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Speaker
of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Abdul Aziz Duwaik Press TV
- May 25, 2015 An Israeli military court has handed down a months-long
prison term to the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC)
and ordered him to pay more than a thousand dollars on charges on of
delivering a speech at a […]
electronicintifada.net -
Rumors of a deterioration in US-Israel relations are very much
exaggerated. (Pete Souza/Official White House photo). The Obama
administration approved a $1.9 billion arms sale to Israel in recent
d...
electronicintifada.net -
Hotovely is a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
hardline Likud party which returned to power in Israel’s 17 March
elections at the head of one of the most right-wing coalition g...
Looking at maps recently
produced by the Western media and Western policy think tanks, it can be
seen clearly that Al Qaeda/ISIS is streaming out of NATO and US ally
territory, forming up in these two safe havens, and aimed both at the
Syrian government and Iran.
The DOD documents also contain the first official documentation that the Obama administration knew that weapons were being shipped from the Port of Benghazi to rebel troops in Syria.
arstechnica.co.uk - EU
plans to regulate hormone-damaging chemicals found in pesticides have
been dropped because of threats from the US that this would adversely
affect negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and In...
arstechnica.com - In new
statement sent to Ars, FBI says local cops can talk about stingrays. In
response to a public records request, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s
Department (SBSD) sent Ars, among other outlets, a ...
zerohedge.com - From the
first sudden, and quite dramatic, appearance of the fanatical Islamic
group known as ISIS which was largely unheard of until a year ago, on
the world's stage and which promptly replaced th...
Via
the Associated Press: Sweden beat Russia to win the 60th Eurovision
Song Contest on Saturday, in an event described by organizers as beyond
politics but marred by boos for the Russian that were apparently
prompted by the Ukraine conflict and the Kremlin’s
anti-gay policies.Really? Stay classy, Europe.
Michael Ben Ari ripped up a copy of the New Testament and threw it in the garbage.
Ben
Ari, of the National Union Party, had his legislative aide, Itamar Ben
Gvir, photograph his destruction and released the photo Tuesday to the
daily Maariv.
Lawmakers
had received in their Knesset mailboxes copies of the new edition of
the New Testament released by the Bible Society, which distributes
Christian books, Ynet reported. Some returned it to the society and
others quietly disposed of it.
“Sending
the book to lawmakers is a provocation. There is no doubt that this
book and all it represents belongs in the garbage can of history,” Ben
Ari said, adding that it "galvanized the murder of millions of Jews"
throughout history, including during the Spanish Inquisition.
Michael
Ben-Ari a religious conservative was photographed tearing up a copy of
the New Testament which was given to him by Israeli Evangelicals
He
did not commit this act in just any old place; he did it in the
Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. Ben-Ari is a member of HaIhud HaLeumim
(National Union) a religious Jewish right wing party close to the Occupy
Movement.
The
gesture - which brings to mind the action of U.S. pastor Terry Jones
who set fire to a copy of the Koran - was in response to an
“unacceptable provocation” by the Israeli Bible Society, an Evangelical
entity which in recent days sent a copy of the New Testament in Jewish
to all 120 Israeli MPs. ““We are pleased to send you this book which we
hope will help you and illuminate your way,” the accompanying letter
written by Victor Kalisher read. “We hope and pray that this book may
help you in your important position in service of the people.”
But
yesterday, Michael Ben-Ari decided to go even further and got a
photographer to capture the moment when he publicly ripped the pages out
of the book in question and then threw them in the bin. As he did so he
said: “This abominable book [the New Testament] brought about the
murder of millions of Jews in the Inquisition and autos da fé.” “This is
a provocation by church missionaries and there is no doubt that this
book and those who sent it belong in the garbage can of history.”
With
the revelation of Josh Duggar’s molesting of others during his teen
years, the internet has all but erupted in both condemnation as well as
support from those who rush to his defense. When Mike Huckabee jumped to
Josh Duggar’s defense, he may not have anticipated the result. Instead
of his followers embracing his words, they turned on him, in droves. A
few examples, as given by Alternet:…
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews grilled
Michael Morrell, the former top intelligence briefer to the George W.
Bush administration, about the flawed CIA intelligence that he submitted
to the administration regarding Saddam Hussein.
