Tech Leaders Call for Anti-Discrimination Laws to Protect Gays in all 50 States

Tech Leaders Call for Anti-Discrimination Laws to Protect Gays in all 50 States

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Kaycee Nightfire

bits.blogs.nytimes.com - Technology leaders are looking beyond an Indiana battle over gay rights that united them in the past week, and are calling on all states to enact anti-discrimination protections for lesbians, gay, ...

Disciples of Christ make good on threat to move convention out of Indiana over anti-gay law

Disciples of Christ make good on threat to move convention out of Indiana over anti-gay law

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R.Saddler

rawstory.com - A Protestant group is moving its national convention — which was to be held in Indianapolis — after Governor Mike Pence signed the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Washington Po...

Walmart Praises Arkansas Gov. For Refusing To Sign Anti-Gay Law

Walmart Praises Arkansas Gov. For Refusing To Sign Anti-Gay Law

The retail giant, which has its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, joins a growing list of companies publicly opposing religious freedom laws like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed in Indiana. Read more.

IT BEGINS: Indiana Restaurant Reportedly Vows Not To Serve Gay Weddings

IT BEGINS: Indiana Restaurant Reportedly Vows Not To Serve Gay Weddings

“That lifestyle is something they choose. I choose to be heterosexual," Memories Pizza owner Kevin O'Connor said. "They choose to be homosexual. Why should I be beat over the head to go along with something they choose?” Read more.

Malta Adopts Ground-breaking Trans and Intersex Law

Transgender Europe Press Statement:

Malta Adopts Ground-breaking Trans and Intersex Law

April 1, 2015

Transgender Europe welcomes the adoption of the Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act (GIGESC Bill) as a historic break-through for the rights of trans and intersex persons in Malta and Europe. The Maltese Parliament adopted the Bill on Wednesday, April 1, 2015. TGEU encourages other states to review and reform their legislation with the same aim and in this spirit. The Bill introduces a quick, transparent and accessible gender recognition procedure, based on self-determination, and foresees pro-active equality measures.

The GIGESC Bill recognizes the right of each person to their gender identity and the free development thereof. The envisioned legal gender recognition procedure fulfils the Council of Europe standards of “quick, transparent and accessible” gender recognition procedures, based on self-determination.

The introduced procedure before a notary requires a simple declaration based on a person’s self-determination and prohibits requests for medical information. The entire process lasts a maximum of 30 days. It thus delivers a key task of gender recognition that is to quickly enable the individual to pursue their live without further interference.

Application by a legal minor is regulated in analogy through a court procedure. Thus, parents or legal guardians of an underage person can apply. The best interest of the child and the views of the minor have to be given due consideration.

The Bill foresees that parents or guardians may decide to postpone the inclusion of a gender marker on the birth certificate until the child’s gender identity is determined. This has to be welcomed as it allows for time the child to make an informed decision about it.  

It also regulates health care provision, prohibition of normalizing genital surgeries on intersex infants, and reform of public data collection. Moreover, measures are foreseen in areas of health, non-discrimination and criminal justice to create supportive and inclusive environments for trans and intersex persons.

“The Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act sets a new benchmark for Europe. We are thrilled about the respectful, comprehensive and yet practical aspirations of this new Maltese act. It is firmly build on trans and intersex persons´ right to be recognized for who they are. Furthermore, the GIGESC Act creates the conditions for an equal society as it recognises and protects trans and intersex persons in all spheres of life. “ comments Alecs Recher, Transgender Europe Co-Chair and lawyer.

 “Demanding sterility, divorce, a mental health diagnosis in legal gender recognition or completely lacking procedures are more and more an inacceptable thing of the past. Lawmakers in the rest of Europe should take inspiration from this trail-blazer for swift action.” adds Arja Voipio, Transgender Europe Co-Chair.

A public consultation, three parliamentary readings and lively public debates prepared the adoption of the Bill. Both, governing and opposition parties voted for the project.

ENDS

Read the Maltese Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act here

Learn more about TGEU’s work on legal gender recognition:

tgeu.org/issues/legal-gender-recognition

Transgender Europe is a European human rights NGO working for the human rights and equality of all trans people. More Information: www.tgeu.org

Transgender or Trans is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity or expression differs from the sex assigned to them at birth.

Israeli forces open fire at Gaza fishermen

Israeli forces open fire at Gaza fishermen

Published today (updated) 01/04/2015 12:32

Palestinian fisherman off the coast of Gaza in 2005 (MaanImages)

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli war boats opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats across the shores of the al-Sudaniyya area in the northwestern Gaza Strip early Wednesday, according to witnesses.

Witnesses told Ma'an that the Israeli forces opened fire at three boats, preventing them from fishing in an area of 2 nautical miles.

