Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From PressTV
Gaza aid ship ‘sabotaged’ before arrival
One of the ships with an aid flotilla headed toward the besieged Gaza Strip was “sabotaged” before leaving for the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian coastal sliver, an activist says.
An activist aboard one of the aid ships said on Thursday that the vessel had been sabotaged by “professionals” overnight south of Crete in the Mediterranean and would have sunk if it had gone unnoticed.
“Somebody went underneath the ship at night and sabotaged its propellers, just like they sabotaged the same ship in 2011,” Swedish activist Dror Feiler said, referring to the damage done to a ship which had taken part in a previous flotilla.
The Israeli-born activist, who boarded the Swedish Marianne of Gothenburg with 18 other activists nearly two months ago, added that the remainder of the ships would continue their mission despite the incident.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the third flotilla attempting to break the Israeli siege against Palestinians in Gaza, is expected to arrive at its destination within three days.
The vessels are said to be carrying small amounts of medical supplies and aid, including solar panels.
The activists aim to open Gaza’s port and allow freedom of movement and trade there.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Swedish ship sets sail to break naval siege on Gaza
(JTA) — A ship carrying some 70 pro-Palestinian activists, including an Israeli-Arab lawmaker, set sail from Crete to Gaza.
The Swedish “Marianne of Gothenburg” ship is expected to arrive Sunday off the coast of Gaza in a bid to defy Israel’s naval blockade, the site news.walla.co.il reported Friday, hours after the vessel sailed.
Both Israel and Egypt have imposed strict limitations on the movement of materials and people in and out of the strip, which is ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement, considered a terrorist group by both countries.
Marianne is to be joined by four vessels, according to Dror Feiler, a pro-Palestinian, Israel-born activist who spoke to Walla from aboard the ship.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Congress writes boycott opposition into trade talks
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Congress included a provision in a trade bill that requires U.S. negotiators to raise objections to Israel boycotts in their dealings.
The language, part of a broad Trade Promotion Authority passed by both chambers of Congress, says that “discouraging” Israel boycotts would become one of the “principal negotiating objectives” of U.S. officials.
“The provision included by Congress pushes back against actions by foreign governments to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which strongly backed the inclusion of the language, said in a statement Wednesday, the day the Senate approved the trade bill.
The bill “urges the U.S. Trade Representative to seek the elimination of politically-motivated economic attacks on Israel by America’s free trade partners,” AIPAC said, praising its lead sponsors, Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and Juan Vargas (D-Calif.).
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From Ynet News
US Congress passes anti-BDS legislation, key trade bill
Amendments in approved bill call on Europe to reject BDS in exchange for free trade; measure is first legislation in Congress in four decades to push back against boycotts against Israel. After weeks of political wrangling, President Barack Obama scored a key victory Wednesday with Congress passing legislation that allows him to swiftly negotiate a Pacific trade accord.
Two amendments in the bill had also opposed the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign against Israel, particularly by European countruies.Obama relied on a majority of Republicans to get the measure, which passed the House of Representatives last week, across the finish line with a vote of 60 to 38 in the Senate.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Netanyahu: Iran raising demands as we near ‘flawed deal’
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that concessions to Iran are increasing as it approaches the deadline for its nuclear talks with world powers.
Netanyahu referred to the June 30 deadline addressing the 163rd Pilots Course Graduation Ceremony on Thursday at the Hatzerim Israel Air Force base in Israel’s south.
“The foremost threat that endangers our security is Iran’s effort to arm itself with nuclear weapons,” Netanyahusaid. “Concessions to Iran are increasing as we approach the date that has been determined between the major powers and Iran for achieving the goals. These concessions are whetting Iran’s appetite.”
Whatever happens, Netanyahu said, “Israel will always defend itself and in this the air force will play a major part.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Eritreans rally in Israel for refugee status
(JTA) — Hundreds of Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel demonstrated, calling for the Jewish state to recognize them as refugees.
Rallying outside the European Union delegation’s Israeli headquarters near Tel Aviv Thursday, demonstrators praised the recently released United Nations report on human rights abuses in the African country and called on both European states and Israel to give Eritreans refugee status, Agence France Press reported.
Demonstrators waved Israeli and Eritrean flags.
“Eritreans don’t flee their home and their country because they want a better job, or a car, or a plasma TV. We flee our homes because we… are born to be free and live in dignity and safety,” a statement from the organizers said.
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From PressTV
Israel threatens to strip Arab MPs of citizenship
Israeli Deputy Interior Minister Yaron Mazuz has threatened to revoke the citizenship of Arab lawmakers in the Knesset should they push ahead with their objections to social restrictions on Palestinians.
