Sunday, December 28, 2014

Iranian general killed by sniper in Iraq

DUBAI (Reuters) - A sniper killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander who was training Iraqi troops and Shi'ite militia fighting Islamic State (IS) militants in the Iraqi city of Samarra, official Iranian media reported on Sunday.

Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi, a veteran of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, was killed by snipers hiding behind a power transformer in Samarra, an embattled city north of Baghdad and home to holy Shi'ite shrines, they said, quoting a Revolutionary Guards' statement.

Several people with him were wounded in the rain of sniper fire, they said.

"Taqavi became a martyr while fulfilling his duty as a military adviser in the fight against Daesh (IS) revisionist terrorists, a glorious end to a long valuable service to advance the cause of (Iran's 1979) Islamic revolution." said the official Defence Ministry site.

It said the general had fought "enemies on various fronts."

Unspecified numbers of Iranian advisors and combatants are defending holy Shi'ite sites in Iraq and Syria against raids by Sunni Jihadi fighters. Iran sent reinforcements to Iraq to help stave off an advance on Baghdad by IS militants this year at the request of Iraqi government and Shi'ite leaders.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Gaza Terrorists from the EU Proxy Hamas Open Fire on IDF Forces, Critically Wounding a Soldier; Hamas Leader Killed

(INN) After Gaza terrorists breached the truce last Friday with a rocket attack, they broke it again on Wednesday morning with a round of sniper fire targeting IDF forces in the vicinity of Kibbutz Nirim and Nir Oz.

The IDF soldiers were guarding work on the security barrier with Gaza in the southern part of the Hamas stronghold when they came under fire. Apparently one soldier was wounded and evacuated for medical treatment, although the extent of the wound remains unclear.

After being shot at, the soldiers returned fire at the sources of the gunfire. According to Palestinian Arab reports, there is a heavy exchange of fire going on, which reportedly includes tank shell fire from the IDF and airstrikes by the IAF.

In the IDF barrage targeting east of Khan Younis in response, Tayseer al-Ismary (33), head of the surveillance unit in Hamas's "armed wing" Al-Qassam Brigades, was killed by a bullet according to local medical sources, and two other Gazans were wounded.

"In response to the firing at our forces who were east of the fence in the southern Gaza Strip, we carried out immediate attacks against the relevant targets," read an IDF statement.

Defense ministry workers who were fixing the Gaza security barrier were ordered to leave the area, and agricultural workers in the Eshkol Regional Council area near the Gaza border were ordered to cease work.

Gaza terrorists fired a rocket at Israel last Friday in a breach of the truce, making at least the third such breach since the ceasefire that ended Operation Protective Edge in August.

In response to the rocket attack, the IAF struck Gaza concrete factories used to rebuild the terror tunnels leading into Israel and built to attack Israeli civilians. Over 30 such tunnels were destroyed in the operation, but since it ended Hamas has been busily rebuilding them.

Hamas has been conducting extensive rocket tests to prepare for the next war on Israel, with the most recent round coming Wednesday morning shortly before the attack on the IDF.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Imagine the "international community's" outrage if Israel announced it would execute 500 Muslim terrorists


Pakistan to execute 500 terror convicts in coming weeks.
(AFP) Pakistan plans to execute about 500 militants in coming weeks, senior officials say, after the government lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism cases.

Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the six-year moratorium after last week's Taliban massacre at a school in Peshawar, in which 149 people - 133 of them children - were killed in the deadliest terror attack in Pakistani history.

Six militants have been hanged so far after the death penalty was reinstated for terrorism-related cases.

"[The] interior ministry has finalised the cases of 500 convicts who have exhausted all the appeals," a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

"Their mercy petitions have been turned down by the president and their executions will take place in coming weeks."

A second official confirmed the information.

More...

Sunday, December 21, 2014

UK Pro-Israel Groups Claim a Victory in Fightback Against BDS

IsraACTION Day - a creative way to beat the boycotters
'IsrACTION Day' unites British Jews, Christians during festive season by supporting Israel and helping the homeless at the same time.
(INN) Pro-Israel groups in the UK are celebrating an "unprecedented" success in fighting back against the anti-Israel boycott movement, with their first annual "IsrACTION Day."

