Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From The Independent
Richest one per cent owns more than half the world’s wealth
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Dutch Jews express ‘grave concern’ over refugee center in heavily Jewish town
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — The main organization representing Dutch Jews expressed “grave concern” over the housing of Syrians and Iraqis at a refugee center in a heavily Jewish suburb of Amsterdam.
The Central Jewish Board, or CJO, an umbrella of religious and secular Jewish groups, sent a statement to the media on Monday about the center in Amstelveen, just south of the Dutch capital.
“CJO and local Jewish organizations in Amsterdam and Amstelveen have grave concerns regarding the safety of the Jewish community following the housing of Syrian and Iraqi refugees” at the center, the statement said.
CJO in the statement asked authorities to prepare a risk assessment for local Jews and whether this issue was considered before the municipality decided to house refugees in the building.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Danny Cohen steps down as BBC’s television director
(JTA) — The BBC’s director of television, Danny Cohen, is leaving the corporation.
Cohen, 40, who spent eight years at the British Broadcasting Corp. and had been director of television since 2013, said he is considering new positions in the United States and the United Kingdom.
“In the last few weeks I’ve been approached about a number of exciting opportunities and I want to consider these in an open and transparent way,” he said.
Cohen, a lifelong U.K. resident, caused a stir in December for saying that he had “never felt so uncomfortable being a Jew in the U.K. as I’ve felt in the last 12 months.”
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From PressTV
Israel troops kill Palestinian farmer in West Bank
A Palestinian farmer has been killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank as the Tel Aviv regime intensifies heavy-handed tactics to curb the uprising across the occupied territories.
Riyad Ibrahim Dar Youssef, a 46-year-old Palestinian from the al-Janiya village in western Ramallah, was pronounced dead Thursday morning a day after he was assaulted by Israeli soldiers in the volatile region.
He was targeted on his way back home from picking olives with his family. Local residents and witness said Israeli forces beat up Dar Youssef, leaving him with critical injuries.
The administration of the Palestine Medical Center said that his condition had rapidly deteriorated after the fatal attack by the Israelis.
The village of al-Janiya is surrounded by Israeli settlements and its residents are frequently denied access by the Israeli army to their farmland. Israeli soldiers have prevented al-Janiya residents from reaching the olive groves by declaring the area as “closed military zone.”
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From PressTV
Israel sets up roadblocks around Palestinian neighborhoods in al-Quds
Israeli forces have set up concrete blocks around several neighborhoods in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), imposing more restrictions on Palestinians’ movement in the occupied city.
Israeli paramilitary border police used their vehicles to block exits at the edge of Jabel Mukabar, Ras al-Amud and several other Palestinian neighborhoods in East al-Quds on Thursday.
Israeli forces examined the identity papers of Palestinian motorists and carried out body searches in the occupied region.
Israel has announced further drastic measures to intensify its crackdown on Palestinians. It has eased firearms laws for Israeli settlers and stripped some Palestinian citizens of their residency permits.
The new measures come after Israeli cabinet had authorized the East al-Quds crackdown in an overnight session.
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From PressTV
Israeli forces shoot, kill another another Palestinian in al-Quds
Israeli forces have shot dead another Palestinian in al-Quds (Jerusalem) after claiming that he attacked and stabbed a woman near the central bus station.
Israeli police said in a statement that the man was killed on Wednesday after allegedly attacking and moderately injuring “a woman aged about 70.”
Palestinian sources identified the man as 23-year-old Ahmad Fathy Abu Shabaan, and said he had been released from an Israeli jail.
Earlier in the day, Israeli police killed another Palestinian youth at an entrance to the occupied al-Quds’ Old City over similar claims. Palestinian media named him as Bassel Sadr, 20, from the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).
The fresh fatalities come amid the recent deadly tension between the Tel Aviv regime and Palestinians triggered by Israel’s imposition of sweeping restrictions on entries into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds on August 26 and Israeli settlers’ repeated attacks on the mosque.
According to Palestinian sources, a total of 32 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israelis since October 1. It is said that at least 7 Israeli have been killed in the same period.
Palestinians are furious at the settler violence and a plan by Israelis to change the status quo of the mosque, which is Islam’s third holiest site after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.
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From PressTV
Palestinian prisoner dies from stroke in Israeli jail
A Palestinian held in an Israeli prison has died after suffering a stroke, Palestinian officials say.
The head of the Palestinian Authority Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, said on Wednesday that 30-year-old Fadi al-Darbi was pronounced brain dead at the Soroka hospital in the occupied territories on October 11.
Al-Darbi had suffered a stroke earlier in the day.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, Darbi’s health had deteriorated as a result of medical negligence by the Israeli Prison Service.
