Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From PressTV
Israeli jets target area in besieged Gaza Strip
Israeli warplanes have carried out a number of airstrikes on an area in the north of the besieged Gaza Strip.
The early Wednesday attack on the coastal enclave followed reports of an alleged earlier rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. There have been no reports of damages or casualties for the alleged rocket attack from Gaza.
The Palestinian resistance movements of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are yet to comment on the attacks.
On May 27, the Israeli air force carried out similar attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, on Rafah in the south, and on Khan Younis.
The Gaza Strip has been blockaded by Israel since June 2007, which has resulted in a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.
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From Russia Today
ISIS extremists blow up 2 historic shrines in Palmyra, Syria
Islamic State militants have decimated two unique tombs in the historic central Syrian city of Palmyra, a UNESCO landmark. One of the destroyed mausoleums, deemed “sacrilegious” by the jihadists, is believed to have been over five centuries old.
The head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, Maamoun Abdulkarim, told AP that one of the destroyed shrines belonged to Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad’s cousin Imam Ali. The second tomb, about 500 years old, was of a Sufi religious figure known as Nizar Abu Bahaaeddine.
Isis destroy two shrines (of Mohammed Ali & Abu Baha Eddin) in Palmyra — call it “removal of polytheism landmarks” pic.twitter.com/Zuni3uls7y
— Hassan Hassan (@hxhassan) 23 июня 2015
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
9 Druze-Israelis arrested in ambulance attacks
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Nine Druze-Israelis were arrested in two attacks on ambulances carrying wounded Syrians to Israeli hospitals, including one that left a Syrian dead.
On Wednesday, Israel Police arrested five people from the village of Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights, where a mob of Druze-Israeli protesters on Monday night dragged two wounded Syrian fighters from the ambulance, beating one to death and seriously injuring the second.
The four others arrested are believed to have been involved in an attack earlier Monday on an ambulance driving by the Druze village of Hurfish, where residents blocked the path of the ambulance and threw stones at it.
The Druze attackers believed the injured men were members of Syrian rebel groups, which have been targeting Druze-Syrians living near the border with Israel as part of the country’s four-year civil war.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Obama administration rejects further consideration of U.N. Gaza report
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Obama administration said it opposes any Security Council consideration of a United Nations report on last summer’s Israel-Hamas war.
“We challenge the very mechanism which created it,” John Kirby, the State Department spokesman, said Tuesday, a day after the report’s publication. “And so we’re not going to have a readout of this. We’re not going to have a rebuttal to it.
“We’re certainly going to read it, as we read all U.N. reports. But we challenge the very foundation upon which this report was written, and we don’t believe that there’s a call or a need for any further Security Council work on this.”
The U.N. Human Rights Council, a body that Israel and the United States say is biased and targets Israel more than any other country, commissioned the report on the 50 days of fighting in Gaza last July and August.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
19 Dems urge Kerry to make detained Palestinian children a priority
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Nineteen House Democrats signed a letter urging the Obama administration to make Israel’s treatment of imprisoned Palestinian minors a priority in the U.S.-Israel relationship.
The letter, initiated by Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., cites a 2013 UNICEF report on Palestinian children in military detention and notes that Israel has addressed some of the claims in that report.
“This is a positive step and a clear acknowledgement that legitimate human rights concerns exist,” said the letter sent June 19 and made public on Monday.
“Progress to ensure Palestinian children’s rights are not abused is in the interest of the U.S., Israel, and the Palestinian people,” the letter said. “We urge the Department of State to elevate the human rights of Palestinian children to a priority status in our bilateral relationship with Israel.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Ted Cruz’s father: Jews who vote Democrat place Jewishness second
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jews who vote for Democrats place the party before their religion, the father of Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said.
“Unfortunately, in the Northeast, the Jews are Democrats first and Jews second,” Rafael Cruz said at an event over the weekend held by the Palm Beach County, Florida, Tea Party first reported by Talking Points Memo. “This is what has happened to a great many in the Catholic Church. They are Democrats first and Catholics second.”
American Jews tend 2-1 to favor Democrats in elections. Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, is a candidate in a large field of Republicans running for the party’s presidential nod.
The elder Cruz, who his son cites as a major influence, was born in Cuba and is an adamant opponent of its Communist regime. Rafael Cruz, who is a pastor, says religious leaders have an obligation to speak out against government oppression, and blames European Christian leaders in part for not standing up for Jews during the Holocaust era.
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From Ynet News
Deputy interior minister to Arab MK: Israel is doing you a favor by giving you citizenship
Furor erupts in the Knesset following controversial remarks, leading to back and forth between Arab, other left-wing MKs and coalition members.
Deputy Interior Minister Yaron Mazuz (Likud) caused an uproar in the Knesset on Wednesday when told Arab MK Hanin Zoabi that the State of Israel was “doing you a favor in giving you ID cards” during a discussion on the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law.
Mayhem broke out following the controversial remarks, with MK Michal Rozin (Meretz) walking up to the podium with her ID card, while others demanded Mazuz to apologize.
