Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From PressTV
Israeli settler’s attack on Palestinian kid triggers clashes
An Israeli settler has attacked an eight-year-old Palestinian boy in a neighborhood of the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem), triggering violent clashes in the area, a local monitoring group says.
According to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, the incident happened late on Friday evening after the extremist settler attacked Zaid Abu Qweidir in the Batn al-Hawa area of Silwan neighborhood, Palestine’s Ma’an news agency reported on Saturday.
According to the center, the clashes erupted after local residents intervened to save the boy.
Moments later, Israeli soldiers accompanied by dozens of settlers attacked Palestinians with pepper spray, tear gas canisters and stun grenades.
At least 15 Palestinian demonstrators were injured, some of them severely, during the clashes.
From PressTV
Gas stations in Gaza Strip running out of fuel: Union
The Union of Gaza gas station owners has warned about the fuel shortage in the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory, saying petroleum supplies in the Gaza Strip are running increasingly low.
Mahmoud al-Shawwa, the union’s head, told Palestine’s Ma’an news agency on Friday that Gaza’s fuel shortage is blamed on a lack of gasoline coming into the coastal enclave through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.
“There are gas stations in the Gaza Strip that are out of fuel, as the quantities arriving into Gaza are little and the priority is to the power station,” Shawwa said.
Although diesel fuel had entered the coastal sliver recently, it was all sent to Gaza Power Plant to keep the installation running, he added.
Gaza Power Plant has been operating at about half of its capacity of 120 megawatts (MW) over the past few years as a result of fuel shortages due to the Israeli siege.
From Russia Today
Ceasefire in E. Ukraine is major achievement, no alternative to Minsk accords – Putin
“Of course, it is very good that the shelling of Donbass (eastern Ukrainian rebel region) by so-called volunteer battalions and Ukrainian armed forces has ceased…I think it is the major achievement today,” Vladimir Putin said in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Putin went to Crimea to meet with Italy’s ex-prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi on a visit that came at the request of the Italian politician.
From Ynet News
Concern among Britain’s Jews as Israel critic elected opposition chief
Jeremy Corbyn, critic of Israel and supporter of Palestinian cause, elected head of Labour; some in UK Jewish community concerned about ramifications, while analysts wonder if Jews will abandon Labour.
Far-left lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn, who is a staunch critic of Israel, and has previously referred to himself as a “friend” of Hamas and Hezbollah, was elected leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party on Saturday, causing consernation to some in the nation’s 290,000-strong Jewish community.
The 66-year-old, who strongly opposes the government’s austerity policies and Britain’s membership of NATO, was considered an outsider but in recent months became the runaway favorite over three more mainstream rivals to win Saturday.
From The Times of Israel
How the US plans to welcome 10,000 Syrian refugees
Process of running security checks, medical tests and eligibility as refugees usually take up to two years until they reach US soil
September 12, 2015, 5:00 am
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Barack Obama has promised that the United States will admit 10,000 Syrian refugees for resettlement over the next 12 months, after criticism that America is not doing enough.
But this would represent a huge increase in the number of families arriving on US soil. In the more that four years since fighting erupted barely 1,800 Syrians have been welcomed here.
Meanwhile, obstacles have stretched the approval process for those already registered and vetted by the UN’s refugee agency to almost two years per case.
So how will Obama’s promise be delivered and what hurdles are keeping the refugees from arriving sooner?
More than four million people have fled the fighting in Syria since 2011 and most are living in camps in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees registers them.
From The Times of Israel
Less than 10% of top US Jewish groups back Iran deal, umbrella org says
Conference of Presidents says survey of 53 major American Jewish organizations finds hardly any support for nuclear accord
September 12, 2015, 2:59 am
Fewer than 10 percent of major American Jewish groups voiced support for the nuclear deal with Iran in a recent poll, with the bulk expressing opposition to it, an umbrella organization said in a statement Friday.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said that it took a survey of its 53 member groups across the US and found that 55% of the organizations opposed the accord reached between world powers and Iran in July, and that fewer than 10% expressed support.
