From PressTV
US-led coalition seeking to covertly topple Assad: Lavrov
Lavrov made the remarks on Saturday during a forum of political analysts in the capital of Moscow.
“Possibly…this is not so much an operation against Islamic State (ISIL) as the preparation for an operation to change the regime surreptitiously under the cover of this anti-terrorist operation,” said Lavrov.
The top Russian diplomat also accused the US of having “perverted logic” over the Syrian president, saying Washington blamed Assad’s regime for the surge of militants arriving to the Middle Eastern region.
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From PressTV
US-led airstrikes kill 910 in Syria: Group
The US-led airstrikes in Syria have killed 910 people, including 52 civilians, since the US-led coalition launched its aerial campaign against the ISIL terrorists and other militants two months ago, an observatory group says.
The Britain-based so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Saturday released the figures based on information from what it said was a network of contacts in Syria.
According to the group, among those who were killed were 785 members of the ISIL and 72 members of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, while the remaining belonged to other unnamed militant groups.
The US and its allies started their air campaign in Syria in September without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.
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From PressTV
HRW urges Israel to stop razing Palestinian homes
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Israel’s policy of razing the homes of innocent Palestinians amounts to a war crime.
The rights group called on Israel to immediately stop demolishing the homes of Palestinians whom the Tel Aviv regime suspects of carrying out attacks against Israelis.
The international non-governmental organization lashed out at Israel for deliberately punishing people who have not committed any wrongdoing.
“Punitive home demolitions are blatantly unlawful,” said HRW deputy Middle East and North Africa director Joe Stork, adding, “Israel should prosecute, convict, and punish criminals, not carry out vengeful destruction that harms entire families.”
On Thursday, Israeli officials delivered a demolition notice to the families of four Palestinians whom they accuse of committing attacks in al-Quds (Jerusalem) over the past month.
On October 22, Abdel Rahman al-Shaludi’s car hit a railway station in al-Quds. One person was killed and eight others injured in the incident. The Palestinian later died of injuries sustained from gunfire by Israeli forces. While al-Shaludi’s family says it was only a car accident, Israel claims he did it on purpose.
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From PressTV
Israel continues to abuse, torture Palestinian minors
A Palestinian group says Palestinian minors have been subjected to sexual abuse by Israeli forces during detention or investigation.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC) said some 40 percent of Palestinian children are reportedly subjected to sexual abuse during interrogation.
It said Israeli soldiers have arrested more than 600 Palestinian children in al-Quds (Jerusalem) since June 2013.
Mufeed al-Haj, an attorney with the PCC, said Israeli “forces often ignore laws and arrest Palestinians without even having warrants.”
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Report: Hamas plan to kill Liberman foiled
(JTA) – Israeli security forces arrested four men suspected of plotting to kill Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman by firing a rocket at his car.
Unnamed sources from Israel’s General Security Service, or Shin Bet, said the men were affiliated with Hamas and had confessed during questioning to having planned to fire the RPG rocket at Liberman’s car near his home in Nokdim in the West Bank, Army Radio reported Thursday.
The men were identified as Ibrahim Salim Mahmoud Zir, his brother, Ziad Salim Mahmoud Zir, Adnan Mahmoud Sabih and Yussuf Ibrahim Yussuf Alsheikh. Some of the men have served time in Israeli prisons, according to the report.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the organization had no information regarding a plan to assassinate Liberman.
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From PressTV
Mishref al-Irr, a displaced Palestinian man from the city of Jabalia, about four kilometers (2.5 miles) north of Gaza City, with the assistance of Imad al-Khalidi, a Palestinian architect, has constructed the house using local resources instead of waiting for the entry of construction material into the area.
“Houses that are built using limestone and sand are strong and hold for hundreds of years,” Khalidi said.
He also encouraged other Palestinians to employ natural materials in the area and build temporary houses for themselves. He, however, holds the international community responsible for their pledges to reconstruct the besieged Palestinian territory.
The Israeli regime prevents construction materials reaching Gaza for repair works, and there is no home to keep the displaced Palestinians warm as winter is approaching.
From the Jewish Daily Forward
Why the Jewish Now (and Future) Can’t Be Confined to the Paradigms of the Past
“Give me ten emesdike yiddin, and I will change the world.” So said R. Menachem Mendel Morgenstern of Kotzk, known as the Kotzker Rebbe, after his popularity yielded thousands of followers, few of whom the Kotzker felt were worth his time.
“The Kotzker approach” is the less-is-more theory of Jewish continuity. That is, for the Kotzker numbers have no intrinsic value. Survival, for him, was purely about substance, which is always cultivated among a select few who are truly devoted to the Jewish future. It’s an alternative to the “numbers approach” –- the one Jack Wertheimer and Steven M. Cohen use in their recent essay “The Shrinking Jewish Middle.”
Cohen and Wertheimer come with the highest credentials. Cohen is the preeminent sociologist of American Jewry – also a personal friend and a ZEEK board member. Wertheimer (a personal friend and one-time colleague at JTS) is an important and influential historian of American Judaism. Both have written extensively about the implications of last year’s Pew Poll that has caused so much anxiety among so many American Jewish professionals who work at traditional American Jewish institutions.“Give me ten emesdike yiddin, and I will change the world.” So said R. Menachem Mendel Morgenstern of Kotzk, known as the Kotzker Rebbe, after his popularity yielded thousands of followers, few of whom the Kotzker felt were worth his time.
“The Kotzker approach” is the less-is-more theory of Jewish continuity. That is, for the Kotzker numbers have no intrinsic value. Survival, for him, was purely about substance, which is always cultivated among a select few who are truly devoted to the Jewish future. It’s an alternative to the “numbers approach” –- the one Jack Wertheimer and Steven M. Cohen use in their recent essay “The Shrinking Jewish Middle.”
Cohen and Wertheimer come with the highest credentials. Cohen is the preeminent sociologist of American Jewry – also a personal friend and a ZEEK board member. Wertheimer (a personal friend and one-time colleague at JTS) is an important and influential historian of American Judaism. Both have written extensively about the implications of last year’s Pew Poll that has caused so much anxiety among so many American Jewish professionals who work at traditional American Jewish institutions.
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