Friday, November 30, 2012

Report: Obama White House opposed new Iran sanctions unanimously passed by Senate

(The Cable) The White House announced its opposition to a new round of Iran sanctions that the Senate unanimously approved Friday, in the latest instance of Congress pushing for more aggressive punitive measures on Iran than the administration deems prudent.

On Thursday, Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate passed 94-0. The new legislative language would blacklist Iran's energy, port, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors, while also placing new restrictions on Iran's ability to get insurance for all these industries. The legislation would also vastly expand U.S. support for human rights inside Iran and impose new sanctions on Iranians who divert humanitarian assistance from its intended purpose.

"The window is closing. The time for the waiting game is over," Menendez said on the Senate floor Thursday night. "Yes, our sanctions are having a demonstrable effect on the Iranian economy, but Iran is still working just as hard to develop nuclear weapons."

But the White House told several Senate offices Thursday evening that the administration was opposed to the amendment. National Security Spokesman Tommy Vietor sent The Cable the administration's official position, explaining the White House's view the sanctions aren't needed and aren't helpful at this time.

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Good to see Obama is opposing the will of the people. 94-0 would seem pretty conclusive.But the again, he won... just like Morsi did in Egypt.

I'm sure his reasoning in not taking additional actions that might avert a nuclear Iran is beyond our meager abilities to comprehend.

He is, after all, the greatest president. Ever.

Egypt 2.0: Salafi Muslims Armed With Batons Attack Coptic Christians in Egypt After Mass

(AINA) -- Yesterday Muslim Salafis assaulted Christians after Sunday mass, angry that Christians from neighboring villages who have no churches attend mass in the village of Tala, el Fashn, in the Beni Suef Governorate. The pastor of St Georges Church Father Cheroubim Chehab could not go out of church for hours after mass.

Eyewitnesses reported that as Christians left the church, they found a huge mob of mostly young Salafi Muslims waiting for them, armed with batons. The assault lead to 5 Copts being hospitalized after suffering broken limbs, and the torching of two cars which transported the congregation from the other villages.

The pastor of the church contacted the police, asking for help, however, they appeared hours later, only after Dr. Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization, complained to the ministry of interior against el Fashn police and told them that no forces appeared in the village, and gave the names of six of the perpetrators and asked whether the police in el Fashn are afraid to arrest them. "I want the whole world to know," he said, "that a priest and his congregation are presently held captives in their church, afraid of the Salafi Muslims surrounding the church."

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Austrian soldiers wounded in Syria airlifted to Israel

(JPost) Two Austrian peacekeeping soldiers wounded in crossfire in Syria were transferred to Israel for treatment on Friday, a hospital spokesman said, describing their condition as not life-threatening.

The two, members of the United Nations monitoring force that observes a truce between Israel and Syria, were on their way to Damascus airport for a flight home when their vehicle was caught in crossfire between Syrian government and rebel forces.

Syrian state television said on Thursday the two were wounded by gunfire when rebels attacked an army position near the airport road.

"The two soldiers are in their 20s and suffered gunshot wounds. One was hit in the chest and is in moderate condition, and the other to the hand, and he is lightly hurt," said David Ratner, a spokesman for Rambam hospital in Haifa.

The two crossed by land from Syria into the Golan Heights from where they were flown by an Israeli military helicopter to the hospital in the northern Israeli port city, he said.

"We are a designated hospital to care for injured United Nations soldiers in the region but this is the first time that we have had to deal with anybody hurt in the internal Syrian conflict," Ratner added.

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Condell: Ha Ha Islamophobia


Mass beheading watch: Gunmen kidnap police recruits in northern Iraq

ANBAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Masked gunmen hijacked a bus carrying 20 police recruits in northern Iraq on Friday and took them to a remote area bordering Syria where al-Qaeda operates, police sources said.

The kidnappers, armed with machineguns and rocket propelled grenades, seized the vehicle on the road from Mosul to the capital Baghdad and took the recruits to Anbar province, said officers.

"There were 20 volunteers coming from Mosul on their way to Baghdad. They stopped in a restaurant to get lunch in Baiji and when they left, gunmen kidnapped them," said a senior police officer from the area who declined to be named.

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Abbas' empty 'win'

(NYP) Some West Bankers may still feel this morning as if they’ve just won the $587 million Powerball jackpot — but they’ll soon realize that, despite the dazzle of yesterday’s vote at the United Nations, they had the wrong numbers: There’s no grand prize coming.

Yes, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas managed to line up an impressive number of General Assembly votes for his resolution naming Palestine as a UN non-member “state.” Some 138 countries supported him; nobody in “Old Europe” opposed. Only America, Canada, the Czech Republic, Panama and several Pacific island states joined Israel in voting nay (with 41 abstentions).

And, yes, the world media will wax poetic on Abbas’ diplomatic “victory.”

His carefully crafted resolution enshrined Palestine as a non-member UN “state” within the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem. (No territorial swaps or anything else that requires negotiations with Israel.) It also expressed the hope that the Security Council would soon accept the new state’s request to become a full member. (America vetoed that request last year.)

Yet, privately,European and even some Arab diplomats were grumbling:

* Abbas’ move is a poke in PresidentObama’s eye, after a personal presidential appeal to delay.

* And — thanks to US law that defunds any UN agency that unilaterally accepts Palestine as a member — it may harm the whole UN system.

And that’s from diplomats who voted for the resolution. Hey, that’s how Turtle Bay rolls.

At the United Nations, no one flinched yesterday when the resolution was introduced by world pariah Sudan, which is responsible for the Darfur genocide.

Nor did anyone flinch hours earlier, when the ambassador of Sri Lanka (which recently put down an insurrection in Tamil regions with unprecedented ruthlessness), spoke in his capacity as chairman of the UN “Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.”

That’s the Turtle Bay way.

Last week, only Israel and Palau voted with America to oppose a near-unanimous General Assembly resolution condemning the US embargo of Cuba, a vote that’s recurred every year since 1960. The Castros crow about their world popularity and the “isolation” of the United States; the Union somehow manages to survive.

So, yes, because of the UN’s near irrelevancy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was right in observing yesterday that the path to a Palestinian state doesn’t go through New York.

But the “world community” fears that Abbas is growing irrelevant, so even those who believed the resolution was ill-timed and bad for the peace process supported it. (Still, none of Abbas’ Arab “brother” statesmen bothered to show solidarity by sending a high-level representative for the vote, as Turkey and Indonesia did.)

Yet the move will at best boost Abbas’ popularity among Palestinians for a few days. After all, he’s been ruling over the West Bank by decree since his term as an elected president expired back in 2009 — because rival Hamas, which rules Gaza, would win any election by a landslide.

And Hamas’ self-declared “victory” last month in Gaza has only increased the appeal of the kind of “resistance” preached by the Islamist terrorist organization.