Matthews cited this statement made by former Vice President Dick Cheney:
“We know he [Hussein] has been absolutely devoted to trying to
acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted
nuclear weapons.”
When Matthews asked Morrell if that was true, Morrell responded “No. That was not true.”
Morrell also admitted that the administration was trying to build a
strong case for going to war with Hussein, even if that meant taking
uncertain information and running with it.
Watch the video below.
change.org - The
non-violent strategy of boycott was a key contributor to the collapse of
white-ruled South Africa apartheid. It's time to take action again and
stand on the right side of the history. We urge t...
972mag.com - A new type of
sponge-tipped bullet introduced in East Jerusalem last summer has broken
arms, fractured faces, destroyed eyesight and killed a teenager. Now a
similar projectile is slated for use ag...
electronicintifada.net -
G4S equips prisons where Palestinians are tortured. (Palestine
Solidarity Campaign/Flickr) The University of Helsinki in Finland has
canceled its security contract with G4S over its role in Israel’...
rt.com - A new flotilla
with humanitarian aid on board is going to help people in Gaza; the
mission is beyond political polarization and in full compliance with
international law, Osama Qashoo, member of th...
http://falastinews.com/2015/05/21/us-to-restock-israeli-war-arsenal-with-bunker-
busters-guided-bombs/
The US. State Department and Pentagon approved massive weapons sale worth $1.9 billion to
Israel, in a bid to boost Israel’s arms store, Ynetnews reported Wednesday.
The US State Department approved a massive sale of bombs and missiles worth $1.897
billion, pending final congressional authorization.
The pending package to Israel includes 3,000 Hellfire missiles for the air force's
helicopters.
The weapons deal will also significantly increase the Israeli Air Force's precision
munitions cache with hundreds of GPS and laser-guided bombs and missiles included in the
package.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency – a section of the Department of Defense – said it
submitted the required certification to Congress on May 18. If approved by the US
legislature, Israel will receive the massive shipment, which among other tactical weapons
includes 50 BLU-113 Super Penetrator
972mag.com - Whether the
plan is scrapped or not, the fact is that Israel is a country where
senior ministers propose and implement segregation policies and keep
their jobs. There is something disturbingly disi...
A video of a heterophobic taxi driver ranting about straight
couples has been released ahead of Ireland's gay marriage referendum to
present all discrimination as entirely ridiculous.
As many as 270,000 children are said to have been fathered by
Allied troops in occupied Germany and Austria after the war - to their
continuing shame and hurt, writes TONY RENNELL.
Shocking footage shows the 41-year-old officer letting fly
with his left foot and then his right as his handcuffed victim sits
helpless on a bench at a police station in Majorca. And instead of
helping him after he was subjected to the violent attack, a colleague is
then seen walking up to the camera and moving it after realising the
assault had been filmed on CCTV. The striking images emerged after the
unnamed officer, who is still understood to be working as a policeman
with the same force, admitted the attack.
George W Bush has gone down in history as one of the world's most
evil people, just behind Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden, according to a
study involving 7.000 international students.
The
dramatic story of the fight over the CIA’s controversial interrogation
methods, widely criticized as torture. Based on recently declassified
documents and interviews with key political leaders and CIA insiders,
the film investigates what the CIA did and whether it worked.
In
a case of religious discrimination, a leading diamond export company
here has rejected the job application of a young man just because he is a
Muslim.
“Thanks for your application. We regret to inform you that we hire
only non-Muslim candidates,” was the reply MBA graduate Zeshan Ali Khan
received.
Having completed his MBA in international business, Mr. Khan was
searching for a job in a leading export house. He emailed his resume to
Hare Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. on Tuesday. The diamond conglomerate is
headquartered in Mumbai and has a global presence
“Along with a bunch of friends, I forwarded my resume to the company.
Almost half of them were immediately placed. I got a reply within 20
minutes of my application. I was shocked when I read it,” Mr. Khan told
The Hindu.
“Initially, I thought it was a joke. Had they wanted to reject my application they could have given other excuses…,” he said.
Mr. Khan then put up a post on his experience on his Facebook page
and generated sharp reactions. After the outrage gained traction, Mr.
