Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
Commentary — The United States talks with Iran were conducted by Jews John Kerry and Wendy Sherman, and American officials were constantly running to Israel and to Jewish American groups for “briefing sessions.” Israel may well have cyber-spied, but one has to wonder why bother?
From The Times of Israel
US confident there was no cyber-spying breach in Iran talks
State Department says it has ‘taken steps’ during nuclear negotiations to ensure that details remain ‘behind closed doors’
June 12, 2015, 12:42 am
The US State Department — on the front lines of the sensitive Iran nuclear negotiations — said Thursday it was confident there had been no security breach, after Swiss and Austrian investigators launched probes into alleged cyber-spying.
Spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters that the US government was aware of the investigations that had been opened, and that Washington had “close working relationships” with both countries.
“We’ve taken steps throughout the negotiations to ensure that confidential details and discussions remain behind closed doors,” Rathke said.
The delicate talks underway for nearly two years between Iran and six world powers on curbing Tehran’s nuclear program have mainly taken place in hotels in Geneva, Lausanne, Montreux, Zurich and Vienna.
Swiss and Austrian investigators are separately looking into possible spying at the hotels. The Swiss attorney general’s office said it had seized computer equipment on “suspicion of illegal intelligence services operating in Switzerland.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Orange will never back boycott of Israel, CEO tells Netanyahu
(JTA — Following a series of seemingly conflicting statements about Israel, the CEO of the French telecommunications giant Orange publicly assured Israel’s prime minister his firm would never boycott the Jewish state.
Stephan Richard, who last week in Cairo appeared to link his firm’s desire to leave Israel with currying favor with Arab countries, gave the assurances Friday during a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Standing opposite Netanyahu, Richard said he had come to “clear the confusion created after those statements. I regret deeply this controversy and I want to make it totally clear that Orange as a company has never supported and will never support any kind of boycott against Israel.”
The confusion, as Richard called it, was not only over his own statements in Cairo on June 4 but also over his company’s official statement the following day about wanting to leave Israel as part of the company’s strategic decision not to maintain a presence anywhere where it does not directly provide services.
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From PressTV
Israeli bulldozers level Palestinian farm in West Bank
Israeli forces have destroyed private Palestinian agricultural land in a village in the West Bank as the Tel Aviv regime’s illegal construction activities continue in the occupied Palestinian territories.
According to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, a Palestinian organization dedicated to supporting Palestinian farmers, Israeli bulldozers escorted by military vehicles leveled four acres (1.6 hectares) of land belonging to a Palestinian farmer identified as Sabri Rashad Manasra from the village of Wadi Fukin, Ma’an news agency reported on Thursday.
The land is said to be located between two illegal Israeli settlements in the area, which house more than 50,000 settlers.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Sukkar, the head of the local council of Wadi Fukin, told the local news agency, Wafa, that Israeli authorities are building an industrial and commercial zone in the area on private lands confiscated from people in Wadi Fukin and the nearby village of Husan.
Israeli officials have confirmed the destruction of the land, but denied that it is to be turned into an industrial and commercial zone.
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From PressTV
Israel closes probe on killing four Gaza children
Israel says it has dropped a judicial investigation into one of the regime’s deadly airstrikes on the Gaza Strip which claimed the lives of four children.
“The … case has been closed following the completion of a criminal investigation,” read the statement issued by the Israeli military on Thursday, claiming that the decision was made after “an extensive number of documents relating to the attack were reviewed,” including “video footage documenting the attack in real time, as well as media images.”
The military also alleged to have collected testimonies from the Israeli soldiers and officers “who were involved in the planning and execution of the attack” and also from Gaza residents, ruling that the Israeli troops cannot be held accountable for the cold-blooded murder.
“From the factual findings collected by the investigators, it revealed that the incident took place in an area that had long been known as a compound belonging to Hamas’s Naval Police and Naval Force,” the statement went on to say.
This is while a reporter for the British daily The Guardian, who witnessed the killing, said that no effort had been made on the part of the Israeli officials to take his testimony.
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From Ynet News
Hasidic Jews may sue NY towns for discrimination
US federal judge orders two New York municipalities to face lawsuit accusing them of trying to stop a townhouse complex marketed in English- and Yiddish-language newspapers and block the conversion of a property into a ritual bath. A federal judge ordered two New York municipalities in the Catskills foothills to face a lawsuit accusing them of discriminating against Hasidic Jews by trying to stop them from moving in.
US District Judge Katherine Forrest said Bloomingburg, a village in Sullivan County with about 400 residents, must face claims by the developer of a 396-unit townhouse complex that it violated federal civil rights and fair housing laws by trying to stop the project, which has been marketed in English- and Yiddish-language newspapers.
The Manhattan judge also said Mamakating, a town of 12,000 of which Bloomingburg is a part, must face claims it improperly blocked the conversion of a property into a mikveh, a bath used by Hasidic Jews for ritual immersion and purification.
