British boxing champ supports American journalists' beheadin

Former British and Commonwealth light middleweight champion Anthony Small - now known as Abdul-Haqq - has posted a series of Youtube videos supporting Jihad and backing Isis Controversial: Boxer Anthony Small A British boxing champion who converted to Islam has posted a video online justifying the beheading of American journalist James Foley. Former British and Commonwealth light middleweight title holder Anthony Smallsaid barbaric killing was pay-back for the “United Snakes of America” attacking the Islamic State. In an astonishing seven minute rant, the fighter warns that if Britain follows America then the UK will come under attack from jihadi “sleeper cells” already in the UK. Small, now 33, converted to Islam at the age of 24 and is now known as Abdul-Haqq. Savage; beheading of American journalist James Foley by ISIS It is claimed he is a follower of firebrand preacher Anjem Choudary and was a member of the banned radical group Al-Muhajiroun/Islam4UK. In a video uploaded to YouTube, he said: “We have to be objective and non-biased, that the beheading of James Foley, Mr. Beheaded infidel, not to be disrespectful to him or his family, I can’t remember his name, Mr Infidel, it wasn’t unprovoked. Video loading Isis boxer “I say the exact same thing I said about Lee Rigby: people getting heads removed is an abnormal situation. It needs to be prevented. But we have to be objective. “I don’t want to say unprovoked because they could say I’m glorifying terrorism, but it was a retaliation, from the own words of those who conducted it, they said, not me said, they said it’s a retaliation.” James Foley was beheaded by an Islamic State fighteron August 19 after being held prisoner for almost two years. British soldier Lee Rigby was hacked to death on May 22 2013 by British terrorists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale as he made his way back to his army barracks in Woolwich, south east London. In April 2011 Small attacked further controversy after he denounced British Boxer Amir Khan for being an apostate and outside the fold of Islam. The former pugilist attracted controversy when he took part in a march in Barking, East London, to protest against the British presence in the war in Afghanistan. He joined with around 50 other demonstrators who called themselves ‘Muslims Against Crusades’, which is a new front for al-Muhajiroun/Islam4UK, at the march on 15 June 2010.

Journalists’ killings: Video fabricated to justify future war?

Journalists’ killings: Video fabricated to justify future war?

DOHA: A report by Al Jazeera News channel has called the executions of two US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff as “Hollywood” casting, saying they could be used as a pretext for a Western intervention in Syria.
The report — published under the “reports and interviews” section of the pan-Arab channel’s Arabic website on Thursday – said Foley likely fabricated the video, said alarabiya.net

THE ROLE OF ZIONISM IN THE HOLOCAUST

THE ROLE OF ZIONISM IN THE HOLOCAUST Article by Rabbi Gedalya Liebermann - Australia "Spiritually and Physically Responsible " From its' inception, many rabbis warned of the potential dangers of Zionism and openly declared that all Jews loyal to G-d should stay away from it like one would from fire. They made their opinions clear to their congregants and to the general public. Their message was that Zionism is a chauvinistic racist phenomenon which has absolutely naught to do with Judaism. They publicly expressed that Zionism would definitely be detrimental to the well being of Jews and Gentiles and that its effects on the Jewish religion would be nothing other than destructive. Further, it would taint the reputation of Jewry as a whole and would cause utter confusion in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Judaism is a religion. Judaism is not a race or a nationality. That was and still remains the consensus amongst the rabbis. We were given the Holy Land by G-d in order to be able to study and practice the Torah without disturbance and to attain levels of holiness difficult to attain outside of the Holy Land. We abused the privilege and we were expelled. That is exactly what all Jews say in their prayers on every Jewish festival, "Umipnay chatoenu golinu mayartsaynu" - "Because of our sins we were expelled from our land". We have been forsworn by G-d "not to enter the Holy Land as a body before the predestined time", "not to rebel against the nations", to be loyal citizens, not to do anything against the will of any nation or its honour, not to seek vengeance, discord, restitution or compensation; "not to leave exile ahead of time." On the contrary; we have to be humble and accept the yoke of exile. To violate the oaths would result in "your flesh will be made prey as the deer and the antelope in the forest," and the redemption will be delayed. (Talmud Tractate Ksubos p. 111a). To violate the oaths is not only a sin, it is a heresy because it is against the fundamentals of our Belief. Only through complete repentance will the Almighty alone, without any human effort or intervention, redeem us from exile. This will be after G-d will send the prophet Elijah and Moshiach who will induce all Jews to complete repentance. At that time there will be universal peace. THE UNHEEDED CRY All of the leading Jewish religious authorities of that era predicted great hardship to befall humanity generally and the Jewish People particularly, as a result of Zionism. To be a Jew means that either one is born to a Jewish mother or converts to the religion with the condition that he or she make no reservations with regard to Jewish Law. Unfortunately there are many Jews who have no inkling whatsoever as to the duties of a Jew. Many of them are not to blame, for in many cases they lacked a Jewish education and upbringing. But there are those who deliberately distort the teachings of our tradition to suit their personal needs. It is self understood that not just anyone has the right or the ability to make a decision regarding the philosophy or law of a religion. Especially matters in which that person has no qualification. It follows then that those individuals who "decided" that Judaism is a nationality are to be ignored and even criticized. It is no secret that the founders of Zionism had never studied Jewish Law nor did they express interest in our holy tradition. They openly defied Rabbinical authority and self-appointed themselves as leaders of the Jewish "nation". In Jewish history, actions like those have always spelled disaster. To be a Jew and show open defiance of authority or to introduce "amendment" or "innovation" without first consulting with those officially appointed as Jewish spiritual leaders is the ideal equation to equal catastrophe. One can not just decide to "modernize" ancient traditions or regulations. The spiritual leaders of contemporary Judaism better known as Orthodox rabbis have received ordination to judge and interpret matters pertaining to the Jewish faith. These rabbis have received their rights and responsibilities and form a link in the unbroken chain of the Jewish tradition dating all the way back to Moses who received the Torah from Almighty G-d Himself. It was these very rabbis who, at the time of the formation of the Zionist movement, foresaw the pernicious outcome that was without a doubt lined up. It was a man possessing outstanding Judaic genius, and a level of uncontested holiness who enunciated the Jewish stance regarding Zionism. Read More

Zionism is Jews worst enemy

Almost everything you've been conditioned to believe about the making and sustaining of conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel is not true. It's not true that all the Palestinians who became refugees in 1948 left their homeland voluntarily. Most were driven out by Zionist terrorism and ethnic cleansing. It's not true that Israel has lived in constant danger of annihilation, the "driving into the sea" of its Jews. Israel's existence has never, ever, been in danger. And it's not true that Israel never had Arab partners for peace. It's Zionism that has never been interested in peace on terms the vast majority of Palestinians and most other Arabs and Muslims everywhere could accept. Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jewsis a journey through the propaganda lies and truth of history. When the citizens of nations know the difference between Zionism's propaganda lies and the documented facts and truth of history, they will be empowered, if they care, to demand that their governments act to end Israel's oppression of the Palestinians. And that's why Alan Hart devoted more than five years of his life to researching and writing this book - to empower citizens to play their necessary part in stopping the countdown to catastrophe for all. Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jewsis a complete re-writing of the history of the making and sustaining of the conflict, replacing Zionist mythology with events as they actually happened. The events are given global context to enable all readers to see how all the pieces of the most complex and complicated jig-saw puzzle fit together. The insight Alan brings to the pages of this book is assisted by revelations from private conversations he had over the years with leaders on both sides of the conflict, including the two greatest opposites in all of human history - Golda Meir, Mother Israel, and Yasser Arafat, Father Palestine. Written in his down-to-earth, television reporting and conversational style, the book reads more like a novel than a conventional history. It will keep you turning the pages wanting to know more. It has two central themes. One is why Western support of Israel right-or-wrong has made the whole Arab and wider Muslim world an explosion of anger and humiliation waiting for its time to happen. The other is how Israel, the child of Zionism, became its own worst enemy and a threat not only to the peace of the region and the world, but also to the best interests of Jews everywhere and the moral integrity of Judaism itself. The key to understanding, the author writes, is knowledge of the difference between Judaism and Zionism. He explains: "Judaism is the religion of Jews, not 'the' Jews because not all Jews are religious. Like Christianity and Islam, Judaism has at its core a set of moral values and ethical principles. Zionism is Jewish nationalism in the form of a sectarian, colonial enterprise which, in the process of creating and then expanding in the Arab heartland a state for some Jews, made a mockery of Judaism's moral values and ethical principles and demonstrated contempt for international law and the human and political rights of the Palestinians. That's why, for example, Nazi holocaust survivor Dr. Hajo Meyer titled his latest book An Ethical Tradition Betrayed, The End of Judaism." The author adds: "Supporters of Israel right or wrong conflate Judaism and Zionism because the assertion that they are one and the same enables them to claim that criticism of the Zionist state of Israel is a manifestation of anti-Semitism. Often, almost always these days, the accusation that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism is false. And this false charge is the blackmail card played to silence criticism of, and suppress informed and honest debate about, the Zionist state and its policies. The reality is that Judaism and political Zionism are total opposites, and knowledge of the difference is the key to understanding two things. One is why it is perfectly possible to be passionately anti-Zionist - opposed to Zionism's colonial enterprise - without being in any way, shape or form anti-Semitic (anti-Jew). The other is why it is wrong to blame all Jews everywhere for the crimes of the hard core Zionist few in Palestine that became Israel."