“The remaining organizations fell into various categories,” the Conference of Presidents said in the statement. “Some expressed concern with the agreement but did not take a formal position, others do not endorse specific legislative measures at any time, and others felt constrained from declaring a position for a variety of reasons.”
The poll, whose full findings were not immediately available on the organization’s website, was made public the same day as an annual American Jewish Committee survey which found American Jews were deeply split on the issue. The AJC poll found that 50.6 percent of respondents approved of the sanctions relief for nuclear restrictions deal reached in July between Iran and six major powers, and 47.2 percent disagreed with it. With a 4.7% margin of error, it was a statistical tie.
“We have long advocated that the Iranian nuclear drive not be defined as essentially a Jewish or as an Israeli issue,” the Conference of Presidents said. “It is a potent danger to the world, to the vital interests and security of the US, and is a threat that will further destabilize the already tumultuous situation in the Middle East and provide new opportunities for Iranian intimidation and exploitation.”
From The Times of Israel
Germany ‘took our Jews and gave us Arabs,’ French ex-minister says
Patrick Devedjian apologizes for ‘misplaced’ jest about Syrians, Iraqis as France gets set to accept thousands of refugees
September 12, 2015, 1:40 am
A former French minister stirred up controversy Friday after saying Germany “took our Jews and gave us Arabs” as France began taking some of the thousands of refugees arriving in Germany.
Patrick Devedjian, a right-winger who served in the governments of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, made the remark at a press conference, but quickly tried to backtrack on social media.
“My humorous jest was misplaced,” Devedjian wrote on his Twitter account, saying he regretted it all the more because he himself helps refugees in need.
Devedjian, who comes from an Armenian family and now leads the Hauts-de-Seine region of wealthy suburbs west of Paris, said the joke was meant to be about Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
He flirted with the extreme-right in his youth before moving into more mainstream politics.
From The Times of Israel
Obama says Russian bid to aid Assad ‘doomed to fail’
President dismisses Moscow’s claim it is trying to defeat Islamic State, not bolster embattled Syrian leader
September 12, 2015, 12:01 am
WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama warned Russia on Friday against doubling down on its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, casting a recent buildup of Russian military equipment and personnel in Syria as an effort to prop up the embattled leader.
“The strategy they’re pursuing right now of doubling down on Assad is a mistake,” Obama said during a town hall with US military personnel. He warned that Russia’s decision to send military staff and equipment to Syria reflected a strategy that was “doomed to fail.”
“The strategy that they are pursuing right now, doubling down on Assad, I think is a big mistake,” he said, warning Moscow was “going to have to start getting a little smarter.”
Russia denies it’s trying to bolster Assad and instead says its increased military activity is part of the international effort to defeat the Islamic State, the terror group that has wreaked havoc in both Syria and Iraq. Earlier Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on world powers to join his country in that pursuit, arguing that Syria’s army is the most efficient force to fight the extremist network.
“You cannot defeat Islamic State with air strikes only,” Lavrov said, a dig at Obama’s strategy. “It’s necessary to cooperate with ground troops and the Syrian army is the most efficient and powerful ground force to fight the IS.”
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Netanyahu to U.K. chief rabbi: ‘Settlements are not the issue’
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed concerns raised by Britain’s chief rabbi about the growth of West Bank settlements.
In a London meeting with United Kingdom Jewish leaders Wednesday evening, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis told Netanyahu that friends of Israel approach him with the request to “help us help you,” by limiting settlement expansion, theTimes of Israel reported, citing an unnamed official who attended the closed session.
Netanyahu said that “settlements are not the issue,” and argued that the Arab-Israeli conflict existed well before the establishment of Israeli settlements beyond the Green Line.