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From Ynet News
Lawsuit accuses Al Jazeera America of severe anti-Semitism, sexism
Former executive responsible for documentaries claims AJAM decided to abandon goals of objective journalism in wake of poor ratings. The former head of Al Jazeera America’s documentary unit has sued the news network, claiming it is biased against non-Arabs and women in stories that it produces and in how it treats employees.
Shannon High-Bassalik, fired in February after working through half of a three-year contract, said the network’s recently ousted chief executive Ehab Al Shihabi left meetings when women were speaking and admitted that he tried to favor an Arab point of view on the air to please AJAM’s Qatar-based ownership.
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From The Times of Israel
Anti-Israel rally in Toronto not allowed on state land
Ontario’s legislator denies permit for al-Quds Day event, which in the past included death calls to Israelis
June 11, 2015, 11:44 pm
TORONTO — Ontario’s government has denied permission to hold a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally on the grounds of the provincial legislature in Toronto.
The legislature’s sergeant-at-arms denied the permit request for the July 17 or July 18 rally on the grounds of the legislative buildings, known as Queen’s Park, the Canadian Jewish News reported, citing a statement issued on Wednesday by B’nai B’rith Canada.
A B’nai B’rith Canada petition calling on the legislature to deny the request garnered 3,000 signatures.
In a letter to a Toronto legislator saying no permit would be issued, the sergeant-at-arms cited the city’s impending Pan Am Games and Parapan Games as the reasons, according to the Canadian Jewish News.
“Although the Sergeant-at-Arms’ decision this year is tied to considerations regarding the Pan Am and Parapan American Games in Toronto, he must go further and take this opportunity to declare that permits for divisive hate-rallies will no longer be issued in the future,” Bnai Brith Canada said in a statement.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
U.S. officials: Iran needn’t reveal past nuclear activity
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Iran will not have to come clean about its past efforts to obtain nuclear weapons in order to sign a final deal with world powers on its atomic program, U.S. and Western officials said.
The Associated Press on Thursday quoted unnamed officials as saying that questions about Iran’s past activity toward achieving those capabilities will not be answered by the June 30 deadline for a final deal.
In 2013 by the Obama administration said that a comprehensive solution “would include resolution of questions concerning the possible military dimension of Iran’s nuclear program.”
The deal would lift some sanctions on Iran in exchange for what U.S. officials have described as verifiable compliance with limitations set to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear arms.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
French Pro-Palestinian activist accused of suggesting kosher goods boycott
(JTA) — A French anti-Semitism watchdog group called for a police probe against a former lawmaker who seemingly urged Muslim shoppers to avoid purchasing a Jewish-produced kosher product.
“Ramadan soon: Watch out with your shopping,” Jean-Claude Lefort, a former lawmaker for France’s communist party and current president of the France Palestine Solidarity Association, or AFPS, wrote in a social media posting Tuesday.
Attached to the post, appearing on Lefort’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, was a picture of a package of leaf dough produced by the France-based firm Sofrabrick.
The package carried the firm’s name and address in Gonesse near Paris as well as a kosher seal with Hebrew letters. “We know this brand. This is Israeli leaf dough. Look closely at bottom, center,” Lefort said, apparently referring to the Hebrew.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
German mayor cancels exhibit critical of Israeli army
BERLIN (JTA) — The mayor of Cologne canceled an exhibit in his German city by an Israeli group of soldiers that alleges the Israel Defense Forces mistreats Palestinians.
The decision came this week following talks featuring the office of Mayor Jugen Roters with the Jewish community and Israeli Embassy, according to the Frankfurt-based pro-Israel activist Sacha Stawski, founder of the media watchdog Honestly Concerned.
The exhibit by Breaking the Silence, an NGO that includes testimonies by Israeli soldiers on the alleged abuse of Palestinians, reportedly had been billed as part of this year’s commemoration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel. However, it was not an officially approved part of the yearlong series of events and had not received permission to use the logo approved by the Israeli Embassy and German Foreign Ministry.
According to news reports, the Israeli Embassy in Berlin asked the German Foreign Ministry to remove the exhibit and other unapproved events from the calendar. The embassy also wrote to Roters and said that “as long as there was no clear distinction between legitimate projects on the theme of Israel-Germany and these other themes, we prefer not to take part in any of the events.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Bernie Sanders: Being Jewish taught me ‘what politics is about’
(JTA) — A day after a radio host falsely said that Sen. Bernie Sanders has Israeli citizenship, the candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination spoke publicly about how his Jewish identity has influenced him.
In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor Thursday, Sanders (I-Vt.) said that he was “not particularly religious” but that as a child being Jewish taught him “in a very deep way what politics is about.”
“A guy named Adolf Hitler won an election in 1932,” he told the Monitor. “He won an election, and 50 million people died as a result of that election in World War II, including 6 million Jews. So what I learned as a little kid is that politics is, in fact, very important.”