American held without bail after tweets in support of Islamic State

An American accused of conspiring to aid the militant group Islamic State was ordered by a New York judge to be held without bail after he was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport earlier this month, according to the New York Daily News. Donald Ray Morgan was arrested by FBI agents on August 2 at Kennedy Airport when he returned to the United States following an eight-month stay in Lebanon where his wife lives, the Daily Newsreported. Morgan was allegedly attempting to broker deals for military-style weapons and ammunition in his home state of North Carolina. He was indicted for possessing a firearm as a felon since he has a previous conviction in North Carolina for firing a gun. Yet officials also cited concern over his aggressive rants on Twitter under the name“Abu Omar Al Amreeki”during his time in the Middle East. At a bail hearing last week, assistant Brooklyn US Attorney Nadia Moore painted Morgan as too dangerous to return to North Carolina. “It’s possible that he traffics in guns to people in this organization (Islamic State),”Moore said in Brooklyn Federal Court before Magistrate Ramon Reyes. Islamic State is also known as ISIS, or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Morgan - who referred to himself as a mujahideen, or jihadist fighter - allegedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi on Twitter. His sentiments on the social media site signaled that he may have been preparing to fight with Islamic militants in Syria, Iraq, or possibly in the US, law enforcement officials worried. There was no evidence of Morgan’s membership with Islamic State nor that he offered material support to the militant group, federal defender Peter Kirchheimer said. Yet Judge Reyes said the tweets“clearly implied to me that he is trying to go to Syria or Iraq as the next step and trying to be actively engaged.” Islamic State is an Al-Qaeda splinter group that has rampaged through Iraqin recent months, capturing large swaths of the western and northern parts of the nation. The group was known to have fought against Bashar Assad's government in Syria before seeking gains across the border in Iraq. The Iraqi government has been next to powerless against the extremist group's advances. In recent days, the United States has authorizedand conducted airdrops of humanitarian supplies to minoritiesin Kurdistan fleeing the violence as well as airstrikesagainst Islamic State positions in northern Iraq. The Islamic State wants to create a medieval-style caliphate across Iraq and Syria stretching to the Mediterranean. It recently tried to extend its bloody campaign to Lebanon, but was beaten back by the Lebanese army.

Comment

I believe U.S judges are very lay in practical wisdom and in deep understanding of human behaviors and ways of the society. They are clinically technical. People don't mean what they say most of the time. Some of their rantings may be like farts. Unless the person shows prolong persistence, makes some preparation or take first step towards the crime he should be kept under watch and not be booked. At time we get moved and say lot of bad things out of momentary out burst.

Iraq crisis: 'It is death valley. Up to 70 per cent of them are dead'

On board Iraqi army helicopter delivering aid to the trapped Yazidis,Jonathan Krohnsees a hellish sight Mount Sinjar stinks of death. The few Yazidis who have managed to escape its clutches can tell you why. “Dogs were eating the bodies of the dead,” said Haji Khedev Haydev, 65, who ran through the lines of Islamic State jihadists surrounding it. On Sunday night, I became the first western journalist to reach the mountains where tens of thousands of Yazidis, a previously obscure Middle Eastern sect, have been taking refuge from the Islamic State forces that seized their largest town, Sinjar Read More

Live From Occupied Palestine: Israeli propaganda, social media and mainstream re...

Live From Occupied Palestine: Israeli propaganda, social media and mainstream re...: Dear friends, Please find below a reprint of a fairly long article from Israel's Haaretz newspaper discussing the reportage of the int...

War News Updates: A Look At The U.S. Military Forces That Have Been ...

War News Updates: A Look At The U.S. Military Forces That Have Been ...: The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) is shown under way in the Atlantic Ocean conducting sea trials on Jan. 27...

War News Updates: U.S. Air Strikes In Iraq Are Continuing As Well As...

War News Updates: U.S. Air Strikes In Iraq Are Continuing As Well As...: Desperate masses: Stranded Yazidi men, women and children rush towards a Kurdish helicopter carrying aid today, as IS fighters surround m...

CHILLING CONFESSIONS OF AN EX-MOSSAD AGENT

CONFESSIONS OF AN EX-MOSSAD AGENT

Excerpt from Victor Ostrovsky's, "By way of deception" NOTE: Needless to say, the Israeli Lobby has demanded (and gotten) a total ban on this book in all major bookstore chains, while pro-Israeli experts have trashed it at every opportunity.Ostrovsky's book is available only online at places like Amazon Revealing the facts as I know them from my vantage point of four years spent inside the Mossad was by no means an easy task. Coming from an ardent Zionist background, I had been taught that the state of Israel was incapable of misconduct. That we were the David in the unending struggle against the ever-growing Goliath. That there was no one out there to protect us but ourselves - a feeling reinforced by the Holocaust survivors who lived among us. We, the new generation of Israelites, the resurrected nation on its own land after more than two thousand years of exile, were entrusted with the fate of the nation as a whole. The commanders of our army were called champions, not generals. Our leaders were captains at the helm of a great ship. I was elated when I was chosen and granted the privilege to join what I considered to be the elite team of the Mossad. But it was the twisted ideals and self-centered pragmatism that I encountered inside the Mossad, coupled with this so-called team's greed, lust, and total lack of respect for human life, that motivated me to tell this story. It is out of love for Israel as a free and just country that I am laying my life on the line by so doing, facing up to those who took it upon themselves to turn the Zionist dream into the present-day nightmare. The Mossad, being the intelligence body entrusted with the responsibility of plotting the course for the leaders at the helm of the nation, has betrayed that trust. Plotting on its own behalf, and for petty, self-serving reasons, it has set the nation on a collision course with all-out war. One of the main themes of this book is Victor's belief that Mossad is out of control, that even the prime minister, although ostensibly in charge, has no real authority over its actions ... Read More

Nigerians now calling on authorities to talk to the Boko Haram militants.

First it was the Christian area in Kano. Then the market in Jos and the villages of Shawa and Alagarno. Once again, authorities suspect that Boko Haram is behind the attack. And many Nigerians fear that the terrorists are trying to create a divide between the already fragile relationship between Muslims and Christians in the country. Pastor Yohanna Buro, who lives in the north-Nigerian city of Kaduna, has observed the growing fear and enmity in his community. In Kaduna State, the Muslim and Christian communities each make up about 50 percent of the population. "You begin to see a Muslim blaming a Christian of being part of a conspiracy - between the Jews, Christians and the West - against the Hausa-Fulani Muslims in northern Nigeria," says Buro. He therefore calls for the government to engage in talks with Boko Haram. His opinion is shared by other religious leaders like Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa. In the past decade, Kaduna repeatedly became the scene of political and religious fighting. Several thousands were killed during this period. As a result, the onetime enemies, Wuye and Ashafa, decided to resolve their differences and work towards a peaceful co-existence of the two religious groups. The two leaders facilitated an interreligious dialogue in Kaduna and were awarded for their efforts by the German Africa Foundation (DAS) in 2013. Read More

Till the birth of Israel & Zionism Jews were patronised by most of Muslim rulers.

Once upon a time, a widely circulated Jewish document described Islam as "an act of God's Mercy". Also, Jews in the near East, north Africa and Spain threw their support behind advancing Muslim Arab armies. No, these aren't fairy tales or propaganda. The relationship between Muslims and Jews really was that cooperative and marked by peaceful coexistence.

Just ask Khalid Siddiqi of the Islamic Education and Information Center in San Jose, California where he also teaches Islamic Studies and Arabic at Chabot College and Ohlone College. Siddiqi notes that the first quote above is from S. D. Goitein's book Jews and Arabs. The second is from Merlin Swartz's 'The Position of Jews in Arab lands following the rise of Islam' (reprinted from The Muslim World. Hartford Seminary Foundation LXI1970).

Swartz also says the Muslim Arab conquest marked the dawn of a new era. Those forces that had led to the progressive isolation and disruption of Jewish life were not only checked they were dramatically reversed.

In an interview with Sound Vision, Siddiqi gave numerous examples of Jews flourishing under Muslim rule in places like Spain, Morocco, North African in general and various parts of the Middle East.

Siddiqi points out that Islam as a religion has given specific guidelines for the followers of Islam to base their relationship with any non-Muslim. These include People of Scripture, like the Jews, people who belong to other religions, and even atheists. Non-Muslims must be treated on the basis of Birr (kindness) and Qist (justice), as referred to Surah 60 verse 8 of the Quran.

It started at the time of the Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him) The peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Jews began at the time of the Prophet.

Siddiqi notes that the Jews welcomed the Prophet when he arrived in Madinah at the time of Hijrah (migration), along with the rest of the city's inhabitants. But the Prophet had begun the step towards good relations with Jewish and other communities in Madinah even before getting there. After receiving an invitation to Madinah from one of the city's tribes that had accepted Islam, the Prophet signed treaties with the city's Jewish, Christian and polytheist tribes before he arrived there.