An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an she wasn't aware of any incidents off the coast Wednesday morning.

In past incidents, Israeli spokespersons have told Ma'an that deviations by fishing boats from the fishing zone are perceived by Israeli forces as a security threat, citing an incident in February in which a vessel was allegedly caught outside of the fishing zone with arms intended for Hamas.

Palestinian fishermen have increasingly become targets for Israeli forces, facing near daily harassment and interference with their work. As part of last summer's ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, Israel initially agreed to expand the fishing zone off Gaza's coast, allowing fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles from shore, and to continue to expand the area gradually.

Despite this agreement, over thirty attacks by Israeli forces on Palestinian fisherman have have been reported since Sept. 1 by Gaza-based watchdog al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, however due to the normalcy of such incidents, attacks often go unreported.

The center also said that 49 fisherman had been detained, 17 injured, and 12 fishing boats confiscated in the same period.

Recent targeting of Gazan fishermen comes at a time when economic growth in the coastal enclave is near frozen and 80 percent of the population is food insecure, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

Casket 5056: The unidentified Palestinian - Israel's handling of Palestinian prisoners' corpses is often disorganised, angering relatives of the dead

Casket 5056: The unidentified Palestinian

Israel's handling of Palestinian prisoners' corpses is often disorganised, angering relatives of the dead.

Rania Zabaneh | 18 Aug 2013 15:24 GMT | Germany, Israel, Jordan, Tunisia

Ramallah, West Bank - Exhumed from an Israeli-numbered grave to be handed over to his family for proper burial, the man in "Casket 5056" lies in a Palestinian morgue a year on - unidentified and unclaimed.
Since 1967, Israel has been withholding the bodies of an unknown number of Palestinians interred in numbered instead of named graves. The Palestinian Campaign to retrieve the bodies of Palestinian and Arab war victims and determine the fate of the missing has documented more than 60 cases of missing Palestinians and about 370 others buried in numbered graves in Israeli-controlled cemeteries.
In May 2012, Israel handed the Palestinian Authority (PA) 91 bodies it had been holding for decades. They were all buried except the man in Casket 5056, whom Israel said was Nasser al-Bouz.
Nasser, who would be 48 years old today, was on Israel's most-wanted list for establishing Fatah's military wing during the First Intifada. In July 1989, his family said he received a message from then PLO chairman Yasser Arafat urging him to head to Tunisia for his safety. He was last seen alive near his hometown of Nablus in August 1989.
"We were told he's in an Israeli secret prison," Wael al-Bouz, Nasser's brother, told Al Jazeera. "Some said he was in a Jordanian prison. Others told us they met him in Germany."
Reports about Nasser's whereabouts contradicted each other. The family, however, was eager to learn anything they thought could help determine his fate. "We knew a lot of the reports were rumours," Wael said. "But we were lost. We wanted to believe he was alive."
The family said Israel never acknowledged detaining or killing Nasser. When his brothers learned his name was on the list of bodies Israel was handing over to the PA last year, they were shocked.
The wrong person
Although they were to receive Nasser in a coffin, his brothers thought they would finally get closure. But it wasn't long before their wound was reopened. "When we opened the casket, we knew the remains were not for Nasser," Wael said.
The family was told that the remains were of a Palestinian killed in May 1989 - three months before the family said they last saw Nasser. That aside, dental records, marks from gunshot wounds, and the clothes size made the family even more suspicious.
DNA tests were performed in Jordan, twice. The results both times came back negative: the remains did not belong to Nasser al-Bouz. Worse yet, the remains in Casket 5056, which the Israelis handed over as Nasser al-Bouz, were found to belong to more than one person.
Lawyers at the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center said it was not the first such case. DNA tests had to be performed multiple times in five other cases of Palestinians buried in numbered graves, before the remains were matched with the corresponding details in Israeli files.
"This is indicative of other mistakes," said Issam Aruri, director of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center. Bodies in numbered graves are often buried in adjacent rows. The tombs are shallow and bulldozers are used whenever an exhumation takes place. Until 2000, the bodies were not buried in boxes, rather interred in graves with metal plates indicating codes of classified files.
"What they did with non-Jewish bodies - they have this kind of discrimination - is that they don't admit that we are entitled to the same rights and to the same dignity, whether alive or dead."
Not far from Nablus, another Palestinian family has been waiting to properly bury its son for 33 years.
Anis Doleh of Qalqilya died in the Israeli prison of Askalan. In August 1980, he collapsed in his prison cell of a heart attack after joining a 30-day hunger strike.
The family tried to retrieve his body from the Israeli authorities several times. They received answers such as that Anis was released on August 31, 1980 - the date he died.
Futile correspondence
For years, the family was caught in a vicious cycle of futile correspondence with the Israeli authorities.
The family petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to demand the release of Anis' remains, armed by letters he sent while in prison, reports from the ICRC that Doleh was imprisoned and died while in custody, as well as a reference for a post-mortem issued by the Israeli Abu Kabir Forensic Institute dating back to May 3, 1982.
The appeal was turned down in March 2013. In its decision, the Israeli court said that it has been too long since Doleh's death, and given that the search results of various Israeli authorities didn't yield anything, there would be no use in issuing a decision in favour of the family's demand to release Anis' remains.
"They're lying," declared Hasan Doleh, Anis' brother. "He can't just evaporate." The family is not excluding any options. "Did they steal his organs?" Hasan asked. "Did they use his body for medical training?"
Although there is no indication to what might have happened to Anis' remains, Doleh's fears were rendered legitimate a couple of years ago, when Israeli pathologists admitted they harvested organs from dead bodies without permission of their families.

