Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From PressTV
EU to approve new measures against Israeli settlements: Envoy
The European Union’s outgoing envoy to Palestine says the 28-nation bloc is continuing its efforts to pass more measures against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
John Gatt-Rutter, the envoy to the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, said on Thursday that “there is support within the union to go on” with anti-settlement measures.
Among debated proposals is labeling of products made in settlements. These goods have already been barred from receiving customs exemptions.
Gatt-Rutter also emphasized that there were “more tools” the EU can use against Israel over its illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.
Diplomatic sources earlier said that the EU was looking into the possibility of blacklisting “violent settlers.” The sanctions are expected to affect up to 200 individuals.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Israeli forces ‘steal money, jewelry’ during raid in West Bank
Israeli forces have reportedly stolen money and jewelry from a Palestinian home during a predawn raid in the occupied West Bank.
Nasim Hilmi Karaki, a lieutenant colonel with the Palestinian Authority national security forces, said Wednesday that the Israelis stole money and jewelry from his family home in the northern West Bank village of Salem, east of Nablus, Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported.
The Israelis forced their way through the main door of the residence. The Palestinian security officer was cuffed and forced to stay with the rest of the family in one of the rooms. Karaki said the house was ransacked for at least four hours.
According to Karaki, the Israeli forces were searching for firearms but were unable to find any.
The Israelis also detained Karaki’s 18-year-old son, identified as Hilmi. Karaki’s son was one of dozens of Palestinians detained by Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank overnight Tuesday.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Virginia TV killer was ‘angry over Charleston church massacre’
In manifesto, Vester Flanagan, who shot dead two TV station colleagues on air, describes himself as a ‘human powder keg just waiting to go BOOM!!!!’
ROANOKE, Virginia (AFP) — The gunman who shot and killed two Virginia journalists during a live broadcast Wednesday claimed in a rambling manifesto to have been sent over the edge by the June mass shooting of black worshipers at a South Carolina church.
The suspect, Vester Lee Flanagan, 41, also known as Bryce Williams, was African American himself.
Flanagan, who had worked for the television station before being fired two years ago, described himself in a 23-page document sent to ABC News in New York as a “human powder keg… just waiting to go BOOM!!!!”
He also complained in what he called a “Suicide Note for Friends and Family” of racial discrimination and bullying “for being a gay, black man.”
Flanagan died in a hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being taken into custody by state police following an intense morning manhunt.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
How the Pew study reveals a gulf between U.S. and Israeli haredi Jews
Did we need the Pew Research Center to tell us American haredim are different than other Jews? It’s no surprise that American haredi Orthodox Jews marry young, have big families, care more about religion and skew further right politically than the rest of the American Jewish community.
But when compared with similar data from Israel, Pew’s “Portrait of American Orthodox Jews,” released Wednesday, did illuminate another gap — not between Orthodox and secular, but between haredi Jews from global Jewry’s two poles: Israel and America.
In a few obvious ways, American and Israeli haredi Jews are much alike. Both communities believe in God and keep traditional Jewish law, or halacha. They both have high birthrates and younger populations. They both largely send their kids to religious schools.
Beyond that, though, they begin to diverge. America’s haredim are richer, more educated and more politically conservative than their Israeli counterparts.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Soldiers stoned, settlers arrested as IDF destroys illegal West Bank buildings
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Settlers threw stones and tires at Israeli soldiers as they demolished four buildings in two illegal West Bank settlement outposts.
The Israel Defense Forces arrested three of the settlers during the incident, according to Israeli news site Walla. No injuries were reported.
The demolitions took place at the outposts of Maoz Esther and Ge’ulat Zion in the northern West Bank. The outposts are near the Palestinian town of Duma, where Jewish extremists allegedly firebombed two houses last month, burning a family inside and killing a father and baby.
This is not the first time the IDF has encountered violence in demolishing settlement structures. Soldiers confronted riots in the settlement of Beit El last month as they destroyed illegally built apartment buildings.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
11 Jewish ex-congressmen back Iran deal; 190 former generals oppose
(JTA) — Eleven Democratic Jewish former congressmen signed a letter supporting the agreement over Iran’s nuclear program, while 190 former generals signed a letter opposing the agreement.
The letter backing the deal, released Thursday, touted the signers’ pro-Israel bona fides, and said the agreement “halts the immediate threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.” Congressional rejection of the deal, the letter warned, would “put Iran back on the path to develop a nuclear weapon within two to three months.”
Its signatories include former Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, and former Reps. Barney Frank (Massachusetts), Mel Levine, (California) Steve Rothman (New Jersey) and Robert Wexler (Florida).
“Military options remain on the table should Iran violate the agreement, while rejecting this deal would weaken the deterrent value of America’s military option,” the letter said. “We championed the U.S.-Israel alliance as members of the House and Senate, and we all strongly support this agreement because it will enhance the security of the U.S., the State of Israel and the entire world.”
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Report: Jeb Bush to assemble Jewish leadership team
(JTA) — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is reportedly gathering a group of Jewish leaders to support his campaign.
