Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From PressTV
Israel destroys 1,000 homes in Negev per year: Pro-settlement NGO
An Israeli NGO behind settlement construction in Palestinian lands says that every year the regime demolishes 1,000 homes in the Negev desert, home to Bedouin nomadic tribes for the past 1,000 years.
Some 220,000 people currently live in the region, Amichai Yogev, the southern region director of pro-settlement NGO Regavim, said in an interview with the Jewish Voice on Wednesday.
The group is demolishing homes in the region in cooperation with Israel’s interior ministry, Israel Land Agency, and the Jewish National Fund.
Yogev claimed that the Palestinian residents of the Negev build 2,000 to 3,000 homes a year in the “unrecognized” villages, which hold some 70,000 homes along with the “recognized” ones.
In response to a question regarding what makes the villages classified as “unrecognized”, Yogev said that all the ones located in the Beersheba-Arad-Yeruham triangle are “illegal”.
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From Ynet News
US Secretary of State Kerry’s Israeli connection
Kerry owns million-dollar stake in Noble Energy Corp., which is currently fighting for the right to maintain a duopoly with Delek Group over Israel’s natural gas fields. According to official filings, US Secretary of State John Kerry holds a very large sum of shares in the American gas company Noble Energy Corp., one of two key partners in Israel’s gas reserves. According to his declaration of assets, his shares were worth more than one million dollars at one point. A quick scan of Kerry’s previous declarations of assets shows that he has held these shares for at least 10 years, and that the shares’ value has fallen recently, possibly due to declining oil prices.
Last December Israel’s Antitrust Commissioner David Gilo notified the government that he did not approve the Delek Corp. – Noble Energy duopoly over the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields. Around the same period a report was published that Kerry had called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and asked him to take care of the regulatory conflict.
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From Ynet News
Islamic State attacks Syrian army and Kurds in new offensive
ISIS launches offensive in Raqqa province in hopes of recapturing lost ground after weeks of losses. Islamic State fighters launched simultaneous attacks against the Syrian army and Kurdish militia overnight, moving back on the offensive after losing ground in recent days to Kurdish-led forces in the Islamist group’s stronghold of Raqqa province.
In a separate offensive, rebel groups attacked Syrian government-held areas of Deraa in the south, one of the areas where insurgents have dealt President Bashar al-Assad’s forces significant blows in recent months, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
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From PressTV
Palestine to launch Israel war crime case at ICC
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki is set to deliver files on Israeli war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
According to Palestinian Ma’an news agency, the files are to be submitted on Thursday by al-Maliki, who is leading and a high-profile delegation to The Hague-based tribunal.
The files were prepared by a 45-member committee, appointed in February by President Mahmoud Abbas, and chaired by Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) negotiator Saeb Erekat.
The files contain extensive evidence of Israeli war crimes during last summer’s invasion of Gaza Strip.
Nabil Abu Zneid, the Palestinian ambassador to the Netherlands, said earlier the documents describe in detail the Israeli breaches of international law in Gaza and the West Bank.
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From Russia Today
Israel suspends defense aid talks with US, awaits outcome of Iran nuclear deal
Israel has suspended talks with the US over defense aid to the Jewish state. The freeze will remain at least until nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group have ended. It comes amid increased tensions between the White House and Tel Aviv.
The decision was made following a meeting between senior representatives from Israel’s Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry, and Prime Minister’s Office, Arutz Sheva reported.
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From The Times of Israel
Far-right surges in Croatia as EU disappointment spreads
Rise of pro-Nazi activism in EU’s newest member state has many in Europe, and in Croatia, worried about country’s future
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — It was one of the biggest nights in Croatia’s sporting calendar: a European Championship soccer qualifying match with Italy. Seconds after kick-off in a game beamed around the world, a gigantic swastika materialized on the pitch under the shocked gaze of European soccer officials.
The swastika, sprayed by an unknown vandal with a chemical that became visible only when floodlights went on to start the game, has become the most potent symbol of a rise in ultra-nationalist sentiment that appears to be bleeding into the mainstream population in the European Union’s newest member state.