We don't want to exhume bodies from Israeli-numbered graves to bury them in Palestinian-numbered graves. - Issam Aruri

When asked for a justification of the mistakes made, the Israeli army said transferring bodies to the Palestinian Authority was a gesture of goodwill.
"The bodies in question were transferred to the PA bearing the same names as they were given upon their burial," the Israeli army said in a statement to Al Jazeera. "The PA agreed to accept the bodies without conducting a preliminary DNA test."
Because of this, the Jerusalem Center filed another petition earlier this year to the Israeli Supreme Court, this time demanding the establishment of a DNA database.
The Israeli authorities are expected to take samples from the bodies they are withholding, ensure the remains in each casket belong to one person and match the results with their records, Aruri explained. But he is not hopeful. "All we need to fold this page is some effort and good will," he said. "The Israelis are showing neither."
Earlier, the Israeli authorities had offered to hand over about 80 Palestinian corpses. The families were reluctant to receive them, and the Jerusalem Center advised the PA against accepting them - because they were to be handed over unidentified.
"We don't want to get them in a pile," Aruri said. "We don't want to exhume bodies from Israeli-numbered graves to bury them in Palestinian-numbered graves."
Unidentified and unclaimed
At the Abu-Dis Institute of Forensic Medicine lies a body of the man thought to be Nasser al-Bouz. "Technically, the remains can be kept here for another year or two," said Dr Saber al-Aloul, head of the institute.
Since they are unidentified and unclaimed, the remains are to be kept accessible at the morgue for possible DNA matching in the near future. "The procedures to dig a grave are religiously, legally and technically exhausting," al-Aloul said.
According to al-Aloul, the remains belong to a male between 30 and 40 years of age, who died at least 15 years ago. The man in question apparently died of multiple gunshots to his head. "No injuries were found in upper or lower limbs, reinforcing doubts that this person might have been executed," al-Aloul told Al Jazeera.
Somewhere, a family of a Palestinian or an Arab may be living the agony of al-Bouz's family and the fears of the Dolehs - not knowing whether their son is dead or alive. They endure the painful wait to properly bury a loved one, and have his name engraved on a tombstone - where they go to visit, plant a rose, and say a prayer.

ICC welcomes Palestine as a new State Party

ICC welcomes Palestine as a new State Party	01/04/2015
The International Criminal Court (ICC) held a ceremony on 1 April 2015 at the seat of the Court in The Hague (the Netherlands) to welcome the State of Palestine as the 123rd State Party to the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding treaty.

Israel still holding 19 bodies of Palestinian fighters killed in Gaza war

Israel still holding 19 bodies of Palestinian fighters killed in Gaza war - Diplomacy and Defense

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haaretz.com - Israel still holding 19 bodies of Palestinian fighters killed in Gaza war The IDF declines to say whether it seeks to swap for the body of a soldier killed in a bitter battle in Gaza City.

IOF nabs 11 Palestinians from WB, J’lem with advent of Passover

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at dawn Wednesday rounded up 11 Palestinians in an arbitrary mass-abduction campaign launched across Occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank.

According to Ad-Dameer institution, the IOF captured the member of the ambulance crew, Fuad Abeid, from al-Issawiya neighborhood, along with two Palestinians from the Old City of Jerusalem and another from Ras al-Amoud.

Three more Jerusalemite youngsters were abducted by the IOF from Jabal al-Mukabir village. Another, identified as Youssef Abu Shousha, was captured in Wadi al-Jouz neighborhood.

Sources based in al-Khalil, said the IOF troops stormed the city at the crack of dawn and abducted the 22-year-old university student and ex-detainee, Anas Abu Hadid, along with the ex-prisoner Hmidan al-Sharbati, 40, after they scoured their family homes and rummaged through them.