These treaties clearly laid out responsibilities of each of the parties. It was based on these that the Prophet established the Mithaq al Madinah, the constitution of Madinah. Read More

The Jewish Inquisition: An Eyewitness Account

In Part 45, when we discussed the Crusades, we covered the war of the Church against the Muslims in the Middle East. Now we turn to the war of the Church against Muslims in Europe. This war went on for quite some time in fits and starts—from the time the Muslim Moors arrived in Spain in 711. It took a long time for the Christians to vanquish them. The first Muslim stronghold to fall was Toledo in 1085; the last was Granada in 1492. As the Christian re-conquest gained momentum, Jews in these newly re-conquered Christians territories began to suffer from increasingly harsher persecutions. In their blood-thirsty vengeance against the Muslims, the Spanish Christians included the Jews, whom they put in the category of infidels. In 14th century Barcelona, for example, the whole Jewish community was murdered by a rioting mob. First given shelter by some Christians, these Jews were pressured to convert. Those who did not were refused protection. Writes Professor B. Netanyahu in his 1,400-page work,The Origins of the Inquisition, quoting an eyewitness account of the time: “Those of them who refused to accept baptism were immediately slain, and their corpses, stretched in the streets and the squares, offered a horrendous spectacle.” (p. 159) Just how many Jews converted in these forced mass conversions that accompanied the Christian conquest of Spain? Estimates rage between tens of thousands to as many as 600,000. (SeeThe Origins of the Inquisition, p. 1095.) Many of those who converted did so only outwardly, continuing to practice Judaism in secret. In due time, the Christians caught on to these phony conversions and decided to root out the heretics. THE SPANISH INQUISITION The Inquisition we are going to cover now is the Spanish Inquisition, which began officially by papal bull issued by Pope Sixtus IV on November 1, 1478. (We should note, however, that the very first Inquisition actually took place in 1233 under orders from Pope Gregory IX to combat a group of French-Christian heretics called “Albigenses.” This first Inquisition was relatively mild and did not as a rule sentence people to death. Not so the Spanish Inquisition which was directed against Jewish heretics.) Unlike its earlier version, the Spanish Inquisition sought to punish Jews who had converted to Christianity but were not really “sincere” in their conversions. There is a great deal of irony in this. First you tell people they have to convert or die, then, when they do convert, you decide to kill them anyway because their conversions are not “sincere.” There was another reason for the Inquisition, which had little to do with the sincerity of conversions. Once Jews converted to Christianity they had an open access to the playing field, economically and politically. And, of course, they prospered mightily. That engendered a lot of hostility from the Christians - a pattern we have seen in Jewish history ever since the enslavement of the Israelites by the Egyptians. Read More

CIA and Mossad alliance. Metsada: International killing unit of Mossad

The Mossad(Hebrew for "institution") is Israel's main intelligence agency. According to the Global Security site, Mossad also oversees "covert action and counterterrorism"; its operations are widely held to include targeted killings. At the time of its founding, the Mossad's motto was the biblical quote "By way of deception thou shalt make war." The motto was later changed to a different Proverbs passage: "Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety." Sources refer variously to the Mossad's international assassination unit as "Metsada," "Caesarea,"or "Kidon"("Kidon" is Hebrew for "bayonet"). Rafi Eitan, a former director of Mossad operations, compared its assassins to "the official hangman or the doctor on Death Row who administers the lethal injection. We are simply fulfilling a sentence sanctioned by the prime minister of the day." In the past half-century, Israel has allegedly killed hundreds of members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hamas, Hebollah, and Islamic Jihad. Mossad targets have also reportedly included German rocket scientists working for Egypt in the 1960s and, from the 1980s to the present, Iraqi and Iranian nuclear scientists. Early on, the Mossad kidnapped and killed alleged Nazi war criminals; one well-known example was Adolf Eichmann, whom the Mossad abducted from Argentina and brought to Israel for trial and execution. Read More

Is Palestine now Germany for Israel? Historical quotes of Jewish leaders.

The Israeli people around the world declare economic and financial war against Germany. Fourteen million Jews stand together as one man, to declare war against Germany. The Jewish wholesaler will forsake his firm, the banker his stock exchange, the merchant his commerce and the pauper his pitiful shed in order to join together in a holy war against Hitler's people. -Daily Express, March 24, 1933

"All Jews world wide -- declared war on the Third Reich."(The London Daily Express, Front Page Story, 3/24/1933).

"Judea declares War on Germany."(Daily Express, March 24, 1934)

"The millions of Jews who live in America, England and France, North and South Africa, and, not to forget those in Palestine, are determined to bring the war of annihilation against Germany to its final end."(The Jewish newspaper, Central Blad Voor Israeliten in Nederland, September 13, 1939)

"Germany is the enemy of Judaism and must be pursued with deadly hatred. The goal of Judaism of today is: a merciless campaign against all German peoples and the complete destruction of the nation. We demand a complete blockade of trade, the importation of raw materials stopped, and retaliation towards every German, woman and child."(Jewish professor A. Kulischer, October, 1937)

"Kill the Germans, wherever you find them! Every German is our moral enemy. Have no mercy on women, children, or the aged! Kill every German -- wipe them out!"(Llya Ehrenburg, Glaser, p. 111).

"Step by step, I have arrived at the conviction that the aims of Communism in Europe are sinister and fatal. At the Nuremberg Trials, I, together with my Russian colleague, condemned Nazi Aggression and Terror. I believe now that Hitler and the German People did not want war. But we, {England}, declared war on Germany, intent on destroying it, in accordance with our principle of Balance of Power, and we were encouraged by the 'Americans'{Jews} around Roosevelt. We ignored Hitler's pleading, not to enter into war. Now we are forced to realize that Hitler was right. He offered us the co-operation of Germany: instead, since 1945, we have been facing the immense power of the Soviet Empire. I feel ashamed and humiliated to see that the aims we accused Hitler of, are being relentless pursued now, only under a different label."(Ashamed and Humiliated The British Attorney General, Sir Hartle Shawcross, said in a speech at Stourbridge, March 16/84 (AP))

"Our fight against Germany must be carried to the limit of what is possible. Israel has been attacked. Let us, therefore, defend Israel! Against the awakened Germany, we put an awakened Israel. And the world will defend us."(Jewish author Pierre Creange in his book

Epitres aux Juifs, 1938) Read More

Is Palestine now Germany for Israel? Historical quotes of Jewish leaders.

The Israeli people around the world declare economic and financial war against Germany. Fourteen million Jews stand together as one man, to declare war against Germany. The Jewish wholesaler will forsake his firm, the banker his stock exchange, the merchant his commerce and the pauper his pitiful shed in order to join together in a holy war against Hitler's people. -Daily Express, March 24, 1933 "All Jews world wide -- declared war on the Third Reich."(The London Daily Express, Front Page Story, 3/24/1933). "Judea declares War on Germany."(Daily Express, March 24, 1934) "The millions of Jews who live in America, England and France, North and South Africa, and, not to forget those in Palestine, are determined to bring the war of annihilation against Germany to its final end."(The Jewish newspaper, Central Blad Voor Israeliten in Nederland, September 13, 1939) "Germany is the enemy of Judaism and must be pursued with deadly hatred. The goal of Judaism of today is: a merciless campaign against all German peoples and the complete destruction of the nation. We demand a complete blockade of trade, the importation of raw materials stopped, and retaliation towards every German, woman and child."(Jewish professor A. Kulischer, October, 1937) "Kill the Germans, wherever you find them! Every German is our moral enemy. Have no mercy on women, children, or the aged! Kill every German -- wipe them out!"(Llya Ehrenburg, Glaser, p. 111). "Step by step, I have arrived at the conviction that the aims of Communism in Europe are sinister and fatal. At the Nuremberg Trials, I, together with my Russian colleague, condemned Nazi Aggression and Terror. I believe now that Hitler and the German People did not want war. But we, {England}, declared war on Germany, intent on destroying it, in accordance with our principle of Balance of Power, and we were encouraged by the 'Americans'{Jews} around Roosevelt. We ignored Hitler's pleading, not to enter into war. Now we are forced to realize that Hitler was right. He offered us the co-operation of Germany: instead, since 1945, we have been facing the immense power of the Soviet Empire. I feel ashamed and humiliated to see that the aims we accused Hitler of, are being relentless pursued now, only under a different label."(Ashamed and Humiliated The British Attorney General, Sir Hartle Shawcross, said in a speech at Stourbridge, March 16/84 (AP)) "Our fight against Germany must be carried to the limit of what is possible. Israel has been attacked. Let us, therefore, defend Israel! Against the awakened Germany, we put an awakened Israel. And the world will defend us."(Jewish author Pierre Creange in his book Epitres aux Juifs, 1938) Read More

The shadow of anti-Jewish sentiments falls on Europe

The Hungarian government struggled to counter allegations of institutionalised anti-Semitism on Sunday after the country's far-right Jobbik party staged a mass rally in the capital Budapest in protest against a meeting of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in the city. The WJC usually holds its assembly in Jerusalem. But it chose Budapest for its meeting, which began yesterday, to highlight what it claims is growing anti-Semitism and a rise in support for the far right in Europe, where the economic crisis is fuelling distrust in mainstream political parties. Hungary has one of the largest Jewish populations in the European Union, but there is growing concern that the government is not doing enough to combat anti-Semitic rhetoric. Ronald S Lauder, the WJC president, complained last month that Hungary was on a "dangerous political path" and that its controversial right-wing nationalist Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, had "lost his political compass" and often told the far right "what they want to hear". Last night Mr Orban addressed the issue of growing anti-Semitism in a speech at the opening of the assembly, which runs until Wednesday. He defended the notion of strong national identity as beneficial for mutual co-existence, but said it is a "moral obligation to declare a policy of zero tolerance against anti-Semitism". In a gesture which underlined the problems in Hungary, the far-right and openly racist Jobbik party held a mass rally in Budapest on Saturday, less than 24 hours before the WJC was to open its assembly, claiming that the meeting was a "Jewish attempt to buy up Hungary". The Hungarian Prime Minister had previously tried to ban the rally by the Jobbik party, but was overruled by the courts. Read More