But it’s not the only one. In the mixed ethnic towns of eastern Croatia, road signs in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet have been destroyed and Serbian Orthodox churches have been vandalized with a “U” symbol representing the Nazi-linked World War II Ustasha regime. On weekends, Ustasha chants echo at sports venues and rock concerts.
The appearance of such symbols is perhaps unsurprising for a country that during World War II sent tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies to death camps. But the Balkan state’s current leaders have called for change after the global outcry prompted by the swastika on the field.
“This act has inflicted immeasurable damage on the reputation of Croatian citizens and their homeland all over the world,” said Croatia’s new conservative president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. “Therefore, we must finally put a stop to such things.”
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From The Times of Israel
Jewish groups urge solidarity Shabbat with African Americans
All major religious movements, along with campus groups and community interfaith organizations, join rabbi’s call
WASHINGTON — An array of Jewish groups representing every major religious stream has declared this coming Shabbat one of solidarity with the African American community in the wake of the Charleston, South Carolina mass killing.
A press release Tuesday including among its signatories representative groups of the Conservative, Reform, Orthodox and Reconstructionist streams calls “to speak out in synagogues this coming Shabbat on the issue of racism in society and to express rejection of hateful extremism” and to demonstrate support for African Methodist Episcopal churches in their neighborhoods.
On the evening of June 17, a gunman shot dead nine worshipers at Emanuel AME in Charleston. The suspect in the shooting, who is in police custody, is allegedly a white supremacist.
“We stand together, as a united American Jewish community in calling for a Shabbat of important introspection and examination of racism in the United States,” Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, the rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland, said in the statement. “We hope to convey our support to the African-American community nationwide and show all that we will not stand for violent acts driven by hatred.”
Weinblatt convened the coalition of groups and is also the president of the Rabbinic Cabinet of the Jewish Federations of North America, which is also part of the initiative.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Survey: Confidence in Obama falls dramatically in Israel
(JTA) — While President Barack Obama remains popular in most countries, the sharpest decline in his image occurred in Israel, according to a new survey.
In Israel, confidence in Obama on world affairs fell from 71 percent to 49 percent in the last year, according to the 2015 Spring Pew Global Attitudes Survey released Wednesday.
Some 15 percent of residents of the Palestinian Authority said they had confidence in Obama on world affairs, compared to 82 percent with no confidence. Jordan had similar figures with 14 percent confidence and 83 percent no confidence.
Residents of the Philippines had the most confidence in Obama with 94 percent; next was South Korea with 88 percent. France was third with 83 percent confidence.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Bipartisan panel, including onetime Iran deal defenders, urges improvements
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A bipartisan panel of former government officials including some of the most steadfast defenders of the Iran-nuclear talks led by the Obama administration say the emerging deal falls short of a satisfactory plan.
“We know much about the emerging agreement,” said the statement, organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank. “Most of us would have preferred a stronger agreement.”
The signatories urge Obama’s negotiators to extend the June 30 deadline to get a better deal. “Stay at the negotiating table until a ‘good’ agreement that includes these features is reached,” the statement says, listing a number of bottom lines the major powers negotiating with Iran should preserve.
Among the bipartisan slate of 18 former officials are a number who have worked for the Obama administration and among these are several who until recently have vigorously defended its Iran strategy:
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From The Times of Israel
Son of Indian immigrants declares 2016 GOP candidacy
Hindu-raised convert to Catholicism Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal launches campaign for Republican presidential nomination
KENNER, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination Wednesday and set about trying to distinguish himself in a field with better known rivals.
It’s a long-shot effort for an accomplished but overshadowed governor, and his prospects will depend in large measure on his continued courtship of evangelical voters. But several other contenders also are determined to win over that group.
“My name is Bobby Jindal, and I am running for president of the United States of America,” he posted on his website. Short video clips showed Jindal and his wife, Supriya, talking to their three children about the campaign to come.
“Mommy and daddy have been thinking and talking a lot about this, and we have decided we are going to be running for president,” he tells them.