Another Palestinian youth, named Mohamed Jamal Akouba, was arrested by the IOF soldiers in Nablus city.

Locals said a drove of IOF army jeeps stormed Nablus’ neighborhoods of Ras al-Ein and the Southern Mount earlier in the morning and stormed the Akouba family home, moments before they kidnapped their son Jamal.

The Israeli army and police forces stepped mass-apprehension campaign in Occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank with advent of Jewish holidays, locals said.

Earlier, on Tuesday, Amjad Abu Asab, head of the committee of prisoners’ and ex-prisoners’ families in Jerusalem, documented the arrest of 30 Palestinian youngsters in Occupied Jerusalem in less than 30 hours.

He said the abduction campaign comes as part of Israeli intents to wipe out Muslims’ presence at the holy al-Aqsa Mosque particularly on the eve of the Israeli Passover holiday as a means to set the stage for settler desecration break-ins, impose a new fait accompli on the ground, and enforce a spatio-temporal division of the Islamic holy shrine.

US Soldier: “The Real Terrorist Was Me”

Video/ US Soldier: “The Real Terrorist Was Me”

by FalastinNews Staff

A powerful confession by US soldier Mike Prysner on his experience fighting in Iraq. "Our real enemies are not those living in a distant land whose names or policies we don't understand; The real enemy is a system that wages war when it's profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it's profitable, the Insurance Companies who deny us Health care when it's profitable, the Banks who take away our homes when it's profitable. Our enemies are not several hundred thousands away. They are right here in front of us." - Mike Prysner

Judge Orders U.S. Government to Release More Than 2,000 Photos of Abuse and Torture by U.S. Military in Iraq and Afghanistan

After a 10-year legal battle, U.S. district judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled last Friday that the U.S. government must release more than 2,000 photographs showing abuse and torture of people detained by the American military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The federal government "is required to disclose each and all of the photographs" in response to a Freedom of Information Act Request from the ACLU, as the government failed to prove that "disclosure would endanger Americans."

In a bipartisan effort demonstrating the decades-long support of the military-industrial complex from both parties, the administrations of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama have argued to suppress these photographs, even going so far as changing the FOIA law in secret with the help of Congress in 2009.

"The photos are crucial to the public record, they're the best evidence of what took place in the military's detention centers, and their disclosure would help the public better understand the implications of some of the Bush administration's policies," said ACLU deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer. "The Obama administration's rationale for suppressing the photos is both illegitimate and dangerous. To allow the government to suppress any image that might provoke someone, somewhere, to violence would be to give the government sweeping power to suppress evidence of its own agents' misconduct. Giving the government that kind of censorial power would have implications far beyond this specific context."

The U.S. Solicitor General has two months to decide whether to appeal, and continue the decade-long fight to bury horrifying truth exposing the inhumanity of the ongoing U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

mong the horrifying images the government may be suppressing is alleged video of children being sodomized in front of their mothers at Abu Ghraib. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh – who exposed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, where women were gang-raped and mutilated – reported that the U.S. military was sodomizing children in Iraq on video back in 2004.

Israel seeks European mediation for its soldiers’ release

Israel seeks European mediation for its soldiers’ release by FalastinNews Staff

The Israeli authorities have asked European mediators, who have contacts with Hamas Movement, to intervene for the release of Israeli soldiers who were captured during Israel's summer aggression on Gaza, media sources revealed.

Diplomatic parties told Al-Araby al-Jadeed website that Israeli security officials, related to premier Benyamin Netanyahu, have made contacts with German and European mediators to intervene in the expected swap deal.
Israel has repeatedly denied the capture of Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

Contacts with Hamas Movement have already started, the sources added, without mentioning whether the talks have been done inside or outside Gaza.

Hamas has earlier demanded the release of all Palestinian ex-prisoners, who were re-arrested after being released during Wafa al-Arar Swap deal in 2011, before taking part in any new swap deal talks.

In the latest agression on Gaza Strip, Hamas announced that it had captured an Israeli soldier in the neighborhood of Hayye al Tuffah (Apple) in Gaza. After the neighborhood had been attacked by Israeli airstrikes for three nights, Israeli ground troops entered the neighborhood and according to the Kataeb al-Qassam brigades, Hamas' military wing, they captured an Israeli soldier. They later announced that they  captured another one in another operation.

99 Palestinian children held in Ofer jail

99 Palestinian children held in Ofer jail

by FalastinNews Staff

Approximately 99 Palestinian children are currently held in Ofer prison, a quarter of whom were nabbed during March, the representative for Palestinian detained minors Abdel Fattah Dawla said.