The shadow of anti-Jewish sentiments falls on Europe

The Hungarian government struggled to counter allegations of institutionalised anti-Semitism on Sunday after the country's far-right Jobbik party staged a mass rally in the capital Budapest in protest against a meeting of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in the city. The WJC usually holds its assembly in Jerusalem. But it chose Budapest for its meeting, which began yesterday, to highlight what it claims is growing anti-Semitism and a rise in support for the far right in Europe, where the economic crisis is fuelling distrust in mainstream political parties. Hungary has one of the largest Jewish populations in the European Union, but there is growing concern that the government is not doing enough to combat anti-Semitic rhetoric. Ronald S Lauder, the WJC president, complained last month that Hungary was on a "dangerous political path" and that its controversial right-wing nationalist Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, had "lost his political compass" and often told the far right "what they want to hear". Last night Mr Orban addressed the issue of growing anti-Semitism in a speech at the opening of the assembly, which runs until Wednesday. He defended the notion of strong national identity as beneficial for mutual co-existence, but said it is a "moral obligation to declare a policy of zero tolerance against anti-Semitism". In a gesture which underlined the problems in Hungary, the far-right and openly racist Jobbik party held a mass rally in Budapest on Saturday, less than 24 hours before the WJC was to open its assembly, claiming that the meeting was a "Jewish attempt to buy up Hungary". The Hungarian Prime Minister had previously tried to ban the rally by the Jobbik party, but was overruled by the courts. Read More

Hungarian mayor leads protests against Israel

The extremist right-wing mayor of a town in eastern Hungary held a mock-execution in which effigies of the Prime Minister and former President of Israel were hanged, in what he claims was a protest against the war in Gaza. Erpatak mayor Mihaly Zoltan Orosz told reporters on Monday that the “Jewish terror state” is trying to obliterate the Palestinians and said he opposed “the efforts of Freemason Jews to rule the world.” Hungary's foreign ministry condemned the mayor's actions, saying he was using innocent victims of the war “to spread hate-inducing propaganda.” An online video of Saturday's event shows an executioner with a black hood over his face kicking chairs out from under the puppets of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former President Shimon Peres, each tied to a gallows. Flanked by flag-bearing youths, he holds an Israeli-like flag, where the Star of David has been replaced with the Freemason symbol. Read more: Jobbik: The shadow of anti-semitism falls on Europe once more Owen Jones: We can’t just wish away anti-Semitism Orosz has been mayor of the town 240km from the capital of Budapest since 2005, and is affiliated with the ultra-nationalist group Jobbik. The group are part of a trend of so-called ‘Putinism’in Hungary, characterised by support for nationalism, religion, social conservatism, state capitalism, and government domination of the media. Earlier in the year, anti-racism groups in the UKattempted to ban Jobbik’sleader, Gabor Vona, from making a speech in Londonwhich co-incided with Holocaust Memorial Day. At the time, the then-leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, had spoken of a “common core” of shared values with Jobbikand the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn

The Nakba anniversary: Land, myths and the Zionist 'miracle'

Whenever the anniversary of the Zionist rape of Palestine comes, Arab memory in general, and Egyptian memory in particular, recalls images of Palestine under occupation or the British Mandate letting hordes of rapists of all nationalities pass to its lands. Nothing unified those hordes except the Zionist dream of raping Palestine. The British Mandate gave them public lands and granted them all forms of assistance with the consent and support of the US and the West in general. It allowed them to have the most advanced weapons to form criminal gangs for intimidating and expelling the Arabs and committing heinous massacres against them. Memory also recalls Zionist and Western myths around Zionist superiority that established an "advanced state" in a developing region and the myth, which is more false still and mean-minded, about Palestinians selling their lands, as if Zionists established Israel on lands they bought, not through raping the land, state and rights of another people. They have transformed a large part of its people into the homeless in their own lands, or in the lands of other neighbouring Arab countries and the world in general. While Arab states offered one concession after another in an attempt to deal with the colonial de facto reality, building a peace based on co-existence and to keep what has remained of the Palestinian people's rights after the Nakba )or catastrophe(, Israeli authorities practiced, during a quarter of a century of negotiations since the start of 1990s, a policy of prevarication and evasion of the moment of truth. This moment of truth requires either the acceptance of a democratic state without any religious or racial discrimination, and ending the Zionist occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights, or accepting the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip based on the UN Partition Resolution, to which the Arabs made another concession, replacing that formula with the lands before the aggression of June 1967. Read More

Jerusalem Post: Netanyahu: Hamas uses civilian deaths as PR fodder

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the foreign press in the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge on Wednesday, emphasizing how careful the IDF was to prevent civilian casualties.
He showed videos displaying Hamas's use of human shields and firing of rockets from populated areas.
"Hamas uses civilian deaths as PR fodder," the prime minister said. "Can we accept a situation where terrorists are exonerated, and victims accused."
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UN chief: Gaza deaths and destruction shame world

UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says “the massive deaths and destruction in Gaza have shocked and shamed the world” and is demanding an end to “the senseless cycle of suffering” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We will build again, but this must be the last time to rebuild,” the UN chief told the General Assembly Wednesday. “This must stop now. We must go back to the negotiating table.”
Ban said the UN understands Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas rockets but “the horror that was unleashed on the people of Gaza” raises serious questions about respect for international law that requires a distinction between civilians and combatants and proportionality.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay told the assembly that “any attacks in violation of these principles .... may amount to war crimes.”

Israel's nine years of failure in Gaza

The very last salvo of mid-range rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza - minutes before the 8 A.M. ceasefire - hit south of Jerusalem, around Bethlehem and Gush Etzion. Shrapnel fell a short distance away from the bus stop where the three Israeli teens - Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah - took the fateful hitchhike to their deaths 54 days ago. A poignant end to this round of violence. Read More

Nine years of failure in Gaza

The very last salvo of mid-range rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza - minutes before the 8 A.M. ceasefire - hit south of Jerusalem, around Bethlehem and Gush Etzion. Shrapnel fell a short distance away from the bus stop where the three Israeli teens - Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah - took the fateful hitchhike to their deaths 54 days ago. A poignant end to this round of violence. Read More

Gaza op spurs Italian call for 'Nuremberg for Israel' trial

A petition by academics, describing Israel's 'slow genocide' of Palestinians, is one of many signs - including incendiary slogans, swastikas and vandalism - that reflect anti-Semitic undercurrents in Italy. MILAN, Italy – An online petition posted recently by hundreds of Italians during Israel's operation in Gaza calls for creation of “an international tribunal," in which the State of Israel and its people will be put on trial for the “slow genocide of the entire [Palestinian] people.” Signed by 525 Italians, most of them academics, the petition does not target just Israel Defense Forces' commanders or the government of Benjamin Netanyahu: The signatories want “the whole State of Israel” and its “racist society” to appear in an international court, in a Nuremberg-like trial, for war crimes. And not just due to Operation Protective Edge, but because of events in "the past, the present and the foreseeable future.” This petition is but one example of the increasingly sharp criticism in Italy of Operation Protective Edge, criticism which some are saying is tainted by anti-Semitism. Indeed, the petitioners literally called for a “Nuremberg for Israel” – a reference to the military tribunals created by the Allied forces after World War II, in which 24 German officials were tried for war crimes. The document, whose intent is ostensibly symbolic, has been widely publicized online. It originally appeared on a small academic website, Historia Magistra, and later ended up in the online edition of Il Manifesto, a respected left-leaning newspaper. The petition is titled “Noi Accusiamo” (We Accuse) after Émile Zola’s famous "J’Accuse," an open letter published on the front page of a newspaper in France, denouncing the widespread anti-Semitism there in the 1890s, sparked by the Dreyfus Affair (in which a Jewish officer in the French army was unjustly convicted of treason). Read More

Mass shootings kill far more than Muslim American terrorism – research

Mass shooting fatalities by far exceed the number of those killed in Muslim-related terrorism in the US, new research says. The number of terrorist incidents involving Muslim Americans has shown a dramatic drop since 2009. ­Fourteen Muslim-Americans committed or were charged with terrorist crimes in 2012, down from 21 in 2011, 26 in 2010 and 49 in 2009, according to the fourth annual reportby North Carolina's Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. (Image from tcths.sanford.duke.edu) Of the 14 offenders in 2012, only one was accused of executing a violent attack (the bombing of a Social Security office in Casa Grande, Ariz.). The other perpetrators were arrested at an early stage of their terrorist plots. The author of the research, sociology professor Charles Kurzman, who has been studying the issue for the past three years, concluded that"the number of Muslim-Americans indicted for support of terrorism — financing, false statements, and other connections with terrorist plots and organizations, aside from violent plots — fell from 27 individuals in 2010 to 8 in 2011, bringing the total to 462 since 9/11." Read More

Mass shootings kill far more than Muslim American terrorism – research

Mass shooting fatalities by far exceed the number of those killed in Muslim-related terrorism in the US, new research says. The number of terrorist incidents involving Muslim Americans has shown a dramatic drop since 2009. ­Fourteen Muslim-Americans committed or were charged with terrorist crimes in 2012, down from 21 in 2011, 26 in 2010 and 49 in 2009, according to the fourth annual reportby North Carolina's Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. (Image from tcths.sanford.duke.edu) Of the 14 offenders in 2012, only one was accused of executing a violent attack (the bombing of a Social Security office in Casa Grande, Ariz.). The other perpetrators were arrested at an early stage of their terrorist plots. The author of the research, sociology professor Charles Kurzman, who has been studying the issue for the past three years, concluded that"the number of Muslim-Americans indicted for support of terrorism — financing, false statements, and other connections with terrorist plots and organizations, aside from violent plots — fell from 27 individuals in 2010 to 8 in 2011, bringing the total to 462 since 9/11." Read More

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'Islam is reviving British values', says former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams

Saturday 02 August 2014 Islam is rejuvenating “British values”, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has claimed while lambasting sections of the press for presenting Muslims as “un-British”. Rowan Williams was giving a speech at the annual Living Islam Festival in Lincolnshire on Friday, discussing what British values were and how Muslims could affect them. He said one of the greatest gifts to Britain had been bringing back “open, honest and difficult public discussion”, the Times reported. Asked if he thought Islam was restoring British values, he said: “Yes. I’m thinking of the way in which, for example, in Birmingham we have seen a local parish and a mosque combining together to provide family services and youth activities, both acting out of a very strong sense that this is what communities ought to do. ” Dr Williams was one of several speakers at the event organised by the Islamic Society of Britain, which saw thousands of people gather for four days of talks, debates, music, worship and bazaars. The now Master of Magdalene College in Cambridge praised both Christianity and Islam for working towards community cohesion and promoting a sense of duty. But in comments reported by the Guardian, he also objected to the notion of British values, saying they should be more universal. “The setting-up therefore of British values against any kind of values, whether Muslim or Christian, just won't do,” he said. Read More

