Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From PressTV
Hamas slams Israel for seizing Gaza-bound boat
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has denounced Israel’s seizure of a Swedish-flagged ship that was heading to the Gaza Strip as part of an aid flotilla to break the regime’s long-time blockade of the impoverished territory.
In a statement as well as in comments posted on Twitter, Hamas slammed the “kidnapping” of the activists on board the boat and added that “this ship succeeded in showing the crime of the blockade.”
The comments came after Israeli forces on Monday stopped a flotilla of four boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists that wanted to reach the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Reports said three of the boats have been turned back while the fourth, the Swedish- flagged Marianne of Gothenburg, was boarded by the Israeli forces and taken to the port city of Ashdod.
A number of high-profile individuals were reportedly on board the vessel, including former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki.
From Ynet News
Israel says Syria’s Assad may be left with rump state
Defense minister’s advisor: War-torn nation is undergoing de facto partition, potentially leading to Assad ruling over a much-reduced ‘Alawistan’.
A senior Israeli defense official said President Bashar Assad controlled just a fifth of Syria and may end up in charge of a rump state dominated by his minority Alawite sect.
Israel and its neighbor Syria are long-term enemies, but the remarks by Amos Gilad, strategic advisor to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, reflect concerns by states across the region that Syria is undergoing a de facto partition after four years of civil war.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Ukraine office to help prospective immigrants to Israel prove Jewishness
(JTA) – Rabbis from Israel and Ukraine opened an office in eastern Ukraine that will help prospective immigrants to Israel prove they are Jewish.
The office, which opened last week in Dnepropetrovsk, aims to facilitate the process for people who seek to immigrate to Israel under its Law of Return for Jews and their kin and is the joint initiative of the Jewish Community of Dnepropetrovsk, the Tzohar rabbinic organization, the Triguboff Institute and the Shorashim organization.
“It will prevent situations in which there is no ability to prove a Jewish origin once aliyah to Israel was made and the documents were left behind,” representatives of the groups involved in the office wrote in a joint statement published Tuesday. Aliyah is the Hebrew word for Jewish immigration to Israel.
The process of proving a Jewish ancestry has become especially difficult for thousands of Jews from eastern Ukraine, where a stagnant civil war has resulted in loss of access to documents that may help to establish such a family connection.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
As Iran deadline approaches, skeptics draw dueling red lines
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In nuclear talks between Iran and the major powers, it’s deadline time, and skeptics on both sides are laying out red lines in a bid to shape a final deal.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader who had been wary of the talks, last week outlined his own expectations for the deal — and where there would be no compromise.
On the American side, a five-point memo circulated by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been influential in shaping how Congress and others are pressing the Obama administration.
Among the contentious issues are the period that restrictions must stay in place and how much Iran must reveal of its nuclear past.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jury to hear molestation charges against ex-leader of British Jewry
(JTA) — The former head of a Jewish umbrella group in Britain will go on trial for the alleged molestation of children over two decades, prosecutors said.
On Monday, the Crown Prosecution Service overturned a decision not to try Lord Greville Janner, 86, a former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews who is accused of committing 22 offenses in the 1970s and ’80s, The Independent reported.
Three months ago, the director of public prosecutions had decided against charging Janner, who served in the House of Commons for 27 years, due to his advanced dementia. He and his family have denied the allegations.
The trial envisaged by the service will likely result in neither a conviction nor sentencing of Janner, according to The Independent report, but will aim to establish the facts around the actions attributed to him in keeping with the demands of his alleged victims. He would not be required to make a plea and likely will not be present at the trial, the report said.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
22 senators sign letter to Obama urging Israel support
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Nearly one-quarter of the U.S. Senate signed on to a bipartisan letter urging President Barack Obama to support Israel around the world.
Twenty-two senators signed the letter, which was written “in response to your welcomed recent remarks at Congregation Adas Israel” on May 22 concerning his commitment to Israel’s security. The letter was sponsored by Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
While welcoming Obama’s “unwavering commitment” to Israel’s security, the signers also want the Obama administration to remain committed to the United States’ “long-standing policy” of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians as the way to peace.
The letter specifically asked the administration to oppose Palestinian efforts for membership in the United Nations and other international bodies.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
ADL poll: Anti-Semitic attitudes down in France, Belgium and Germany
NEW YORK (JTA) – Anti-Semitic attitudes fell in two countries where Jews were attacked over the last year while rising significantly in Italy, Romania and the Netherlands, a new Anti-Defamation League poll found.
The survey of 10,000 respondents in 19 countries in March and early April was a follow-up to the ADL’s first-ever global anti-Semitism pollreleased in May 2014.