33 Palestinian minors are convicted and sentenced to different periods of time, while 20 others suffer from difficult health problems including the 14-year-old Khaled Sheikh who is still held in Israeli jails although he suffers from anemia, Dawla pointed out.

In the same context, the Palestinian Prisoners Society has early released a statement reading that most of the detained children were arrested during night raids of their parents' homes, to be then investigated without the presence of their families or lawyers.

They are treated as adults in total disregard of their young age in a blatant violation of relevant children's rights and laws, the statement said.

Ofer prison accommodates the highest number of Palestinian minor prisoners when compared to HaSharon and Megiddo jails.

Israeli occupation forces arrest about 1,000 children every year in the West Bank, often on charges of stone-throwing, while between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are tried before Israeli military courts, where Israel allows the prosecution of children from as young as 12, which UNICEF says is only practiced in Israel.

EU suggests imposition of sanctions on Israel over settlements

EU suggests imposition of sanctions on Israel over settlements

by FalastinNews Staff

The European Union has recommended that sanctions be imposed on the Israeli regime over its settlement expansion policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and its strict security measures in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

In a recently-released report prepared by heads of diplomatic missions of EU member states in the Palestinian Authority, the 28-nation bloc described al-Quds as a city gripped by the worst "polarization and violence" since the second Intifada (uprising) against the Zionist regime a decade ago.

The report noted that the Israeli regime's construction of settler units is further compounding the problem in the occupied Palestinian lands.

The document also lashed out at Israel for its "heavy-handed policing and punitive measures" against Palestinian people, "including evictions and home demolitions."

The EU report further warned businesses of the dangers of engaging in trade with Israeli firms that are located in the occupied territories.

Israel, however, has rejected the report, with a regime spokesman saying, "This is so extremely one-sided a report that it distorts reality beyond comprehension."

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel's occupation of the West Bank including East al-Quds in 1967.

Much of the international community regards the settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied land.

Israel has also over the past months stepped up restrictions on the access of Muslim worshippers to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds.

Palestinians consider the Israeli measures as part of the regime's plan to Judaize and desecrate the holy Islamic site.

Soure: Press TV

West Punished Palestine When It Voted Freely; Endorses Israel's Vote for Occupation

West Punished Palestine When It Voted Freely; Endorses Israel's Vote for Occupation

By Ghada Ageel The 2006 elections were an amazing demonstration of Palestinian democracy in its multi-coloured beauty. The people under occupation expressed their determination to resist Israel's attempt to force them to surrender through its colonisation efforts, expansionist strategies and racism. And the people have kept their word. Even where there is occupation with its [...]

Mar 23 2015 Read More »

Report: 30 children shot by Israel since the beginning of the year

Report: 30 children shot by Israel since the beginning of the year

by FalastinNews Staff

The global movement for the defense of children in Palestine said that the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) are still using excessive force against the Palestinian children including firing live bullets at them.

The movement added in a press statement on Saturday that since the beginning of the current year it has documented 30 cases in which Palestinian children were shot with live bullets fired by Israeli soldiers and settlers, and pointed out that 29 of them were shot while they were participating in peaceful marches in the West Bank and the last one was shot by settlers in Silwan town in Occupied Jerusalem.

The movement attributed using this excessive force by the IOF to the Israeli soldiers' conviction and prior knowledge that they will get away with impunity in spite of all their heinous crimes, according to the statement.

It also pointed out that according to the Israeli army special regulations live ammunition is not be used except in cases that constitute mortal threats to the Israeli soldiers, and pointed to the lack of evidences which prove that the child victims were posing such threats when targeted.

The statement mentioned the case of the minor Mu'ath al-Ramahi, 15, who was shot in the chest with a live bullet during violent clashes with the IOF at the entrance of Jalazone camp on March 6 causing him severe wounds in his right lung and damages in his ribs and chest muscles.

The same clashes led to the injury of the minor Muhammad Hmidat, 16, who was shot in the face.

The statement cited Hmidat as saying: "I felt like if someone was hitting me from the back then I felt dizziness and a dull pain at that time then I noticed that my face was bleeding profusely".

The statement also mentioned that the minor Malik Ghawanmeh, 16, was shot with a live bullet in his right leg leading to shattering the bones. The minor Muhammad Birnat, 16, was also hit with a live bullet while he was participating in the weekly peaceful march in Bil'in village near Ramallah.

"The Israeli soldiers started to fire tear gas and stun grenades and live bullets at us," Birnat said, adding:" I was looking for a place to hide when I felt that something hit my right leg strongly."

The clinical tests and the X-rays showed that the bullet settled in his right knee, according to the medical report of the child.