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From The Times of Israel
In about-face, US okays paying ransom to jihadists
Obama administration changes a longstanding policy in wake of Islamic State executions of US citizens
June 23, 2015, 10:46 pm
Steven Sotloff next to his Islamic State captor, ‘Jihadi John,’ in a video released September 2, 2014. (screen capture: SITE/Twitter)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration will tell families of Americans held by terror groups that they can communicate with captors and even pay ransom without fear of prosecution — part of a broad review of US hostage guidelines that will be released Wednesday.
President Barack Obama, in a softening of longstanding policy, ordered the review last fall after the deaths of Americans held hostage by Islamic State militants. The families of some of those killed complained about their dealings with the administration, saying they were threatened with criminal prosecution if they pursued paying ransom in exchange for their loved ones’ release.
Two people familiar with the review said there will be no formal change to the law, which explicitly makes it a crime to provide money or other material support to terror organizations. However, the administration will make clear that the Justice Department has never prosecuted anyone for paying ransom and that that will continue to be the case.
Four Americans have been killed by the Islamic State since last summer: journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. After the release of gruesome videos showing the beheadings of some hostages, Obama approved an airstrike campaign against the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria.
In recent months, two other American hostages have been killed while in custody: journalist Luke Somers, who died in a failed US rescue attempt in Yemen, and Warren Weinstein, who was accidentally killed by a US drone strike in Pakistan.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
White House: Tweet by Israeli gov’t minister’s wife ‘revealing’
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A racist tweet mocking President Barack Obama posted by the wife of an Israeli government minister was “revealing,” the White House spokesman said.
“I think if there’s one thing we’ve certainly learned from this incident — it’s not the only time we’ve learned this — but that on Twitter you’re limited to 140 characters, but it still has a capacity to be quite revealing,” Josh Earnest said Monday after Judy Nir-Mozes, an Israeli talk-show host and wife of Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, had apologized for her Twitter post of the day before.
Earnest, speaking at the daily briefing for reporters, did not elaborate on “quite revealing.”
Mozes had tweeted, “Do u know what Obama Coffee is? Black and weak.”
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From Russia Today
Not OK, Google! Covert installations of ‘eavesdropping tool’ raise alarm
Published time: June 24, 2015 03:52
Open source developers and privacy campaigners are raising concerns over the automatic installation of a shady “eavesdropping tool” designed to enable ‘OK Google’ functionality but potentially capable of snooping on any conversation near the computer.
When one installs an open source Chromium browser, as it turns out, it “downloads something” followed by a status report that says “Microphone: Yes” and “Audio Capture Allowed: Yes,” according to an article by Rick Falkvinge, Swedish Pirate Party founder, published on the website Privacy Online News.
READ MORE: 600mn Samsung devices face hacking risk due to keyboard app vulnerability
While the Chromium, the open source basis for Google’s browser, at least shows the code and allows user to notice it and turn it off, the same installation is included by default in the most popular browser Chrome, used by over 300 million people.
The code was designed to enable the new “OK, Google” hot word detection, which lets the computer do things like search or create reminders in response to human voice. Yet, some users are worried that the service could be activated without their permission, eventually sending recorded data to Google. The worried users describe the Chrome Hotword Shared Module as an audio-snooping “black box”, with only the corporation that provided it fully aware of what the injected pre-compiled code is capable of.
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From The Times of Israel
Rocket launched at southern Israel from Gaza
Sirens sound in towns north of Gaza Strip; no injuries or damage reported as projectile lands in open area near Yad Mordechai
June 23, 2015, 10:16 pm
Palestinian missiles are fired from Gaza City toward Israel following Israeli airstrikes on July 17, 2014. (AFP/Thomas Coex)
A rocket was shot from Gaza at southern Israel Tuesday evening, sending residents searching for shelter.
The rocket landed in an open area near the Yad Mordechai Kibbutz just north of the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
“Forces are currently searching the area,” the army said.
There were no reports of injuries or damage directly after the alarms, which sounded in the communities of Zikim, Karmia, Netiv Ha’asara and Yad Mordechai just after 10 p.m., the IDF said.
From The Times of Israel
South Carolina governor calls for lowering of rebel flag
Lawmakers in Mississippi and Tennessee also demand removal of Confederate symbols
June 23, 2015, 2:15 pm
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley speaks next to Congressman James Clyburn (L) and Senator Tim Scott (R) during a news conference in the South Carolina State House on June 22, 2015. (Tim Dominick/The State via AP)
CHARLESTON, South Carolina — South Carolina’s governor declared Monday that the Confederate flag should be removed from the Statehouse grounds as she acknowledged that its use as a symbol of hatred by the man accused of killing nine black church members has made it too divisive to display in such a public space.
Gov. Nikki Haley’s about-face comes just days after authorities charged Dylann Storm Roof, 21, with murder. The white man appeared in photos waving Confederate flags and burning or desecrating US flags, and purportedly wrote of fomenting racial violence. Survivors told police he hurled racial insults during the attack.
“The murderer now locked up in Charleston said he hoped his actions would start a race war. We have an opportunity to show that not only was he wrong, but that just the opposite is happening,” Haley said, flanked by Democrats and Republicans, blacks and whites who joined her call.
“My hope is that by removing a symbol that divides us, we can move our state forward in harmony, and we can honor the nine blessed souls who are now in Heaven,” Haley said.
The massacre inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church has suddenly made removing the flag — long thought politically impossible in South Carolina — the go-to position, even for conservative Republican politicians.
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