Khan on Wednesday received a “regret” e-mail by a senior executive of
the company. “We would like to clarify that the company does not
discriminate against candidates based on gender, caste, religion, etc.
Any hurt caused in the matter is deeply regretted,” said Mahendra S.
Deshmukh, Associate VP & Head-HR of the company.
Mr. Deshmukh’s email, a snapshot of which was shared with The Hindu
by Mr. Khan, further said: “This erroneous email was sent by my
colleague Mrs. Dipika Tike who has joined recently and is still on
training.” Source
christiannightmares.tumblr.com
- Sexist Christian trucker of the day (For the heads up, thanks to Rudy
A. Zacharias; For a related post, click here
http://christiannightmares.tumblr.com/post/8455675471/sexist-church-sign-advises-o...
thegailygrind.com - On
Monday, anti-gay Reverend Matthew Makela, a pastor at St. John’s
Lutheran Church in Midland, Michigan, was exposed as a hypocrite for
preaching against homosexuality and gay marriage while secre...
After
an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody on Saturday, Jeb
Bush may be desperately seeking a crowbar strong enough to pry his incredibly
stupid foot from his incredibly stupid mouth.
“This
is more about the vendor issue as it relates to do they want to provide a
service for same-sex weddings. Are you okay if they don’t provide those types of
services?” Body asked Bush.
“Yes,
absolutely if it’s based on a religious belief,”Bush answered. George W. Bush’s
slightly less stupid brother cited a florist in Washington whochose to discriminate against an LGBT customerwho came to her for one of her offered
products — in this case, flowers — as “the best example” of Christians
facing persecution because of their need to persecute others.
Bush
lamented that Barronelle Stutzman may “lose her business” because she refused to
offer equal services to LGBT customers. Bush added that our country needs to be
more “tolerant” of viewpoints like Stutzman’s — that the LGBT community does not
deserve equal access to all services offered by businesses:
“A
big country, a tolerant country ought to be able to figure out the difference
between discriminating someone because of their sexual orientation and not
forcing someone to participate in a wedding that they find goes against their
moral beliefs.”
“We
should be able to figure this out,” Bush said. “This should not be that
complicated gosh it is right now.”
Bush
is right. It shouldn’t be this complicated. If a business offers a service, then
all deserve equal access to it regardless of sexual orientation. It’s elementary
— but sane, rational though is not exactly a hallmark of the Bush family, or of
Jeb specifically.
Bush’s
remarks on conservatives’ “freedom” to allow their hatred to seep from their
personal lives and into their professional ones are not exactly surprising.
After all, Bushwas in favor of a constitutional banon same-sex marriage when he wasn’t
considering a Presidential run.
While
Bush’s publicly-expressed stance on same-sex marriage has softened over the
years leading up to his 2016 ambitions, he still does not support “gay marriage.
In fact,his solutionis
that LGBT relationships could be “made more permanent through contractual
obligations that set forth asset disposition and other issues.” However,
same-sex relationships, according to Bush, “should be afforded the same
status in the law as a man and a woman agreeing to marriage.”
As
long as we don’t call it “marriage.”
Bush’sown mothersaid
it best in 2014: “We’ve had enough Bushes” in the White House.
alternet.org - Grapevine,
Texas – Monday, a Texas grand jury chose not to indict a Grapevine
Police Officer, Robert Clark, for the shooting death of an unarmed man.
Ruben Garcia Villalpando, was killed by Clark a...
haaretz.com - Defense
Minister Moshe Ya’alon has instructed that Palestinian laborers be
prohibited from using Israeli public transportation to travel between
their homes in the West Bank and work in Israel. Acc...
haaretz.com - Israel
launched a pilot program Tuesday under directive from Defense Minister
Moshe Ya'alon, to separate Jewish and Palestinian bus travel in the West
Bank. Palestinian workers will now have to re...
towleroad.com - Straight
couples in Ireland wishing to get married in a Catholic church are
obliged to take a pre-marriage course. No, seriously! Foil, Arms &
Hog have produced this rather brilliant video of a g...
firstlook.org - U.S.
