From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
George Soros pledges to invest up to $500 million to help refugees
A dinghy carrying refugees arrives at a beach on the island of Lesbos in northern Greece. (Boaz Arad/IsraAid)
(JTA) — Jewish billionaire George Soros has pledged to invest up to $500 million to help refugees and migrants around the world.
“We will invest in startups, established companies, social impact initiatives, and businesses started by migrants and refugees themselves,” Soros said in a statement Tuesday that was published in The Wall Street Journal.
“Although my main concern is to help migrants and refugees arriving in Europe, I will be looking for good investment ideas that will benefit migrants all over the world,” he wrote.
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From PressTV
Palestinian girl shot, injured in central West Bank
Israeli troops have shot and wounded a Palestinian girl in central West Bank amid the recent surge in tensions across the occupied territory.
The Israeli military claimed on Wednesday that the unnamed Palestinian girl approached Eliyahu checkpoint near the illegal settlement of Alfei Menashe close to the West Bank town of Qalqilyah to carry out an alleged stabbing attack against its forces.
Israeli soldiers allegedly ordered the girl to stop and fired a warning shot in the air. The soldiers at the checkpoint then shot her in the lower part of the body.
The girl’s condition was not immediately clear. The Israeli military later announced that there were no injuries among Israeli troopers following the alleged assault.
On Tuesday, a Palestinian teenage boy was fatally shot near the entrance to the town of Bani Na’im, located eight kilometers east of al-Khalil (Hebron) as he allegedly sought to carry out a stabbing attack against Israeli soldiers.
Bani Na’im’s Mayor Mahmoud Manasra later identified the slain Palestinian as 16-year-old Mahmoud Issa Salem Tarayrah.
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From PressTV
US airstrikes on Syrian airbase intentional, says aide to Assad
A senior adviser to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has accused US-led coalition forces of carrying out “intentional” airstrikes against a Syrian military airbase in Dayr al-Zawr province, where 62 soldiers were killed.
Buthaina Shaaban said in an interview with AFP on Sunday, “None of the facts on the ground show that what happened was a mistake or a coincidence.”
The Syrian official also blamed Washington and its allies for colluding with the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in the region.
“Everything was calculated and Daesh knew about it…. Even Russia reached the terrifying conclusion that the United States is colluding with Daesh,” Shaaban stated, adding, “When Daesh advanced, the raids stopped.”
The coalition aircraft, purportedly fighting Daesh in Syria, bombed the airbase on Saturday. At least a hundred soldiers were also injured.
Two F-16 and two A-10 jets entered the Syrian airspace from Iraq to conduct the attacks.
The US military says it halted the raids after Russian officials said the targets were Syrian government forces and not Daesh terrorists.
Elsewhere in her remarks, Shaaban said since the US-led intervention began in Syria in 2014, adding, “We have been saying that this is not against Daesh, that they are not striking Daesh.”
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From PressTV
US airstrikes on Syrian army forces undermine ceasefire: Russia
Russia has harshly criticized the United States for airstrikes on a Syrian military air base in the country’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, arguing that such attacks threaten the implementation of the ceasefire meant to end hostilities in the conflict-ridden Arab country.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a strongly-worded statement on Sunday that the strikes were “on the boundary between criminal negligence and direct connivance” with the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.
It said the incident was a result of Washington’s “stubborn refusal” to cooperate with Moscow in fighting Daesh, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch formerly known as al-Nusra Front, and “other terrorist groups.”
The Russia army said in a statement on Saturday that sixty-two Syrian soldiers had been killed and a hundred others injured in the strikes.
The statement added that two F-16 and two A-10 jets entered Syrian air space from Iraq to carry out the attacks.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry has called on the UN Security Council to condemn the American aggression, and force Washington not to repeat it and to respect Syria’s sovereignty plus unity of its land and people.
