Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Poll: Americans more apt to back Jewish candidates than evangelicals, Muslims or atheists
(JTA) — Ninety-one percent of Americans said they would vote for a presidential candidate who is Jewish, according to a new poll.
The Gallup poll of recent voting preferences released Monday showed that 73 percent of Americans would support an evangelical Christian for president, while 60 percent would back a Muslim and 58 percent an atheist.
The latest results on voting for a Jewish candidate matched those from June 2012. When the question about religion was first asked in 1937, less than half of Americans said they would vote for a Jewish candidate.
In addition to asking about religions, the poll, which was conducted via telephone interviews from June 2 to 7, asked the 1,527 participants aged 18 and older about their willingness to vote for gay or lesbian, African-American, Latino, female and socialist presidential candidates. Ninety-two percent said they would vote for an African-American and/or a woman and 74 percent a gay or lesbian. Forty-seven percent said they would consider voting for a socialist.
From The Times of Israel
In wake of fatal Druze attack on ambulance, IDF denies treating Syrian jihadis
Tensions high as Golan Heights villagers storm military convoy transporting injured Syrians, killing one; Israeli soldiers wounded in melee
The Israeli Defense Forces denied that the military provides medical treatment to Syrian jihadi fighters from the al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front, hours after an Israeli military ambulance transporting wounded Syrians in the Golan Heights was violently attacked by local Druze residents Sunday night, killing one of the Syrians.
IDF spokesman Motti Almoz said Israel “has not provided aid to the Nusra Front over the past four years, since the civil war in Syria began.”
“We help wounded Syrians who arrive at our border and give them medical treatment,” he said after the attack which he described as “very grave.”
“We are appealing for calm and we wish those injured a speedy recovery,” Almoz said.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot convened an emergency meeting over the incident, saying it was “inconceivable that IDF soldiers and [Syrian] wounded are attacked.”
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From The Times of Israel
US Jewish organizations deride UN report on Gaza war
Groups dismiss Human Rights Council review as ‘immoral,’ reject ‘moral symmetry’ between Israel, terrorist Hamas
US Jewish organizations on Monday responded with sharp criticism to a United Nations Human Rights Council report that found Israel may have committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip during fighting last year against Hamas and scorned the document for viewing the IDF and the Palestinian terror group in the same light.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee attacked the notion that Israel and Hamas had an equal moral standing.
“Hamas indiscriminately waged a war of aggression against Israeli civilians while inhumanely exploiting Gaza residents as human shields,” AIPAC said in a statement. “Any suggestion of moral symmetry between the actions of Israel and those of the terrorist organization Hamas is a malicious affront to the truth.”
AIPAC cautioned that further reports like the one on the Gaza conflict could be “eroding the credibility” of the UNHCR.
The UN Human Rights Council report placed blame on both parties but focused more on Israel’s role. It also accepted the Palestinian death count, by which 1,462 out of a total of 2,251 Palestinians killed were civilians — a 65 percent ratio.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
As France suggests U.N. peace plan, Israel unequivocally objects
TEL AVIV (JTA) — For months, France has considered taking a more active role in advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Israel wants no part of it.
The French peace proposal reportedly would have three components: a return to direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, a committee of representatives from world and regional powers to facilitate the negotiations, and a United Nations Security Council resolution that would set a timetable for the process.
“We don’t want to replace the role of the sides,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of France said, according to Israeli reports, adding that the U.N. resolution is “a means, not an end.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Former Spanish PM calls Israel ‘centerpiece’ of Western civilization
(JTA) — Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said that in view of threats from Iran and Sunni jihadists, “Israel happens to be a centerpiece of Western civilization.”
Aznar, a center-right politician for the People’s Party who presided as prime minister for eight years until 2004, made the assertion in a foreword he wrote for a newly released book by the Jerusalem-based researcher Manfred Gerstenfeld on the delegitimization of Israel and the Jews.
Israel’s significance to Western culture “is why it is under constant attack, and why we should do everything in our power to allow Israel to remain strong, free, and prosperous,” Aznar wrote in “The War of a Million Cuts.” The book was launched Monday during a panel discussion at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, which Gerstenfeld formerly served as chairman.
Earlier this week, Aznar told the Maariv daily that while the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel declares “its aim to put pressure on the Israeli government,” in reality “BDS does not only want to change the government’s policy, it wants to empty the country of Jews.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Obama cites Israel in arguing for gun control
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Barack Obama compared Israel favorably to the United States in making a point about gun violence.
“Here are the stats: Per population, we kill each other with guns at a rate 297x more than Japan, 49x more than France, 33x more than Israel,” Obama said Sunday on a Twitter account that the White House says he personally authors.
