From Ynet News
Lieberman warns northern neighbors: ‘Don’t test us’
During first visit to border as defense minister, Lieberman briefed by IDF chief Eisenkot and says priority is to ‘maintain the calm.’
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Israel’s northern border on Tuesday in his first tour since entering his new office.
| Avigdor Lieberman visits northern border |
“We don’t have other plans beyond maintaining the calm situation,” said the Yisrael Beytenu chairman. “I hope that everybody understand this well, also our neighbors. In any event, I don’t recommend that anybody try and test us.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Son of Polish-Jewish immigrant has slight lead in Peru presidential race
(JTA) — The son of a Polish-Jewish immigrant from Germany has a slight lead in Peru’s presidential elections.
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former prime minister of Peru and economist for the World Bank known as PPK, as of Monday morning held a 1 percent lead in the voting over Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the jailed former president Alberto Fugimori.
Final results are not expected until at least Tuesday.
Kuczynski ran in the 2011 presidential elections, when Ollanta Humala was elected.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
PAC marking ’64 Mississippi murders anniversary with yahrzeit candles, actions targeting Trump
The FBI poster circulated before Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner’s bodies were found. (Wikimedia Commons)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A liberal Jewish political action committee is marking the anniversary of the murders of three civil rights workers with a call to action against Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Vigils will be held in four cities on June 21, the 52nd anniversary of the 1964 murders in Mississippi of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney, Bend the Arc-Jewish Action announced Monday. The cities are New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin, Texas.
Additionally, those wishing to participate may order yahrzeit, or Jewish memorial candles, and signs saying “Jews Against Trump” and “#WeveSeenThisBefore” from the PAC’s website, and will be encouraged to post selfies online and organize vigils in their hometowns.
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From The Times of Israel
30,000 parade through New York in support of Israel
Mayor Bill de Blasio vows that as long as he is in office the city ‘will always stand by’ the Jewish state
June 6, 2016, 8:42 am
Despite a persistent downpour of rain some 30,000 people marched through New York on Sunday in the annual Celebrate Israel Parade.
Hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the parade, which featured floats with dancers, bands, and performers, made its way through Manhattan from 52nd Street to 74th Street.
Among those who took part were New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, a delegation of Israeli MKs and city mayors, Israeli Consul General to New York Ido Aharoni, and Israel’s envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon.
“The residents of New York believe in Israel and we have a deep love for the people of Israel,” said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who also marched in the event. “As long as I am mayor, we will always stand by Israel.”
Some of the cast from the Broadway show “Fiddler on the Roof” joined the marchers and sang songs from the hit musical about Jewish life in Eastern Europe.
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From The Times of Israel
NY governor orders divestment from companies that back BDS
Andrew Cuomo makes announcement to coincide with Celebrate Israel Parade; Israeli ambassador hails ‘victory’ against movement
June 5, 2016, 8:15 pm
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered agencies under his control to halt any business dealings with companies and organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) against Israel.
Cuomo was slated to make the announcement on Sunday at the Harvard Club in Manhattan before marching in the annual Celebrate Israel Parade later in the day, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Cuomo issued an executive order demanding that a list of businesses that back BDS directly or indirectly be drawn up.
The request was to be presented to the commissioner of the Office of General Services, who will have six months to compile the record “from credible information available to the public.”
I am signing an Executive Order that says very clearly we are against the BDS movement. If you boycott Israel, New York will boycott you.
From The Times of Israel
Shaked: Facebook, Twitter removing 70% of ‘harmful’ posts
Social media giants clamping down on incitement to violence in Israel, says justice minister
June 7, 2016, 5:42 pm
Facebook, Twitter and Google are removing some 70 percent of harmful content from social media in Israel, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said Monday.
Speaking at a press conference in Hungary, Shaked said the social media giants were working to remove materials that incite to violence or murder, the Ynet news website reported.
Shaked was attending a conference in Hungary on combating incitement and anti-Semitism on the Internet.
In a post on her Facebook page, she said: “The Hungarian Justice Minister said correctly that verbal incitement can lead to physical harm and that he is committed to the war on incitement. Anti-Semitic internet sites in Hungary have already attacked him for the existence of the conference.
“A joining of forces by justice ministers from all over the world against incitement and our joint work vis a vis the internet companies will lead to change.
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From The Times of Israel
In Russian media blitz, PM warns Israel won’t let Iran open Golan front
Ahead of Putin meeting, Netanyahu says Tehran cannot be allowed to use Hezbollah as a proxy to attack Jewish state
June 7, 2016, 5:11 pm
Israel will not let Iran use the Hezbollah terror group to turn the Syrian side of the Golan Heights border into a new front, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian media outlets in comments published Tuesday.