Handcuffed blindfolded Palestinian kidnapped man shot at close range by IOF

Handcuffed blindfolded Palestinian kidnapped man shot at close range by IOF

by FalastinNews Staff

Video: cuffed blindfolded Palestinian kidnapped man shot at close range by IOF

//

Palestinian activist caught the most shocking video ever with her camera, she was later banned from filming or even...

Posted by Falastinews.com on Monday, March 30, 2015

Cuffed blindfolded Palestinian kidnapped man shot at close range by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), the Palestinian guy is an acitive activist against the apartheid wall.  The shocking  video showing the reality of the occupation and how the Palestinians are suffering on daily basis. This horrific video is more proof of israhell racism and utter brutality, shooting of a unarmed Palestinian, offering no resistance and causing no nuisance.

The video has been recorded by a Palestinian activists, the IOF later banned her from filming the Israeli brutality, and they forced her to sign on letter vowing that she will not film anymore, otherwise she would be taken to court and put under a lot of pressure accroding to the activist.

video-link:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/f573xms3f8mjwg0/HandcuffedBlindfoldedPalestinianKidnappedManShotAtCloseRangeByIOF.mp4?dl=0

International criminal court welcomes Palestinians as 123rd member

Official: International criminal court welcomes Palestinians as 123rd member

by FalastinNews Staff

The Palestinian Authority became a member of the International Criminal Court Wednesday, with a low-key ceremony at the court's headquarters marking the high-stakes move.

Joining the International criminal court is part of a broader effort by the Palestinians to put international pressure on Israel and comes at a time when the chances of resuming negotiations on Palestinian statehood are seen as slim following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent election victory and tough campaign rhetoric.

Palestinians signed the court's founding treaty in January and Palestinian membership came into force Wednesday. International justice activists hailed the occasion as an opportunity to bring accountability to years of conflict between Palestinians and Israel.

Israel is not a member of the International criminal court, but the country's military and civilian leaders could now face charges if they are believed to have committed crimes on Palestinian territory. Israel had no immediate comment Wednesday.

The court's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, opened a preliminary investigation in mid-January after the Palestinians formally accepted the court's jurisdiction dating back to just before last year's Gaza conflict.

Bensouda was not at the behind-closed-doors welcoming ceremony attended by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki as she was out of the country.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the Palestinian Authority as the court's 123rd member and stressed it is now up to Bensouda to weigh whether there is strong enough evidence to merit a full-scale investigation. It is not clear how long her preliminary analysis could take.

"The ICC prosecutor examines allegations of serious crimes no matter the perpetrator, and makes her own determinations about how to proceed based on the evidence" said Balkees Jarrah, international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch. "Any decision whether to pursue an investigation and against whom is not in the hands of the Palestinians or the Israelis."

Prosecution spokeswoman Florence Olara said there are "no timelines" for how long a preliminary examination can take. Some have taken months, others are continuing after years.

The review will likely focus initially on last year's Gaza conflict. The Palestinians suffered heavy civilian casualties in the war, prompting allegations by some rights groups that Israel committed war crimes. Leaders of Hamas, which rules Gaza, could also face charges because the militant group fired rockets indiscriminately at Israeli civilian areas.

Prosecutors could also look at the issue of Israeli settlement building, considered illegal by much of the world. Since 1967, Israel has moved more than 550,000 of its civilians to occupied lands. However, prosecutors in The Hague do not have jurisdiction over events that happened before the Palestinians joined the court.

William R. Pace, convener of the Coalition for the ICC which supports and promotes the court's work, said Palestinian membership "gives hope to victims in both Palestine and Israel that they might see justice done and the conflict brought to a peaceful end."

FalastinNews Staff

Baltics must be ready to defend themselves to receive NATO support

Baltics must be ready to defend themselves to receive NATO support – Grybauskaitė

BNS EN

Friday, March 27, 2015

The Baltic states must be ready to defend themselves if they want their NATO partners to assist them, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė says.

Dalia Grybauskaitė at the General P. Plechavičius school with cadets in Kaunas

Foto: DELFI (R. Achmedovo nuotr.)

"Having in mind the geopolitical situation on our borders around the Baltic states, it is important that the Baltic states, first, need to be prepared to defend themselves and only then to ask and wait for NATO partners to come," Grybauskaitė told journalists in Kaunas, Lithuania's second-largest city, on Friday.
"If we, the Baltic states, are not ready to defend ourselves, nobody will come. Because you cannot ask (...) a German citizen to come to defend Lithuania or Latvia if our people are not ready and not going to defend our country. So that is very clear that, first, we need to do our homework to be prepared on our own and only then ask our partners to come," she said.
Lithuania increased its defence spending to EUR 427.5 million, or 1.1 percent of estimated GDP, this year. The country has also purchased new anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons and is holding talks with Germany on the acquisition of additional artillery capabilities. Lithuania also plans to call a tender for the purchase of armoured vehicles at the end of this year.