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Gaza: How neutral is U.N? Washington Post

The mortar shells that struck a United Nations-run schoolin Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 20 Gazans — including children — and injuring dozens of others, marked the sixth time that U.N. facilities have been hit during this conflict. U.N. officials have presented these incidents as attacks on the international community as a whole. “This is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame,” said Pierre Krähenbühl, a senior U.N. refugee official. “Today the world stands disgraced.” While Israeli officials have never admitted intentionally targeting the United Nations, many Israelis contest the notion that the United Nations is a benign and impartial actor in Gaza, devoted only to ensuring the well-being of refugees in the territory. The Israeli government and the U.N. refugee organization for Palestinians — the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — regularly trade accusations: U.N. officials have criticized Israel’s economic blockade of the territory, while Israeli officials have routinely accused UNRWA of parroting Hamas’s arguments and even being complicit in some of its activities. The United Nations’ struggles in Gaza are an extreme version of a dilemma the global body faces in hot spots around the world: how to preserve its prized neutrality as it becomes involved in bitter conflicts with very little middle ground? In Gaza, the bad blood has some history. During the 2008-2009 Gaza incursion, UNRWA reported that Israeli strikes damaged dozens of its facilities. In one strike, Israeli shells set fire to a U.N. warehouse, and Israel eventually paid compensation. For its part, Israel has accused the United Nations of specific misconduct, including transporting Hamas rockets in a U.N. ambulance — a charge Israeli officials later retracted. The broader Israeli critique is that UNRWA nurses Palestinian grievances and has acquiesced to the militarization of the territory by extremists such as Hamas. In 2002, a spokesman for then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for an investigation of what he described as “30 years of abuse of refugee camps by the Palestinians” and the United Nations’ “bond of silence” toward it. Animated by similar concerns, the U.S. government has conducted investigations of UNRWA’s operations on its own, and Canada recently redirected some of its funding from UNRWA to other channels. The discovery of Hamas rockets in several UNRWA schools during the current conflict — quickly condemned by U.N. officials — has only deepened the suspicions of Israel’s supporters that UNRWA is, in effect, aligned with Hamas. The controversy surrounding the United Nations is particularly intense in Gaza but not unique to it. In some conflict zones, the United Nations has come to be seen as a proxy for one side or as the embodiment of an international policy that certain combatants reject. In these cases, the organization serves as a tempting target for extremists looking to make a point and generate headlines. Two U.N. aid workers were shot and killed in Somalia in late 2011. Earlier that year, Boko Haram militants detonated a bomb outside a U.N. building in Abuja, Nigeria, killing 21. In 2009, Taliban operatives killed five U.N. workers in Afghanistan. And most notorious, Iraqi insurgents bombed the U.N. compound in Baghdad in August 2003, an attack that claimed the lives of top official Sergio Vieira de Mello and more than a dozen others. Of course, all humanitarian actors face challenges in maintaining wartime neutrality. But the agencies of the United Nations, including UNRWA, carry an additional burden. They are attached to a global organization that is, in fact, highly political. U.N. humanitarian operations fall under the very loose purview of the organization’s General Assembly, comprising more than 190 often fractious states. Its peacekeeping operations are directed by the 15-member Security Council. For Israelis, in particular, it is difficult to separate the United Nations’ role as a relief agency in Gaza from the hostility it perceives in the organization as a whole. Every year, the assembly and several of its subsidiary bodies pass a sheaf of resolutions criticizing Israel for its occupation and various other practices. American and Israeli diplomats have regularly complained about what they describe as a skewed and unbalanced view of Israel prevailing in Turtle Bay and Geneva. If the United Nations struggles to maintain an image of impartiality and neutrality in its humanitarian operations, those qualities can be even more elusive when its personnel don helmets and pick up rifles. Since the late 1940s, generations of U.N. peacekeepers have patrolled conflict areas in an effort to tamp down violence. Sometimes they manage to win the trust of the key parties.

Israeli newspaper invokes biblical verses to justify genocide

1 Samuel 15:18-Samuel said, “Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel, 18and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.’ 19“Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?”… Saul was anointed king of Israel by G-d and given the mission to join the tribes of Israel as one nation and to protect them against their enemies. This has been the primary job of leaders from the beginning of time-to defend their citizens and national rights before any other obligation. For without security, without the power to protect what is basically, the lives of one’s charges and the land that sustains the people, all else is of less than secondary interest or importance. A nation that will not defend itself, in whatever manner that the “king”, or the president or the prime minister is empowered to do, is not a civilization that will be sustainable nor credible. There are religious folks that place everything that happens to some esoteric or supernatural dimension, but I, a rather secular man, believe that much of what is in the Hebrew Bible (except for much of the already evidentiary history) as allegorical, and in some manner, presented in order to teach us how to live as a society. However, the passage from Samuel is an admonishment on the primary duty of a leader. To me, Samuel represents the people of Israel today, questioning and redressing a grievance to the “king,” or, in this case, our prime minister. One might say that the right to redress of grievances as written in many modern constitutional documents, is one of the fundamental rights of a free people in a republic-the inherent obligation of citizens to make their voices heard when their government either fails to carry out a particular policy or fails to adhere to the voice of the electorate that placed them in position of power. G-d might be meant to illustrate that voice of the people-the vox populi. In this case, G-d had demanded that Saul (or the “prime minister”) enter into battle with the Amalekites (Hamas and its savage partners) and destroy them utterly even if that means to the last child, cow and goat. As cruel as this appears, it is a lesson that teaches a nation in terrible danger that it has a legitimate obligation to put a definite end to a substantial threat. The end of such a conflict must make it impossible for that enemy to rebuild and continue to vex one’s nation forever. Time and again, throughout Jewish history, we have been told that Amalek will arise in every generation to try to destroy this people. Saul refuses to kill Agag, the king of the Amalekites. In his disobedience, his defying of G-d, is equivalent to our present leadership attempting to fight Hamas while refusing to employ the means to destroy it entirely. By discovering and exploding all the tunnels, or seizing all their arms, is inadequate to assure the utter destruction that is necessary in this war against the Amalekites of today. There must be no quarter given, no “humanitarian ” ceasefires, but a resolute combat without the words and demands of a hateful, hypocritical cabal barking like angry dogs, at our heels.. Because, just as the Amalekites fell upon the rear of the Israelites as they passed through their lands on the way to Canaan, the terrorists will violate every ceasefire, every truce and every politically machined halt to the fighting to retreat and bind their wounds waiting for the next opportunity to attack us

​Israel's secret services: Mossad's website hacked.

Hacker group Anonymous has reportedly taken down the website of the Israeli secret service Mossad in protest of Israel’s military incursion in Gaza. The ‘hacktivists’ have already targeted a number of organizations in their mission to stop the “genocide.”

Mossad’s website went offline at around 00:40 GMT and is still down at the time of writing. The Israeli government has yet to make any comment on the supposed hack attack.

Iraqi Shiite militia executes, hangs 15 by electricity poles

Iraqi Shiite militia executes, hangs 15 by electricity poles

BAGHDAD: Shiite militia forces executed 15 Sunnis and then hung them by electricity poles in a public square in a town northeast of Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.
A police officer at the scene in Baquba, a mixed Sunni and Shiite town 65 km from Baghdad, said he believed the action was designed to keep Sunnis from supporting the Islamic State.
The victims, who were kidnapped over the last week, were shot in their heads and chests and then hung up by cables.
“The militia forces are preventing the medical crew from bringing down the bodies hanging from the electricity poles,” he told Reuters.
“They are following a new tactic of keeping bodies hanging for a longer time to deter the Sunni population from backing the Islamic State. We asked them to let us evacuate the bodies but they refused.”
The US-funded and trained Iraqi Army unraveled in the face of the Islamic State’s sweep through the north and sectarian violence has increased since then.
Critics say Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s authoritarian and sectarian rule have alienated Sunnis, prompting some to find common cause with the group, which has blown up Shiite shrines and mosques

How New YorK reacts to a muslim , Amazing Reactions

Eradicate hatred to gain spiritual success, scholar urges Muslims

An eminent Islamic scholar and consultant urged Muslims to rid themselves of hatred and ill-feelings to achieve spiritual success during an educational evening on the importance of spiritual consciousness.


During the event, Muhammad Al-Duhaim, a Shoura Council member, alluded to the fact that mankind is heading for a new realm of existence and an age of wisdom thanks to awareness and findings in different fields of research.


“Muslims should always keep in check negative feelings and engage in charity toward one another,” he said.
The programme was organized by King Saud University Medical City (KSU-MC).

Muhammad Fouda, director of the King Fahad Cardiac Center at KSU-MC, gave the opening speech, in which he reiterated the value of the educational evening for its significant benefits on positive thinking.


Fahad Al-Zamil, dean of the college of medicine and supervisor of university hospitals, emphasized the importance of meditation, saying prophets often engaged in meditative practice.