On September 9, Russia and the United States agreed on a milestone deal on the Syrian crisis after some 13 hours of marathon talks in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The deal, which began on September 12 and was initially agreed to last seven days, calls for increased humanitarian aid for those trapped inside the embattled northwestern city of Aleppo.
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From PressTV
Only one side implementing ceasefire in Syria: Russia
The Russian Defense Ministry says only Moscow and Syrian government forces are standing committed to the terms of a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia in the conflict-ridden Arab country, criticizing foreign-backed Takfiri militants of violating the truce.
“Although the ceasefire agreement is bilateral, only one side is truly implementing it,” the ministry’s spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on Friday.
The announcement came as Syrian army redeployed military personnel and munitions to Castello Road, which serves as the only path into the militant-controlled eastern areas of Aleppo, after coming under fire from foreign-sponsored terrorists.
Syrian army soldiers and fighters from allied popular defense groups wrested control over the road on July 26.
Ceasefire extension
Meanwhile, Russia says it is prepared to extend the nationwide ceasefire in Syria for a further 72 hours.
“We are prepared to extend the cessation of hostilities for a further 72 hours,” senior Russian official Lieutenant General Viktor Poznikhir announced at a televised briefing in Moscow.
On September 9, Russia and the United States agreed on a milestone deal on the Syrian crisis after some 13 hours of marathon talks in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The deal, which began on September 12 and was initially agreed to last seven days, calls for increased humanitarian aid for those trapped inside the embattled northwestern city of Aleppo.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Russian and American fighter jets would launch joint airstrikes and pound the positions of Takfiri terrorist groups in Syria.
Damascus has committed to the demands of the deal. “The Syrian government has approved the agreement, and a cessation of hostilities will begin in Aleppo for humanitarian reasons,” Syria’s official SANA news agency reported over the weekend.
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From Russia Today
Russia poses no ‘direct’ threat to Sweden – Swedish PM
Published time: 20 Sep, 2016 19:24
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden. © Lucas Jackson / Reuters
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lovfen has refuted the speculations that Sweden’s recent military activity on the island of Gotland located in Baltic Sea was caused by the growing threat coming from Russia.
“We experience no direct threat against Sweden,” Lovfen told a news conference on the sidelines of the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, Swedish Expressen reported.
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From Russia Today
Troops land from air & sea in spectacular finale to Russia-China naval drills
Published time: 20 Sep, 2016 17:47
A fleet of ships sail out at sea as China and Russia’s naval joint drill concludes in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, China, September 19, 2016. © Stringer / Reuters
A series of joint drills held by the Russian and Chinese navies has come to an end on Monday. The exercises culminated with a spectacular amphibious and air landing operation on an island off the coast of China’s southern Guangdong Province.
Monday may have been the last day of the Joint Sea 2016 naval drills, but the troops from both countries were in no mood for a holiday, despite the tropical setting.
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From PressTV
Israeli regime not really probing Gaza war: Rights group
An Israeli rights group says the Tel Aviv regime is only pretending to be probing military misconduct during the 2014 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
In a report released on Tuesday, the group, B’Tselem, said the ongoing investigation by the Israeli military was only a “façade,” and that it was not investigating the “the true culprits,” namely government officials responsible for policy-making and senior military commanders responsible for actual orders.
The Israeli right group said the investigation is meant to create the false impression of a functioning system that seeks to discover the truth.
“The work of the military law enforcement system does nothing more than offer the illusion that Israel is fulfilling its obligations to investigate breaches of law,” the group said.
B’Tselem named its report “Whitewash Protocol: The So-Called Investigation of Operation Protective Edge,” referring to the term the Israeli regime used to refer to the 2014 war on Gaza.
Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed during the war. Over 11,100 others, including nearly 3,380 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly civilians, were also injured in the 50-day military aggression.
Civilian sites, including hospitals, schools and UN shelters, were frequently targeted by the Israeli regime during the war, which was met with an international outcry over Tel Aviv’s countless violation of international law.