The deputy minister issued the threat to lawmakers from the Arab Joint List coalition during a debate on the lifting of restrictions on “family reunification,” which prevent Palestinians, who marry Israeli nationals, from receiving Israeli citizenship.
“We are doing you people a favor by even allowing you to be seated here,” Mazuz, who is also a member of Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said.
“It’s unthinkable that from this abode, people will go out and participate in terror flotillas” against Israel, Mazuz said, adding, “You are the first who ought to return your ID.”
The Joint List, which is an alliance of four predominantly-Arab parties, has strongly denounced Netanyahu for remaining silent on Mazuz’s insolent remarks.
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From PressTV
Israel forces detain 6 Palestinian women in al-Aqsa
Israeli forces have arrested six Palestinian women, including a journalist, in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
According to witnesses, the arrests were made on Thursday, with the journalist Fatima Abu Isbitan among those detained, Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported.
The other detainees were reportedly four mosque guards as well as a 17-year-old girl.
The reason behind the women’s detention is still unknown.
Last Wednesday, scores of Israeli settlers and troops stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Sheikh Omar Al-Qiswani, the Palestinian director of al-Aqsa Mosque, said.
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From Russia Today
Man beheaded, several injured in Islamist attack on French gas factory
Edited time: June 26, 2015 14:05
A terrorist attack on a French factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier left one person killed and two injured, the country’s president confirmed. The victim was reported to have been beheaded at the gate of the site.
From The Times of Israel
West Bank Hamas leader released from Israeli prison
Palestinian MP Hassan Yousef, father of ‘Green Prince,’ was arrested last June during search for slain Israeli teens
A West Bank Hamas leader who was arrested last year by Israel as part of a massive search to find three Israeli teenagers who were abducted and later found dead has been released from prison, Israel Radio reported Thursday.
Hassan Yousef, an elected representative in the Palestinian parliament, was being held without trial in administrative detention at the Ofer prison near the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
It was not made immediately clear from the report whether Israeli authorities planned to press charges against Yousef.
The Hamas leader was among more than 80 Palestinians arrested last June across the West Bank, including former ministers and other members of parliament, in an effort to find Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel, who were abducted on June 12 as they hitchhiked in the West Bank.
The teens’ bodies were later found in a field north of the city.
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From The Times of Israel
France approves $60m reparations for Nazi rail deportations
Foreign nationals who were transported on French freight trains to death camps may now be eligible for compensation
PARIS — French MPs on Wednesday approved a landmark deal with the United States in which France agreed to pay $60 million in overall compensation to foreign nationals deported to Nazi death camps on French trains in World War II.
Several thousand people could now be eligible for compensation, including nationals of Israel and Canada as well as Americans who were deported from France to the death camps some 70 years ago.
During the German occupation of France, the Nazi regime deported almost 76,000 Jews to concentration camps in French freight cars between 1942 and 1944.
Only around 3,000 survived.
The French government has already paid out another $60 million to French nationals who were victims of the Holocaust under a scheme set up in 1946. And the new deal will not be open to French nationals and their survivors.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Paris mayor urged to remove swastikas from residential building’s floor
(JTA) — A French anti-Semitism watchdog urged the mayor of Paris to order the removal of a mosaic floor featuring swastikas that the group identified in a residential building.
The floor of the entrance of the building in Paris’ six arrondissement, an affluent and central quarter comprising the touristic Saint-Germain-des-Pres area, contains dozens of swastikas made of black mosaic and incorporated at regular intervals into the floor’s pattern, the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA,wrote Thursday in a statement.
“BNVCA does not understand how these illegal symbols have been allowed to exist, probably for a very long time, in this building without being flagged by a single person,” the statement by BNVCA read. “BNVCA deplores how the residents of this building seemed to accommodate these symbols when their presence is intolerable.”
BNVCA, which photographed the lobby floor, asked Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to “intervene with the owners or other legally responsible parties” to remove the tiles.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israeli, Palestinian support for two-state solution down
(JTA) — Both Israelis and Palestinians have become less supportive of a two-state solution to the conflict, with only 51 percent of each now favoring the idea, a new poll reported.
The poll, conducted jointly by Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, found that support has declined among both populations since last year, when a similar poll was conducted.
Among Israelis, support for a two-state plan decreased to 51 percent, from 62 percent in 2014. Among Palestinians, the drop was less dramatic, declining to 51 percent from 2014’s 54 percent.
