British MP Assassinated

Terrible news from Britain of a MP murdered. Just dreadful.

(Jo Cox obituary: Proud Yorkshire lass who became local MP, BBC News.)

Ruins Near Kibbutzim in Israel

Al Jazeera recently released an article about the Japanese photojournalist Ryuichi Hirokawa.

In 1967, after completing university, he travelled to Israel.

"I entered a kibbutz. In Japan they wrote that all kibbutzim were paradise," he said, noting he arrived shortly before the outbreak of the Six-Day War. "I changed my mind. In Japan we were taught that war is bad, but people were celebrating."

Hirokawa, who made a recent appearance at the second International Palestinian Conference for Media and Communications in Turkey, recalled finding ruins near the kibbutz.

"I asked people what these ruins were but no one answered," he said, noting as he began to explore and research the ruins further, he began to learn about the history of the Palestinian plight. "I started finding villages and I studied what happened. It took me more than 30 years, but I would take pictures and make documentaries about Palestinian villages. (Al Jazeera.)

East Jerusalem Through the Eyes of a Settler

Arutz Sheva published an article discussing a Councilman who leads an organization dedicated to filling East Jerusalem, an area predominantly populated by Palestinians, with Israeli Jews. So he makes a video saying East Jerusalem is filled with scary Arabs.

[A] Jerusalem Councilman ... on Monday exposed the lawless state of affairs in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem where terror flags fly freely and calls for attacks on Jews are scrawled on the walls.
In a post on Facebook, King shared a video that he took on Monday while driving his motorbike through Abu Tor and other areas just south of the Old City. He pointed out green Hamas flags and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terror flags flying from nearly every electric line, and graffiti on the walls including images of a bloody knife in an open call for terror attacks. (April 11, 2016.)

This Councilman goes on to say.

"But as your eyes can see, there are priorities in the city according to which culture, perks and public relations come before a thorough treatment of the terror dens and an implementation of the sovereignty and enforcement of the law."
[He] pointed out several recent moves in the municipality indicating those priorities, saying, "this is what happened when the small budget for eradicating the deafening noise of the mosques was erased from the budget book." (April 11, 2016.)

Eradicate the noise?

Bear in mind this man runs an organization dedicated to filling up East Jerusalem with Israeli Jews. He is working to place Israeli Jews near these alleged "terror dens" with PLO and Hamas flags present and graffiti of a knife. He wants to get Israeli Jews to move there.

Passover Reenactment to be Held in Jerusalem

A reenactment of the Passover sacrifice is to be held in Jerusalem.

The reenactment will take place next Monday, just four days before the prescribed time of the Paschal Offering. Event organizers say they want to offer a taste of an exciting, authentic Jewish experience, "with its smells, sounds, and colors that have been lost to us these 2000 years, and to thus arouse a longing to renew this Temple ritual in our day." ...

Finally, there will be a procession with the sheep simulating the Passover pilgrimage to the Temple Mount as in the time of the Holy Temple, culminating in an exact reenactment of the Paschal Sacrifice, including the slaughtering of a lamb and the ritual offering of its blood and fats on a model altar by actual Cohanim [priests] dressed in authentic priestly garments.

Some people have said that the Palestinians are wrong to worry about a Third Temple. I very much agree that it is at present a most unlikely eventuality. But unfortunately there are some Israeli Jews who wish for and openly call for such a thing. And as long as these hardliner Third Temple Jews insist on keeping this dream of theirs alive disregarding everybody else this issue will be a constant thorn in relations between Israelis and Palestinians.

I dearly hope nothing bad happens, unlike what happened in 1990.

ISIL on Verge of Seizing Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Damascus

Orient News, a media outlet aligned with the Syrian opposition, has published an article stating the news that the terrorists and murderers of ISIL on the verge of seizing all of Yarmouk for themselves from Al Qaeda's arm in Syria, the infamous Jabhat al-Nusra. They are both surrounded by the Assad regime in the Yarmouk refugee camp. The article indicates that the other rebel factions that used to be in Yarmouk are no longer present there. (April 13, 2016.)