Abdulmohsen Al-Ashry, CEO of KSU-MC, said the establishment is determined to play a significant role in health and social development within the community.
KSU-MC has adopted several humanitarian events, volunteer and awareness campaigns, in addition to educational and cultural evenings to play a proactive role in advancing social initiatives.Eradicate hatred to gain spiritual success, scholar urges Muslims

Chief Mufti of Russia Outraged by Lies about Ukraine M

UFA, July 28. /ITAR-TASS/. The Central Spiritual Board of Muslims of Russia is outraged by shameless lies and double standards of politicians about the developments in Ukraine, the head of the board, the country's Supreme Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin said in a sermon on Monday in connection with the holiday of Eid al-Fitr. "We feel pain and sufferings of those who are in need and trouble," he said. "Sufferings, pain and losses of dear ones, violence and cruel murders of civilians in the southeast of Ukraine and on the holy land of Palestine fill with pain and anger hearts of millions of Russians, all the true believers of the one Lord of people worldwide."

Mufti said the tragedy of the Malaysian airliner in Ukraine shocked not only relatives and friends of the victims, but also all Russian citizens. "At the same time, we are deeply outraged by the shameless lie and double standards of those who try to use any grounds to set nations and states against each other, those who speak about fight against terrorism, but makes it (terrorism) a state policy," he said, adding Russians could not indifferently watch the outrage and attempts to dictate.

The Central Spiritual Board of Muslims supports the Russian president's steps to ensure the state's independence and unity, reliable protection of its territory and timely neutralization of internal and external threats. "First of all, these are strengthening of inter-religious peace and accord, brining up of the youth in the spirit of patriotism and responsibility for the motherland's fate and effective contribution to the prevention of extremism and radicalism," the mufti said. Muslims of Russia also express their solidarity with much-suffering people of Palestine and support Russian efforts to stop the Israeli military aggression, resume peace talks and establish peace on the holy land, the Russian Muslim leader added.

Thousands of Muslims gathered in the Russian capital's mosques on Monday morning for praying, marking the holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The Head of Russia's Council of Muftis, Ravil Gainutdin, participated in the early praying in the city's main mosque. He congratulated the faithful with one of Muslims' main holidays.

The press service of the Council of Muftis said congratulations were received from Russian regions, CIS countries, the Islamic world, ministries and departments and international religious and public organizations.

More than 230,000 Muslims were expected to come to mosques in the Russian capital later on Monday. Moscow authorities prepared additional grounds for mass events. People will gather for prayers in six mosques and on special grounds in park and near cultural centers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Russian Muslims on Eid al-Fitr, the Kremlin press service said. One of Muslims' main and most important holidays that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, turns the faithful to Islam spiritual and moral sources. From ancient times, it is marked with good deeds and care for the needy. Russia's Muslim community actively participates in the country's life, makes a great contribution to inter-religious dialogue, fruitfully cooperates with state and public organizations in the causes of charity, education and bringing up of young generations and contributes to saving of the country's rich cultural and spiritual heritage, the president said in the congratulation.

Muslims of Ukraine are threatened by the current ethnic violence

For one who is likely to be among the first to be taken away at gunpoint if the new men in power here have their way, Fazil Amazayev, was being remarkably calm. Such actions, he insisted “will unite all the Muslims here; they will make enemies of us all”.

Mr Amazayev is a senior member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamic political organisation which is legal in Ukraine. However, among the first pronouncements made by the new separatist Prime Minister of Crimea and the security chief he has appointed is that it is a “ dangerous terrorist organisation” which will have to be dealt with. Hizb ut-Tahrir has been blamed in many countries for promoting radicalism; but violent militancy caused by it is hard to find in Ukraine. And the fear of becoming sectarian targets is not just confined to activists among the Tatars: many in the community are staying away from city centres where Russian-speaking vigilantes hold sway, and some are leaving for other parts of the country. In pictures: The crisis in Ukraine

Mr Amazayev says he is confident that the Tatars of Crimea will not let him and others from his group be picked off by the new head of security, Petr Zima, who was promoted from his previous post in Sevastopol, the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. “Zima built up a reputation in Sevastopol for carrying out raids, accusing people of being involved in extremism. But, if he starts doing that now, he will make a big mistake. The people in the [Tatar] establishment, the Mufti and the Mejlis [representative council] criticised us in the past, but now we are all facing the common enemy. And, if they do start persecuting us, we know how to survive, we have done it in Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia.” Nevertheless, Mr Amazayev has started to be very cautious, not straying outside his home town, Bakhchisarai, a historic place of mosques where Muslims form a sizeable portion of the population. “I don’t think it will be safe for me to travel, not at this time,” he said. The larger Tatar community is in friction with the Russian nationalist population over the issue of secession from Ukraine.

The new Crimean administration of Sergei Aksenov is organising a referendum on the issue, clearing the way to rule by Moscow – anathema to the Tatars who were deported from here, en masse, to Siberia and the central Asian steppes by Stalin at the end of the Second World War.

Today the head of the Russian republic of Tatarstan arrived in Crimea. Many, however, view Rustam Minnikhanov as an emissary of the Kremlin sent to persuade the Mejlis to change its policy of refusing to recognise the new separatist Crimean administration. “ He is not someone we see as our protector,” said one of its officials. The sense of being under threat has led to the formation of self-defence groups in Tatar neighbourhoods: the growing prevalence of fear in a people who have lived, on the whole, amicably with those of Russian and Ukrainian extraction since they returned from exile in the 1990s.

The current tensions emerged quickly. A demonstration against secession drew 10,000 from Ukraine’s largest Muslim community to the streets of the Crimean capital, Simferopol, last week. There were chants of “Allah hu Akhbar” from a small band of Tatars which some among an opposing protest by Russian speakers complained they found intimidating.

There were no serious acts of violence by either side or the police; but two people were reported to have died in the crush as the crowd converged outside the state parliament. Read more: Urgent talks, angry words, but still no coherent plan to end Crimea’s stand-off Pentagon sends jets to patrol the Baltics.

The children of Gaza I Channel 4 News

The children of Gaza I Channel 4 News

British MP Stands up for #Gaza 100,000 show up

British MP Stands up for #Gaza 100,000 show up

Indian Strategic Studies: Proclamation of Caliphate by ISIS: Challenges for India

On June 29, 2014 at the beginning of the Holy month of Ramzan (Ramadan), a group called the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) (also known as ISIS), declared the establishment of an Islamic ‘Caliphate’ in the areas controlled by it in Iraq and Syria. The Caliphate was subsequently rechristened ‘Islamic State (IS)’ and their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed ‘Caliph’. The group’s spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in a statement, ‘He is the Imam and Khalifah (Caliph) for the Muslims everywhere,’ and asked all Muslim groups around the world to pay allegiance to him. ‘It is incumbent upon all Muslims to pledge allegiance to (him) and support him…The legality of all emirates, groups, states, and organizations, becomes null by the expansion of the Khalifah’s authority and arrival of its troops to their areas,’ the statement added. Earlier in June, in a lightening advance, ISIS had captured areas in western and northern Iraq and amalgamated them with areas of northern and eastern Syria that had been under their control for nearly two years.
Charles Lister, Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre, considers the announcement of the restoration of the caliphate as the most significant development in international jihadism since 9/11. The rise of ISIS and the proclamation has raised serious concerns not only in the Middle East but also around the globe.
How do these events affect India? Do we need to be concerned? In this blog post I try to address these questions.
Nostalgia of caliphate and international jihad
The idea of caliphate evokes a deep nostalgia for Islam’s glory and power in the minds of Muslims around the world, Indian Muslims being no exception. This coupled with the present state of the Muslim Ummah characterised by political instability, economic and technological backwardness and perceived domination of Muslim regimes by the west, fuel a desire to ‘revert’ to the ‘golden’ age of the caliphate amongst many Muslims. Many Salafist theoreticians, prominent amongst them being Maulana Maududi and Syed Qutb in their writings have proclaimed the establishment of the caliphate as divinely ordained. They also lay down the ‘divine’ plan for the establishment of the caliphate. These Salafists divide history into two parts, the period of ‘jahiliyyah’ (ignorance) and the period of ‘Islam’. The present world is the world of ‘jahiliyyah’ which will be followed by the world of Islam. To achieve the world of Islam, ‘jihad’ has to be carried out in three stages, the first being the strengthening of one’s faith (adherence to Salafist Islam), the second ‘hijrat’ (moving from ‘infidel’ communities to ‘faithful’ communities) and third ‘jihad’. It is not surprising then that the ISIS has been using social media and YouTube as propaganda tools that show Muslims from around the world congregating in the areas controlled by it, burning their passports (hijrat), pledging allegiance to the caliphate (IS), and eulogizing jihad. The video posted shows these jihadis from foreign countries threatening their country of origin with jihad once they return.