The group said Darbi had also been a victim of medical negligence after suffering abdominal bleeding two years earlier, while serving a 16-year prison sentence in the Israeli Ramon prison. He had been nabbed in 2006.
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From PressTV
Israelis clash with Palestinians in Bethlehem
Israeli forces have clashed with Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem following the funeral of a Palestinian killed by Tel Aviv regime forces.
The clashes broke out in Bethlehem after thousands of people attended the funeral of Mutaz Zawahra, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes in the same city a day before.
Israeli forces fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, who were angry about the killing of the Palestinian at a security checkpoint in the city.
The funeral procession for Zawahra set off from the Duheisha refugee camp toward the al-Shuhada cemetery in the southern part of Bethlehem and those attending carried Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against Israel.
Meanwhile, a general strike was called in Bethlehem on Thursday to protest against the rising Israeli violence against Palestinians.
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From Russia Today
ISIS retreating in Syria, missile system destroyed, 33 targets hit – Russian military
The 9K33 Osa short-range air defense launcher was destroyed by a Sukhoi Su-34 bomber in Eastern Douma near Damascus, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told the media in his Thursday daily briefing.
The Su-34 dropped a precision anti-fortification bomb KAB-500 at a concrete shelter, where the launcher was hidden, destroying both the weapon and the building, he added.
Osa, which is called Gecko by NATO, is a highly-mobile launcher equipped with six short-range surface-to-air missiles meant to provide tactical cover from enemy aircraft to ground troops.
The launcher was destroyed during one of 33 combat missions that Russia conducted in Syria over the day. A total of 32 targets in the provinces Idlib, Hama, Damascus, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor were hit, Konashenkov said.
The general added that terrorist forces appear to be abandoning their positions and are pulling back.
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From Russia Today
Putin: I don’t get how US can criticize Russian op in Syria if it refuses dialogue
“I don’t really understand how our American partners can criticize Russia’s counterterrorism effort in Syria while refusing direct dialogue on the all-important issue of political settlement,” Putin explained.
Putin was commenting on the refusal by the Obama administration to receive a Russian delegation headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the differences the two nations have on the Syrian crisis. The US said it would not talk unless Russia followed Washington’s lead and stopped helping the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad.
“I believe this position to be unconstructive. The weakness of this position is apparently based on a lack of agenda. It seems they have nothing to discuss,”Putin said at a meeting with the Kazakhstan president in Astana.
He added that by obstructing Russia’s invitation to negotiate the US undermines itself, as it voices criticism of Russia’s actions in Syria, but doesn’t seek ways to resolve its concerns.
Russia this month launched a bombing campaign targeting terrorist forces in Syria at the invitation of the Syrian government. The goal is to curb the violence sufficiently for a political dialogue to start in the war-torn country.
Washington wants the Syrian government to fall, hoping that so-called ‘moderate rebels’ will fill in the vacuum. It accuses Russia of bombing those supposed moderate forces instead of hardcore jihadists, an allegation that Moscow denies.
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From Russia Today
Migrants sue Berlin’s main refugee center for delays to welfare handouts
The temporary injunction filed at the Berlin Social Court seeks the immediate disbursement of payments and benefits by the State Office of Health and Welfare (LaGeSo). The group of some 20 asylum seekers is also urging the government to immediately speed up the procedure for processing urgent applications.
The applicants claim that they had not been registered yet, despite weeks of waiting in front of the LaGeSo office to receive money for living expenses. Many spend weeks camping out on the streets trying to make the ends meet, as night-time temperatures in the city fall to 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit). Until their papers are processed, the refugees have no access to government refugee shelters or benefits.
Spokesman for the Berlin Social Court, Marcus Howe, said that the court is first trying to accommodate those applicants with “emergency” situations, according to DPA news agency. The spokesman stressed that the refugees are trying to “put pressure on authorities” by bringing the case out in the open.
While the group awaits a court ruling in the coming days, the spokesman highlighted that this was not the first case of its kind filed recently. However this is by far the largest class action suit by migrants filed with the court over the past two weeks.
The lawsuit was welcomed by humanitarian NGO “Moabit hilft!” that criticized LaGeSo for their slow work. According to the NGO up to 500 people line up per day to get registered.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Greek drug firms’ rep warns parliament of Jewish conspiracy
ATHENS, Greece (JTA) — The head of a group representing pharmaceutical firms in Greece warned that a pending bill to open up the country’s drug market to cheap generic drugs was the result of a conspiracy between Germany and Jewish groups.
During Wednesday’s debate in parliament, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, the president of the Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies, said 11,000 Greek jobs would be lost and blamed the measure on pressure from Jewish groups in order to benefit Israeli generic drug makers.
He called for a parliamentary investigation into the role of former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Greek-Israeli businessman Sabi Mionis, and David Harris, the director of the American Jewish Committee, in creating the bill.
