Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From The Independent
Defeating Isis ‘will not end global jihadism’ and a third of Syria rebels share same aim
Jihadi terror in Syria will not end if Isis is defeated and there are 15 other jihadist groups ready to take their place, according to a new report.
Other hardline Islamist militias, with similar religious beliefs and political goals to the so-called “Islamic State” group, represent around a third of all Syrian rebel fighters.
The study authors suggest that any one of these groups could grow to fill the void caused by the military defeat of Isis itself. While the CIA estimates there are just 31,000 Isis fighters in Syria, these other factions include some 65,000 militants in total.
The new report was published by the Centre on Religion and Geopolitics, an initiative linked to the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
It looked at the views of 48 Syrian rebel factions, and found 33 per cent follow Isis’s ideology, Sky News reports.
This figure increases to 60 per cent if you include Islamist groups who are seeking to create a state government by Sharia Law.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Prominent Greek bishop blames ‘Zionist monster’ for same-sex cohabitation bill
ATHENS, Greece (JTA) — A leading Greek bishop has blamed the “Zionist monster” for new legislation that would give same-sex couples in Greece expanded civil rights.
Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus said the cohabitation bill is a result of the “constant war against the true faith” being waged “by the international Zionist monster,” which he said controls the Greek government.
In a statement on the website of the Metropolis of Piraeus, the bishop also threatened to sever relations with any Greek lawmaker who supports the bill when it comes to a vote on Tuesday, saying it subverts human sexuality and is destroying the traditional family unit.
The bishop has a long history of making anti-Semitic comments. In 2010, he told a Greek TV station that Jews had orchestrated the Holocaust and were behind Greece’s financial crisis. He later clarified that these were his personal opinions and did not represent the Church of Greece.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Syrian rebel group claims responsibility for Hezbollah leader’s death
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Syrian rebel group has claimed responsibility for the airstrike in Damascus that killed a Lebanese Hezbollah leader who spent nearly three decades in an Israeli prison.
In a video released Monday on YouTube, the Free Syrian Army denied Hezbollah’s claim that Israeli warplanes violated Syrian airspace and assassinated Samir Kuntar, saying the group struck the residential building in which Kuntar and his colleagues were located. The Free Syrian Army claimed Hezbollah was attempting to demoralize the rebel group by claiming Israel undertook the killing.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the Sunday morning strike on a building in the Syrian capital, though several Israeli officials praised Kuntar’s death.
Kuntar was released in a 2008 swap for the corpses of Israelis killed in the 2006 Lebanon War, and reportedly had been targeted previously by Israel. In July, an Israeli surveillance plane reportedly bombed a car in Syria, killing five men, in an attack believed to be targeting Kuntar. In September, the U.S. State Department designated Kuntar as a terrorist.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Lindsey Graham drops presidential bid
WASHINGTON (JTA) — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, among the Republican presidential candidates close to the pro-Israel community, withdrew from the race for the nomination.
Graham was never able to breach more than the low single digits in his bid for the nomination. The field has had as many as 18 candidates.
“I’m going to suspend my campaign,” the South Carolina senator told CNN on Monday. “I’ve hit a wall here.”
Graham predicted that whoever emerges as the Republican nominee would adopt the policy he embraces in confronting the Islamic State terrorist group – a U.S.-led coalition that would necessitate the participation of American ground troops. He offered his services to the winning presidential candidate, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Iran blames ‘Zionist lobby’ for passage of new U.S. visa waiver law
(JTA) — Iran’s Foreign Ministry blamed supporters of Israel for a new U.S. visa waiver law that excludes Iranian citizens and visitors to Iran from visa-free travel to the United States.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hossein Jaber Ansari, told a televised news conference on Sunday that the measure, which allows visa-free travel to the United States for citizens of 38 countries, most in Europe, was passed “under pressure from the Zionist lobby and currents opposed to the JCPOA,” according to Reuters.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the nuclear deal reached in July between Iran and six world powers, including the U.S. — lifts sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for a dialing back of its nuclear program. Israel and many American Jewish groups opposed the pact.
President Barack Obama signed the visa measure passed by Congress into law on Friday.
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From PressTV
Turkish ruling party spokesman dubs Israel as Ankara’s ‘friend’
A spokesperson for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has described the Israeli regime as a “friend” of the government in Ankara just as Tel Aviv presses ahead with its deadly crackdown on Palestinians in the occupied territories.
“There is no doubt that the Israeli state and its people are friends of Turkey,” AKP spokesman Omer Celik said on Sunday, adding that the two sides were working on a draft document to reach final agreement on bilateral ties, which had been soured in the wake of a 2010 Israeli raid on a Turkish aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip.
Israel and Turkey recently reached a preliminary agreement to normalize ties following the 2010 incident, unnamed officials from Tel Aviv and Ankara said last week.