Palestinians have filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to have the Israeli violations investigated.
In August, Saeb Erekat, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) secretary general called on the ICC to accelerate the probe.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Mark Zuckerberg’s college roommate becomes rabbi in Israel
Arie Hasit was one of Mark Zuckerberg’s suitemates at Harvard. (Facebook)
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg lived with six suitemates at Harvard as he worked on launching the social media site 12 years ago. Three of those suitemates went on to become co-founders of Facebook. One of the three others who didn’t wound up taking a drastically different path: He’s now an ordained rabbi in Israel.
Arie Hasit, a 33-year-old from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, completed a five-year program at the Conservative movement’s Schecter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem last week, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Hasit did try to hop on the Facebook train while living with Zuckerberg, but was reminded that didn’t have any computer science skills. He graduated from the Ivy League school in 2005 with a double major in history and Near Eastern languages and civilizations. His senior thesis focused on Israeli hip-hop.
“They were like, ‘Arie, we like you and you’re our friend,’ and that was definitely true, we’d continue to hang out socially, ‘but no, you don’t have anything to offer here,’” he told the AP.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Watch
Don King waves Israeli flag after dropping ‘N-word’ at pro-Trump event
Don King holding an Israeli flag while embracing Donald Trump in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Sept. 21, 2016 (Screenshot from YouTube)
Boxing promoter Don King’s speech at a campaign event for Donald Trump caused a stir, with most of the attention understandably focused on the fact that the boxing promoter used the N-word.
We also found ourselves wondering why, as he spoke, a rolled-up Israeli flag sat prominently on the lectern.
During Wednesday’s speech in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, King, who is African American, was reminiscing about the late pop star Michael Jackson when he seemed to have a slip of the tongue and uttered the N-word. The New York Times called King’s speech “bizarre” and said the promoter — who was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in 1966 and was twice tried and acquitted on insurance fraud charges — was a “remarkable choice” to represent Trump.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Kirk Douglas draws on his Jewish roots in comparing Trump with Hitler
Actor Kirk Douglas attending the Anti-Defamation League’s Centennial Entertainment Industry Award Dinner at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on May 8, 2013, in Beverly Hills, California. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Actor Kirk Douglas suggested he sees similarities between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler, in an op-ed published months before his 100th birthday.
“I have always been deeply proud to be an American. In the time I have left, I pray that will never change,” Douglas wrote in the article, published Monday by The Huffington Post.
While not mentioning the Republican nominee by name, the Jewish actor quoted directly from a recent speech by Trump, in which he argued for ideological screening tests for potential immigrants.
“These are not the American values that we fought in World War II to protect,” Douglas wrote.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Swastika carved in seat of NY train attracts commuter’s attention
(JTA) — A swastika carved into a seat on the Long Island Rail Road in New York captured the attention of a commuter, who took a photo of the offending symbol and tweeted it.
“This is a new one @LIRR swastika carved into seat in car 7170 511 train to FR. This goes way beyond poor service,” Jake Adler tweeted on Monday afternoon. Adler is a policy director for New York state for the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center.
This is a new one @LIRR swastika carved into seat in car 7170 511 train to FR. This goes way beyond poor service pic.twitter.com/APFleZvtAl
— Jake Adler (@JakeAAdler) September 19, 2016
From Russia Today
Muslim boy ordered to shake hands with female teachers after losing appeal in Swiss school
Published time: 21 Sep, 2016 01:24
© Daniel Munoz / Reuters
A school in a Swiss canton has dismissed the appeal of a 15-year-old Muslim boy who had been ordered to shake hands with his teacher. The case triggered nationwide outrage back in May after the student said that the ritual of handshakes was counter to Islam.
The school council in Therwil, Basel-Country rejected the complaint filed by his parents aimed at overturning the decision ordering the boy to shake hands with teachers. The school issued a statement on Monday saying it was in teacher’s right to demand a handshake.
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