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?

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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.)