Giannakopoulos said the move was also at the behest of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, accusing her of “imposing a contract of death on Greece” and referencing the 2010 takeover of the German generic drug maker Ratiopharm by the Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
State Department walks back Kerry’s settlement-violence linkage
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.S. State Department walked back John Kerry’s apparent linkage between settlement building and the current wave of violence by Palestinians against Israelis.
In a news briefing Wednesday, State Department spokesman John Kirby clarified the remarks by the secretary of state the previous evening in a speech at Harvard University.
“I think the Secretary was very consistent yesterday and has been over time in not trying to affix blame for the recent violence too particularly, and he was unequivocal yesterday, as you saw, in condemning the terrorist attacks against Israelis,” Kirby said. “What he has talked about is the challenges that are posed on both sides by this absence of progress towards a two-state solution. So – and he’s also highlighted our concern that current trends on the ground, including this violence, as well as ongoing settlement activity are imperiling the viability of eventually getting to a two-state solution.”
Kirby added that Kerry “understands there’s disenfranchisement, there’s disgruntlement, there is – there’s frustration on both sides that have led to this.”
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From Russia Today
‘Scum must be isolated’: Israeli kindergarten parent demands Arab girl’s expulsion in racist rant
The conversation, according to Ynet News, started out with the parents discussing a recent increase in Palestinian-Israeli violence. The subject of the little girl, Nura, aged just three, came up as one parent fanned the flames, taking the question further.
“If there is an Arab kid in the kindergarten it’s time to expel him!” the parent started off, before suggesting that “She has no place in the Jewish State… she should study in her village. Go to Syria; they love you there, Assad is waiting.”
The whole thing was a profound shock to Nura’s father, Hamed, who plans to remove his daughter from the kindergarten, and accuses the parent of racism.
“I was shocked to see it, I’m ashamed,” Hamed, who is a department head in the Hura local council and a football referee, told Ynet. “I just started shaking when I read the messages. The parent knew that there is an Arab girl at the kindergarten, he was talking about her specifically.”
But the verbal assault didn’t stop there, despite Hamed’s best intentions at de-escalation, his threats of complaining to the media resulted in the following statement from the other parent: “I hope they burn your village! F**ck you and the media you Arab dog.”
The enraged individual went on to recommend that Israel should “stop giving [Palestinians] financial support, education, everything. I hope their villages are closed off and they die from hunger.
“I’ll tell you who you are, you’re the slave of Jews!” he wrote. “Clear out! And to all the parents who are sitting in silence, who I know agree with me, I have one word to say to you: shame!”
Hamed demanded an apology, asking “of what is a three-year-old guilty?” before the kindergarten teacher appeared on the group and threatened to close it unless everyone calmed down.
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From Russia Today
Obama to keep 5,500 US troops in Afghanistan when he leaves office
The troops will be based at four locations: Kabul, Bagram, Jalalabad, and Kandahar.
The US will maintain the current 9,800 troops throughout most of next year, and then draw that number down to 5,500 in 2017.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Obama said at the White House. “As commander in chief I will not allow Afghanistan to be used as safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Obama’s decision “paves the way for a sustained presence by the NATO alliance”.
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From The Times of Israel
US Jewish movements come together in support of Israel
Reform, Orthodox, Conservative and Reconstructionist groups put aside differences for ‘Solidarity Shabbat’
October 15, 2015, 5:01 am
WASHINGTON — After a year increasingly dominated by bitter internal Jewish disputes over the Iran nuclear agreement, all of the major American Jewish synagogue movements will come together in common cause this weekend to observe what they describe as a “Special Sabbath of Solidarity” with Israel.
Rabbis and leaders from a number of Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist movements joined with the umbrella organization Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to organize the event, which they hope will be observed in Jewish congregations across the country.
Stephen Greenberg and Malcolm Hoenlein, the chairman and the executive vice chairman and CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, wrote in a statement that “the attacks of recent days are unique in that they appear spontaneous and occur around the country, targeting people going about their daily lives.”
“We hope that all synagogues will add special prayers in addition to the prayer for the State of Israel in their Sabbath morning services and that rabbis will use their sermons to discuss what is occurring,” they added. “We also hope they will encourage members to visit Israel, express public support for Israel in the media and to elected officials, and maintain contact with Israeli friends and relatives.”
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New immigrants arrive in Israel despite terror wave
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Sixty-five new immigrants from the United States and Canada arrived in Israel amid a wave of terror attacks.
The immigrants, or olim, who arrived on Wednesday hail from 13 states as well as Quebec. Five of the newcomers are volunteering to serve in the Israeli army.