Hamas editor rakes up "Blood Libel" bogey

Once again, Arab media is bringing up the centuries old "matzah blood libel", that Jews use the blood of non-Jews to make matzah for Passover. The blood libel originated in 1144 with the fabricated story of William of Norwich, England and is continuously used by Arabs. In the latest incident, the editor of Hamas's paper Al-Risalah, Wisam Afifa, associated the death of Mohammed Abu-Khder, the Palestinian Arab teen whose body was found on Wednesday in Jerusalem, with the blood libel. The editorial was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). In it, Afifa claimed that, just as the Jews once killed non-Jews to use their blood for matzahs, today they still engage in "sacred rites" of vengeance. He further claimed that Israel has adopted the ideology of the Nazis, who distinguished between superior and inferior races. "The settlers used the body of 17-year-old Mohammed Hussein Abu Khder, from Shuafat in northern Jerusalem, to carry out their sacred [act of] vengeance by torturing him and burning him to death, in a crime reminiscent of their holy matzos that became part of their history of betrayal and murder – for the culture of violence and blood grew among the Jews to such an extent that it seeped into their sacred rites and prayers," he wrote.. "By holy matzos, I mean those matzos mixed with human blood, the blood of gentiles, namely of the non-Jewish other, [which they baked] to celebrate the Jewish holiday called Passover," he continued. "According to historical accounts, they used to murder Christians, preferably children under ten, collect their blood, and then hand it over to a rabbi, so he would mix it into the holiday matzos, and then serve them to the believers, to devour on their holiday. "These ancient rites are echoed in modern ones, whereby [the Jews] sanctify the blood of [their fellow] Jews, who are considered humans of the first level, and disregard the blood of Palestinians. This obliges [Palestinian] President Mahmoud Abbas to define and classify the martyred boy Abu Khder, after he [Abbas] expressed his rage to the Muslim countries' foreign ministers [at the June 18, 2014 Jeddah conference] and said that the three settlers who had been kidnapped in the West Bank were human beings like us and we must search for them and return them, thus meeting [the Israeli] demand to endow these three settlers with a halo of divinity and of lofty humanity and describe them as 'exceptional human beings," wrote Afifa. "The unjust world – from the U.S. and the EU to the president of the Palestinian Authority – greatly lamented the death of the three settlers, but it does not lament the death of the Palestinian boy Abu Khdeir, since he belongs to the group whose blood is not [considered] sacred, according to the international community's classification of human, ethnic and political groups, which places Israel high on the ladder and the Palestinians low," he charged. "The international community's double standard regarding Israeli and Palestinian blood revives the heritage of the Nazi theory. The Jews, with their criminal behavior, adopt the vision of Hitler, which was based on classifying people into superior races, like the Aryan race, versus inferior races, like the blacks, Arabs and Jews, [and held that] the superiority of the white race over all other peoples entitles it to many absolute rights, such as the right to rule over other peoples," said Afifa. "Similarly, we see that Israel believes that the superiority of the Jewish race endows it with the absolute right to occupy, build settlements, take vengeance and spill blood. That is how they baked their sacred bread in the past, and that is how they hold their sacred rites of vengeance in the present, whose victim [this time] was the boy Abu Khder."

Israels public relation skills

Israeli spokesmen have their work cut out explaining how they have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, compared with just three civilians killed in Israel by Hamas rocket and mortar fire. But on television and radio and in newspapers, Israeli government spokesmen such as Mark Regev appear slicker and less aggressive than their predecessors, who were often visibly indifferent to how many Palestinians were killed. There is a reason for this enhancement of the PR skills of Israeli spokesmen. Going by what they say, the playbook they are using is a professional, well-researched and confidential study on how to influence the media and public opinion in America and Europe. Written by the expert Republican pollster and political strategist Dr Frank Luntz, the study was commissioned five years ago by a group called The Israel Project, with offices in the US and Israel, for use by those "who are on the front lines of fighting the media war for Israel". Every one of the 112 pages in the booklet is marked "not for distribution or publication" and it is easy to see why. The Luntz report, officially entitled "The Israel project's 2009 Global Language Dictionary, was leaked almost immediately toNewsweek Online, but its true importance has seldom been appreciated. It should be required reading for everybody, especially journalists, interested in any aspect of Israeli policy because of its "dos and don'ts" for Israeli spokesmen. These are highly illuminating about the gap between what Israeli officials and politicians really believe, and what they say, the latter shaped in minute detail by polling to determine what Americans want to hear. Certainly, no journalist interviewing an Israeli spokesman should do so without reading this preview of many of the themes and phrases employed by Mr Regev and his colleagues. Mark RegevThe booklet is full of meaty advice about how they should shape their answers for different audiences. For example, the study says that "Americans agree that Israel 'has a right to defensible borders'. But it does you no good to define exactly what those borders should be. Avoid talking about borders in terms of pre- or post-1967, because it only serves to remind Americans of Israel's military history. Particularly on the left this does you harm. For instance, support for Israel's right to defensible borders drops from a heady 89 per cent to under 60 per cent when you talk about it in terms of 1967." How about the right of return for Palestinian refugees who were expelled or fled in 1948 and in the following years, and who are not allowed to go back to their homes? Here Dr Luntz has subtle advice for spokesmen, saying that "the right of return is a tough issue for Israelis to communicate effectively because much of Israeli language sounds like the 'separate but equal' words of the 1950s segregationists and the 1980s advocates of Apartheid. The fact is, Americans don't like, don't believe and don't accept the concept of 'separate but equal'." So how should spokesmen deal with what the booklet admits is a tough question? They should call it a "demand", on the grounds that Americans don't like people who make demands. "Then say 'Palestinians aren't content with their own state. Now they're demanding territory inside Israel'." Other suggestions for an effective Israeli response include saying that the right of return might become part of a final settlement "at some point in the future"...

Israeli Mood Turns Dark With Mounting Casualties

By ARON HELLER and DAN PERRY Associated PressJul 21, 2014, 4:14 PM For almost two weeks, Israel practically bristled with confidence and pride: The Iron Dome air defense system was dependably zapping incoming Hamas rockets from the skies, the military was successfully repelling infiltration attempts on the ground and from the sea, and the conflict with Hamas was causing almost no casualties in Israel. That has changed in what seems like a flash, after at least 25 soldiers were killed and scores injured — a predictable yet still stunning outcome of the fateful decision, announced late Thursday, to send troops and tanks by land into Hamas-ruled Gaza. In a country where military service is mandatory for most citizens, and military losses are considered every bit as tragic as civilian ones, the reaction to the setbacks was electric. Newspapers and broadcasts have been dominated by images and tales of the fallen — mostly young faces barely out of high school — and interviews with parents concerned for offspring so clearly now imperiled. Angst over the highest military toll since the 2006 Lebanon war now mixes with a cocktail of emotions: on one hand, a strong current of determination to press on with efforts to end the rocket fire from Gaza; on the other, the sinking feeling that a quagmire is at hand. "It's ugly and it's no walk in the park," said Alon Geller, a 42-year-old legal intern from central Israel. "But we have to finish the operation. If we stop now before reaching our goals, the soldiers will have died in vain." But the Haaretz newspaper warned against mission creep and the "wholesale killing" of Palestinian civilians. "The soft Gaza sand ... could turn into quicksand," it said in its editorial Monday. "There can be no victory here. ... Israel must limit its time in the Strip." There was always near-consensus among Israelis for the airstrikes aimed at ending the rocket fire, which they considered unreasonable and outrageous. The Palestinian fatalities caused by the airstrikes — over 500 in two weeks, many of them civilians — are generally blamed here on Hamas, for locating launchers in civilian areas and for proving to be cynical and nihilistic, to Israeli eyes, at every turn. But a ground invasion of Gaza is another story, and the government had clearly hesitated to take the risk. House-to-house fighting, tanks exposed in fields, the danger of a soldier being kidnapped, to be traded for thousands after years in captivity: It is an untidy and dispiriting affair. The government felt it necessary to take such a risky step because despite all the damage being inflicted on Gaza by the airstrikes, the Hamas rocket fire simply did not stop. Israeli officials also felt world opinion would understand after Hamas rejected a cease-fire proposal that Israel had accepted. Complicating the situation from Israel's perspective, Hamas does not seem to be coming under significant pressure from the people of Gaza despite the devastation they are enduring. While Gaza is no democracy and Hamas rules by force, this seems to reflect genuine support for Hamas' aim of breaking the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt on the strip. Emboldened, Hamas ratcheted up attempts to carry out deadly attacks against Israeli border communities through tunnels dug underneath the fence separating Israel from Gaza. For Israelis, that raised a terrifying specter of families in placid farming areas on the edge of the Negev desert waking up to find swarms of Islamic militants in their midst.

IS jihadis kill at least 50 Assad troops in ambush: monitor

BEIRUT: Jihadists from the Islamic State group killed at least 50 Syrian soldiers in an ambush on Friday, summarily executing most of them after their capture, a monitoring group said.
The assault in Raqa province, the IS jihadists’ Euphrates valley stronghold, came amid their fiercest assault yet on Damascus-held territory.
The deaths added to 74 already killed in the offensive across the north and northeast, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“At least 50 soldiers were ambushed, some of them were killed in fighting but most of them were beheaded,” director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
IS militants claimed the toll was as high as 75.
“Allah be praised, 75 soldiers of the 17th division were captured at Abu Shared and they were beheaded,” one sympathizer tweeted.
Media close to the regime remained silent on the deaths.
The 17th division is one of three still holding positions in the IS-occupied region and operates out of a vast military base.
On Friday, the army repositioned the 17th division, the Observatory said, without giving further details.
It is the first stand-off of this magnitude between IS and Syrian government forces, with the jihadists intent on “cleansing” the territories it controls of the regime presence, the Observatory said.
The IS, which proclaimed a “caliphate” in an area spanning the Syrian and Iraqi borders in June, controls swathes of land in both countries and is seeking to extend its power and influence.
The fighting between IS and Syrian government forces, which erupted on Thursday, has left 69 dead on the regime side, including the 50 soldiers, and killed 28 jihadist fighters, the Observatory said.
The powerful jihadist group launched multiple attacks on government-held territory across northern and northeastern Syria on Thursday.
The jihadists went on the offensive near the main northern city of Aleppo, in Hasakeh province in the northeast and in Raqa province around their Euphrates valley stronghold, the Observatory had said.
Elsewhere, in Idleb in the northeast of the strife-torn country, a religious court linked to a Syrian rebel body sentenced two men to death for allegedly bombing the two main border crossings with Turkey, as well as a mosque in the town of Binnish.
The men were accused of carrying out attacks on the Bab Al-Hawa and Bab Al-Salam crossings between Syria and Turkey.
The “court” was run by the Islamic Front, one of the Syrian rebel groupings that is battling both the IS and the government, and it said the men had “admitted acting on behalf of the regime.”
A video published by the Observatory showed the two men being shot dead in front of a crowd.
The head of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria, meanwhile, said IS fighters are expected to be added to a list being drawn up of possible war criminals.
“They are good candidates for the list,” said Paulo Pinheiro, who briefed the UN Security Council on the results of the inquiry on Friday.
“I can assure you that we are collecting information on perpetrators from all sides including non-state armed groups and ISIS,” he told reporters.
“I am not in a position to say who is winning the World Cup of human rights violations. Both sides are doing horrific things and they will continue if there is no accountability.”
Set up in September 2011, the Commission of Inquiry has collected witness accounts, satellite photographs and other documents to build up its caseload of human rights violations, although none of the members have traveled to Syria.
The war crimes list being drawn up remains confidential but Pinheiro said it included intelligence chiefs, heads of detention centers that have torture chambers.