So, in the long run, yesterday’s “historic” event won’t boost Abbas’ popularity among Palestinians.

Speaking of history: On Nov. 29, 1947, Arab leaders rejected a UN resolution that recommended the establishment of two states, Arab and Jewish, in then-British-mandated Palestine. Ever since, generations of Palestinian leaders have preferred attacking the Jewish state to building an Arab one. And yesterday’s maneuver, 65 years later, continues that tradition.

Abbas called on the General Assembly to “issue a birth certificate on the reality of the state of Palestine,” but back in the West Bank, that state remains a mirage, and the vote won’t change that. Rather, as Abbas & Co. proudly declare, it will empower them to drag Israeli leaders to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Hence his pointed talk yesterday about Israel’s “war crimes.”

Israel will survive. At the risk of stereotyping, it’d be a cruel joke if in the end the Jews lost out because they’re bad lawyers.

But as long as Palestinian leaders keep busy inventing new ways to bedevil Israel rather than improving the lot of their citizens, West Bankers and Gazans will continue to celebrate imaginary winnings — only to realize the next day that they’re still no closer to winning the lottery prize.

Israel to Build New Homes in Jerusalem, West Bank After UN Vote

(Bloomberg) Israel approved the construction of 3,000 new homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank, less than 24 hours after the United Nations General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member state.

Israel also intends to move forward on procedures necessary to plan further construction in a West Bank area between the Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem, two government officials said, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter. The Palestinian Authority, the UN and the U.S. consider all Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.

The 193-member General Assembly yesterday voted 138-9, with 41 abstentions, for a resolution granting Palestinians a form of statehood on a par in the world body with the Vatican. The most significant ramification is that the new state may be able to join organizations such as the International Criminal Court.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today by text message that the nine countries that voted against recognition, including the U.S., took the “side of truth and the side of peace.” Netanyahu yesterday called the resolution “so one-sided, it doesn’t advance peace, it pushes it backward.”

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Syrian rebels using child soldiers as young as 14

Syrian rebels are using children as young as 14 to serve as soldiers, guards and lookouts, a human rights group has found.
(Telegraph) Boys are being use to transport weapons, supplies and acting as lookouts in at least three opposition groups, whilst others are carrying guns and fighting, a report by Human Rights Watch said.

Children from the towns worst affected by the conflict have been trained to take part in the war according to Human Rights Watch. In one instance, three boys aged 16 said they had participated in attack missions, whilst two boys – aged 14 and 15 – had been sent on dangerous reconnaissance missions or smuggled weapons to opposition groups.

Majid, a 16-year-old boy from Khalidiya in Homs fought with a rebel group after he received "combat training".

"I used to carry a Kalashnikov," he said. "I used to shoot checkpoints … to capture [them] and take the weapons. They taught us how to shoot, how to dismantle and put together a weapon, how to target."

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Opposition cries foul as Egypt's Sharia-based constitution finalized

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Islamist-led assembly was expected to finalize a new constitution on Friday aimed at transforming Egypt and paving the way for an end to a crisis which erupted when President Mohamed Mursi gave himself sweeping new powers last week.

Mursi said his decree halting court challenges to his decisions, which provoked protests and violence from Egyptians fearing a new dictator was emerging less than two years after they ousted Hosni Mubarak, was "for an exceptional stage".

"It will end as soon as the people vote on a constitution," he told state television on Thursday night. "There is no place for dictatorship."

The assembly was expected to finish approving the draft constitution on Friday, allowing a referendum to be held as soon as mid-December on a text the Islamists say reflects Egypt's new freedoms.

Mursi's critics argue it is an attempt to rush through a draft they say has been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood, which backed Mursi for president in June elections, and its allies.

Two people have been killed and hundreds injured in the protests since last Thursday's decree, which deepened the divide between the newly-empowered Islamists and their opponents.

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Wow! US threatens to bring Iran to the UN Security Council

VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States set a March deadline on Thursday for Iran to start cooperating in substance with a U.N. nuclear agency investigation, warning Tehran the issue may otherwise be referred to the U.N. Security Council.

The comments by U.S. diplomat Robert Wood to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency signaled Washington's growing frustration at a lack of progress in the IAEA's inquiry into possible military dimensions to Tehran's nuclear program. [...]

"If by March Iran has not begun substantive cooperation with the IAEA, the United States will work with other board members to pursue appropriate board action, and would urge the board to consider reporting this lack of progress to the U.N. Security Council," Wood said, according to a copy of his statement.

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Absolutely incredible that there are people in high-ranking government positions still so f*cking naive as to believe the threat of a referral to the UN Security Council is going to slow Iran down.

But if you dare to doubt the genius of Obama's Iran strategy (whatever that may be)... then you've a war mongering teabagger who is frothing at the mouth to send American welfare recipients into a new war.

So, it's perfectly acceptable to continuously repeat the same mistake hoping for a different result... Funny, I thought that was the definition of insanity.

Bottom line: Pretending that a "referral to the UN Security Council" is the answer is as ridiculous as anything else you'll hear this year.

UN vote recognizes state of Palestine, thus legitimizing Palestinian terrorism

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a victory decades in the making for the Palestinians after years of occupation and war. It was a sharp rebuke for Israel and the United States.

A Palestinian flag was quickly unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian delegation, as the final vote was cast.

In an extraordinary lineup of international support, more than two-thirds of the world body's 193 member states approved the resolution upgrading the Palestinians to a nonmember observer state. It passed 138-9, with 41 abstentions.

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Al-Shabaab tweet of the day

Isn't Islam great?

15-Year-Old Afghan Girl Beheaded By Her Cousin For Rejecting His Marriage Proposal

(Fox News) A 15-year-old girl was beheaded by her cousin after she rejected his marriage proposal, an official in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz told Efe Thursday.

The crime occurred Wednesday in the district of Khanabad, provincial police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hosseini said.

The cousin, Sadeq, and one of his friends ambushed the girl as she was fetching water for her family, the spokesman said.

The girl's father had rebuffed several approaches by Sadeq's family urging that the two be wed, insisting his daughter was too young for marriage.

"Police have arrested Sadeq and his friend Massoud and both are in custody," Hosseini said. EFE

Sunni bombs kill 30 Shiites in Iraq

HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) - Bombs in two majority Shi'ite Muslim cities in southern Iraq killed 28 people on Thursday, police and hospital sources said, in an attack aimed at spreading sectarian strife in the country.

Scores more were wounded in the blasts, which struck during a month that is of special significance to Shi'ite Muslims, who are often targeted by al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate and other Sunni Muslim insurgents.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Iraq so far this year following last December's withdrawl of U.S. troops, who had invaded in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

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Taliban roadside bomb kills 10 civilians, most of them women and children, in Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) - A roadside bomb exploded under a passenger van in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing 10 people, most of them women and children, government officials said.