Netanyahu, who is on a two-day visit to Moscow, told the state-run Interfax news service and TASS news agency ahead of the talks that he would do everything in his power to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold in Syria, and intended to ask Russia for help in curbing the threat from Hezbollah.
“We have a red line, a boundary that we will not allow to be broken. Iran will not be allowed, using Hezbollah, to use Syrian territory to attack us and open up another terrorist front against us in the Golan,” Netanyahu told TASS ahead of a meeting with Putin on Tuesday afternoon — their fourth round of talks in recent months.
The two leaders were expected to continue their ongoing discussion over security coordination between the Russian and the Israeli armies, especially their so-called deconflicting mechanism, installed to assure the Israel Defense Forces does not strike Russian jets operating in Syrian airspace.
“We have made a point of staying out of the Syrian conflict, with two exceptions: treating wounded Syrians on a humanitarian basis and preventing Iran from using Syria to attack Israel or to transfer sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah,” Netanyhau noted. “We don‘t know what will come of Syria, but in any arrangement, it cannot be an Iranian base for terrorism and aggression,” he told Interfax.
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From The Times of Israel
ADL puts Jew-targeting (((Echo))) alongside swastika on hate list
Calling its use against Jewish jounalists ‘equivalent of tagging a building with anti-Semitic graffiti,’ group adds online emblem to database of hate symbols
June 7, 2016, 9:20 am
WASHINGTON — The Anti-Defamation league announced Monday it would add a symbol that is pervasively used to target Jews on social media to its online database of hate symbols.
In recent weeks, the (((Echo))) symbol has been increasingly employed by white supremacists and neo-Nazis online to identify Jews, placing the target’s name in between parentheses.
The symbol will now be included in the ADL’s Hate on Display list, which accumulates symbols that carry vitriolic connotations, such as the swastika.
“The echo symbol is the online equivalent of tagging a building with anti-Semitic graffiti or taunting someone verbally,” ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.
A series of Jewish journalists are of late on the receiving end of this harassment, including GQ and Politico contributor Julia Ioffe, New York Times editor Jonathan Weisman, The Atlantic national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg, The New York Post contributor Bethany Mandel and Tablet magazine senior writer Yair Rosenberg.
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From PressTV
Turkey threatens ‘measures’ against Germany over genocide vote
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Turkey cannot remain silent toward the German parliament’s recognition of the Armenian killing as genocide.
Speaking in an interview with state-run TRT Haber news television network on Tuesday, Cavusoglu said Turkey will take measures against the German resolution, without specifying those steps.
“The German government has to say its official stance does not overlap with the German parliament resolution,” he said.
The Bundestag voted last week to recognize the 1915-1916 killings by the Ottoman Empire of the Armenians as “genocide.”
Armenians claim that up to 1.5 million Armenian Christians were systematically slaughtered in eastern Turkey during World War I and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.
Ankara rejects the term “genocide” and says 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks perished between 1915 and 1917.
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From PressTV
Syria forces continue advance toward Raqqah
Syrian government forces are continuing their advance toward the headquarters of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in the northern city of Raqqah, a monitor says.
Troops on Monday reached within 24 km (15 miles) of Lake Assad, the key reservoir in the Euphrates Valley contained by the Tabqa Dam, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The London-based monitor’s head Rami Abdel Rahman said Syrian government forces were “reinforcing their positions” south of the dam which is 40 kilometers from Raqqah.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, were also moving toward the dam, but are further away due to their focus on the liberation of Manbij, it said.
On Saturday, the Syrian army entered Raqqah Province for the first time since 2014, when Daesh unleashed its ferocious campaign of terror in the Arab country.
The potential recaptures of the city of Raqqah in Syria, and the Iraqi city of Mosul are seen as the ultimate blows to Daesh.
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From The Independent
Pound slides to fresh lows after polls show growing Brexit support
YouGov polling showed that the Leave campaign was up 4 points
From Russia Today
Saudi-led coalition removed from ‘wildly exaggerated’ UN blacklist of child-killers in Yemen
Published time: 7 Jun, 2016 00:51
© Khaled Abdullah / Reuters
Bowing to political pressure from Riyadh, the UN has temporarily removed it from a blacklist of children’s rights violators, after a report released last week deemed the Saudi-led coalition responsible for hundreds of minors’ deaths in the Yemen conflict.
The Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) released last week claimed that the Saudi-led air bombardment and ground campaign in Yemen led to 510 child deaths and accounted for 60 percent of the entire death toll, after the air campaign against Houthi rebels began in March 2015.