Last week, the Seimas of Lithuania restored conscription in response to a proposal by the State Defence Council.

http://en.delfi.lt/lithuania/defence/baltics-must-be-ready-to-defend-themselves-to-receive-nato-support-grybauskaite.d?id=67553676#ixzz3W3IEbedN

NASCAR Decries Indiana Anti-Gay Law

NASCAR Decries Indiana Anti-Gay Law

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deadspin.com - NASCAR has issued a statement expressing its disappointment with Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s decision to signing the "Religious Freedom Rights Act" into law, an act which could give Indiana busin...

Why Indiana Needs a Church of Gay

Why Indiana Needs a Church of Gay

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Gay Rights News

thedailybeast.com - Maybe it’s time to start the Church of Gay. Or actually pass state and federal laws specifying that gay businesses have the legal right to discriminate against religious fundamentalists. Time to fi...

Christian Radio Host Explains How Gays Cause Extreme Weather Catastrophes

Christian Radio Host Explains How Gays Cause Extreme Weather Catastrophes|The Gaily Grind

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thegailygrind.com - Gays are responsible for some of the most violent natural disasters the earth has ever seen, that is according to amateur weatherman and Christian broadcaster Rick Wiles who also happens to special...

New York bans state-funded travel to Indiana

New York bans state-funded travel to Indiana

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metroweekly.com - New York joined Connecticut Tuesday in prohibiting nonessential state travel to Indiana over the state’s new religious freedom law. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said in a statement that publicly ...

Arkansas House approves anti-LGBT religious freedom bill, governor says he’ll sign it

Arkansas House approves anti-LGBT religious freedom bill, governor says he’ll sign it

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Frankenberry

lgbtqnation.com - LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas state House has approved a religious freedom bill nearly identical to one in Indiana that critics say is a “license to discriminate” against LGBT individuals. Gov. Asa Hu...

North Carolina's Governor Says He Won't Sign State Senate's 'Religious Freedom' Bill

North Carolina's Governor Says He Won't Sign State Senate's 'Religious Freedom' Bill - The New Civil Rights Movement

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Ray Lawson

thenewcivilrightsmovement.com - "At this time, I would not sign it the way it's written because ... I don't think you should have an exemption or a carve-out when you swore an oath to the constitution." - North Carolina Governor ...

Mike Pence Promises To Fix Indiana Law So It Bars Discrimination

Mike Pence Promises To Fix Indiana Law So It Bars Discrimination

Pence insists he never intended to discriminate against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Read more.

Why Hitler Struck Against Soviet Russia

Why Hitler Struck Against Soviet Russia

Mark Weber - Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUDx70kRXtU

Important evidence has come to light in recent decades that shatters the familiar, endlessly repeated view that Hitler, bent on world conquest, launched a treacherous surprise attack against a peaceful Soviet Union. By June 1941 Soviet dictator Stalin had built the world's largest military machine, and had deployed an enormous strike force in readiness for a massive attack against Germany that would roll on to overwhelm central and western Europe. Hitler's "Barbarossa" attack, say a growing number of historians in Russia, Germany and other countries, was actually a preventive war to forestall an imminent Soviet strike. This 50-minute video has received more than 95,000 views.

Dashing Soviet World War II Myths

Dashing Soviet World War II Myths

Joseph C. Goulden (Review) - The Washington Times

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/29/dashing-soviet-wwii-myths/

... Mr. Mosier, one of the more entertainingly contrarian military historians writing today, convincingly dashes these myths - and more - in an important and groundbreaking book [Deathride: Hitler vs. Stalin: The Eastern Front, 1941-1945] ... The Red army suffered casualties at the rate of 5-to-1 over the Germans ... As the war wound down in the spring of 1945, Russian losses continued to be so heavy that the Red army desperately conscripted all men between the ages of 14 and 60 and prepared to form all-female combat units. As Sir Winston Churchill wryly commented about Stalin's penchant for lying, "The Bolsheviks have discovered that truth does not matter as long as there is reiteration ..."

The Zionist Dream is Becoming a Nightmare

The Zionist Dream is Becoming a Nightmare

Jerome Slater -- Tikkun

http://www.alternet.org/story/47058/the_zionist_dream_is_becoming_a_nightmare

The Zionist dream is becoming a nightmare. There is no place in the world where the Jewish people are more insecure than in Israel, in part, of course, because of the continuation of anti-Semitism, especially in the Islamic world, but also because of the policies and behavior of the Jewish state. As for its role of moral exemplar, today defenders of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians don't even bother to claim a higher morality.