Eight people were wounded in the blast in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province, President Hamid Karzai's office said in a statement. The Interior Ministry said 14 people were wounded.

"Innocent peoples' blood will not be wasted and terrorists will be shamed in this world and hereafter," Karzai said in the statement.

Violence has been increasing across the country as an end of 2014 deadline approaches for most foreign combat troops to leave, putting the 350,000-strong Afghan security forces in control.

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UN set for implicit recognition of the apartheid state of Palestinian, despite US, Israel threats

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly is set to implicitly recognize a sovereign state of Palestine on Thursday despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding much-needed funds for the West Bank government.

A Palestinian resolution that would change the Palestinian Authority's U.N. observer status from "entity" to "non-member state," like the Vatican, is expected to pass easily in the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly.

Israel, the United States and a handful of other members are planning to vote against what they see as a largely symbolic and counterproductive move by the Palestinians.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been leading the campaign to win support for the resolution, and over a dozen European governments have offered him their support after an eight-day conflict this month between Israel and Islamists in the Gaza Strip, who are pledged to Israel's destruction and oppose his efforts toward a negotiated peace.

The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and U.S. Middle East peace envoy David Hale traveled to New York on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to get Abbas to reconsider.

The Palestinians gave no sign they were turning back.

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And yet, the Obama administration will continue to send hundreds of millions of dollars to them.

Meanwhile, the UN conspires to expel prominent Jewish group from Palestine vote.

Furthermore, "With UN Bid, Arabs Once Again Try to Steal Israel's Heritage".
It's no accident that the Palestinian Authority is bringing its “case” to the United Nations on November 29 – a day that has for 65 years been identified with the State of Israel.

“It's very typical of the PA to choose the day that Israel was recognized as a state by the UN as the date for their state's recognition,” said one historian. “The PA has tried to co-opt so many Jewish and Israeli symbols in the past, and the co-opting of November 29 fits right in with that,” said Moshe Siebel, a history afficianado.

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Israel Braces for Palestinian Rioting After Vote.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Norwegian politician Khalid Haji Ahmed: “Damn Jew whores, wish Hitler could come back and shower you some more”

JTA — Aspiring Norwegian politician Khalid Haji Ahmed said he was only joking when he wished “best of luck eight times over” to activists who wrote on Facebook that they wished Adolf Hitler could kill more Jews.

Screen shots made by Hamar Arbeiderblad, a local newspaper, show Ahmed responding on Facebook to a post that read “Damn Jew whores, wish Hitler could come back and shower you some more.”

The Facebook conversation took place last week between members of the Workers’ Youth League, Norway’s largest youth movement, which is affiliated with the country’s ruling Labor Party.

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H/t: The Gateway Pundit

Syria "firing mortars to stop refugees"

ZAATARI, Jordan (Reuters) - The United Nations humanitarian chief accused Syria on Tuesday of firing mortar bombs near the border with Jordan to prevent refugees from fleeing a civil war that she says is "getting worse day by day".

In an interview with Reuters at the Jordanian refugee camp of Zaatari on Tuesday, Valerie Amos said that during a visit to the border the night before she was able to see "what was definitely mortar fire on the Syrian side of the border to try to prevent people from crossing." [..]

"We need the agreement by all those involved in the conflict to ensure they will not in any way bomb or shell or fight (refugees)," Amos said.

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Notice how there is no talking about war crimes and accusations of committing atrocities and "genocide" like there is every time Israel takes out actual terrorists. Weird, huh?

Egypt 2.0: Seven Christians sentenced to death for anti-Islam film

Jihadi "democracy" in action.
CAIRO (Reuters) - A Cairo court on Wednesday sentenced to death seven Egyptian Christians tried in absentia for participating in an anti-Islam video that was released on the Internet in September and had prompted violent protests in many Muslim countries.

"The seven accused persons were convicted of insulting the Islamic religion through participating in producing and offering a movie that insults Islam and its prophet," Judge Saif al-Nasr Soliman said.

Liberal talk radio host calls for beheading of tea partiers

(WT) Brian Maloney of the radio equalizer blog, posted an audio excerpt of liberal radio host Mike Malloy whose Tuesday's program included a rant about beheading tea partiers:
These tea bag bastards, who by the way, I just wish they would all just go away or like in Passover--I just wish there was an angel of the lord that would pass over but instead of killing the first born in all the households of Egypt, just wipe out all the tea-baggers. Just, you know, the terrible swift sword...lop their heads off.
Malloy is known for such diatribes and has previously said among other things that: he hoped Glenn Beck would commit suicide on the air; accused Fox News host Bill O'Reilly of wanting to commit murder; and said he was happy Andrew Breitbart died.
Suddenly, Rush Limbaugh doesn't sound so bad now, does he?

Car bombs kill 34 in pro-Assad Damascus suburb

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two car bombs exploded in an attack that killed at least 34 people on Wednesday in a district of the Syrian capital loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

The explosions struck the eastern neighborhood of Jaramana, home to many of Syria's Druze minority as well as Christians who have fled violence elsewhere, ripping through nearby shops and bringing debris crashing down on cars.

Car bombs have shaken Damascus - once a bastion of security in Assad's 20-month campaign to crush an uprising against his rule - with growing regularity but Wednesday's attacks were the deadliest in the capital for several months.

Authorities severely limit independent media in Syria and it was not immediately possible to verify reports. The government said 34 people were killed.

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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Egyptians challenge Morsi in nationwide protests, Morsi says "there is no retreat from the decree"

CAIRO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied on Tuesday against President Mohamed Mursi in one of the biggest outpourings of protest since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow, accusing the Islamist leader of seeking to impose a new era of autocracy.

Police fired tear gas at stone-throwing youths in streets near the main protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square, heart of the uprising that toppled Mubarak last year. Clashes between Mursi's opponents and supporters erupted in a city north of Cairo.

But violence could not overshadow the show of strength by the normally divided opponents of Islamists in power, posing Mursi with the biggest challenge in his five months in office.

"The people want to bring down the regime," protesters in Tahrir chanted, echoing slogans used in the 2011 revolt.

Protesters also turned out in Alexandria, Suez, Minya and other Nile Delta cities.

Tuesday's unrest by leftists, liberals and other groups deepened the worst crisis since the Muslim Brotherhood politician was elected in June, and exposed the deep divide between the newly empowered Islamists and their opponents.

A 52-year-old protester died after inhaling tear gas in Cairo, the second death since Mursi last week issued a decree that expanded his powers and barred court challenges to his decisions.

Mursi's administration has defended the decree as an effort to speed up reforms and complete a democratic transformation in the Arab world's most populous country.