The deal was reached during a secret meeting in Switzerland between Yossi Cohen, the incoming head of Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, the Israeli PM’s point-man for Turkish reconciliation Joseph Ciechanover and Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu.
Under the deal, Israel should compensate the victims of the raid. Ankara and Tel Aviv would also exchange envoys and hold talks on the restart of gas exports to Turkey.
On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos attacked the Turkish-flagged MV Mavi Marmara in the Mediterranean Sea, killing nine Turkish citizens and injuring about 50 other people. A 10th died last year after four years in a coma.
Following the raid, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and demanded a formal apology and compensation, as well as an end to the Israeli-imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip.
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From PressTV
Efforts to continue until all Turkish troops withdrawn: Iraq FM
Baghdad has welcomed Turkey’s announcement that it will start removing its troops stationed in northern Iraq but says it will continue efforts until all the forces are pulled out.
“What has been reported in the media is a step in the right direction,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in a statement released on Sunday.
Jaafari stressed that Baghdad will carry on its process with the UN Security Council until “full withdrawal is achieved.”
On Saturday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that Ankara will continue to recall some of the troops from the Bashiqa military base in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province.
US President Barack Obama called on his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday to withdraw his country’s troops out of Iraq and to “to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.”
Baghdad also called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution, urging Turkey to end its “illegal incursion” and immediately withdraw all of its troops from the Iraqi soil.
Turkey claims that the troops are deployed to train Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters battling the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
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From The Independent
Benjamin Netanyahu ‘threatens to strip Jerusalem residency from 230,000 Palestinians’
Plans to strip Jerusalem residency rights from Palestinians in the wake of recent violence could affect more than 230,000 people, according to reports.
Identity cards give around 350,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem the right to work and move freely across the city, and are used by residents both inside and outside the separation wall built in 2003.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu
, has previously hinted at the prospect of taking away residency rights from some Palestinians, seemingly manipulating public fears about a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that began around two months ago.
But the new figures, reported by the pro-Likud Hebrew Channel 2 and the Anadolou Agency in Turkey, would also impact Palestinians inside the wall and threatens to dramatically alter the demographic balance of Jerusalem.
Public services in Palestinian neighbourhoods already suffer significant neglect, despite its residents paying taxes to the municipality. Jerusalem officials say it is not safe for workers to operate in the areas.
If those who lived there were also denied the right to move around Jerusalem for work, local Palestinian representatives say, they will be “turned into criminals”.
According to official Palestinian figures, 145,000 Palestinians live outside the Jerusalem separation wall, while 195,000 live inside of it.
Kahil Tufakji, a Palestinian settlement affairs expert, told Anadolu Agency: “According to the plan prepared by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jerusalem will be a Jewish-majority city of 88 per cent and an Arab-minority of 12 per cent by 2020.”
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Blaming operative’s death on Israel, Hezbollah chief vows revenge
(JTA) — Hassan Nasrallah, the top leader of the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah, blamed the killing of operative Samir Kuntar on Israel and said his group would retaliate.
“We reserve the right to respond to this assassination at the time and place of our choosing,” Nasrallah said Monday evening in a televised speech from Beirut, the Times of Israel reported. The newspaper cited an English translation from a journalist with the al-Mayadeen Arabic satellite television channel.
Nasrallah’s statement came hours after a Syrian rebel group claimed responsibility for the airstrike in Damascus that killed Kuntar, who was released in a 2008 prisoner swap after spending nearly three decades in Israeli prison for his role in a deadly terrorist attack.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
US-Israel air defense system David’s Sling passes final tests, could be ready for ’16
(JTA) — The joint U.S.-Israel air defense system known as David’s Sling has passed its final round of tests and could be operational for next year.
The successful tests of the system, which is designed to stop long-range rockets, drones and cruise missiles, were announced Monday by Israel’s Defense Ministry. Israel is scheduled to receive one David’s Sling battery in the coming months, according to reports.
David’s Sling is intended to supplement the Iron Dome system, which targets short-range rockets, and the Arrow system targeting ballistic missiles, both of which are already in operation.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Tel Aviv attorney to be first openly gay Likudnik to serve in Knesset
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Tel Aviv attorney will be the first openly gay person to serve as a Knesset lawmaker for the right-wing Likud party.
Amir Ohana, 39, is expected to be sworn in next week to fill the seat of Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, who resigned amid accusations of sexual assault. A major in the Israeli army reserves and a former member of the Shin Bet security service, Ohana will be the fourth gay lawmaker to serve in the Knesset.
He and his partner have 4-month-old twins — a son and a daughter — born through a surrogate. Ohana was elected to represent the Tel Aviv District and is known for his gay-rights activism.
Shalom announced Sunday that he would resign following a week in which at least six women have accused him of sexual assault or forcing himself on them. The allegations first came to light last week in a report in the Israeli daily Haaretz.
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