This summer, Mirvis’ predecessor, Lord Jonathan Sacks, said that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, much of which focuses on the settlements, has made it “almost impossible” for European Jews to support Israel, according to the Times of Israel.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
French Jewish groups form task force on refugee relief
(JTA) — French Jewish groups, including Western Europe’s largest charity for Jews, signed a declaration of principles for coordinated efforts to provide relief for Syrian refugees.
The declaration, initiated by French Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia and published Thursday, states each of the six co-signatory groups will “act to accompany the refugees, each according to its competences and abilities and with its traditional partners,” but “especially in administrative and medical matters.”
In recent weeks, tens of thousands of migrants, including refugees, have entered the European Union, where a strong public reaction has followed the publication of images of the migrants’ plight and the loss of life among refugees who drowned or suffocated while trying to make it across the border.
Many are refugees from the civil war in Syria. Others come from unstable or impoverished countries in the Middle East and Africa.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Arab Americans look to Jews for help on Syrian refugees
ANAHEIM, Calif. (JTA) — Arab Americans advocating on behalf of Syrian refugees have found some unlikely allies in their effort to resettle families from the war-torn nation: influential Jewish groups.
Over the last few days, HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, launched a petition drive calling on President Barack Obama to swiftly open America’s gates to an additional 100,000 Syrians, and the president of the Union for Reform Judaism wrote to the president and congressional leaders calling for a coordinated international response.
“Our great nation must respond immediately by providing safety, food, shelter, refuge, and dignity,” wrote the Reform leader, Rabbi Rick Jacobs. “How can a nation built by refugees from political persecution turn our back on refugees fleeing religious and political persecution?”
Omar Hossino, the Washington-based Syrian American Council’s public relations director, singled out HIAS as being particularly helpful.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Inside the final throes of the Iran deal battle: hugs, pink kaleidoscopes, and Trump
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Inside the congressional offices, there were soft-spoken recriminations, tears, even the occasional consoling hug. Outside, under a blazing sun, there were whoops, full-throated cries against appeasement and condemnation of President Barack Obama’s “pink kaleidoscope.”
The final throes of the battle over the Iran nuclear deal on this week were delivered with volume, fury and in the quiet agonies of friendships riven by the deal.
On Wednesday, meetings in congressional offices between American Israel Public Affairs Committee activists and staffers for Democrats who had supported the Iran nuclear deal often devolved into tears, according to those present. In at least one case, an AIPAC staffer was so inconsolable that a congressional staffer reached out spontaneously for a hug. The message from AIPAC, staffers said, was one of “disappointment.” AIPAC would not comment on the content of the meetings.
From Russia Today
Former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald becomes home to… refugees?
The building is reportedly equipped with basic cooking facilities and bunk beds.
“It is an emergency solution, but it is unavoidable,” the mayor of Berlin’s Mitte district, Christian Hanke, told The Daily Mail.“There is a lot of room in the hangars.”
20-year-old Abdurahman Massa from northern Eritrea told The Daily Express that he doesn’t mind what the building was before.
“This is good for me,” he added.
Another refugee identified as Diaoyre, from Algeria, said he’d been living in the building for one week, and it’s “good,”adding “many others don’t even have this.”
The refugees are provided with 135 euros monthly, to spend on food and other essentials.
From Ynet News
80% of Israelis disapprove of religion-state relationship
Religion and State Index published annually in Ynet on eve of Jewish New Year shows that over 60% would completely separate religion and state, 65% prefers a government without haredi parties, and vast majority supports at least some public transportation on Shabbat
Kobi Nachshoni
09.11.15, 23:52
Most Jewish Israelis have traditional lifestyles and worldviews, but support freedom of religion and separation of church and state, according the annual Israel Religion and State Index published on Ynet on the eve of the Jewish New Year.
The Hiddush Association’s Religion and State Index, a comprehensive annual research project published in cooperation with Ynet for the seventh time, questioned participants on a number of controversial issues, including civil marriages, Shabbat, military service, and more.
Security troops in Jerusalem, as protest against Jerusalem movie theater opened on Shabbat winds down this year (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)