With the slogan "Beat the Boycotts – Help the Homeless," the nationwide campaign was led by Sussex Friends of Israel in Brighton and the Manchester-based Northwest Friends of Israel and timed for the Hanukkah and Christmas seasons.

Local community volunteers spent the day purchasing Israeli-made non-perishable products from supermarket chains and delivering the much needed food to local food banks and homeless shelters at what is the busiest time of the year for them.

"We have been overwhelmed by the global success of IsrACTION Day," said Fiona Sharpe of Sussex Friends of Israel.

"From Cork to Belfast, Australia to America, Brighton, Glasgow and many places in between, individuals and communities have embraced this timely initiative that has enabled people to show their support for Israel and their care for those less fortunate in their communities."

Jewish and Christian volunteers joined forces to use some festive spirit in their fightback against growing attempts by the radical BDS Movement - which calls to single out the Jewish state for boycotts, divestment and sanctions - to intimidate stores into boycotting goods made by Israeli Jews.

While anti-Israel extremists in the UK have often held protests outside stores selling Israeli goods, the past summer saw that campaign take a particularly nasty turn. In one incident, a Tesco store was vandalized by anti-Israel thugs in the English city of Birmingham; in another, a Sainsbury's store removed all of its kosher goods in a capitulation to aggressive protests which left British Jews outraged.

The massive spike in anti-Semitism during that period provoked British Jews to mobilize and pressure politicians to take a tough stance against anti-Jewish bigotry; but grassroots pro-Israel groups say IsraACTION Day is a positive way to beat the BDS bullies in particular.

Many communities like Brighton and Manchester had made special arrangements with supermarkets to have their contributions delivered to the soup kitchens or homeless shelters with whom they already work. Others communities arranged for special drop-off locations from where the donations will be delivered tomorrow.

Throughout the UK soup kitchens and homeless shelters have welcomed the initiative even as some were reporting being targeted local BDS groups who sought to sabotage their efforts.

"You know what? I don’t think any of the folks here will care where the food comes from. They’re just happy to eat this Christmas," one soup kitchen volunteer in one homeless shelter in the seaside town of Brighton said. Efforts in Brighton were particularly successful, in part due to a generous donation by the newly-founded Israel Solidarity Campaign.

As is becoming increasingly common in the UK, the many well-funded "establishment" pro-Israel and Jewish groups - many of whom were accused of inaction during the summer war between Israel and Gazan terrorists - found themselves playing catch-up to grassroots activists.

Besides the England-based Sussex and Northwest Friends of Israel, other Friends of Israel groups throughout the UK helped coordinate efforts, including in Scotland and Northern Ireland. They were soon joined by national, and in some cases international organizations, including Stand With Us, the Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Zionist Federation.

Sussex Friends of Israel co-founder Simon Cobbs said the initiative was just the opening salvo in the fightback against BDS.

"IsrACTION day was a remarkable success, showing once again that communities across the UK are happy to show their support for Israel and to help those in need at this time of year," he told Arutz Sheva, adding that it proved coordinated activism could make a real difference.

"This was only the first of what we hope will become an annual and important event on the community calender. You 'aint seen nothing yet! Today IsrACTION Day showed that we can beat the boycotters and do good at the same time!"

Video shows Boko Haram killing captives

Awaiting for Obama's explanation on how this is not a real Islam.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A new video from Nigeria's home-grown Boko Haram extremists shows gunmen mowing down civilians lying face down in a dorm, and a leader saying they are being killed because they are "infidels" or non-believers.

There are so many corpses the gunmen have difficulty stepping to reach bodies still twitching with life. Most appear to be adult men.

"We have made sure the floor of this hall is turned red with blood, and this is how it is going to be in all future attacks and arrests of infidels," the group leader says in a message. "From now, killing, slaughtering, destructions and bombing will be our religious duty anywhere we invade."

The video released to journalists late Saturday comes two days after fleeing villagers reported that the extremists are rounding up elderly people and killing them in two schools in Gwoza, in northeast Nigeria.

More...

Sudden Jihad Syndrome: Man Shouting 'Allahu Akbar' Drives Into Crowd, Injuring 11

(Sky News) A man heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great") has driven into a crowd of people in the eastern French city of Dijon.

At least 11 people were injured in the attack, two of them seriously.