The Israeli Salvation Front

The Israeli Salvation Front 

Uri Avnery (Israel)

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1427466309

The 2015 election was a giant step towards the self-destruction of Israel. The decisive majority has voted for an apartheid state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, in which democracy will slowly disappear. The decision is not yet final. Israeli democracy has lost a battle. It has not yet lost the war. If it does not draw the lessons, it will lose the war, too. All the justifications and alibis of the Israeli Left are useless. It's the bottom line that counts. The country is in existential danger. Not from the outside, but from the inside.

The Consequences of Netanyahu's Victory

The Consequences of Netanyahu's Victory

Lawrence Davidson - CounterPunch

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/23/the-consequences-of-netanyahus-victory/

... The sad truth is that the present leaders of the mainstream Jewish community in the U.S. have long favored the Likud leadership in Israel. Some of these Jewish leaders believe that tough-minded Likudniks are the best hedge against the "inevitable" next Holocaust, while others will back whoever is in charge because they are ideologically fixated on Israel as their cause celebre. Thus, all of them are no doubt pleased with Netanyahu's return to power ... Undermining peace, promoting oppression, assuring poverty, fostering racism, playing on people's fears and interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries - none of this can be good for the rest of us. Clearly, Benjamin Netanyahu is bad news for the world at large.

How Do Americans Stand Out From the Rest of the World?

How Do Americans Stand Out From the Rest of the World?

Pew Research Center

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/03/12/how-do-americans-stand-out-from-the-rest-of-the-world/

The differences between America and other nations have long been a subject of fascination and study for social scientists, dating back to Alexis de Tocqueville, the early 19th century French political thinker who described the United States as "exceptional." Nearly 200 years later, Americans' emphasis on individualism and work ethic stands out in surveys of people around the world ... Americans also stand out for their religiosity and optimism, especially when compared with other relatively wealthy countries ... Americans are more likely than their counterparts in economically advanced nations to deem religion very important ... Americans are also more upbeat than people in other wealthy nations when asked how their day is going.

‘I’m The Proud Father Of A Gay Son': USC Athletic Director To Boycott NCAA Meeting Over ‘No Gays Allowed’ Law

Author: Kerry-Anne March 31, 2015 7:11 pm

The athletic director at University of Southern California has announced that due to Indiana’s ‘No Gays Allowed’ religious freedom law, he will not attend the NCAA’s College Football Playoff committee meeting in Indianapolis this week.

The list of companies, individuals, artists and organizations joining the boycott of Indiana in response to the egregious bill continues to grow, and is set to cost the state billions.



The NCAA however will not move this week’s Final Four games out of Indianapolis, and shows no signs of moving the league’s headquarters from the city either.


In a statement last week, NCAA President Mark Emmert said:

“We will work diligently to assure student-athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week’s Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill,”
“Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce.”

But ESPN host Keith Olbermann was dumbfounded by the organization’s failure to lead on such a critical matter.

“There are times in the history of this country where sports not only influences our destiny, but leads it, and this is such a time,” Olbermann said on Monday.

Former NBA star Charles Barkley also called for the NCAA to pull the Final Four games from Indiana over the bill.
Indiana Governor Mike Pence told a press conference on Tuesday that he plans to “fix” the law, saying:

“It would be helpful to move legislation this week that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses a right to deny services to anyone,”

The problem is: the sole purpose of the bill is to deny services to LGBT people. The reason it is being celebrated across conservative media is that it grants business owners the right to not serve LGBT customers if they feel that that doing so contradicts their religious views.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of Indiana states:

“A person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened, by a violation of this chapter may assert the violation or impending violation as a claim or defense in a judicial or administrative proceeding, regardless of whether the state or any other governmental entity is a party to the proceeding.”

Neither the federal RFRA, nor the bulk of state statutes being cited by conservatives this week, say anything like this; only the Texas RFRA, passed in 1999, contains similar language.
The significance of this addition to the legislation is expertly explained by Garret Epps at The Atlantic:

What these words mean is, first, that the Indiana statute explicitly recognizes that a for-profit corporation has “free exercise” rights matching those of individuals or churches. A lot of legal thinkers thought that idea was outlandish until last year’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, in which the Court’s five conservatives interpreted the federal RFRA to give some corporate employers a religious veto over their employees’ statutory right to contraceptive coverage.

It is clear that Indiana’s RFRA can, and most likely will, be applied to discriminate against citizens on the basis of their actual or presumed sexual orientation and gender expression. Leaders like Pat Haden know this, and their consciences will not permit them to collude in such discrimination. Anyone who is against the establishment of a Jim Crow era targeting LGBT people, must stand with those opposing the RFRA.