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From The Times of Israel
GOP to Trump: Lay off Judge Curiel’s Mexican heritage
Senior Republicans call on presumptive presidential nominee to drop offensive remarks, act more like a statesman
June 6, 2016, 3:27 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are warning their presumptive presidential nominee to lay off the Latino judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University and make good on a promise to unite the fractured GOP. One prominent supporter urged the candidate to start acting like “a potential leader of the United States.”
“We’re all behind him now,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned, adding that it’s time for unifying the party, not “settling scores and grudges.”
“I hope he’ll change his direction.”
So far, Trump has refused, reiterating in interviews broadcast Sunday that US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage means he cannot ensure a fair trial involving a billionaire who wants to build a border wall to keep people from illegally entering the United States from Mexico. Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican-born parents — making him, in Trump’s view, “a hater of Donald Trump.”
“I couldn’t disagree more” with Trump’s central argument, McConnell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
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From The Times of Israel
Trump says Muslim judge might also treat him unfairly
Amid criticism over his attacks on federal judge in Trump U case, GOP candidate claims a Muslim would also be biased
June 6, 2016, 1:40 am
The Republican party’s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, said on Sunday that “it’s possible” he wouldn’t be treated fairly if the federal judge hearing a lawsuit against Trump University was Muslim.
Trump responds “it’s possible, yes,” when asked on CBS’s “Face the Nation” whether he’d feel a Muslim judge would treat him unfairly because of his policies.
Trump has called for banning Muslims from entering the United States.
The billionaire magnate has also proposed building a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico. He’s been arguing that US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing the case, is biased against him because of the border proposal and the judge’s heritage.
Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel (Courtesy)
From The Times of Israel
Leader of Hungary’s far-right Jobbik bolsters power
Gabor Vona boots outspoken lawmaker Elod Novak from parliament, but he is replaced by deputies no less radical
June 7, 2016, 7:25 am
BUDAPEST, Hungary — The leader of Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party is trying to strengthen his power by forcing a key party member to resign from parliament, experts said Monday.
Lawmaker Elod Novak said he was giving up his seat at the request of party president Gabor Vona but wanted to remain in Jobbik, the second-largest opposition group in parliament.
In a post on Facebook, Novak called his resignation “the most painful decision” in his life, describing his ouster as “incorrect and unethical.”
Vona was recently re-elected party president with 80 percent support, but blocked Novak and others from running for leadership positions.
Political Capital Institute analyst Attila Juhasz said Vona was resorting to the method also used by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who emphasized personal loyalty and consolidated his leadership by sidelining potential rivals.
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From PressTV
Israeli soldiers executed 2nd wounded Palestinian in al-Khalil: Israeli rights group
A leading Israeli rights group says it has evidence that Israeli soldiers also shot dead a second wounded Palestinian in an incident in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) last month.
The killing happened at the same time when Israeli sergeant Elor Azaria summarily executed one Palestinian on March 24, B’Tselem said on Monday.
Azaria fired shots at the head of a Palestinian, Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, who had already been wounded by Israeli fire after an alleged stabbing attack against Israelis and was lying on the ground.
A second Palestinian, Ramzi al-Qasrawi, who was also alleged to have been involved in the attack with Sharif, was until now believed to have died of his injuries.
But B’Tselem says it has obtained stunning testimonies from two residents of the neighborhood that Qasrawi had also been first wounded by Israeli soldiers and then summarily executed in the same manner as Sharif.
The testimonies were obtained following the Israeli army’s lifting of strict restrictions imposed on Tel Rumeida, the neighborhood where the incidents occurred, it said.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Hackers hit 2 Mark Zuckerberg social media accounts
Mark Zuckerberg speaking at a conference in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 21, 2016. Mobile (Pau Barrena/Bloomberg)
(JTA) — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had some of his social media accounts hacked.
Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked Sunday by a hacker group called OurMine, according to reports.
The group reportedly discovered Zuckerberg’s password during a breach in the LinkedIn database. His password reportedly was not very strong – the hackers said it was “dadada” — and was used on multiple accounts, which are cardinal social media sins. He also reportedly had not used those accounts very often.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Members of US anthropological group reject Israel boycott resolution
(JTA) — Members of the American Anthropological Association narrowly defeated a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
On Tuesday, the final tally of the six-week electronic balloting announced by the association showed 2,423 members opposed the resolution and 2,384 voted in favor.
Some 51 percent of the association’s eligible members voted, the largest turnout in its history, the association said in a statement.