It came a day after French police shot dead another man who stabbed three officers in a police station in the central town of Joue-les-Tours.

The 20-year-old, who had converted to Islam, was also heard shouting "Allahu Akbar".

This latest attacker was known to authorities, a source close to the investigation said.

"The man, born in 1974, is apparently unbalanced and had been in a psychiatric hospital," the source said, adding that "for now his motives are still unclear".

According to French newspaper Le Figaro, three people were in the car at the time of the attack.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Report: Islamic State has executed 100 foreign jihad enthusiasts trying to quit

London (AFP) - The Islamic State extremist group has executed 100 of its own foreign fighters who tried to flee their headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Financial Times newspaper said Saturday.

An activist opposed to both IS and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is well-known to the British business broadsheet, said he had "verified 100 executions" of foreign IS fighters trying to leave the jihadist group's de facto capital.

IS fighters in Raqqa said the group has created a military police to clamp down on foreign fighters who do not report for duty. Dozens of homes have been raided and many jihadists have been arrested, the FT reported.

Some jihadists have become disillusioned with the realities of fighting in Syria, reports have said.

According to the British press in October, five Britons, three French, two Germans and two Belgians wanted to return home after complaining that they ended up fighting against other rebel groups rather than Assad's regime. They were being held prisoner by IS.

In total, between 30 and 50 Britons want to return but fear they face jail, according to researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London, which had been contacted by one of the jihadists speaking on their behalf.

More...

Friday, December 19, 2014

Looking for a few good virgins: ISIS agents in London dispatching gullible teenage jihadi brides to Syria

(IBT) Islamic State (Isis) militants, aided by a British-based intermediary, are offering to pay travel expenses to young and possibly good-looking British teenagers interested in joining the extremist group in Syria as jihadi brides.

Reporters posing as two teenage schoolgirls held regular conversations via social media with a jihadist in the Isis stronghold of Raqqa, northern Syria, for three months.

Upon showing interest in travelling to the self-styled caliphate, the two purported girls, aged 17 and 19, were told they would be given the money to pay for their trip from London to Syria via Turkey.

The sum was to be delivered via cash transfer to a Western Union branch in Sterling, and picked up by an Isis operative in the UK, who in turn was to hand it to the girls.

The investigation by The Times gave an insight into Isis' use of social media and the extent of its worldwide reach to recruit young Muslim women in the West, with the aim of marrying them off to the group's fighters.

Using mainstream social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Ask.fm, as well as instant messaging systems like Wickr and Kik, an Isis militant calling himself Abu Abbas al-Lubnani vetted and groomed the two purported girls over a three-month period, before finalising the money transfer.

'Mujahideen like a good-looking wife'

The jihadist reassured them about the safety of their journey, claiming that thousands of Sunni hardliners travelled to Syria every month without encountering difficulties.

He also asked the girls to provide him with a series of personal details, including a description of their appearance.

"Sorry but I need to know if ur good looking, the colours of your skin," Lubnani told the undercover reporter. "Usually mujahideen don't request a beauty queen, but they like to have a good-looking wife."

He finally agreed to send over cash to Western Union branch without security cameras in London. The girls were to wait near the premises while an Isis middleman picked up the money for them.

"The brother has a wife they can pick up from a certain place that doesn't have a camera then give you the money in their car," al-Lubnani wrote.

The day of the meeting a white man appearing to be Muslim convert showed up at the given location accompanied by a woman in a burka.

"To check this was the correct couple, The Times reporter changed the exact location of the "girls" several times in the space of a few minutes and set out the details in messages to the Lubnani messenger account. Each time the pair moved to the new location," the newspaper wrote.

Realising they were being watched the pair left, the paper said, adding that Counter-terrorism police are aware of the investigation.

An increasing number of women, including dozens of Britons, are believed to have joined Isis in Syria and Iraq over the last 12 months.

Israel hits Hamas site in Gaza with airstrike

(Fox News) The Israeli military said it had carried out an airstrike on a Hamas site in Southern Gaza on Saturday, in response to a rocket strike from the Gaza strip into Israel on Friday.

The Jerusalem Post reports that there were were at least two strikes by the Israel Air Force, and there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed a direct hit in a statement.