In an interview with Sanders on Wednesday, National Public Radio host Diane Rehm offended Sanders and many American Jews when she said, mistakenly, that the senator had dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship. The assertion rankled many because Jewish-Americans have historically faced accusations that they are disloyal to their countries of citizenship or care more about Israel than the country in which they live.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jeb Bush tours Auschwitz
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jeb Bush made an unannounced visit to Auschwitz during a European tour.
The former Florida governor, who is visiting Germany, Poland and Estonia ahead of his expected formal announcement next week of his run for the Republican presidential nomination, visited the former Nazi concentration camp on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported.
Bush, who toured the site with his wife, Columba, did not announce the visit so reporters would not accompany them, “out of respect for the site and those affected,” Bloomberg reported.
From Russia Today
Taliban to the rescue: Iran reportedly arms Afghan militants against US, ISIS
Published time: June 12, 2015 15:10
Tehran is reportedly betting on the Taliban’s rise and is providing the militant movement with arms and training to secure leverage over it. Iran wants influence to counter the US and have fighters ready for a possible offensive by Islamic State.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Iran has been providing the Taliban not only with money, but also hosted training camps in its territory since at least the fall of 2013. The US newspaper cites Western and Afghan officials and also a Taliban commander, who, the report says, was recruited by Iranian intelligence and is currently on Iran’s payroll.
“Iran is betting on the re-emergence of the Taliban,” a Western diplomat told WSJ. “They are uncertain about where Afghanistan is heading right now, so they are hedging their bets.”
Iran’s support of the Taliban is an alliance of convenience, according to the report. Iran is a Shiite country while the Taliban is Sunni, a difference that is difficult to bridge. In 2001, Tehran didn’t object to the ousting of the Taliban from power by a US-led invasion.
However, things have evolved, and with Taliban influence in Afghanistan growing, having a hand in it is becoming a useful asset. In 2013, the Iranians officially invited a Taliban delegation to an Islam conference.
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From Russia Today
Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn acquitted of pimping charges
Former chief of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been acquitted by a French court on pimping charges. He stood trial over involvement with an alleged prostitution ring at a luxury French hotel.
“He cannot be attributed the role of instigator,” Judge Bernard Lemaire said, while reading out the verdict. “He simply availed himself of the sexual services of a group.”
Strauss-Kahn told the court that parties in the Lille hotel were just “recreational sessions,” and he had been unaware that the women who took part in them were prostitutes, AP reported.
The women, who took part in the “parties” testified in the court, saying they weren’t having fun during them.
This comes four years after Strauss-Kahn was accused of sexually assaulting Nafissatou Diallo, a 32-year-old maid at the Sofitel New York Hotel. The case didn’t go to trial due to a lack of evidence.
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From The Times of Israel
Spanish court shelves probe into Gaza flotilla raid
After five-year investigation, war crimes accusations abandoned, though case could be reopened if Netanyahu visits
June 12, 2015, 12:18 am
A Spanish court has shelved its war crimes investigation against Israel for its 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara flotilla to Gaza, local news sites reported on Thursday.
Spain, one of the few countries that prosecutes crimes against humanity that occur outside of its own borders, warned that it is prepared to reopen the case if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other Israeli politicians visit the country, Reuters reported.
The case was officially closed on Thursday with a written court order.
Eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed and several other pro-Palestinian activists were wounded when Israeli commandos intercepted the Mavi Marmara ship on May 31, 2010, as it attempted to bust Israel’s naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. Several Spanish pro-Palestinian activists were on board the ship.
The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers acted in self-defense after they were attacked with lethal weapons. Several soldiers were seriously injured in the fracas.
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From The Times of Israel
Meretz chair: Scandal-ridden lawmaker like Sheldon Adelson
Zahava Gal-on outlines ostensible similarities between Likud’s alleged meth-smoking, pimping Oren Hazan and Netanyahu’s Jewish-American supporter
June 11, 2015, 12:13 pm
Zahava Gal-on, the chairwoman of the left-wing Meretz Party, on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close relationship with Jewish-American billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson by comparing him to a scandal-ridden Likud Knesset member accused of soliciting prostitutes and using hard drugs.
Gal-on’s remarks came as a number of lawmakers spoke out against Oren Hazan in the wake of a Monday television exposé tying him to the management of an illegal casino in Bulgaria, where he was said to have bought and smoked crystal meth and regularly hired prostitutes for gamblers visiting his establishment.
In a Facebook post, Gal-on wrote that Netanyahu’s “strong moral fiber” was preventing him from publicly addressing the allegations of misconduct that have intensified in recent days. The post initially appears to be about Hazan before she clarifies that she is referring to Adelson.
“[Netanyahu] became a slave to a person that everyone knew from the beginning was involved in the casino business, had allegations of prostitution against him, and who uses this money to buy a foothold in Israeli politics,” she writes.
“We’re talking about a man who systematically uses lawsuits to silence opponents, and dares to flaunt his love for Israel while accusing his critics of subversion or supporting anti-Israel boycotts,” she continues.
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