Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
How Jewish groups got spied on by Obama
WASHINGTON (JTA) — At first blush, it appears like a bombshell: The United States listened in on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s phone calls.
But on closer examination, the revelations reported Dec. 29 by The Wall Street Journal might not be so far reaching. Spying on allies is both routine and legal in the United States, though perhaps not very politic.
Here’s what the controversy is all about and what may happen next.
What exactly did the Obama administration do?
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Kremlin official: Russia will not put Hamas and Hezbollah on list of terror groups
(JTA) — The fighting in Syria will not affect Russia’s decision to keep Hamas and Hezbollah off its list of terrorist organizations, a senior Kremlin official said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the Interfax news agency last week that while his country concurs with the United States’ definition of some organizations that are operating in Syria as terrorist groups, Russia is “not even discussing Hezbollah and Hamas with the Americans.”
Gatilov’s remark, made in response to a question by an Interfax journalist, came as his country was discussing with Washington the possibility of promoting steps to weaken the Islamic State, al-Qaida and Jabhat al-Nusra.
“Our opinions coincide as regards to the main terrorist organizations,” Gatilov said. “These are the main ones, and there is a definite consent about them” being terrorist groups.
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From Russia Today
‘Catastrophe took place here:’ Gaza farmers speak to RT after ‘IDF destroys’ 400 acres of crops
Published time: 5 Jan, 2016 16:13
More than 400 acres of crops have been destroyed by the IDF near the fence surrounding Gaza, in a lethal no-go zone maintained unilaterally by Israel on the Palestinian side of the border. They say they sprayed pesticides to enable a security operation.
The no-go area is volatile and many explosives are found in it. The IDF told RT this was such a case, as it continues to patrol the area for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and signs of border infiltrations. Israel’s ground forces have also been regularly entering the Gaza Strip to clear obstructions and for other purposes.
The IDF added the spraying of the pesticides did not harm the environment, but Palestinian farmers say hundreds of acres have been laid to waste, and showed evidence of this.
“A catastrophe took place here. A farmer works to make a living for his family. The IDF sprayed the crops. I wonder who will take responsibility for these actions. No one thinks of us. The proof is here. Come and take a look. All of our crops are damaged. They are no good for humans, or even animals,” Azam Said Abo Abed said.
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From Ynet News
IDF soldier sentenced to 45 months in jail for leaking intelligence
Corporal Elad Sela, a resident of Bat Ayin settlement who served in the Etzion Regional Brigade, is charged with passing on classified information to ‘price tag’ activists, allowing them to evade arrest and continue their activities. The court ruled that Sela had damaged state security.
A soldier accused of leaking classified information to right-wing Jewish activists was on Tuesday sentenced to 45 months in jail.
Corporal Elad Sela, 26, is a resident of Bat Ayin settlement in Gush Etzion. He has been convicted for passing on confidential military intelligence to “price tag” activists, as well as assisting them to evade security services and continue their hostile activities against the Palestinian population.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Anti-BDS bill introduced in California legislature
LOS ANGELES (JTA) – A bill aiming to counter the anti-Israel Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement, or BDS, was introduced in the California State Legislature.
The measure introduced Monday forbids the state government from contracting with companies “engaging in boycotts based on race, color, religion, gender or nationality.”
Travis Allen, a Republican assemblyman, in introducing the bill said that “boycotts of entities and individuals affiliated with specific countries can amount to ethnic, religious, racial and/or national origin discrimination.”
“No group better demonstrates this fact than the BDS movement, whose use of false, demonizing and delegitimizing propaganda against the State of Israel has become a pretext for the expression of anti-Jewish bigotry,” said Allen, of Huntington Beach in Southern California’s Orange County.
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From PressTV
Iraqi troops recapture town in western Ramadi
Iraqi counter-terrorism forces have taken back a town in western Ramadi, the capital of the province of Anbar, inflicting losses on the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the media group covering the Iraqi battle against militants said Parvana was liberated in an operation which also left tens of Daesh elements dead, Iraq’s al-Qadir TV reported.
The report further added that the Iraqi security forces, backed by tribesmen, managed to thwart a Daesh attack on the Parvana-al-Khasfa road, destroying at least 50 armored vehicles.
Located some 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad, Ramadi became a flashpoint after the Iraqi military started the campaign to liberate the strategic city a few months ago.
The Iraqi army announced that they were in full control of Ramadi on December 28, 2015. Portions of the city, however, remain to be cleansed of terrorists. Iraqi Defense Ministry officials have said it will take more time for the clean-up to be accomplished.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi toured Ramadi following its liberation. He said the recapture of the strategic city would pave the way for Iraq’s long-anticipated offensive into the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, which has been under the control of Daesh since the summer of 2014.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Air Force destroyed a Daesh oil convoy in the south of the northern Nineveh Province, al-Sumaria television news network quoted a military source as saying on Tuesday.
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From PressTV
Militant commander killed in Syria airstrikes
Syrian fighter jets have bombed Takfiri terrorists’ positions in a strategic city in the southwestern Dara’a Province, killing a commander and a group of militants.
The Syrian airstrikes on Tuesday hit positions of terrorists from the so-called “Islamic Muthanna Movement” in Sheikh Maskin city in Dara’a, killing a commander and a number of other militants, the Arabic-language al-Alam news channel said.
The news comes as Arab media said fierce clashes erupted between the Syrian army troops and the foreign-backed Takfiri militants in the provinces of Dara’a, Homs and Damascus.