"The IDF will not permit any attempt to undermine the security and jeopardize the well being of the civilians of Israel," an IDF spokesman said. "The Hamas terrorist organization is responsible and accountable for today's attack against Israel."

Residents reported hearing two explosions in the Khan Yunis region of Gaza, in an area that contains training sites for Palestinian militants. It marks the first time the Israel Defense Forces has hit Gaza since the end of a 50-day war this summer.

The military says the airstrike early Saturday on what it called a "Hamas terror infrastructure site" in the southern Gaza Strip was in response to the rocket fired from Gaza. The rocket fire caused no injuries, police said.

More...

England: Mohammed Rafiq, 80, jailed for acid attack on girlfriend aged 19



Thursday, December 18, 2014

ISIS terrorists publicly behead Iraqi man accused of being a sorcerer near Tikrit


Ever Wonder Who Gets Your Trade-In Car? Texas Plumber’s Truck Traded In, Ends Up in Syria with Terrorists

(Texas) When Texas plumber Mark Oberholtzer traded in his black Ford F-250 pickup truck, he expected it would live a second life in the hands of new owners, but probably not these owners.

Oberholtzer’s Texas City plumbing company, Mark-1 Plumbing, has been inundated with threats after a photo of his old Ford work truck appeared on a terrorist Twitter feed, equipped with an anti-aircraft gun in the bed and still bearing the company logo on the door.

According to Houston’s KHOU, Oberholtzer traded in the F-250 to an AutoNation Ford dealership in Houston last November, but accidentally forgot to remove his business’ decals. A representative at the dealership said the truck immediately went up for auction, and most likely exchanged hands many times before ending up on the front lines of Syria’s civil war, piloted by terrorist fighters.

“To think something we would use to pull trailers, now is being used for terror, it’s crazy,” notes Jeff Oberholtzer, Mark’s son. “Never in my lifetime would I think something like that.”

The company began receiving threatening calls earlier this week from people all across the country that assumed the small town business was aiding and abetting terror. “We have nothing to do with terror at all,” commented Oberholtzer.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Mossad infiltrates Hezbollah?

Hezbollah claims to expose Mossad mega-spy in its ranks
(Times of Israel) Lebanese terror group Hezbollah recently exposed a senior spy working for the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency within its foreign operations branch, a Lebanese news agency reported Tuesday.

Unnamed sources told the El-Nashra news outlet Tuesday that the “collaborator,” exposed a few weeks ago, was an official in unit 910, responsible for “external operations against specific Israeli targets.”

A resident of southern Lebanon whose initials are M. Sh., the man worked as a traveling businessman and was recruited by the Mossad in a “western Asian country,” El-Nashra reported.

Lebanon’s security agencies periodically report the exposure of Israeli-recruited agents in the country, as well as of listening devices often planted in the south.

According to the report, the collaborator had been working for Israel for years and succeeded in thwarting a number of Hezbollah operations planned to avenge the assassination of movement official Imad Mughniyeh in February 2008, ostensibly by Israel.

He also reportedly exposed other Hezbollah agents, including Mohammed Amadar, arrested in Peru in late October with TNT and detonators following a Mossad tip-off; Hossam Yaacoub, convicted in Cyprus for planning attacks against Israeli tourists in March 2013; and Daoud Farhat and Youssef Ayad, arrested in April 2014 in Bangkok for planning terror attacks against Israeli tourists in Thailand.

El-Nashra reported that the collaborator is also suspected of taking part in Mughniyeh’s assassination in Damascus, using an explosive device placed in his car seat, as well as the assassination of Hezbollah official Hassan al-Laqis in December 2013.

More...

Peshawar school attack: Taliban 'burn teacher alive in front of pupils and behead children'

(IBT) Taliban terrorists allegedly burned a teacher alive and made the students watch during their attack on a Pakistan school which left over 130 people dead.

According to a NBC News report, citing an unnamed military official, the terrorists stormed the Army Public school in Peshawar, in north-west Pakistan, and committed the horrific act as well as detonating a suicide bomb which killed a number of students.

"They burnt a teacher in front of the students in a classroom," the unnamed military source told the US TV network.

"They literally set the teacher on fire with gasoline and made the kids watch."