“Expressions of sympathy aren’t enough.” he said. “It’s time we do something about this.”
Obama’s tweets referred to the shooting deaths Wednesday of nine congregants in a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. An alleged white supremacist is being held in the shootings.
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From PressTV
Israeli police, Ethiopian protesters clash in Tel Aviv
Clashes have again broken out between Israeli regime forces and Ethiopian Jews protesting persisting racial discrimination against them leading to the arrest of over a dozen native Ethiopians.
At least 19 protesters were reportedly arrested as hundreds of demonstrators marched from a central square in Tel Aviv on Monday, blocking roads and halting traffic in the vicinity.
The protesters also waved flags against racism and chanted slogans such as “We’ve had enough, we’re a new generation.”
The demonstration was the latest protest action by the Ethiopian community in the Israeli occupied territories against what they condemn as continued discrimination by Israeli authorities against Jews of African descent.
The protest rallies first broke out last month after the publication of video footage showing an Israeli police officer beating a soldier of Ethiopian descent.
The latest protest rally came as the Ethiopian community in Tel Aviv grew furious at the local attorney general’s decision against prosecuting the Israeli police officer responsible for beating the native Ethiopian soldier.
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From PressTV
Israel judicial process against Palestinians, hollow formality: Rights group
Israel’s judicial process against Palestinians has been reduced to a “hollow formality” as thousands are prosecuted by military courts each year without substantial evidence, a human rights group says.
B’Tselem group said in a 41-page report on Monday that remanding in custody is “the rule rather than the exception,” adding that most defendants enter plea bargains because waiting for trial would mean more time in jail.
“Remand is the rule rather than the exception. The military prosecution routinely asks for remand in custody and the courts approve the vast majority of the motions,” the group said.
“Military prosecution routinely asks for remand in custody, and such motions were made in 90 percent of the cases. The military courts, for their part, grant these motions in the vast majority of the cases, and 90 percent of them were granted in cases in which the court of first instance made a decision,” it added.
It said 151 of 1,343 Palestinians arrested in 2013 had remained locked for up to two years pending trial.
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From PressTV
UN slams Israel over human suffering in Gaza war
A highly anticipated United Nations report on the latest war on Gaza has decried as “unprecedented” the devastation and human suffering left behind by Israel’s 2014 attack on the enclave.
“The extent of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza was unprecedented and will impact generations to come,” said a statement on Monday by the Commission of Inquiry on Israel’s Gaza war in 2014.
More than 2,140 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed during 51 days of Israel’s war on Gaza last summer. According to estimates, a third of the civilians killed were children.
This as at least 73 Israelis – nearly all of whom soldiers – were killed during the offensive.
The UN report further denounced the “huge firepower” used in Gaza, saying Israel launched more than 6,000 airstrikes and fired 50,000 artillery shells on the besieged enclave.
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From The Times of Israel
US backs Israeli self-defense, but worried by Gaza civilians deaths
White House still studying report, awaiting outcome of ongoing Israeli probes; State doesn’t ‘foresee US role’ if review goes to ICC
The US supports Israel’s right to defend itself and will wait for the results of ongoing internal Israeli investigations of Operation Protective Edge, the White House said Monday night in response to the UN Human Rights Council’s commission of inquiry into the 50-day war last summer.
While Israel has a “right to self-defense,” the US “expressed deep concern about the civilians in Gaza that were in harm’s way [during the war]. And we urged all parties to do everything they could to protect innocent civilians who were essentially caught in the crossfire of this conflict,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest during a press briefing.
“We await further outcomes from the Israeli government on this particular matter,” he said, adding that the administration was still studying the report.
Earlier, the State Department said that it was “way too soon for any conclusions to be reached or any statements to be made about the veracity” of the report, which charges that both Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, may have committed war crimes.
“We’ve been very clear from the get-go that we have concerns over the mechanism itself,” said spokesman John Kirby, adding that it’s doubtful the US will issue a “point-by-point rebuttal” of the report. The report was compiled by a panel appointed by the UN’s Human Rights Council, which Israel says is obsessive in its criticism of Israel and biased against the Jewish state.
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From The Times of Israel
UK, France warn no nuke deal without inspections
London and France call for ‘robust’ deal as Iran’s Zarif rejects ‘excessive’ demands, says talks may go beyond June 30 deadline
LUXEMBOURG — Britain and France insisted Monday that any deal on Iran’s contested nuclear program must include a comprehensive verification regime to ensure Tehran sticks to its commitments, as the clock ticks down to an end-of-month deadline.
After years of tortuous negotiations, both sides are racing to agree a deal by June 30 that would see Iran open up its nuclear program to allay concerns it is seeking atomic weapons, in return for the West lifting punishing economic sanctions.