Compared to the 2014 figures, anti-Semitic attitudes as gauged by the ADL fell from 37 percent to 17 percent in France, where in January a Muslim gunman killed four hostages at a kosher supermarket in Paris, and from 27 percent to 21 percent in Belgium, where in May 2014 a Muslim gunman killed four at the Jewish museum in Brussels.
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From Ynet News
Israel’s new kamikaze drone
VIDEO: Unobservable, invulnerable’ K1 suicide UAV shows potential for surgical strikes on terrorists and light vehicles.
The coming months will see the completion of one of the most efficient and deadly weapons developed in Israel in the last few years – the K1 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
The UAV, whose simulation video was first seen on Ynet, is about the size and weight of a bird of prey, and is named for its lethal nature – Kamikaze-Killer.
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From The Times of Israel
Kerry: ‘Too early’ to tell if Iran nuclear deal will be sealed
US secretary of state awaits Iranian foreign minister’s return to Vienna; Russian FM set to arrive Tuesday
VIENNA, Austria — US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Monday it was too soon to tell if a nuclear deal with Iran is possible, as he awaited the return of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif from consultations in Tehran.
“We’re just working and it’s too early to make any judgments,” Kerry told reporters in Vienna following a weekend of intense talks with counterparts from five other major powers and Iran.
In a possible sign meanwhile of progress, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that he would arrive on Tuesday, coinciding with the expected return of his Iranian counterpart.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking in New York, said he would be back in Vienna this week. It was unclear when his British, German or Chinese counterparts might follow suit.
Over the weekend officials from both sides made clear that their Tuesday deadline to nail down a deal was highly unlikely to be met, although they said they would only extend by several days.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel backers rally outside U.N. Human Rights Council
(JTA) — About 1,000 Israel supporters demonstrated outside the U.N. Human Rights Council in Switzerland as a commission of inquiry presented a report on last summer’s Israel-Gaza conflict.
The participants in the Geneva rally on Monday represented more than 80 nongovernmental organizations and came from a dozen countries.
At the protest, Adele Raemer, a resident of Kibbutz Nirim, near the border with Gaza, described how the kibbutz residents were nearly murdered during the conflict when terrorists emerged from a tunnel from Gaza.
“I am disappointed by the tone at times of the Human Rights Council which insinuates that Israel does not demand accountability from her army,” Raemer said. “I know that in the process of protecting my community, our soldiers have put their lives at risk to save innocent Palestinian lives, aborting vital missions when non-combatant Palestinians were in harm’s way.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Netanyahu was ‘smuggled’ to hospital twice in disguised vans
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “smuggled” to medical appointments in disguised vans shortly before and after elections.
Netanyahu, 65, in both cases had routine prostate examinations that found “nothing uncharacteristic for a man of his age.”
In the first instance, shortly before the March 17 elections, he was transported to Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center, a haredi Orthodox hospital in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, in what appeared to be a pita delivery van, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.
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From PressTV
4 Israelis injured in WB drive-by shooting: Security sources
At least four Israelis have suffered injuries after being targeted in a suspected drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank, security sources say.
According to Israeli media, the incident took place near the settlement of Shvut Rachel, north of Ramallah, on Monday night.
The victims, all of them men in their 20s, were reportedly riding in a car on a road in the area when they were shot at by a passing vehicle.
Reports say that the injuries of one of the targeted individuals are serious while the three others have been moderately wounded.
The four have been transferred to Tel Hashomer hospital for treatment.
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From Russia Today
Pope Francis to chew coca leaves during visit to Bolivia – minister
Pope Francis has made an unexpected request for his upcoming trip to Bolivia – he wants to chew coca leaves, the natural source of cocaine, according to a government official. Bolivia says it will “await the Holy Father” with the “sacred” leaves.
Culture Minister Marko Machicao told state broadcasters that the Bolivian government “offered [the Pope] coca tea or something for the altitude” on his upcoming visit.
But the pontiff apparently has his sights on chewing coca leaves, which have been used by local people to ward off the effects of altitude for centuries. They are also believed to help with muscle pain and stave off hunger and thirst, and can be used for medicinal and food purposes.
From Ynet News
39% of Germans say EU doing enough against anti-Semitism
Survey commissioned by European Jewish Association finds 15% of Germans believe there is a need to reduce activity to eradicate anti-Semitism across continent; EJA director slams ‘educational failure in implementing the lessons of the Holocaust.’
Published: 06.30.15, 00:17
Only a quarter of the German population believes that the European Union should intensify the measures taken to eradicate anti-Semitism across the continent, according to the results of a newly-released survey.
Thirty-nine percent of Germans believe that the current measures taken against Anti-Semitism today are sufficient, and 15% of Germans also believe that there is a need to reduce the activity on the subject.
The survey was commissioned by the European Jewish Association (EJA) in order to monitor changes in European public opinion toward the Jewish community and Israel.