COUNTERTERRORISM AGENCIES have long been preoccupied with the threat
posed by the recruiting successes of the Somali terrorist group al
Shabaab in Western countries. The group has managed to l...
consortiumnews.com - While
former U.S. officials continue to deny torturing “war on terror”
detainees – and President Obama fails to enforce any meaningful
accountability – countries from the old Soviet bloc are confro...
Louisiana’s “Marriage and Conscience Act” (HB 707), which was promoted using stories of anti-LGBT discrimination, died in committee Tuesday. Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), who had prioritized the legislation’s passage in his State of the State address last month, responded by promising to issue an executive order accomplishing the same effect of the legislation.
“We will be issuing an Executive Order shortly that will accomplish
the intent of HB 707 to prevent the state from discriminating against
persons or entities with deeply held religious beliefs that marriage is
between one man and one woman,” he explained. “This Executive Order will
prohibit the state from denying or revoking a tax exemption, tax
deduction, contract, cooperative agreement, loan, professional license,
certification, accreditation, or employment on the basis the person acts
in accordance with a religious belief that marriage is between one man
and one woman.”
Proponents of the bill, including sponsor Rep. Mike Johnson (R),
claimed that it had nothing to do with enabling discrimination against
LGBT people. Nevertheless, he specifically cited
the cases of florists, bakers, and event venues that have been punished
in other states for refusing to serve same-sex couples as the reason
the bill was necessary. Stephen Sabludowsky of Bayou Buzz highlighted some of other examples
of discrimination that the provision seems to open the door to. “A
doctor working at a state institution could not be fired by the state if
the doctor refused to treat a same-sex couple,” he explained, nor could
the state “take action against a teacher who refused to visit with the
same-sex parents of a student.”
Jindal, who just formed his 2016 presidential exploratory committee
this week, will essentially be issuing a state endorsement of anti-gay
discrimination. The executive order, like the legislation, could
potentially override the LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination protections
that exist in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Shreveport, as well as
Jefferson Parish. This is not the first time Jindal has made it easier
to discriminate against LGBT people; in 2008, he refused to renew
an executive order that protected gay, lesbian, and bisexual employees
of state agencies and contractors from discrimination. He claimed at the
time that he didn’t want to “create additional special categories or
special rights,” though he was actually allowing existing protections to
disappear.
If Jindal follows through on issuing an executive order to compensate
for the bill’s failure in the House, he will not only actually be
creating “special rights,” but will also be violating his own principles
regarding executive orders. Just six months ago, he criticized President Obama for issuing an executive order
protecting millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. “The
President is lecturing us and not listening to us. He’s bypassing
Congress, and ignoring the American people,” Jindal said in a press
release. “If the President wants to make the case that the law should be
changed, he should go make the case to Congress and our people. This is
an arrogant, cynical political move by the President, and it’s why so
many Americans no longer trust this President to solve the problems we
face.”
The Israeli army and the Defense Ministry provided some
arresting details on Monday about the rotten "Lavon Affair" of 1954,
but did not provide a clear answer to the still lingering question of
who authorized terror attacks in Egypt in hopes of preventing the
pending British departure ... The plan, which Dayan opposed and which
was executed while he was abroad, was to carry out terror attacks
against British targets in Egypt, thereby, according to the logic of
the plan, inducing Her Majesty's army to stay. Israel had trained
several squads of Jewish Egyptians in Israel ... They were told, over
what later turned out to be a poor connection, to attack British
targets, stirring up unrest and quite possibly killing innocent
civilians.
... In his recently published
book "Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle For Israel 1917-1947," author
Bruce Hoffman - a terrorism analyst, who was once a
scholar-in-residence for counterterrorism at the CIA - claims that the
[1946] bombing of the King David Hotel, even 69 years later, remains
one of the most infamous acts of terrorism the world has ever seen ...
Powell admitted that powerful Western governments throughout the 20th
century - particularly the British - operated with appalling hypocrisy
by initially claiming that men like Nelson Mandela, Martin McGuinness,
and Menachem Begin were terrorists, then, in the blink of an eye,
portraying these men as honorable statesmen and forgetting about past
atrocities.