"Calls for civil disobedience and strikes will be dealt with strictly by law and there is no retreat from the decree," Refa'a Al-Tahtawy, Mursi's presidential chief of staff, told the Al-Hayat private satellite channel.

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Iraq car bombs, shootings kill 30, wound dozens as Sunnis and Shiites slaughter each other

Money quote: "Shia mosques in Baghdad are primary target as ethnic fighting persists".
(AP) Insurgents launched attacks against security forces and civilians in central and northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

Shia mosques in Baghdad were main targets, along with a city claimed by squabbling ethnic groups in a disputed northern region. The conflicts threaten the stability of Iraq following the final pullout of U.S. military forces nearly a year ago.

Car bombs exploded near three mosques shortly after nightfall in the capital, killing 21. Police and hospital officials said the first exploded near a Shia mosque following evening prayers in the Hurriyah neighbourhood, killing nine worshippers and wounding 20 others. Minutes later, another car bomb went off near Gaereat mosque, killing five people.

Later, police said a third car bomb exploded, killing seven Shia worshippers and wounding 21 others in Shula neighbourhood in northern Baghdad.

Ali Habib, a taxi driver, said he was driving near the Shia mosque in Hurriyah when he heard a loud explosion. He rushed to the blast site and helped take wounded to the hospital.

"The scene was horrific, with people screaming for help," he said. "Such attacks bring back memories of the darkest days of sectarian strife that took place several years ago in Iraq."

In the north, a police officer said three bombs in parked cars exploded simultaneously in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, the largest city in the area claimed by several ethnic groups in a dispute with the central government in Baghdad.

The bombs hit two Kurdish residential areas in the centre of the city. One went off near a main Kurdish party headquarters. Five people, including a Kurdish security guard, were killed and 58 others wounded, he said.

A few minutes later, two bombs exploded in a market in the Sunni-dominated town of Hawija west of Kirkuk, killing two civilians and wounding five others, he said. Also, five Iraqi army soldiers were wounded when militants detonated bombs near their houses in the nearby town of Tuz Khortmato.

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Syria launches air strikes as combat rages in Damascus, more than 90 killed

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian war planes attacked towns in the country's north and east and killed at least five civilians in a strike on an olive oil press as fighting raged in the capital Damascus on Tuesday, opposition activists said.

The latest fighting follows recent battlefield gains by the rebels in their struggle to topple President Bashar al-Assad, but it is far from clear if a strategic breakthrough is likely.

More than 90 people were killed on Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group.

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France, now run by Socialists, to back Palestinian UN status

PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Tuesday it would vote in favour of Palestinian non-member status at the United Nations, boosting Palestinian efforts to secure greater international recognition.

Frustrated that their bid for full U.N. membership last year was thwarted by U.S. opposition in the U.N. Security Council, Palestinians have launched a watered-down bid for recognition as a non-member state, similar to the status the Vatican enjoys.

The proposal, which is due to be put to the vote in the General Assembly at the end of the week, would implicitly recognize Palestinian statehood. It could also grant access to bodies such as the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where the Palestinians could file complaints against Israel.

"This Thursday or Friday, when the question is asked, France will vote yes," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced in the French National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

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Monday, November 26, 2012

Vienna: Joint leftist/Islamist pro-Palestinian demonstration calls for 'death to Jews'

(JPost) Anti-Israel demonstrators gathered on Friday in the heart of Vienna, protesting Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense and chanting slogans calling for the murder of Jews and bashing the Jewish state.

Israel’s eight-day military operation to stop Hamas rocket fire from entering the country prompted two fiercely anti-Israel protests in the Austrian capital.

Samuel Laster, an Israeli journalist who lives in Vienna, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that he heard a contingent of 15 to 20 Austrian Islamists chanting in Arabic, “Death to the Jews.”

Laster first reported on the call to eliminate Jews on his website die juedische (“the Jewish”).

Speaking from Vienna by phone, he told the Post that a “mix of Austrian leftist radical extremists and Islamists” appeared at the protest. He estimated that at least 400 anti-Israel protesters, including Salafists, Muslim Brotherhood members and Palestinians, took part in the demonstration.

The demonstrators marched to the federal chancellor’s office.

The anti-Israel activists yelled “Freedom for Palestine” and “Down with Israel,” and a group of Austrian Muslims blasted repeatedly in Arabic “Death to the Jews.” Laster said the Austrian authorities, including the domestic intelligence agency (Verfassungschutz), must increase their efforts to combat “Islamic extremism.” He criticized the lax approach of Austrian police officials who waved off the anti-Jewish rhetoric as merely a protest against Israel. [...]

Heute.at reported that a large segment of the protesters were of Turkish and Arabic descent and yelled “Allahu akbar.”

The Palestinian and Syrian communities in Vienna helped organize the rally during the IDF’s operation against Hamas in Gaza.

Muslim Immigration Means Sexual Jihad

Israel's latest missile defense system David's Sling a success

(WJD) Less than a week after the Iron Dome defense system became famous the world over for its extraordinary performance in Israel's latest war against Hamas, an equally important missile defense system proved a stunning success in its latest round of tests.

David's Sling, an Israeli-developed system partially funded by the United States, reportedly intercepted 90 percent of its targets in a test conducted in Israel's Negev Desert, a record equal to that of Iron Dome.

The new defense system, however, may ultimately prove even more important than its predecessor. David's Sling is designed to destroy missiles of larger size and greater range than Iron Dome. In particular, it is viewed as a potentially effective defense against the missile arsenal wielded by Hezbollah on Israel's northern border.

Iron Dome is designed to destroy large numbers of short-range rockets, such as those fired from Gaza by Hamas. David's Sling is a more sophisticated system intended for single targets, and can be controlled in-flight, allowing for more precise targeting of rockets traveling at high speeds.

This could prove decisive in the event of an attack on the Iranian nuclear program. It is widely expected that Iran would retaliate primarily through Hezbollah, who have already threatened to target Tel Aviv and other cities in central Israel. David's Sling, once deployed, could be a devastatingly effective defense against such attacks.

Palestinians in Gaza name newborns 'Fajr' and 'Ahmed Jabari' after Iranian-made missile and top ranking Hamas terrorist

(Ynet) Less than a week after the declaration of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Operation Pillar of Defense has already left its mark on the people of Gaza, in a rather unexpected way.

Some parents from the Strip have decided to name their newborn babies after operation-affiliated icons – from assassinated Hamas commanders to long-range missiles fired at Israel.

Muhammad al-Shafi'i Abu Nassat named his son, who was born Friday, after the Fajr missile. Naming his baby Fajr, Abu Nassat told Gaza media, was his way of expressing his gratitude to Iran, which was responsible for supplying Gaza with rockets that, according to Abu Nassat "struck the enemy for eight days."

Amira Abu Assus, from the northern Gaza Strip, also named her child Fajr, Arabic for 'dawn', and says she picked out the name even before she went into labor last week.