Yarmouk is a suburb of Damascus that was a refugee camp for Palestinians. Before the war it was a flourishing suburb which was the social center for Palestinians in Syria. In December 2012 the Assad regime lost control of Yarmouk. Since then Yarmouk has been besieged by the Assad regime. In early April 2015 somehow the terrorists and murderers of ISIL were able to invade rebel held Yarmouk and now control most of Yarmouk.

It is awful to imagine that there are possibly about six thousands civilians trapped in this divided, surrounded and deprived enclave. Those civilians caught up in this battle do not deserve to be in this terrible situation.

Story of Defected Syrian Diplomat

Orient News, a media outlet aligned with the Syrian opposition, has published an article interviewing a former Syrian diplomat.

[She] views her case as an example for many regime advocates who are misguided or deluded. She said to Al-Quds Al-Araby: “I have not heard about what happened in Tal al-Zaatar, a Palestinian refugee camp where Assad forces committed a massacre against Palestinians in August 1976, until 2000. That was my first shock.” (April 12, 2016.)

The Search for Evidence of Assad Regime Crimes

The New Yorker has released an article discussing attempts to find the evidence for the crimes committed by the Assad regime. Here's a little preview.

In the past four years, people working for the organization have smuggled more than six hundred thousand government documents out of Syria, many of them from top-secret intelligence facilities. The documents are brought to the group’s headquarters, in a nondescript office building in Western Europe, sometimes under diplomatic cover. There, each page is scanned, assigned a bar code and a number, and stored underground. A dehumidifier hums inside the evidence room; just outside, a small box dispenses rat poison. (The Assad Files, New Yorker, April 18, 2016.)

Time: Inside the Cauldron of Hebron

Time magazine has released photos by Karl Vick showing life within Hebron (April 5, 2016).

Only political solutions can end this violence that afflict so many people in the Holy Land.

Arutz Sheva Writer Defends Trump's AIPAC Speech

So during his AIPAC speech Trump said, “President Obama was the worst thing to ever happen to Israel, believe me.” Trump said this even though the US government supplies 20% of Israel's military expenditure. AIPAC's president apologized and dissociated AIPAC from that comment. Here is how one Arutz Sheva writer chose to defend Trump.

And then finally there was the controversial handling of the Donald Trump address. Trump departed only slightly from a carefully prepared script but wandered off a bit from his prepared remarks when he said, “President Obama was the worst thing to ever happen to Israel, believe me.”

Newly elected AIPAC president Lillian Pinkus pretty much apologized and distanced AIPAC from Trump’s remarks by saying that while AIPAC might have policy differences with Mr. Obama (specifically the Iran nuclear deal), they still have deep respect for the office of president and for Mr. Obama.

Mr. Trump didn’t say that he does not respect the office that he is seeking, the presidency of the United States. He just said that Mr. Obama has dealt or has for years intended to deal harshly with Israel but has so far fortunately been unsuccessful on that count as well. (April 1, 2016.)

So saying “President Obama was the worst thing to ever happen to Israel” is not disrespectful towards the President?

***

Arutz Sheva is a far right media outlet in Israel that caters for national religious Israeli Jews. It is closely associated with the settlers in the West Bank. Its headquarters are in Beit El, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Many Israeli Jews are nothing like those who write for Arutz Sheva.  

Arutz Sheva is often quoted by PCG and to a somewhat lesser extent by UCG, LCG and RCG. It is never criticized by the COGs. The COGs trust Arutz Sheva. They have never bothered explaining to their readers the political stance Arutz Sheva tends to take.

IDF Soldier's Fatal Shooting Caught on Tape by B'Tselem

The Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem, has released a graphic video of an IDF soldier shooting dead a neutralized Palestinian. It is a most terrible situation.