A Hungarian prosecutor has ordered a man to read up on the
Holocaust after he shared a picture on social media depicting Auschwitz
as an imaginary fun camp. The 33-year-old, from Gyongyos east of
Budapest, must visit a Holocaust museum and read a well-known history
book on the period, the chief prosecutor in Heves county said in a
statement Tuesday ... In February 2010, the Hungarian parliament made
denying the genocide committed by the Nazi regime a crime punishable by
a maximum three-year prison sentence. Suspending jail sentences or the
pressing of criminal charges on condition of fulfilling certain tasks
is common in Hungary since a reform of the country's criminal code in
2012.
United States led by Hillary Clinton would be "great" for Israel, Haim Saban said in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post.
In the interview ... Saban declined to provide specifics on Clinton's
diplomatic policy for the region but said, "We have yet to see all of
Hillary's detailed positions, and I will not give anything away.
However, one thing I know: Hillary will be great for Israel." The
billionaire philanthropist and media mogul, whose financial backing is
seen as a crucial to Clinton's candidacy, said, "Hillary has been a
steadfast defender of Israel's interests. She will be a fantastic
president for the US, an incredible world leader and one under whom the
relationship with the US and Israel will be significantly reinforced."
Last summer, after months of
encrypted emails, I spent three days in Moscow hanging out with Edward
Snowden ... He told me that what finally drove him to leave his country
and become a whistleblower was his conviction that the National
Security Agency was conducting illegal surveillance on every American
... Few people, for example, are aware that a NSA program known as
Treasuremap is being developed to continuously map every Internet
connection - cellphones, laptops, tablets - of everyone on the planet,
including Americans ... He said one of his most shocking discoveries
was the NSA's policy of secretly and routinely passing to Israel's Unit
8200 - that country's NSA - and possibly other countries, not just
metadata but the actual contents of emails involving Americans.
Israeli-Finnish
relations are reported to be strained after Finland prevented the
Jewish National Fund from participating in the exhibition of
non-governmental organisations held annually in the capital, Helsinki,
Israeli newspaper Maariv reported.
The
newspaper pointed out that the exhibition, which is funded by the Red
Cross and the European Union, will be held next week and will focus its
activity on both Africa and the Middle East.
Maariv
added that the Jewish National Fund had permission to participate in
the exhibition, however it recently received a notice prohibiting it
from joining because of "the existence of question marks on the
legitimacy of its activities".
In the wake of this, two Jewish organisations announced they would be boycotting the exhibition.
Vice-Chair of ICAHD Finland (Finnish branch of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) Syksy Räsänen, who campaigned for the JNF to be excluded from the exhibition, wrote on Facebook: "I am very satisfied with the decision as a victory for the BDS movement."
The
newspaper said the Finnish decision sparked anger in Israel. The
Israeli ambassador in Helsinki spoke with Finnish officials in the
foreign ministry, but they responded that "it is a private event that
the Finnish foreign ministry has no impact on" despite the fact that the
ministry is one of the sponsors.
In the wake of the Finnish response, the Israeli ambassador accused Finland of anti-Semitism.
ian56.blogspot.com - Obama
visited Riyadh paying tribute to the largest funders of Islamic
Extremist Terrorism in the world Wikileaks: US cables report that under
King Abdullah, Saudi became "the most significant sourc...
thelocal.de - According
to a report by broadcaster NDR, one incident saw the police officer
choke a refugee from Afghanistan and drag him through the cells with his
feet in chains. In another case he humiliated ...
This
article originally appeared at Oil Price
Ten Members of the U.S. Congress – along with 32 of their staff members –
received secret payments from Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company to
travel to Baku in 2013.
A report from the Washington Post offers an in-depth look into a shadowy
relationship between the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic
(SOCAR) and powerful members of the United States government.
It
looks like RFE finally did some digging rather than regurgitating Kiev
press releases. Previous Ukraine president Yanukovich has been reviled
for his luxurious mansion which was held up as proof of his corruption -
but it turns out Poroshenko is even worse.
Not only is Poroshenko in the process of building himself a huge mansion
- the construction had damaged a UNESCO protected historic site dating
to 18th century. When an investigation threatened to make this fact
public Poroshenko used his powers to have it shut down. - Poroshenko’s
hunger for a mansion is such it actually damaged the countries’
cultural inheritence.
Of course the big question is why did Radio Free Europe, a propaganda
arm of the US government, go after Poroshenko in this manner now? A few
possibilites come to mind:
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