The 44-year-old two-term governor planned a kickoff rally later Wednesday.
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From The Times of Israel
German parliament chief: Israel has right to live without fear
Addressing Knesset, Norbert Lammert urges ‘stable’ and ‘peaceful’ Palestinian state, condemns ‘shameful’ anti-Semitism
The president of the German Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, addressed the Knesset on Wednesday, telling lawmakers that Israel has the right to secure and internationally recognized borders, while urging the establishment of a peaceful and democratic Palestinian state.
“Israel has the same right as its neighbors to live in internationally recognized borders, free of fear, terror and violence,” Lammert said. “In the same manner, we cannot ignore the fact that Israel is also responsible for the situation in the Palestinian territories.”
Lammert said only a regional initiative for Palestinian statehood would guarantee Israel’s security and a lasting peace deal, and maintained Israel’s right to exist was not up for debate.
“I can confirm: Many issues are up for negotiation, but not Israel’s right to exist. On the other hand, there is a need to solve the conflict with the Palestinians,” he said.
Lammert urged a “stable Palestinian state, peaceful, and based on democratic principles,” which he said would “answer Israel’s security needs long-term.”
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From The Times of Israel
Deputy minister: I’ll seek to revoke Arab MKs’ citizenship
Prompting storm in parliament, Yaron Mazuz says Israel doing Arabs a favor by allowing them to serve in Knesset, tells Hanin Zoabi to ‘return’ her identity card
Deputy Interior Minister Yaron Mazuz (Likud) on Wednesday said he would act to revoke the citizenship of Knesset members who support protest flotillas to Gaza and said Israel was doing Arabs a “favor” by allowing them to serve in the Knesset.
He said firebrand MK Hanin Zoabi should be the first to “return” her identity card over her participation in a flotilla to Gaza.
The statements, which were made during a debate on canceling the restrictions on so-called family reunification — the granting of Israeli citizenship to Palestinians who marry Israeli Arabs — sparked an uproar in the Knesset plenum.
“Ms. Zoabi, you are the first of those who should hand back their identity card,” Mazuz said. “We are doing you a favor that you are even sitting here. Terrorists don’t sit here. You are in a democratic state — respect the state. Anyone who acts against the state through terror has no right to be here. It is unacceptable for members of this institution to take part in terror flotillas against the State of Israel.”
Mazuz was referring to Zoabi’s participation in the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla to Gaza, and to fellow Joint (Arab) List MK Basel Ghattas’s declaration earlier this week that he would sail with a flotilla hoping to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip in the coming days. Ghattas’s announcement was roundly condemned by Jewish MKs across the political spectrum. The Joint List defended Ghattas, saying the flotilla is a humanitarian gesture to the residents of Gaza, who live in a “massive prison.”
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From The Times of Israel
South Carolina lawmakers vote to debate Confederate flag
After massacre at black church, several southern states consider removing rebel flag, symbol of slavery past, from public venues
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) — South Carolina lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to consider removing the Confederate flag from their Statehouse grounds and other politicians took aim at Civil War-era symbols across the South, saying change is imperative after nine black churchgoers were slain in a hate crime.
Prodded by Governor Nikki Haley’s call the day before to move the flag to a museum, lawmakers approved a measure enabling a flag debate by a vote of 103-10 in the House and a voice vote in the Senate.
The House vote brought a standing ovation and rounds of applause after Democratic and Republican leaders jointly sponsored the measure in a show of uncharacteristic unity. Very few lawmakers rose to say the flag should stay; some said they were saving speeches for what promises to be an emotional debate later this summer.
Lawmakers then prayed for state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who joined the legislature in 1997 and who, as pastor of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopalian church in Charleston, was among the dead.
“I ask that in the memory of Mr. Pinckney that we are generous in spirit, gracious in our conversation and please — even if we disagree, let’s agree to disagree agreeably,” Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter urged her colleagues. “Those nine families have shown us how to do it. I would strongly suggest we take a cue from them.”
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