She said she knew that the unborn baby would have "a bright future within Palestinian resistance. He would carry the rockets whose names he bears so as to free Palestine from Israeli occupation."

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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Palestinian terrorists say Britain has a duty to back them at UN, threaten with "popular backlash"

Britain has a "historic responsibility" to support an imminent Palestinian attempt to enhance its status at the United Nations that risks causing a confrontation with America and fresh turmoil in the Middle East, a senior official told The Daily Telegraph.

Excerpt:
"As the former colonial power, Britain has an historic responsibility to Palestine. Britain is a very important country in the Middle East, it has extensive trade relations, and David Cameron should know he risks a popular backlash from Arab public opinion if he does not support us."

Mr Cameron and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, have publicly urged the Palestinians to drop the bid, arguing that it could wreck chances of a return to peace talks. The United States and Israel have strongly argued the same.

But Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, is supportive, as is Ed Miliband, the Labour leader. It is understood that Mr Clegg will lobby the Prime Minister and Mr Hague to vote yes, in the belief that the moderate PA need British support more than ever after the recent violence.

The bid is likely to receive the two-thirds majority it needs in the General Assembly with or without western European nations' backing.

Pravda, of all places, calls Obama out as being a communist

Excerpt from Obama's Soviet Mistake:
Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.

"We are coming for you Bashar": Syrian rebels take airbase in slow progress toward Damascus

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Sunday they had captured a helicopter base east of Damascus after an overnight assault, their latest gain in a costly battle to unseat President Bashar al-Assad that is drawing nearer to his seat of power.

The Marj al-Sultan base, 15 km (10 miles) from the capital, is the second military facility on the outskirts of the city reported to have fallen to Assad's opponents this month.

Activists said rebels had destroyed two helicopters and taken 15 prisoners.

"We are coming for you Bashar," a rebel shouted in an internet video of what activists said was Marj al-Sultan. Restrictions on non-state media meant it could not be verified.

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Egypt's Morsi to meet judges over power grab; protests get more violent

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will meet senior judges on Monday to try to ease a crisis over his seizure of new powers which has set off violent protests reminiscent of last year's revolution which brought him to power.

Egypt's stock market plunged on Sunday in its first day open since Mursi issued a decree late on Thursday temporarily widening his powers and shielding his decisions from judicial review, drawing accusations he was behaving like a new dictator.

More than 500 people have been injured in clashes between police and protesters worried Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood aims to dominate the post-Hosni Mubarak era after winning Egypt's first democratic parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

One Muslim Brotherhood member was killed and 60 people were hurt on Sunday in an attack on the main office of the Brotherhood in the Egyptian Nile Delta town of Damanhour, the website of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said.

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Smart diplomacy quote of the day

From Power Line:
All I can say is, it’s a good thing we now have such smart diplomacy! If Obama, Clinton, Susan Rice and others weren’t so smart, things might go really badly in Egypt and the Middle East.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Video: Nobody was talking about Muslims gang-raping underage British girls

Israel sent 20 letters to U.N. on Hamas rockets in 2012, before responding militarily

"Chaos reigns in Syria"

(NZ Herald News) Tensions continue to mount in Syria's northeastern region as opposition fighters repeatedly battled Kurdish militias this past week, adding fresh ethnic dimensions to a bloody civil war.

The violence, centred in the frontier town of Ras al-Ayn, pitted Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants against Kurdish militiamen and sent waves of refugees scurrying through razor wire barricades into neighbouring Turkey, raising fears that an internecine power struggle may engulf Syria's mixed Arab-Kurd northeast.

Syria's Kurds, around 10 per cent of the population and concentrated mostly in the northeast, have an uneasy relationship with the largely Sunni Arab opposition, who are seeking the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but have taken on an increasingly steely Islamicist hue.

The fighting began this week after Kurdish protesters demanded opposition forces - who overran Ras al-Ayn last week, prompting a sustained aerial bombardment by Assad's warplanes - leave the town, situated just south of the Turkish frontier. Fighting intensified following the assassination of a local Kurdish leader, Abed Khalil, by an FSA sniper.

A ceasefire was negotiated on Tuesday, but collapsed the next day as reinforcements for both sides poured into the city, triggering fresh waves of brutal street combat.

"I'm afraid of the airstrikes and the fighting," said 44-year-old Ali Essa, a resident of Ras al-Ayn who fled across the Turkish frontier into Ceylanpinar with 15 of his family members.

"Both sides are being careful not to kill civilians, but the fighting must stop. There is no electricity, no food. Nothing."

Mortar rounds, tank blasts and machine gun fire could be heard in the past 24 hours, before a fresh and strained ceasefire had again been reached.

Some FSA fighters feel the Kurds will try to carve out an independent state as chaos reigns throughout Syria, driving up resentment.

"Kurds are stupid people; this country is for Arabs," said one Ras al-Ayn refugee, while sitting in a Ceylanpinar cafe.

"They think they can have their own country in Syria. But the Arab people brought the Kurds down from the mountains and taught them how to be [real] people."

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Abbas refuses international requests to postpone UN bid

That's odd - I thought Abbas was all for honoring requests of the "international community".
(JPost) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has turned down requests from the US, France, Germany and Britain to postpone his plan to ask the UN this week to upgrade the status of a Palestinian state to non-member observer, PA officials in Ramallah revealed.

The officials told the PA's official mouthpiece, Al-Ayyam, that Abbas was determined to pursue his statehood bid despite the requests. [...]

Abbas, meanwhile, expressed hope that US President Barack Obama would fulfill his vision for a two-state solution as he had stated in his 2009 Cairo speech. [...]

Former US President Jimmy Carter on Friday phoned Abbas to voice his support for the statehood bid, the PA president's office said in a statement.

England: Rochdale takeaway Tariq’s Pizza Plus shut down amid child sex exploitation investigation

From Casualties United Blog:
A takeaway has been temporarily shut down amid a police investigation into alleged child sexual exploitation.

Magistrates imposed a three-month closure order on Tariq’s Pizza Plus in Milnrow, Rochdale, following concerns about an employee at the premises.

The man, who no longer works there, has been banned from contacting named individuals who are at risk of sexual exploitation.

He has received several “abduction notices” as an interim measure while police continue to gather evidence in their investigation.

Superintendent Chris Hankinson said: “In recent weeks, we have been informed about a pattern of anti-social behaviour relating to an individual who worked at these premises.

“An investigation is ongoing but we felt it was important to take proactive measures to safeguard any children who may come into contact with this individual.

“As a result, we issued him with a number of abduction notices which prohibit a person from associating with named individuals when they are at risk of sexual exploitation.

“This individual no longer works at, or associates with, the premises.