According to the website Jewish Insider, the so-called “National Jewish Leadership Team” will comprise Jewish leaders and prominent donors who have endorsed the former Florida governor. The team is being put together by Republican fundraiser Lisa Spies, who performed the same function for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012.
But Jewish Insider notes that Romney’s effort began when he had already clinched the nomination, while Bush, who has trailed in the polls, is starting his much earlier, before the primary season. The website reported that several of Romney’s 2012 backers have already endorsed other candidates this cycle, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Biden will meet Jewish leaders in Miami to promote Iran deal
(JTA) — Vice President Joe Biden will meet with American Jewish leaders in Florida to make the case for the Iran nuclear deal.
Biden, who is pondering a campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential election, will appear at a small roundtable event in Miami on Sept. 3, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, helped convene the meeting, according to the Journal. Wasserman Schultz, who is Jewish and represents a district with a large Jewish population, has not yet announced whether or not she will support the deal, which lifts sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
State Department officials routinely sent secrets over email
While Hillary Clinton’s use of home server is unusual, classified material was regularly sent over unencrypted servers, AP reports
WASHINGTON (AP) — The transmission of now-classified information across Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email is consistent with a State Department culture in which diplomats routinely sent secret material on unsecured email during the past two administrations, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Clinton’s use of a home server makes her case unique and has become an issue in her front-running campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. But it’s not clear whether the security breach would have been any less had she used department email. The department only systematically checks email for sensitive or classified material in response to a public records request.
In emails about the 2012 attack on a US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, department officials discuss sensitive matters in real time, including the movement of Libyan militias and the locations of key Americans. The messages were released last year under the Freedom of Information Act and are posted on the State Department’s website.
An email from diplomat Alyce Abdalla, sent the night of the attack, appears to report that the CIA annex in Benghazi was under fire. The email has been largely whited out, with the government citing the legal exemption for classified intelligence information. The existence of that facility is now known; it was a secret at the time.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Nepal halts surrogacy, removing option for Israeli same-sex couples
(JTA) — Nepal’s Supreme Court has issued an injunction to stop women from carrying surrogate pregnancies, depriving Israel same-sex couples of the option to begin the pregnancies there.
The injunction, issued this week, came as the court will rule on a petition to ban the process outright in Nepal. The petition argues that surrogacy exploits the bodies of impoverished women, according to Haaretz. The court must respond to the petition within 15 days.
READ: Why Israeli couples have surrogate pregnancies in Nepal
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
500,000 sign petition to end Israel’s Gaza blockade
TEL AVIV (JTA) — More than half a million people have signed a petition to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza, within one day after it was posted.
The petition, posted Wednesday on political activism website Avaaz, calls for an end to the blockade in order to enable the reconstruction of Gaza. Some 2,200 Palestinians and 73 Israelis died in the war, which also destroyed 18,000 homes. None have been rebuilt yet, with money going only to repairing damaged homes.
Construction has moved slowly because pledged donations have been slow in arriving, and, according to international aid organizations, because of delays due to Israel and Egypt closing off Gaza’s borders. But the petition lays the blame principally on Israel.
“Palestinian political parties have failed to reconcile and prioritise reconstruction, and Egypt’s closure of its border has further limited supplies entering Gaza,” the petition says. “The principal obstacle to reconstruction is Israel’s blockade.”
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israeli conductor Barenboim trying for Tehran concert
(JTA) — Israeli-Argentinean conductor Daniel Barenboim is negotiating with Iran to conduct a concert of a top German orchestra in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin at the Berlin State Opera, and has the State Opera’s endorsement to negotiate the concert, as well as that of German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, according to the Times of Israel.
Steinmeier “supports Daniel Barenboim’s dedication to making music accessible to all people, irrespective of national, religious or ethnic boundaries,” said a statement from the State Opera Thursday, according to the Times of Israel.
Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev criticized the initiative on her Facebook page Wednesday, and said she intends to write a letter to her German counterpart protesting the potential concert.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Jewish congressmen, ADL urge end to personal attacks in Iran debate
Anti-Defamation League condemns ‘hateful rhetoric’ and social media comments that ‘crossed the line’ against NY Democrat Nadler
Three New York Democratic congressmen called for more substance and fewer personal attacks in the debate on the agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.
On Tuesday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) announced she would support the accord, bringing the total number of Democrats backing the deal to 29.
Reps. Eliot Engel, Nita Lowey and Steve Israel released a statement Tuesday supporting a “serious debate” over the agreement. The statement criticized comparisons between the deal and the Holocaust, as well as accusations of dual loyalty or insufficient support of Israel.
“We remain concerned that individuals on both sides of the debate have resorted to ad hominem attacks and threats against those who don’t share their opinions,” the statement read. “This is unacceptable. It is especially egregious to attribute malicious intent to decision makers who are thoughtfully debating the details and effects of the agreement.”
The debate over the agreement, finalized last month between Iran and six world powers, has heated up as Congress prepares to vote on the accord next month. President Obama has promised to veto any rejection of the deal. To override the veto, Republicans must muster a two-thirds majority, including some Democrats. But Congressional Democrats say they have the necessary votes to sustain the veto.
Click here for the full story