Journalist Dan Cohen reported what he saw at a meeting in support of the soldier who was filmed shooting the Palestinian who was lying on the ground.

Tonight's town hall in support of Hebron soldier who executed an immobile Palestinian ended with a mob chanting "Kill the leftists!"

— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) March 29, 2016

I worry that such a terrible thing could occur at any time.

Journalist David Sheen reports that the soldier who shot the Palestinian is a devote of Rabbi Kahane.

Over the course of the weekend, it emerged that the Israeli soldier who killed Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif is, unsurprisingly, an avowed racist and Jewish supremacist. In 2014, the soldier wrote on Facebook “Kahane was right,” a reference to Meir Kahane, the late leader of Israel’s far-right, and his call to ethnically cleanse Israel of non-Jews in general and Palestinians specifically. During Israel’s assault on Gaza that summer, which took the lives of over 1000 Palestinian civilians and over 500 Palestinian children, the soldier condemned Prime Minister Netanyahu for not being forceful enough, writing on Facebook, “Bibi, you faggot, what’s the deal with the cease-fire? Fuck them up! … Kill them all."

In a second video of the Hebron incident that was released by West Bank settler paramedic services, the group’s director, Ofer Ohana, is overheard screaming, “The terrorist is still alive, that dog… He’s still alive, come on, someone should do something.” Less than two minutes later, the soldier, an army medic, shoots and kills al-Sharif. When Ohana released the video to the press, it had already been edited to include an onscreen text message rejoicing in a coded call to commit genocide of non-Jews: “Our dear soldiers merited to annihilate Amalek.” (March 28, 2016.)

What a terrible situation.

Only political solutions can put an end to this terrible violence that afflicts the Holy Land.

Occupation Inc.

On January 29, 2016 Human Rights Watch released a report discussing the commercial aspect of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

It is entitled Occupation Inc.

Robert Spencer's Islamophobic Book on ISIL

Last year the infamous Islamophobic demagogue Robert Spencer released a book entitled The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS.

It contains endorsements from other individuals who have long been linked as a part of what some have named the Islamophobia Network, namely Steven Emerson, Pamela Geller and Geert Wilders.

Why send even more money to the Islamophobia Network?

I would recommend Islamic State: Rewriting History by Michael Griffin for those wanting a resource to learn about those genocidal, criminal murderers in a responsible manner.

161 Chemical Attacks in Syria

The Syrian American Medical Society has published a report detailing the chemical attacks that have occurred in Syria in this terrible asymmetrical war. Most of the chemical attacks are attributed to the Assad regime.

A New Normal: Ongoing Chemical Weapons Attacks in Syria.

(Hat tip: EA Worldview.)

161 Palestinians Killed Since October 1, 2015

The deadly violence continues. According to one recent tweet 161 Palestinians have been killed since October 1, 2015.

Another victim in Gaza; Mohammed Qeita, 26, killed east of Bureij. Number of Palestinians IOF had killed since October 1 rises to 161.

— Belal Dabour - Gaza (@Belalmd12) January 15, 2016

According to a January 9 report by Al Jazeera up till then about 152 Palestinians had been killed.

Deaths in West Bank city bring total number of Palestinians killed in wave of violence since October 1 to 152. ...

Since October 1, Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 152 Palestinians, including unarmed protesters, bystanders and alleged attackers.

According to the Ramallah-based rights group Al-Haq, 22 of those killed since the beginning of October were children. "Indeed, the deliberate targeting of Palestinian children has become a notable feature of the Israeli occupation," the group said in a report published in December. "Palestinian children also face daily trauma and humiliation by [Israeli forces]."

Meanwhile, Palestinian assailants have killed 23 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians. (Al Jazeera.)

Middle East Monitor has a list of 140 Palestinians killed since September 14, 2015. It includes links to articles describing each act of fatal violence.

May peace soon come to the Holy Land.