“Working in partnership with Rochdale Council, we have now secured a temporary closure of the premises to ensure that any risk to vulnerable youngsters is kept to a minimum while the criminal investigation continues.”

Hamas: Ending arms smuggling not part of truce

Well, gee, what a surprise. Oh, and Islamic Jihad says that the cease-fire agreement was "temporary and partial".
(JPost) The Egyptian-brokered cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas does not call for stopping the flow of weapons into the Gaza Strip, a top Hamas leader announced Saturday.

Ezat Risheq, member of the Hamas "political bureau," said that reports claiming that the agreement calls for an end to the smuggling of weapons were untrue.

Risheq was commenting on reports that claimed that special US army units would be deployed along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt to stop the flow of weapons to Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups.

The Hamas official claimed that Israel was behind the reports "to cover up for its defeat."

In a related development, Ziad Nakhalah, deputy head of Islamic Jihad, told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that the cease-fire agreement was "temporary and partial."

He said that Islamic Jihad would not be able to live with the agreement for ever "as if matters were normal."

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Egypt's Morsi faces judicial revolt over dictatorial decree

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faces a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered calls for more protests following a day of violence across Egypt.

Judges in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, threatened to go on strike until it was revoked, and there were calls for the "downfall of the regime" - the rallying cry in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak - during a meeting of judges in Cairo.

Mursi's opponents and supports - representing the divide between newly empowered Islamists and a more secular-minded opposition - have called rival demonstrations on Tuesday over his decree that has triggered concern in the West.

Issued late on Thursday, it marks an effort by Mursi to consolidate his influence after he successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August. It defends from judicial review decisions taken by Mursi until a new parliament is elected in a vote expected early next year.

It also shields the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution from a raft of legal challenges that have threatened the body with dissolution, and offers the same protection to the Islamist-controlled upper house of parliament.

Egypt's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, said the decree was an "unprecedented attack" on the independence of the judiciary.

Youths clashed sporadically with police near Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011, following Friday's violence in which more than 300 people were injured across Egypt. Activists camped out for a second day in the square, setting up makeshift barricades to keep out traffic.

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At least 7, including 4 children, killed in Sunni roadside bombing of Shi'ite religious procession in Pakistan

"The explosion was so powerful that it hurled a young boy onto a rooftop from a street, where a man later carried away half of his body".
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed at least seven people near a Shi'ite procession in Pakistan on Saturday, police said, with security forces on high alert over fears of large-scale sectarian attacks on the minority sect across the country.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed U.S. ally, is suspending phone coverage in many cities this weekend, an important one in the Shi'ite Muslim calendar, after a series of bomb attacks on Shi'ites triggered by mobile phones.

Hardline Sunnis have threatened more attacks as the Shi'ite mourning month of Muharram comes to a climax. More than a dozen people have already been killed this week observing Muharram.

Some Shi'ites have been receiving text message death threats.

Saturday's attack occurred in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan's northwest, a stronghold of al-Qaeda-linked Sunni militant groups who regard Shi'ites as non-Muslims and have stepped up sectarian attacks in a bid to destabilize Pakistan.

Four children were among those killed by a 8-10 kg bomb set off by a television remote control device because cellphones were not operational, police said. Khalid Aziz Baloch, a senior medical official, said 30 people were wounded.

The explosion was so powerful that it hurled a young boy onto a rooftop from a street, where a man later carried away half of his body, as a policeman with a bomb detector and residents stood near blood stains.

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How to tell the difference between Gaza and Sudan

In Gaza, they drag the bodies by motorcycle.

In Sudan, they still use donkeys.

Morsi, Hamas and the convenient Gaza rocket war

This seems to be a bit much for it all to be coincidence.

Maybe it's a bit too Machiavellian but this all seems like some political novel plot.

Hamas for no reason starts a rocket war with Israel. Morsi comes to the rescue for the US, gets praise to all high heaven from the US and others, and one day later executes a political coup giving him dictatorial powers.

It all seems a little too convenient.

Morsi didn't do this on a whim, it was well thought out and well timed.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Gaza crowds surge at Israel border fence, 1 dead

Some idiots never learn.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israeli troops fired on Gazans surging toward Israel's border fence Friday, killing one person but leaving intact the fragile two-day-old cease-fire between Hamas and the Jewish state.

Hundreds of Palestinians approached the border fence Friday in several locations in southern Gaza, testing expectations Israel would no longer enforce a 300-meter-wide no-go zone on the Palestinian side of the fence that was meant to prevent infiltrations into Israel. In the past, Israeli soldiers routinely opened fire on those who crossed into the zone.

In one incident captured by Associated Press video, several dozen Palestinians, most of them young men, approached the fence, coming close to a group of Israeli soldiers standing on the other side.

Some Palestinians briefly talked to the soldiers, while others appeared to be taunting them with chants of "God is Great" and "Morsi, Morsi," in praise of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, whose mediation led to the truce.

At one point, a soldier shouted in Hebrew, "Go there, before I shoot you," and pointed away from the fence, toward Gaza. The soldier then dropped to one knee, assuming a firing position. Eventually, a burst of automatic fire was heard, but it was not clear whether any of the casualties were from this incident.

Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said a 20-year-old man was killed and 19 people were wounded by Israeli fire near the border.

Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. observer, said Israeli forces fatally shot Anwar Abdulhadi Qudaih in the head and injured at least 19 other Palestinian civilians in a border area east of Khan Younis.

During the incidents, Hamas security tried to defuse the situation and keep the crowds away from the fence.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official at the ongoing negotiations in Cairo, told The Associated Press that the violence would have no effect on the ceasefire.

The crowds were mainly made up of young men but also included farmers hoping to once again farm lands in the buffer zone. Speaking by phone from the buffer zone, 19-year-old Ali Abu Taimah said he and his father were checking three acres of family land that have been fallow for several years.

"When we go to our land, we are telling the occupation (Israel) that we are not afraid at all," he said.

Israel's military said roughly 300 Palestinians approached the security fence at different points, tried to damage it and cross into Israel. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but after the Palestinians refused to move back, troops fired at their legs, the military said. A Palestinian infiltrated into Israel during the unrest, but was returned to Gaza, it said.

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Nigerian Muslims riot violently over 'blasphemy' rumors, 4 Christians killed

(BBC) A rumour that a Christian man blasphemed against Islam has sparked a riot in the northern Nigeria town of Bichi, police have said.

Residents said four people were killed and shops were looted.

The riot came on the day the incoming head of the Anglican Church, the Rt Rev Justin Welby, launched an initiative to promote religious tolerance in Nigeria.

Religious clashes have claimed thousands of lives in Nigeria since military rule ended in 1999.

The militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, has also been waging an insurgency since 2009 to impose strict Sharia across Nigeria, which is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and a Christian and animist south.

'Learning about religions'

Nigeria's Kano state police chief Ibrahim Idris said "misinformation" had triggered the riot, AFP news agency reports.