As in last year’s poll, each side believes the other side is a “threat to its very existence,” the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey said in a news release. Fifty-six percent of the Palestinians said that Israel is seeking to extend its borders to include the entire West Bank and Gaza and to expel its Arab citizens, while 25 percent believe Israel’s goal is to annex the West Bank and deny political rights to Palestinians.
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From PressTV
Vatican signs historic treaty with Palestine
The Vatican has inked a landmark treaty with Palestine more than a month after officially recognizing it as a sovereign state.
On Friday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki and Paul Gallagher, the British archbishop who is the Vatican’s de facto foreign minister, signed in Vatican City an accord on the activities of the Church in areas under Palestinian control.
Speaking in the signing ceremony, Maliki praised the deal as “historic,” saying it enshrined Palestine’s special status as the birthplace of Christianity and the cradle of the monotheistic religions, including Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
Gallagher, in turn, said the agreement is “indicative of the progress made by the Palestinian Authority in recent years, and above all of the level of international support (for recognition).”
“In this context, it is my hope that the present agreement may in some way be a stimulus to bringing a definitive end to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he added.
From Russia Today
Ex-Russian PM & intel chief Primakov dies at 85
Edited time: June 26, 2015 09:23
Evgeny Primakov, a Soviet and Russian statesman, who held several senior governmental posts at various points in his career, has died at the age of 85.
The Kremlin expressed condolences to Primakov’s family.
“He was a statesman, a scientist, a politician and left an enormous legacy,” Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told the media.
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From The Times of Israel
‘Jews for Cruz’ PAC to change name
Federal Election Commission rules political action committee would need presidential candidate’s authorization to use name
JTA — “Jews for Cruz” can be for just about anything but Cruz, the Federal Election Commission said, accordingto Time Magazine.
The Jews for Cruz PAC backs Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and his presidential bid, but Cruz has not authorized them to do so. Thus they must change their name, the FEC informed the PAC in a letter Monday.
FEC rules (see page four, here) say a political action committee must have a formal affiliation with a candidate in order to include the candidate’s name in its name.
Apparently the group has a penchant for rhymes. Time says its Twitter profile read: “Help us fight the Islamic and liberal assault on America and Israel. In your heart, you know we’re right. And in your guts, you know they’re nuts.”
That phrase no longer appears on the @JewsforCruz nor the@JewsforCruzPac profiles.
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From The Times of Israel
UK panel won’t take action against Hasidic ban on women drivers
Equality and Human Rights Commission says it received ‘satisfactory response’ that schools won’t sanction kids for mothers’ driving
A British government committee will not take action against the Belz Hasidic group in London for threatening to ban from its schools students whose mothers drive.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission said on Tuesday that it has received a “satisfactory response” from the leaders of the Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass boys school and the Beis Malka girls school over the threat, the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported.
The commission said that the schools had offered assurances that “they will not exclude or refuse admission to any child or apply any other sanction on the basis of their mother driving.”
Late last month, Belz rabbis in London issued a letter saying that female drivers violate “the traditional rules of modesty in our camp” and that children would be expelled from Belz schools if their mothers dropped them off by car beginning in August with the new school year. Many Hasidic groups in the United States also frown upon women driving.
The letter brought accusations that the Belz were “trying to turn their London community into Saudi Arabia.” Britain’s education secretary and minister for women and equalities, Nicky Morgan, had ordered an investigation into the possible exclusion of pupils from school.
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From The Times of Israel
Woman regrets letting Chabad rep put tefillin on her
Amid uproar, student Baci Weiler says she was wrong to mislead emissary about her gender
A female Jewish student who caused a social media firestorm when she uploaded photos of a Chabad emissary placing tefillin on her after mistaking her for a man apologized Tuesday.
University of Chicago student Baci Weiler said that she regretted misleading the emissary about her gender and that she had intended to make a “political statement” about the marginalized role of women in Orthodox Judaism.
Tefillin, two black leather boxes containing parchments with passages from the Torah, are traditionally worn by Jewish men during morning prayers, but most Orthodox rabbis proscribe their donning by females.
“Being seen as a man, despite being a woman, was paradoxically validating: for just a minute, I was no longer an Other — the mechitza that has frustrated me for years dissolved,” Weiler said in a Facebook post, referring to the partition used in synagogue services to separate men and women.
“My goal was dual: on one level, I was knowingly making a sharp, ironic political statement — a criticism of a religious ideology with which I fundamentally disagree… on another level… the photo depicts an instance of accidental pluralism and of shared joy,” she said.
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