But suspicions run deep and both British foreign secretary Philip Hammond and his French counterpart Laurent Fabius were adamant that Iran, which says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, should have no wriggle room.
“Britain wants a robust and verifiable deal with Iran that ensures that its nuclear programme in the future is exclusively civil,” Hammond said after talks in Luxembourg with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, Fabius, Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier and EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini.
“We cannot compromise on the absolute red lines we have. If we do a deal, it has to be verifiable,” Hammond said.
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From The Times of Israel
After shooting, Confederate flag sets off Republican debate
Romney says southern banner seen as ‘a symbol of racial hatred’; Lindsey Graham: It’s ‘a part of who we are’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president in 2012, called for the immediate removal of the Confederate battle flag from outside the South Carolina Statehouse, scrambling the 2016 GOP presidential contenders into staking a position on a contentious cultural issue.
Some still steered clear from the sensitive debate, even after the shooting deaths of nine people in a historic African-American church in Charleston further exposed the raw emotions about the flying the flag.
Many see the Confederate flag as “a symbol of racial hatred,” Romney tweeted on Saturday. “Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims.”
The former Massachusetts governor joins President Barack Obama and civil rights leaders in calling for the flag to come down as the nation grapples with Wednesday’s murders. The man charged with the crimes, Dylann Storm Roof, held the Confederate flag in a photograph on a website and displayed the flags of defeated white-supremacist governments in Africa on his Facebook page.
Romney’s statement prompted most of the Republican Party’s leading presidential contenders to weigh in on flying the Confederate battle flag, although few took a definitive position one way or the other. Many instead expressed personal dislike for the flag, but suggested it was up to the people of South Carolina to decide.
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From The Independent
From Russia Today
Survival genes: Scientists find DNA mutations that helped Russians during Leningrad siege
Analysis of the genome structure of Leningrad siege survivors and their contemporaries has allowed Russian scientists to spot specific DNA mutations that helped people to live through one of the most tragic chapters of the WWII.
A team of researchers took blood samples from Leningrad siege survivors to analyze the structure of the genes involved in metabolism and cell activity when facing severe food shortages. They compared their findings with genetic samples of elderly Russians who did nt live through similar horrors.
Many siege survivors who suffered the worst turned out to have a completely different structure of two genes related to PPAR (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors) proteins, and one from the UCP (uncoupling proteins) gene family, which play major roles in development, metabolism and thermogenesis of higher organisms.
The inhabitants of the besieged city, now known as St. Petersburg, had these genes undergo a mutation that increased the efficiency of the cells’ activities and reduced the loss of energy invested in keeping the body warm, according to an article, recently published in the journal Science.
READ MORE: 872 days of cold, hunger & death: Leningrad siege survivors share memories with RT
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From Ynet News
PM: We will capture those from Druze lynch mob
Netanyahu takes harsh stance against those who ‘take the law into their own hands’ in wake of Druze attack on an IDF ambulance; ‘We are not part of the anarchy that’s spreading around us.’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed rising tensions in Israel’s northern Druze communities Tuesday morning at an international cyber conference, saying that authorities wound capture those responsible for a Druze lynch mob that attacked an IDF ambulance on Monday night, wounding two soldiers and killing a Syrian rebel who was enroute to a hospital.
“We are a State of laws,” said Netanyahu. “We are not part of the anarchy that’s spreading around us. We won’t let anyone take the law into their hands; we won’t let anyone interfere in the missions of IDF soldiers.”
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From The Times of Israel
Israeli removed from Vienna-TLV flight for unruly behavior
Cinematographer says he was provoked by Muslim flight attendant who singled him out because he was Jewish
An Israeli passenger on a flight from Austria to Israel was taken off the plane for unruly behavior and for mistreating a flight attendant this week.
Yossi Davidov, a cinematographer, was removed from the plane along with three photographers with whom he was traveling from Vienna to Tel Aviv on an Austrian Airlines flight. He was arrested in Vienna and swiftly released, with help by the head of the Bucharian Jewish community in Vienna, after paying a 100 euro fine.
Davidov said Saturday that his behavior was provoked by a Muslim flight attendant who singled him out because he was Jewish.
Davidov is the brother of Chai and Ronen Davidov, who wrote a successful Channel 1 sitcom in which he serves as inspiration for one of the characters. He was in Vienna to film an event for the local Bucharian community there.
The altercation, caught on video by a passenger, began when Davidov wanted to bring cameras aboard the flight as carry-on. Flight attendants believed the equipment was too heavy to be carried in the passenger cabin. Davidov told them in Hebrew: “You don’t like us because we’re Jews.”
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