"Rumours went round that someone blasphemed the Prophet [Muhammad] and there was a breakdown of law and order," he is quoted as saying.

The BBC's Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai in Kano, the main city in northern Nigeria, says that a heavy contingent of soldiers and policemen have been deployed to Bichi to restore order.

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Violent protests after "pharaoh" Mursi seizes powers in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Angry youths hurled rocks at security forces and burned a police truck as thousands gathered in central Cairo to protest at Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's decision to grab sweeping new powers.

Police fired tear gas near Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak at the height of the Arab Spring. Thousands demanded that Mursi should quit and accused him of launching a "coup".

There were also violent protests in Alexandria, Port Said and Suez.

Mursi on Thursday issued a decree that puts his decisions beyond any legal challenge until a new parliament is elected. Opponents immediately accused him of turning into a new Mubarak and hijacking the Egyptian revolution.

"This is the point of no return for Mursi. He has dug himself deeper in a hole and won't know how to get out of it," said Ahmed Saleh, an activist who said many would stay in Tahrir square until Mursi withdrew the decree.

"The people want to bring down the regime," shouted protesters in Tahrir, echoing a chant used in the uprising that forced Mubarak to step down.

The United States, the European Union and the United Nations expressed concern at Mursi's move.

Mursi's rivals condemned him as an autocratic pharaoh who wanted to impose his Islamist vision on Egypt.

The president's aides said the decree was intended to speed up a protracted transition to democracy that has been hindered by legal obstacles

"I am for all Egyptians," Mursi said on a stage outside the presidential palace, adding that he was working for social and economic stability and remained committed to the revolution.

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He sounds an awful lot like Obama.

Syria says Turkey's bid for NATO missiles "provocative"

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria on Friday condemned Turkey's request for NATO to deploy Patriot defense missiles near their common border, calling it "provocative", after a spate of clashes there that has raised fear of the Syrian civil war embroiling the wider region.

The 20-month-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has turned increasingly bloody and heavy fighting has often erupted right along Syria's northern border with Turkey. Ankara has repeatedly scrambled fighter jets and responded in kind to stray shells and mortars flying into its territory.

In the first Syrian response to Ankara's request earlier this week, a ministry source told Syrian state television that Damascus would hold Turkey's prime minister responsible for increasing tensions along the frontier.

Turkey's missile request may have riled Damascus and its allies - notably Russia and Iran - because it could be seen as a first step toward implementing a no-fly zone.

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Spain: Burgas probe ‘essential’ for Hezbollah ban

Because, apparently, they don't have enough info and evidence to designate it as a terrorist organization.
(JPost) The results of Bulgaria’s investigation into the possible role of Hezbollah in July’s suicide bombing there of an Israeli tour bus “will be essential“ for the EU process to list the Lebanese organization as a terrorist entity, Spain’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gonzalo de Benito said on Wednesday.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Jerusalem Post from Abuja, Nigeria, de Benito, whose title is secretary of state for foreign affairs, said of a proposed blacklisting of Hezbollah, “We want to take the decision with our European countries and are waiting for the report” from Bulgaria.

De Benito’s language mirrored the comments of France’s Ambassador to Israel. French envoy Christophe Bigot told the Post earlier this month that, in regards to the EU position on Hezbollah, the “main element is what is the outcome of the inquiry in Bulgaria.”

Israeli and American intelligence officials attribute the suicide bombing in Burgas that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver, and wounded 32 other Israelis, to a joint Hezbollah-Iran operation.

De Benito stressed that Spain seeks to work “within the framework of Europe” regarding a decision to outlaw Hezbollah.

Asked about the role of the Lebanese Shi’ite group in murdering Europeans and in helping the Assad regime to massacre pro-reform Syrians, de Benito said, “We have all of this information, and it will not lead us to take a decision” independent of the process in Sofia. He stressed that the Bulgarian report “will be essential.”

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Israeli Arab connected to Hamas and Islamic Jihad arrested in Tel Aviv bus bombing

(Fox News) An Israeli Arab has been arrested in the bombing Wednesday of a bus in Tel Aviv mere hours before a cease-fire was announced in the weeklong conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

The bombing injured 27 people near Israel's military headquarters and threatened to scuttle efforts to broker the cease-fire.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man, from the village of Taybeh in Israel, was connected to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups.

A Palestinian militant cell based in the West Bank village of Beit Lakiya sent the man to put a bomb connected to a mobile phone on the Tel Aviv bus Wednesday, Rosenfeld said.

After he planted the bomb, the man, who police declined to identify, left the bus and called his handlers, who remotely detonated the explosive by calling the phone, he said.

"He admitted to carrying out the terrorist attack," Rosenfeld said.

Attacks by Israeli Arabs are rare, though they have happened in the past.

The attack brought back harsh memories of frequent bus bombings during last decade's violent Palestinian uprising.

Dictator in the making

(Cairo) Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi issued a new constitutional declaration on Thursday in which he assumed sweeping powers that will not be subject to appeal, and in a move likely to inflame a standoff with the country's judiciary, he sacked prosecutor general Abdel Meguid Mahmud, whom he failed to oust last month, appointing one of his own to replace him.

"The president can issue any decision or measure to protect the revolution," according to the constitutional declaration read out on television.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Islamic brotherhood in Egypt has denounced peace efforts with Israel and urged holy war to liberate Palestinian territories on Thursday.

Remind me again which party the Egyptian dictator president belongs to.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Why are pro-Palestine protesters so violent?

(San Francisco) Gosh, how is it the left and Muslims feel it is totally acceptable to be become violent towards those who don't share your political ideology?


The thing I've noticed (at first hand) is when the so called victim is more than able to defend himself, then the assailant becomes the victim. (In a nutshell, the confrontation lasted about 4 seconds, with the other guy on the floor with a broken kneecap, teach him to pick on somebody smaller, but faster). Seems my Atemi jitsu lessons paid dividends after all.

Still think the bBC hasn't picked a side?

(London) Here is what the bBC's Lyse Doucet in Gaza has to tweet:

Pakistani behind 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack executed

(India) Today, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks which claimed 166 lives was hung by the neck until he was dead by the Indian authorities.

Apparently, this warrior for Allah didn't want to die, and his plea for mercy to Indian President Pranab Mukherjee was rejected earlier this month. His lawyer opined
that Qasab was a "worried man" when he last met him in August, before the court upheld his death sentence. He was scared that he would be hanged and asked the lawyer: "Can you please help me get out of jail?"
Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT], which was behind the attacks, hailed Qasab as a "hero", saying that he would "inspire other fighters to follow his path".

