiarly American sense, i.e. “Leftism” in actuality) is the means by which America deadens/comforts its population to the collapse of that nation.
“San Francisco Presses Feds to End Ban on Gay Male Blood Donations”
Profiling of muslim terrorists is unacceptable.
Profiling of gay men is acceptable.
No gay man can donate blood. But all muslims are free to use public transport, airports, etc. without a single question being asked of them.
Seumas Milne is a communist. Everythng he writes, has written and will write should be viewed in this light.
Perhaps France is not beyond hope after all! Banning “Pro-Palestinian” demonstrations is a legitimate curtailment of civil liberties for several reasons 1) they always degenerate into violence 2) they aren’t really pro anything, they are against Jews, Israel and Zionism are just slimy euphemism 3) and they are designed to intimidate not only Jews but the populace: we are young, hate-filled, angry and violent, therefore do not dare get in our way, attempt to thwart or criticise us or we’ll unleash this wrath upon YOU!
Wonderful penalty regime too: none of your slap on the wrists! And tripling the penalties for those hiding their identities is a master stroke as is quintupling the penalties for using social media to advertise planned demonstrations. Best news out of France since Sarkozy challenged and rebuked Tariq Ramadan on TV over the question of stoning adulterers.