Al-Alam news channel said a group of Daesh terrorists were killed and injured in clashes with the Syrian army in the vicinity of Sha’er Mountain in the eastern countryside of Homs.
Separately, the Lebanese al-Ahed news website said that the Syrian army troops engaged in battles with the Takfiris in Tal Kurdi area close to Douma city in Eastern Ghouta in the Damascus countryside.
A group of militants were also killed and injured in clashes with the army near al-Marj area in Eastern Ghouta.
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From Russia Today
UN watchdog finds evidence of sarin use while investigating Syrian govt tip
Published time: 5 Jan, 2016 14:09
A UN fact-finding mission in Syria has found evidence some people were exposed to the toxic sarin gas or a similar compound after it investigated one of 11 cases of suspected chemical weapons’ use reported by the government.
The findings of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were reported by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Security Council in a letter dated December 29. The monthly OPCW report was released Monday.
“In one instance, analysis of some blood samples indicates that individuals were at some point exposed to sarin or a sarin-like substance,” OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu said in the document detailing the evidence discovered.
“Further investigation would be necessary to determine when or under what circumstances such exposure might have occurred,” he added.
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From Ynet News
Hezbollah releases photos from Lebanon border attack
In effort to glorify attack, Lebanese media reports at length how militants managed to cross electronic border fence into Israel without being detected.Hezbollah-affiliated media in Lebanon published on Tuesday photos from the scene of the attack on IDF troops in the Mount Dov area the previous day.
The photos show where a roadside bomb planted by the “Samir Kuntar Brigades” detonated, hitting an armored Israeli vehicle, as well as a nearby IDF post.Ever since Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack – as revenge, or part of it, over the assassination of Samir Kuntar
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From Ynet News
House Intelligence chair seeks answers on NSA spying report
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes asks heads of intelligence to brief Congressmen after WSJ report said that while eavesdropping on Netanyahu and Israeli leaders, the NSA picked up communications with US lawmakers and failed to brief them on it.
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday his committee will look into a report the US spied on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in the process swept up communications with Congress.
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California told The Associated Press that he’s asked the director of National Intelligence and the head of the National Security Agency to come to Capitol Hill next week to brief lawmakers on the matter.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Charlie Hebdo editor: We are used to Jews being killed
(JTA) — No one questions when Jews are killed because they are Jewish, the editor of Charlie Hebdo wrote in a special edition of the French satirical magazine marking the first anniversary of a terror attack on its staff.
“We are so used to Jews being killed because they are Jewish,” Gerard Biard wrote in an editorial in the latest edition of the magazine, which is set to hit the newsstands Wednesday, The Associated Press reported Monday. “This is an error, and not just on a human level. Because it’s the executioner who decides who is Jewish. Nov. 13 was the proof of that. On that day, the executioner showed us that he had decided we were all Jewish.”
Some 130 people were killed in coordinated attacks throughout Paris on Nov. 13, 2015.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish art-dealing dynasty stands trial for alleged $600M tax fraud
(JTA) — Members of a French-American Jewish art-dealing dynasty went on trial in a case that could see authorities demand $600 million in back taxes.
Guy Wildenstein, 70, the heir to his family’s New York art empire, went on trial Monday. He faces up to 10 years in prison for storing a large percentage of his inherited fortune in tax havens such as the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands.
Investigators say that he and his late brother, Alec Wildenstein, fraudulently undervalued the value of the fortune left behind by their father Daniel Wildenstein.
The father was the third head of the renowned Wildenstein & Co. art dealing company, one of the largest of its kind in the world. He owned paintings by the likes of Monet, Picasso and Renoir. He was also a historian and a thoroughbred horse breeder.
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From PressTV
35 Bahrainis detained in demo against Saudi execution of Nimr
Bahraini regime forces have arrested at least 35 people during a protest against Saudi Arabia’s recent execution of a prominent Shia clergyman.
On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of people took to the streets of Sitra, situated some 12 kilometers (seven miles) southeast of the Bahraini capital city of Manama, to voice their anger at the Al Saud regime’s killing of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Bahraini police used tear gas and birdshot to disperse the protesters, some of whom were throwing gasoline bombs. Several demonstrators suffered birdshot wounds.
Sheikh Nimr was a supporter of the Bahraini uprising against the Al Khalifa regime, which began in February 2011.
On January 2, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced that the cleric along with 46 others, who were convicted of being involved in “terrorism” and adopting a “Takfiri” ideology, had been put to death.
The Saudi execution has come under widespread criticism – though mildly – from the EU and the US as well as some of the kingdom’s own allies.
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From Russia Today
Germany should review arms sales to Saudi Arabia – vice chancellor
Published time: 5 Jan, 2016 13:24
Following Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 people, including a prominent Shiite cleric, Berlin will “critically review” arms sales to the kingdom, Germany’s vice chancellor said. However, some sophisticated German-made military hardware is already in use there.
“We must now review whether in future we should take a more critical stance on defensive armaments, which we have so far sold to Saudi Arabia for its national defense,” German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel was quoted as saying by the DPA news agency Monday.
“It turns out we were right not to deliver battle tanks or G36 assault rifles to Saudi Arabia,” Gabriel said, adding his view to the German government’s reaction to executions in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
The German military industry is among the world’s top arms suppliers, ranked sixth worldwide by the renowned Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in 2014, surpassed only by the US, Russia, China, France and Britain. It produces state-of-the-art weapons systems, from assault rifles and ammunition to battle tanks and naval vessels.
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