Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From Ynet News
Report: Iran, Hezbollah to launch major offensive in Syria
Hundreds of Iranian ground troops said to be streaming into Syria, as Russian air attacks on rebels continue, reportedly bombing CIA-backed group.
Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria in the last 10 days and will soon join government forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies in a major ground offensive backed by Russian air strikes, two Lebanese sources told Reuters on Thursday.
The two sources said the operation would be aimed at recapturing territory lost by President Bashar Assad’s government to rebels.
From The Times of Israel
Trump on Syrian refugees: ‘If I win, they’re going back’
Outspoken Republican presidential hopeful wonders why refugees are not staying in Syria and fighting
KEENE, New Hampshire (AP) — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Wednesday that if he’s elected president he would send back Syrian refugees taken in by the U.S. because they may be Islamic State militants in disguise.
“I’m putting the people on notice that are coming here from Syria as part of this mass migration,” Trump said during an evening rally in Keene, New Hampshire. “If I win, they’re going back.”
The billionaire businessman, who is leading early opinion polls, said during an hour-long speech — which included several profanities — that he was worried the refugees, who have been fleeing their country after years of civil war, could be Islamic State militants looking to get into the U.S.
“They could be ISIS, I don’t know,” said Trump, who questioned both the number of men in their ranks and why Syrians were fleeing their country instead of staying and fighting.
“This could be one of the great tactical ploys of all time. A 200,000-man army, maybe,” he later added. “That could be possible.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel moves to legalize bloc of West Bank outposts
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel intends to make legal a bloc of unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts.
Plans to authorize the outposts near the Shiloh settlement came to light in the state’s response Tuesday to a Supreme Court petition that sought to evacuate Adei Ad, one of the larger outposts, because it was built on private Palestinian land, Haaretz reported Thursday.
Responding to the petition filed last year by Yesh Din, an Israeli legal aid group for Palestinians, the state announced plans to examine which parts of the outposts were built on state land and to legalize them. Structures built on private land will be demolished. According to Haaretz, local officials have received blueprints detailing the plans.
The outposts, which cover approximately 2 square miles and include hundreds of buildings, were built without state authorization in the 1990s.
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From PressTV
Palestine no longer committed to Oslo accords: Abbas
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot abide by the Oslo agreements with Israel any longer due to the Tel Aviv regime’s continued illegal settlement activities in the occupied territories.
Abbas made the remarks in an address to the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York in Wednesday.
“We declare that as long as Israel refuses to commit to the agreements signed with us … [they] leave us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to the implementation of these agreements, while Israel continuously violates them,” he said.
“We therefore declare that we cannot continue to be bound by these signed agreements with Israel and that Israel must assume all of its responsibilities as an occupying power, because the status quo cannot continue,” he added.
The Oslo Accords are a set of agreements signed between the Israeli regime and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993 and 1995. The pacts marked the start of the Oslo process aimed at resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and fulfilling the right of the Palestinians to self-determination.
‘Palestine deserves full UN membership’
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Palestinian president emphasized that Palestine deserves full membership and recognition as a state at the UN.
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From Ynet News
Egyptians rank Israel most hostile country
The Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research reveals US is second most hostile country, Iran third; Saudi Arabia ranks as most friendly followed by Gulf States. A public opinion survey of Egyptians published Tuesday placed Israel in first place in the category of hostile nations – frienemies at best.
The Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research (Baseera), published the results of the survey in media outlets associated with the regime, like Al-Ahram’s website and the news agency al-Sharq al-Awsat.
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From The Times of Israel
Russia to buoy Lebanese Army with ‘specialized equipment’
Foreign Minister Lavrov says weapons are to help combat terror groups like Islamic State
Hours after officially entering the Syrian civil war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country was poised to bolster the army in neighboring Lebanon as well.
Lavrov said Moscow was ready to boost the Lebanese Army by equipping it with “specialized equipment” to fight terror groups.
Lavrov made the comments at a meeting of the Lebanon Support Group at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York on Wednesday, the Russian Tass news agency reported.
“We give unconditional support to the people of Lebanon in opposing the terrorist and extremist groupings like the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra,” Lavrov said. “We confirm the readiness to continue upgrading the potential and combat readiness of the Lebanese forces as they stand up to terrorism.”
The foreign minister noted that Russia had “recently signed supplementary agreements on the supplies of specialized equipment to Lebanon,” but the report did not elaborate on what kind of weapons were involved.
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From The Times of Israel
US balks at European vision for P5+1-esque talks to solve Syria
Washington doesn’t want them at table, but Europeans point to Iran nuke talks as proof of format’s success’s
UNITED NATIONS — Nine nations or five? In speeches at this year’s UN gathering of world leaders, major powers are increasing calls for multilateral negotiations to end the war in Syria. But Europe and the United States are split on who should be at the table.
The Europeans invoke the success of the Iran nuclear talks in arguing for a similar format — with key additions.
There, Iran negotiated with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to reach their July 14 agreement. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Wednesday called for a similar arrangement “enlarged with regional partners.”
The Americans, in contrast, want a tighter group, without the Europeans.
Fabius did not elaborate on his vision. But two diplomats told The Associated Press that this time, instead of making demands on Iran, as was the case at the nuclear talks, the Europeans want Tehran to work with them, the Americans, Russians and Chinese on finding a peace formula. Saudi Arabia and Turkey also would be included.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NY synagogue skirted legal requirements in building sale
(JTA) — A New York City synagogue did not follow state regulations in selling its building to the city, the state attorney general’s office said.
The Bayside Jewish Center in the borough of Queens failed to file the required petition informing the New York state attorney general of the proposed sale to the New York City School Construction Authority prior to finalizing the deal, the Queens TimesLedger reported Thursday. The building was sold last month to the authority, which will use it as a high school.
The petition would have allowed the attorney general to review the sale and make sure it accords with the law.
“By rushing to sell the Bayside Jewish Center, not only were the nearly unanimous objections to the proposal ignored, but so too were the regulations governing it,” State Sen. Tony Avella, who asked the attorney general to examine the sale, said in a statement, according to the TimesLedger. “The attorney general can’t review the deal’s compliance with the law if he was never presented it in the first place.”
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From The Times of Israel
Defiant Ukrainian leader asks for UN help against Russia
Poroshenko accuses Moscow of hypocrisy for seeking role in anti-IS coalition while supporting ‘terror’ in Crimea
NEW YORK — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called out the United Nations for facilitating Russian obstructionism on the Security Council, imploring the international body to assist his country in combating what he described as “treacherous Russian aggression.”
Less than a day after US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin butted heads over Putin’s actions in eastern Ukraine, Poroshenko took the stand at the United Nations General Assembly to castigate the Russian leader for staging an uprising against his authority.
“Ukraine needs help in its fight against treacherous Russian aggression,” Poroshenko declared during an impassioned speech early Tuesday afternoon.
The Ukrainian leader complained that the Russian activities in Crimea “bluntly and brutally” violated international law. Still, he argued, the international response to Russia’s actions was limited by Russia’s ability to cast a key veto in the United Nations Security Council – blocking resolutions related to the Russian army’s activities. As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia can cast a veto against any resolution brought before the powerful UN body.
“Abuse of the veto right as a license to kill is absolutely unacceptable,” Poroshenko asserted. He repeatedly called on the General Assembly to take action during this session to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty – not just on the battlefield, but also against what he described as a “full-scale information war and propaganda campaign” which he said “has become a tool of Russian aggression.”
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