At least six militants entered the Pakistani school wearing security uniforms, before massacring an estimated 132 people and injuring another 122.

Most of the school's 500 students have been evacuated. The Pakistani army claims to have killed five terrorists and is conducting a search for more, while more hostages are believed to be held inside the school.

Pakistani officials have yet to verify the burning of the teacher, or other reports that some of the bodies of the dead school children are being brought into the hospital headless.

More...

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Yemen: Two car bombs kill at least 31 people, including 20 children

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- Two car bombs killed at least 31 people, including 20 children, in central Yemen's Radaa city when suspected al Qaeda fighters targeted Houthi militants Tuesday, senior security officials and locals told CNN.

One car bomb struck a Houthi gathering point, but the other did not make it to the target and instead blew up next to a bus that was carrying children home from school, officials said.

All the killed children were under the age of 12, said Osama Sari, a prominent pro-Houthi activist.

Eleven Houthi fighters were killed, an Interior Ministry official said.

More...

Report: Nearly 200 dead as Syria bases lost to al-Qaeda

Beirut (AFP) - Nearly 200 combatants on both sides were killed in 24 hours when the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda took two regime bases in Idlib province, a monitoring group said on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain but gleans its information from a wide network of activists and medics on the ground, said Al-Nusra Front attackers also captured more than 100 regime soldiers.

"There were at least 100 dead on the regime side and 80 among the attackers, killed in clashes, bombardments and by mines," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Then on Tuesday, the air force kept up its raids against the Maaret al-Numan area near the two bases, killing at least 10 civilians, said the Observatory.

The jihadists and their allies took at least 120 soldiers prisoner, while another 100 fled south towards the town of Morek in the neighbouring province of Hama.

A video distributed by the Observatory shows five of the captured soldiers kneeling on the floor of a room, stripped down to their underwear and with their hands tied behind their backs.

The captors kick the men in the face and on their heads, slap them, and then one man whips them mercilessly with a hose as one of the soldiers cries out in pain.

More...

Iraq: ISIS jihadists release pictures of mass execution

Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State (IS) group on Monday released pictures of the execution of 13 men described as anti-jihadist Sunni tribal fighters near the northern city of Tikrit.

Three pictures published on a jihadist forum and pro-IS social media accounts show the execution of the men wearing orange jumpsuits.

Local residents confirmed to AFP that a mass execution had taken place on a large roundabout six kilometres (four miles) east of the city of Tikrit at around 3:30 pm (1230 GMT).

The first picture shows 11 men kneeling, heads bowed, with one black-clad and masked gunman behind each one and black IS flags in the background.

The next picture shows the gunmen brandishing their handguns after the execution and in the third a small gathering of onlookers, including children, can be seen near 13 bodies, which have been dragged off the roundabout's central island and onto the road.

Residents said the roundabout is at an intersection for roads leading to Tikrit, Kirkuk and the town of Al-Alam.

They said the men who were executed were members of an anti-IS group of Sunni tribal fighters known as the Knights of Al-Alam who were captured by jihadists in Tikrit and Al-Alam around 10 days earlier.

The city of Tikrit has been under IS control since the beginning of the jihadists' major offensive in Iraq six months ago.

Iraqi government forces, backed by Shiite militia and in some areas by Sunni tribal fighters have inflicted a string of defeats on the jihadists in recent weeks.

AP and Reuters do it again: "Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank"

Once again, AP is pushing the false meme of murderous Israeli military.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man as violence erupted during an arrest operation in the West Bank on Tuesday, the military said.
So, you'd think that the evil Israeli soldiers are running around and shooting innocent Palestinians minding their business, right? Well, not exactly, unless of course the innocent Palestinians' business is throwing explosives and shooting at the soldiers.
It said Palestinians in the refugee camp of Qalandiya, north of Jerusalem, threw explosive charges and opened fire at soldiers during the operation and that they responded with fire of their own, killing one man, and wounding another.

Palestinian medical officials identified the dead man as 20-year-old Mahmoud Abdalla.
(Other sources report the name as Mahmoud Adwan.)

Reuters stoops even lower than AP, claiming that Mahmoud Adwan was simply watching the unfolding events from the roof of his home when he was shot and killed.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers on Tuesday shot and killed a Palestinian during an arrest raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the military and Palestinian witnesses said. [...]