The resolution called on the association to refrain from formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions but did not ban relationships with individual scholars.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
US opposes settlements and outsiders imposing solutions, national security chief says
National Security Adviser Susan Rice speaking to the American Jewish Committee’s annual Washington conference on June 6 2016. (Ron Sachs)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Obama administration will continue to object to Israeli and Palestinian unilateral actions, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said, while also resisting outside attempts to impose a solution.
Rice told the American Jewish Committee’s annual Washington, D.C., conference on Monday that “we continue to strongly oppose Israeli settlement activity. It moves Israel toward a one-state reality.”
However, she also cited the occasions when the Obama administration opposed bids by the Palestinians and others to impose a solution through the United Nations, and said that policy would hold.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Hackers hit 2 Mark Zuckerberg social media accounts
Mark Zuckerberg speaking at a conference in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 21, 2016. Mobile (Pau Barrena/Bloomberg)
(JTA) — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had some of his social media accounts hacked.
Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked Sunday by a hacker group called OurMine, according to reports.
The group reportedly discovered Zuckerberg’s password during a breach in the LinkedIn database. His password reportedly was not very strong – the hackers said it was “dadada” — and was used on multiple accounts, which are cardinal social media sins. He also reportedly had not used those accounts very often.
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From Russia Today
Austrian far-right politician shows migrants ‘how to interact with our women’ (VIDEO)
Published time: 7 Jun, 2016 13:58
Austrian Freedom Party politician Armin Sippel shows asylum seekers how not to interact with women in public in a controversial video posted on YouTube. © Hans Wurst / YouTube
A provocative video in which an Austrian far-right politician explains to asylum seekers, using a blonde mannequin and posters in Arabic, that European women generally don’t like being groped in public by strangers has stirred controversy.
The video has sparked a lot of negative comments and a series of video responses, forcing Freedom Party politician Armin Sippel to take the video down due to “extremely aggressive personal attacks,” reports the Local.
“A debate on this unpleasant topic of sexual assaults is essential, but should be good mannered,” Sippel said on Facebook.
Very soon, however, the video reemerged on YouTube uploaded by others.
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From Russia Today
ISIS keeps finances afloat by taxing women for not wearing socks, men for trimming beards
Published time: 7 Jun, 2016 09:33
© AFP
Islamic State is notorious for being the richest terrorist group in the world. However, their loss of more and more territory, plus a drop in oil prices, has force it to take extreme measures. Brace yourself for the weirdest taxes in the world.
For instance, people have to cash in $100 if they leave their door open, and any Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) adherent has to pay $20 (per wrong answer) if he or she fails a random Sharia test, the Daily Mail reported, citing the IHS information and analysis company.
There are also separate taxes for men and women: the latter have to pay $25 if their cloak is too tight, or $30 for not wearing socks. Men who trim their beards also come under fire, forking out $50.
Bizarre rules apply even to livestock: a bell around a sheep’s neck would force its owner to pay $10, and the animal will be confiscated.
Non-Sunni Muslims or anyone who used to work for the government now must pay for a special ‘repentance’ certificate, costing between $200 and $2,500.
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From Russia Today
‘Colorful revolutionaries’ fire paint-bombs at Macedonia government HQ & police (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Published time: 7 Jun, 2016 04:23
Protestors with painted faces shout slogans in front of the government building, during an anti-government protest in Skopje on June 6, 2016, in a series of protests dubbed Colourful Revolution. © Robert Atanasovsky / AFP
Thousands of protesters have marched through Macedonia’s capital and pelted paint-bombs at the main government building and police. They urged the government’s resignation, despite President Gjorge Ivanov recently ceding to opposition demands.
More than 5,000 demonstrators led by opposition leader Zoran Zaev marched from the prosecutor’s office to the government headquarters in Skopje on Monday. The demonstrators deployed makeshift slingshots and fired paint-filled balloons at the government buildings and police officers.
Although the demonstrators welcomed Gjorge Ivanov’s decision to rescind pardons for government officials caught in a recent wire-tapping scandal, they said it was not enough. They demanded his resignation and the full prosecution of those who were implicated.
The demonstrators also demanded the release of protesters who had been detained earlier and a halt to all proceedings against them. Pictures on Twitter showed much of the ground covered in red paint to mark the death of 22-year-old Martin Neskoski, who was fatally beaten by police in 2011.
Facing pressure from the opposition, the leader of the Republic of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov on Monday rescinded pardons which had been handed to 34 figures allegedly involved in a wiretapping scandal in a bid to resolve the crisis. Last month he had called off his decision to pardon 22 other suspects.
“In the past 10 days we have been witnesses of different interpretations of the decision to pardon … therefore I have decided to annul the remaining decision for pardoning,” he said in a statement.
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