Indian educationist calls for more efforts to uplift communities

If you only knew about the mindset, character, questionable activities and black deeds of this masquaderor, hypocrite, thug of a so called Muslim educationist, a white collar beggar.

It is important to investigate the motivation of Arab News correspontent Nasir Jawed and his links with this regional fascist international beggar who has been masquadering as an Islamist since 1978 to qualify to receive islamic charity from the Saudi charitable institutions and moronic sheikhs.

This international greed and miserly beggar has launched a number of psuedo welfare trusts and societies and no wonder that he maintains covert links with underworld and unscurplous regional fascist politicians and associations with the dual purpose of securing himself and satisfying his uncontrollable fascist drives.

On arrogance and war - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Only a few weeks ago, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to get away with it all. He rebuffed the Obama administration's peace overtures, expanded illegal settlements in the West Bank, and reneged on his agreement with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by refusing to release the last batchof prisoners, the 26 longest serving political prisoners in Israeli jails.
Even the dramatic turn of events in the Middle East seemed to work in Israel's favour, as its nemeses grew ever more preoccupied, if not paralysed by their internal problems.
As for Hamas, it was on a downturn and growing increasingly unpopular. It was financially bankrupt and unable to pay salaries to its own rather big bureaucracy running the Gaza Strip. It was under siege, and under pressure to do something, anything to ease life in the sprawling Gaza prison camp.
The election of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as president of Egypt after a military coup, tightened the noose around Hamas and Gaza. The general, having risen to power by ousting the Muslim Brotherhood, loathed the Islamist Hamas no less....

Israel facing new divestment support in US - Features - Al Jazeera English

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to pressure Israelto comply with international law and end its military occupation of Palestinian territories, has garnered significant institutional and governmental support in recent years.
Much of its growth has been in Europe, but the BDS movement is also gaining momentumin mainstream USA.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted in....

Rebel Youth Magazine: Is the U.S. Backing Neo-Nazis in Ukraine?

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Ambient Palestine: Nekoliko citata o Palestini/Izraelu

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Live From Occupied Palestine: Up to 20,000 Palestinians protest in the Occupied ...

Live From Occupied Palestine: Up to 20,000 Palestinians protest in the Occupied ...: Dear friends, incredible scenes on the outskirts of Ramallah tonight, as more than 10,000 Palestinians (with some reports saying up to 20...

Peace in Israel/Palestine: Neutral – in whose favor?

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Peace in Israel/Palestine: I Traveled to Palestine-Israel And Discovered Ther...

Peace in Israel/Palestine: I Traveled to Palestine-Israel And Discovered Ther...: Posted:  02/10/2014 6:38 pm EST  Updated:  02/10/2014 7:59 pm EST Print Article By Ferrari Sheppard, The Huffington Post  2/10/2014 ...

Peace in Israel/Palestine: Why Israelis are content to live in a bubble of de...

Peace in Israel/Palestine: Why Israelis are content to live in a bubble of de...: By Jonathan Cook 25 February 2014 http://www.jonathan-cook.net/ 2014-02-25/why-israelis-are- content-to-live-in-a-bubble- of-denial/ ...

War News Updates: Israel - Hamas War News Updates -- July 25, 2014

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Andy Lehrer's Firebrand blog: "As long as they kill Muslims, I don't care"

Andy Lehrer's Firebrand blog: "As long as they kill Muslims, I don't care": BCL's post on today's JDL rally for the neo-Nazi English Defence League and Ron Banerjee's promise to bring out "security...

Andy Lehrer's Firebrand blog: At long last, Farber forced to denounce JDL

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Andy Lehrer's Firebrand blog: JDL allies with Austrian Freedom Party

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Pakistan prepares to give India "Most Favored Nation" status

Pakistan on Thursday said it would re-start work on improving trade ties with arch-rival India when the two nations’ foreign ministers meet in Islamabad next month. Pakistan had pledged to grant India “Most Favoured Nation (MFN)” status by the end of 2012, meaning Indian exports would be treated the same as those from other nations, but so far has not done so. India granted Pakistan MFN status in 1999. “When the dialogue process resumes, we hope to build on the work already done in this regard,” Pakistan’s top foreign ministry bureaucrat Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told AFP at a weekly press briefing. The foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India are set to meet in Islamabad on August 25 in the neighbouring countries’ latest attempt at improving ties. The proposed meeting, announced by Pakistan’s foreign office on Wednesday, comes after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi following the Hindu hardliner’s inauguration in May. Chaudhry said there were number of issues on both sides for normalising bilateral trade which included “making sure that vulnerable sectors are protected and the issue of the non-tariff barriers in India and the issue of imbalance of trade and certain other infrastructure-related issue.” MFN status will mean India can export 6,800 items to Pakistan, up from around 2,000 at present, and the countries aim to lift bilateral trade to $6 billion within three years, officials have said. Trade between the two countries is presently around $2.5 billion, with Indian exports accounting for $1.75 billion, according to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. A further $3 billion is thought to be channelled through Dubai, almost all of it in Pakistani imports, though the business community believes that if Pakistan grants India MFN status the imbalance could change. India and Pakistan have directed their peace efforts towards “trade diplomacy” in a bid to build enough trust to tackle thornier issues that divide them, such as the Kashmir dispute. Read more

Gazans seek shelter among Christians - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Gaza has a small Christian minority, and as Israel's bombardment continues, several churches are being used as safe havens.



In one church, more than a thousand people from neighbouring communities are seeking shelter from Israel's bombardment.

Crime increases by 109% in Saudi Arabia

The Ministry of Justice Saudi Arabia has released figures, which indicate that crime rates have increased by 102 percent in the Kingdom. Incidence of crimes has gone up from 10,904 cases in 2012 to 22,113 cases in 2013. In the first six months of this year, the Kingdom has seen a surge in criminal cases, compared to the same period last year. Khaled Al-Bishr, a former official at Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, said crime statistics must be compared to population figures to ascertain discrepancies in crime rates as compared to those of previous years. “A host of factors contribute to an increase in crime, such as climate, affiliations, attitudes and a number of other issues,” he noted. Studies have shown that crime rates increase during the summer season, while lower altitude areas report a greater number of crimes compared to mountainous regions, Al-Bishr added. The presence of different cultures and races in one region is another factor to take into account when comparing crime rates, he pointed out. Cultural and racial differences are other factors that should be taken into account, he said.

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War News Updates: A Deadly Day In Gaza. Scores Of Israeli Soldiers K...

Gaza City (CNN)-- Hamas claimed it captured an Israeli soldier Sunday on the deadliest day yet in the battle between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
Ron Prosor, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, denied the report.
"There's no kidnapped Israeli soldier, and those rumors are untrue," he said.
According to Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, the soldier was taken during an early morning operation.
He provided the supposed soldier's name and ID.
Israel's ground offensive in GazaIsrael denies claims of captured soldierCitizens run for their lives in GazaDirector: Gazans 'don't feel safe'Netanyahu: Hamas targets civiliansIsrael denies claims of captured soldier
"He is a prisoner, and if Zionists lie about the dead and wounded, then the fate of this soldier is their responsibility," the spokesman said.
Gunfire and cheers erupted in Gaza in apparent celebration of the soldier's capture, according to CNN reporters on the ground.
"It's a game changer, immediately, because it's going to change what the Israelis are doing on the ground in that sector. They're going to be looking for him," said CNN military analyst Lt. Col. Rick Francona.
"Overall, the Israeli strategy is not going to change. They're committed to this mission," he said. Though, in the future, Francona said, the Israelis are "going to have to make some sort of accommodation to get this guy back."
In 2006, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured. He was released some five years later in exchange for more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners.
Gaza battle's deadliest day for both sides
Eighty-seven Palestinians died, at least 60 of them in Israel's assault on the town of Shaja'ia, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
The IDF said 13 soldiers were killed. At a news conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed the country's "deep pain" at the loss of the soldiers.
Among those killed was Max Steinberg, a California native, according to the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Steinberg attended Pierce College and served as a sniper.
Sean Carmeli, an IDF soldier from South Padre Island, Texas, was also killed, according to Rachel Simony of the Congregation Shoova Israel in South Padre Island.
In total, 476 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's military operations against Hamas on July 8, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It's unknown how many were militants. The United Nations has estimated that 70% were civilians.
The Health Ministry said 3,130 people have been wounded.
Since beginning ground operations Thursday, Israel said, it has killed at least 70 terrorists and captured others.
"We're doing everything we can not to harm the people of Gaza," Netanyahu added. "Hamas is doing everything they can to make sure the people of Gaza suffer."
But people in Gaza who spoke with CNN painted a different picture. "What is happening is a massacre," said a resident of the al-Remal neighborhood.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the deaths of the Israeli soldiers, saying it had lured tanks into a field in which it had hidden improvised explosive devices. The attack "destroyed the force completely," Hamas said, calling it a "heroic operation."
In total, 18 Israeli soldiers have been killed, in addition to two civilians. Israel has used its Iron Dome defense system to block many missiles, fired by militants in Gaza, from hitting population centers.