Witnesses said residents of Qalandia refugee camp threw stones at the Israeli soldiers and the man killed, Mahmoud Adwan, 20, was watching from the roof of his home when he was shot.

Explosive devices were also hurled at the troops, the military said.
But then there is a Jerusalem Post report clearing things up:
A Palestinian man was shot dead in a clash with soldiers in Kalandiya on Tuesday after he threw an explosive device at a unit arresting a wanted security suspect.

A Duvdevan commando unit entered Kalandiya in the morning and arrested a suspect. On its way out, the unit was attacked by Palestinians, one of whom, Mahmoud Adwan, hurled an explosive at them, the army said.

Soldiers fired at the assailant, killing him.
As Paul Harvey would say, "And now you know the rest of the story."

Pakistani Taliban storm school, make no demand, kill 141 people, mostly children

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing at least 141 people, mostly children, before Pakistani officials declared a military operation to clear the school over.

The overwhelming majority of the victims were students at the school, which instructs grades 1-10. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the assault and rushed to Peshawar to show his support for the victims.

As darkness fell on the area, officials said they had cleared the school of militants.

A Pakistani military spokesman, Asim Bajwa, said 141 people died in the attack — 132 children and nine staff members. He declared the operation over and said the area had been cleared. An additional 121 students and three staff members were wounded.

He said seven attackers, all wearing explosives vests, all died in the assault. It was not immediately clear if the militants were all killed by the soldiers or whether they blew themselves up, he said. Bajwa described an assault that seemed designed purely to terrorize the children rather than take anyone hostage to further the militant group's aims.

"Their sole purpose, it seems, was to kill those innocent kids. That's what they did," he said.

More...

Palestinian teen arrested for trying to 'stab Zionist to death'

(Ynet) A 15-year-old Palestinian was arrested Tuesday evening for allegedly attempting to stab Israelis at an intersection in the West Bank. The suspect was detained pending investigation by the IDF and police.

The local police said that a civilian called emergency operators and reported that he stopped his vehicle at a popular hitchhiking spot in Gush Etzion on the way to Hebron. Police added that the driver was suspicious of the Palestinian teen and decided to call the station.

Police officer arrived from Hebron and searched the suspect, discovering a large knife. Police sources say that in the initial interrogation the teen said he intended to "stab a Zionist to death."

The police also noted that the Palestinian teen was not cooperating at this stage.

15,000 join anti-Islam protest in eastern Germany

Supporters of the "Patriotische Europaeer Gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes" movement, which translates
to "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamification of the Occident," take part in a rally in Dresden, Germany on
December 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Jens Schlueter)
Dresden (Germany) (AFP) - A record 15,000 people marched Monday in eastern Germany against "asylum cheats" and the country's "Islamisation" in the latest show of strength of a growing far-right populist movement.

Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier cautioned Germans against falling prey to xenophobic "rabble-rousing", reacting to the nascent movement called "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" or PEGIDA.

"The people are with us!," the group's founder Lutz Bachmann shouted at the crowd, celebrating a 50-percent rise in attendance since their last "Monday demonstration" in a series of rallies that started only in October.

"Everywhere now, in every news rag, on every senseless talkshow, they are debating, and the most important thing is: the politicians can no longer ignore us!" Bachmann told the mass of people, many waving the black-red-gold national flag.

"We have shown by taking another 'little stroll', and by growing in numbers, that we're on the right path, and that slowly, very slowly, something is beginning to change in this country," Bachmann bellowed to loud cheers.

More...

Monday, December 15, 2014

Bomb threat in Zurich airport


Yemen kills 'al-Qaeda militants disguised as veiled women'

(BBC) Several suspected al-Qaeda militants, disguised as fully veiled women, have reportedly been shot dead by Yemeni security forces near the Saudi border.

The militants were killed after one of them opened fire on a soldier who was checking their vehicle, officials say.

One report quoting a Yemeni official said three militants were killed - while another put the number at five.

The Yemeni offshoot of al-Qaeda has exploited recent instability to seize parts of the country's south and east.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is regarded by the United States as the deadliest branch of the global jihadist network, blamed for several attempted attacks on Western targets.