The Taliban, meanwhile, were "shocked" by the hanging.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Video: IDF Strikes House of Commander of Central Gaza Hamas Training Bases

On Tuesday, November 20, 2012, the IDF targeted the house of Azi Abudama, the commander of the central Gaza Hamas training bases. In the video you can see large explosions caused due to the hidden munitions that were in the house.

In response to incessant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, the IDF has launched a widespread campaign against terror targets in Gaza. The operation, called Pillar of Defense, has two main goals: to protect Israeli civilians and to cripple the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.

Female suicide bomber in Pakistan attacks prominent Islamist politician, wounds 3 of his aides

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – A government official says a female suicide bomber in northwest Pakistan detonated her explosives near the convoy of a former leader of the country's largest Islamist party.

Shamsur Rehman Khan says Qazi Husain Ahmad, the former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, escaped unhurt from the attack Monday in the Mohmand tribal region. Three of his aides were wounded.

Khan, who is a government administrator in Mohmand, says the bomber was wearing an all-encompassing burqa and had explosives strapped to her body.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud reportedly criticized Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and singled out Ahmad in particular in a recent audio message, accusing him of supporting Pakistan's U.S.-allied rulers.

Obamanomics: Demand At Food Pantry Grows 400%

FRAMINGHAM (CBS) – It’s one of the most highly anticipated deliveries of the year, the turkeys at Pearl Street Cupboard and Café in Framingham. But three days before Thanksgiving, the food pantry is coming up short of turkeys for everyone who walks through the door.

It’s the first time Criseida Hernandez has asked for one. “It’s a little hard because I’ve been able to get one myself without going any place to ask for it. But I’ve been unemployed for the last year,” she said.

It’s the busiest time of year for food distribution and at Pearl Street, requests for help are up 400 percent over last year. “These are folks you wouldn’t normally expect to be needing help, on top of those always in need, it’s a big group and a big deal,” said Paul Mina president of United Way Tri-County, which runs the food pantry.

Not only is demand up, but the organization is seeing an increase in people using their services for the first time. That includes Danielle, who arrived at the pantry with her seven month old son hoping for a turkey. “I’ve never been through something like this, going through food pantries. I’ve been able to take care of myself but right now it’s hard,” she said.

More...

Palestinian mutilated body swarm

Palestinian civilians take pictures of bodies of men, allegedly Israeli collaborators, after they were shot dead Tuesday.
The victims had notices pinned to their bodies saying they had been killed by Hamas's armed wing. (AFP/Getty Images)
Love the frenzied picture taking. "Hey Honey, got some great mutilated body pics today! Where's little Ahmed? He'll love them!"

They sure like to get those cell phone pics for later fond reminiscences.



Video: IAF Destroys Smuggling Tunnel, With Secondary Explosions of Hidden Ammunition

Israel warns journalists to stay away from Hamas, then takes out Hamas operations center in the media building

From The Weekly Standard:
The Israeli army has issued a warning to journalists: Stay away from the terrorist group Hamas. The warning was issued on Twitter:

The warning comes after several targeted attacks hit high-level targets seeking refuge in the same building holding journalists.

The Israeli army says it "surgically targeted a Hamas intelligence operations center on 7th floor of a media building in #Gaza." The military claims a "direct hit."
To be sure, the Israeli military says, those terrorists were there to plan attacks:

Yesterday, a similar targeted attack wiped out terrorists using journalists as human shields in Gaza.

Israeli Druze village invites battered Israelis from the south to visit

(Israel Today) The Druze village of Beit Jan in northern Israel has put out an invitation for the rocket-battered residents of southern Israel to come enjoy some warm food and warmer hospitality.

Speaking on Israel's Channel 2 News, Israeli lawmaker Ayoub Kara, who is a Druze member of the ruling Likud Party, said the residents of southern Israel should come north and enjoy some respite from the incessant Hamas rocket attacks.

Many Israeli organizations, places of entertainment, restaurants, hotels and private families across the country have been inviting the residents of southern Israel to ride out the war in safer areas.

But it is especially significant when non-Jewish Israelis reach out in such a warm way to their Jewish countrymen. Arab antagonists and their allies in the world media would like everyone to believe that the Jews of Israel oppress the non-Jewish population, and that the two sides don't get along.

Kara went on to reiterate the position of many Arab leaders in Israel: that the IDF needs to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and crush the Hamas threat. It would only invite future violence for Israel to appear weak, noted Kara.

More than 60 wounded in Egypt clashes (for some reason, this story get very little media attention)

CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 61 people have been injured in skirmishes in central Cairo that extended into Tuesday after police and protesters clashed during the anniversary of lethal street violence between activists and security forces.

Activists called the protest on Monday to put pressure on President Mohamed Mursi to punish those responsible for killings and abuses during the rule of the generals who assumed power after Hosni Mubarak was toppled by an uprising in February 2011.

The skirmishes erupted at the scene of clashes last year in which 42 people were killed during protests against the military council that ran the country before Mursi was elected in June.

Nineteen people have been arrested in the latest round of violence, in which protesters hurling stones and petrol bombs at police guarding the ministry were repelled with teargas.

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Video: Muslims protesting against Israel stop and seek nearest Israeli bomb shelter during air raid warning in Jerusalem

Watch how Islamic protesters, bitching about the State of Israel, seek shelter inside Jewish bomb shelters as their ideological heroes try to kill them. Tell you what, I was really impressed how all the men show a clean pair of heels in the rush to the shelter while leaving all the women behind.



You'd think for all the their words of boycott this and that about Israel they would do the same with those Israeli bomb shelters. I mean, it is the will of Allah.

Hamas murder 6 men in public

(Gaza)  Hamas security forces stopped a van in Gaza today, made the 6 men inside get out and lie on the floor and then murdered then. Their so called crime, apparently, is that they were Israeli collaborators which in Islamic speak means an internal disagreement between terrorist factions which have made Gaza their home. And how better to excuse your blood lust than by blaming the Jew? Well, after piling 5 of the bodies in the street, the media's favourite victims tied the feet of one of the murdered men to a motorbike and dragged his body through the streets of Gaza, uttering 'Allah Ackba'.


Witnesses said a van stopped in the intersection and four masked men pushed the six suspected informers out of the vehicle. Salim Mahmoud, 18, said the gunmen ordered the six to lie face down in the street and then shot them dead. Another witness, 13-year-old Mokhmen al-Gazhali, said the informers were killed one by one, as he mimicked the sound of gunfire. They said only a few people were in the street at first -- most Gazans have been staying indoors because of the Israeli airstrikes -- but the crowd quickly grew after the killings. Eventually, several hundred men pushed and shoved to get a close look at the bodies, lying in a jumble on the ground. One man spit at the corpses, another kicked the head of one of the dead men.

"They should have been killed in a more brutal fashion so others don't even think about working with the occupation (Israel)," said one of the bystanders, 24-year-old Ashraf Maher.

So much for Islam being a religion of peace then.