“We are truly inspired that despite the extremely difficult times Israel is currently experiencing, olim are undeterred and are still making aliyah,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, the executive director of Nefesh B’Nefesh, which promotes immigration to Israel. “They are coming not only with the desire to build their homes and lives in Israel, but to express that modern-day Zionism is thriving while displaying their deep responsibility towards the State of Israel and Jewish people.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
U.S. Jewish movements observing Sabbath of Solidarity with Israel
(JTA) — The major Jewish movements in the United States will observe a Sabbath of Solidarity with Israel amid the country’s wave of terror attacks.
Rabbis and leaders of the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist movements, in conjunction with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, have designated this Friday and Saturday in support of the Jewish state, the Presidents Conference said Wednesday in a statement.
“The Conference is undertaking a series of programs and actions to demonstrate the support of the American Jewish community for the people of Israel as they face a wave of terror and violence which has taken a heavy toll,” Stephen Greenberg and Malcolm Hoenlein, the umbrella group’s chairman and executive vice chairman, respectively, said in the statement. “The attacks of recent days are unique in that they appear spontaneous and occur around the country, targeting people going about their daily lives.
“We hope that all synagogues will add special prayers in addition to the prayer for the State of Israel in their Sabbath morning services and that rabbis will use their sermons to discuss what is occurring. We also hope they will encourage members to visit Israel, express public support for Israel in the media and to elected officials, and maintain contact with Israeli friends and relatives.”
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From Russia Today
Calais asylum seekers sneak into truck with polar bear headed for UK (VIDEO)
A video filmed by a passenger in a car which was following the truck on a highway, and published by The Sun, shows the asylum seekers getting into the truck early in the morning on Tuesday.
It is surprising that the group was not even slightly taken aback by the fact that there was a polar bear transported in the back of the truck. The 22-month-old Nissan was going from Moscow Zoo via Frankfurt to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster.
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From Russia Today
‘We forgot what peace is’: Everyday life in war-torn Damascus revealed in touching photo report
Damascus residents told Russian journalists Nigina Beroeva and Ksenia Bolshakova, who report for the Varlamov.ru blog, that people in the capital welcomed the start of Russia’s anti-terrorist operation, launched on September 30, with enthusiasm.
“In Damascus [people] remember this day. Locals say all people were watching TV, following the news, rejoicing. During peaceful times maybe only football was watched with such interest,” the reporters wrote.
In conversation, some have said that there are people who do not support Russia’s operation. However, it was difficult to find opposition activists in Damascus, the report said. It added that those who said that they are pleased with Russian support questioned why it took Moscow so long to provide it. However, both sides – supporters and those who opposed the airstrikes – said that the war should be stopped, and that at the moment it can only be done with Russia’s help, according t the journalists.
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From Russia Today
First-ever French person legally recognized as ‘gender neutral’
For the past 64 years the now first ever officially “gender neutral” person in France, was registered as a male and has had a masculine name, although biologically the person is as much male as female, born with a rudimentary vagina and a micropenis with no testicles.
“As a teenager I realized that I was not a boy. I had no beard, my muscles didn’t become more prominent,” the person told the French daily, 20minutes,“at the same time it was impossible for me to believe that I would become a woman. It was enough to look at myself in the mirror to know it.”
The High Court in the town of Tours has allowed the citizen to leave the binary male/female sex system and although France doesn’t recognize a third gender, like Germany for example, the use of neutral gender instead of male in this case has been approved.
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From Ynet News
IDF deploys to Gaza border towns
In preparation for Hamas’s declared ‘day of rage,’ IDF sends infantry companies to the Gaza border despite assessment that direct fighting with Hamas is not on the horizon. In preparation for possible violence on Friday, due to Hamas’s proclamation of a “day of rage,” IDF troops were deployed this week to patrol and protect several Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip.
The heightened security in border communities comes despite the military’s assessment that the recent wave of attacks and the tensions in Jerusalem won’t lead to another round of fighting with Hamas.
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From Ynet News
With a skirt and a rifle: Meet the IDF’s religious girl power
Three young, motivated women explain why they decided to serve the State of Israel as combat soldiers instead of doing national service like other observant girls their age. In 2010, 935 young religious women joined the IDF. In 2013, the number jumped to 1,616. Every year, the army receives more and more religious female recruits, who are not only enlisting for traditional roles in the Education Corps, but are also joining combat units.
This new trend should not be taken for granted, given the fact that one of the main statements issued by the Chief Rabbinate Council when Chief Rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef took office was that the Rabbinate “forbids IDF enlistment in any way, continuing the tradition of the previous chief rabbis.”
But it seems reality is stronger than halachic rulings. Meet Ornella, Sari and Hila, three religious female fighters who are convinced that despite the many difficulties, a religious girl who wishes to contribute to her people belongs in the army.
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