The vehicle carrying the militants was stopped at a border crossing in the Hawdh area of northern Yemen, according to Yemeni security officials quoted by the Associated Press news agency.

One of the militants reportedly opened fire on a soldier who tried to enter the vehicle, lightly injuring him.

More...

French police dismantle network sending jihadist fighters to Syria

Paris (AFP) - French police on Monday dismantled a network sending jihadist fighters to Syria in a series of dawn raids that saw them nab 10 suspects across the country, said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Elite and anti-terror police units descended on around a dozen targets, mostly in the southern region of Toulouse, but also around Paris and in the northern region of Normandy.

"Dismantling organised jihadist networks is a top priority for police, in perfect coordination with judicial authorities," Cazeneuve said in a statement highlighting government's determination to "relentlessly fight terrorism."

In recent months France, which has Europe's largest Muslim population, has been facing the fact that hundreds of its citizens have openly joined jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria and have even called for attacks on their homeland.

The new reality was driven home in a video from the Islamic State group released in mid-November, showing three Kalashnikov-wielding Frenchmen burning their passports and calling on Muslims to join them or stage attacks in France.

A grisly execution video released around the same time featured at least one French citizen who hailed from a small village in Normandy and converted to Islam in his teens.

Almost 1,000 French nationals from a wide range of backgrounds are estimated to have left to join jihadists in Iraq and Syria, including some 400 thought to be currently fighting on the ground and almost 50 who were killed.

According to figures published in the Le Monde newspaper in November, about a quarter of those who left to join the jihadists were converts to Islam, with many coming from everyday French backgrounds.

Austria to close Saudi school with alleged anti-Semitic inclinations

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria is to close a Saudi school in Vienna for failing to provide the names of its teachers and director and is also looking into allegations that it used anti-Semitic books, Vienna's school board said on Monday.

Austria's government wants to push ahead with passing a law which prohibits foreign funding for Muslim organizations and would make standardized German-language versions of the Koran mandatory.

The law, which the government says is aimed at preventing Austrian organizations from turning into recruiting grounds for jihadis, applies to institutions such as mosques rather than schools.

But it set off a heated debate on the role of other Islamic organizations in Austria, where concerns about jihadist violence have helped the FPO, a party critical of Islam, attract a quarter of votes, according to opinion polls.

The Vienna Board of Education decided to revoke the Saudi School Vienna's right to operate by the end of the school year next summer after it ignored a Dec. 1 deadline to name its teaching staff, a rule all private schools have to comply with, a spokesman said.

The school, which has 150 students and teaches in Arabic, has four weeks to appeal the shut-down and declined to comment on the decision.

The board, which says the school is funded by Saudi Arabia, has also asked it to provide official translations of texts after media reports alleged the school taught anti-Semitic content. The school declined to comment.

Israeli security forces thwart planned Palestinian suicide attack in Tel Aviv

(Ynet) The Shin Bet, IDF, and Israel Police arrested in the past two months five suspects, from Jenin and Tulkarm, who planned on committing terror attacks in Tel Aviv and other cities.

It was released for publication Monday that Yasmin Shaaban, a 31-year-old resident of Jenin was planning to impersonate a pregnant Jewish woman, wearing a suicide vest. The suspects confessed to also planning a shooting attack, attempting to bomb a bus full of soldiers, and even kidnapping a soldier.

According to the plan, Shaaban was to try to receive an entry permit to Israel, on medical grounds, which she would use to enter the country and commit a suicide bombing. During their interrogation by the Shin Bet, the suspects admitted to planning the suicide attack, as well as several others.

At the time of their arrests, Israeli forces confiscated a customized M-16, a hunting rifle, ammunition, and materials used in bomb-making.

The other members of the cell were 22-year-old Manadel Taqiz, 20-year-old Maatez Taqiz, 22-year-old Abed al-Halek Masimi, and 22-year-old Marwan Tzdeki – all from the small village of Attil, northeast of Tulkarm.

The cell planned to make use of an apartment within Israel, used by unauthorized immigrants, to prepare the suicide bomber for her mission. They confessed to being in contact with an operative in the Gaza Strip, who guided them in preparing the suicide vest.

It was agreed that Hamas and Islamic Jihad would claim responsibility after the attack.

The military court in Samaria received indictments against Manadel Taqiz and Yasmin Shaaban conspiracy to commit murder, membership in an illegal association, as well as other offenses.

Indictments against the other members of the cell were pending.

According to the plan, Shaaban was to try to receive an entry permit to Israel, on medical grounds, which she would use to enter the country and commit a suicide bombing. During their interrogation by the Shin Bet, the suspects admitted to planning the suicide attack, as well as several others.

At the time of their arrests, Israeli forces confiscated a customized M-16, a hunting rifle, ammunition, and materials used in bomb-making.

The other members of the cell were 22-year-old Manadel Taqiz, 20-year-old Maatez Taqiz, 22-year-old Abed al-Halek Masimi, and 22-year-old Marwan Tzdeki – all from the small village of Attil, northeast of Tulkarm.

The cell planned to make use of an apartment within Israel, used by unauthorized immigrants, to prepare the suicide bomber for her mission. They confessed to being in contact with an operative in the Gaza Strip, who guided them in preparing the suicide vest.

It was agreed that Hamas and Islamic Jihad would claim responsibility after the attack.

The military court in Samaria received indictments against Manadel Taqiz and Yasmin Shaaban conspiracy to commit murder, membership in an illegal association, as well as other offenses.

Indictments against the other members of the cell were pending.

Sydney hostage siege ends after police storm cafe, reports say two dead, including hostage taker and 1 hostage

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian security forces opened fire on Tuesday as they stormed the Sydney cafe where several hostages were being held at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a standoff that had dragged on for more than 16 hours.

Media said that two people, including the gunman, had been killed. New South Wales police declined to comment on the reports, and it was not clear whether the fatalities occurred during the rescue operation itself.

Heavy gunfire and loud bangs from stun grenades filled the air shortly after 2 a.m. local time (10a.m. ET on Monday).

Moments earlier at least six people believed to have been held captive managed to flee the scene after several loud bangs were heard coming from the cafe.

Medics were seen trying to resuscitate one person after the raid and took away several injured people on stretchers, said a Reuters witness at the scene in downtown Sydney.

The operation began shortly after a police source named the gunman as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee and self-styled sheikh facing multiple charges of sexual assault as well as being an accessory to murder.

He was also found guilty in 2012 of sending offensive and threatening letters to families of eight Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, as a protest against Australia's involvement in the conflict, according to local media reports.

Although he was well known to the authorities, security experts said preventing attacks by people acting alone could still be difficult.

​"Today's crisis throws into sharp relief the dangers of lone wolf terrorism," said Cornell University law professor Jens David Ohlin, speaking in New York.

"There are two areas of concern. The first is ISIS (Islamic State) fighters with foreign passports who return to their home countries to commit acts of terrorism.

"The second is ISIS sympathizers radicalized on the internet who take it upon themselves to commit terrorist attacks to fulfil their radical ideology.

"We are entering a new phase of terrorism that is far more dangerous, and more difficult to defeat, than al Qaeda ever was."

More...

Germany reportedly building warships for Israel

(Ynet) Israel is buying four ships from Germany with a total value of one billion euros, German newspaper Bild am Sontag reported Sunday, claiming possession of a leaked official memo, and Berlin will contribute a significant amount of funding. The project will be funded largely by Israel, but the German government plans to invest 115 million euros in the construction project.

The ships are being built at the ThyssenKrupp shipyard in the northern port city of Kiel, the newspaper said.

The report is based on a confidential letter sent by Germany’s deputy finance minister, Steffen Kampeter, to the budget committee at the Bundestag. According to the leaked letter, the German Defense Ministry is required to allocate the amount for “defense systems for Israel,” with the stated goal of “securing the economic region in the Mediterranean Sea.”

It was previously reported that Navy ships are securing Israel’s offshore gas facilities, for fear that this strategic installation will be the target of an attack.

Meanwhile, INS Tanin, the most sophisticated submarine of its class in the world and the first of three new subs purchased from Germany, docked in Israeli waters on September 23. Its uniqueness lies in its ability to remain underwater for far longer than usual, an estimated 18 days.

Costing about $450 million, it has an approximate length of 68 meters, and can hold some 50 staff members. And, according to foreign sources, it can launch missiles with nuclear warheads.

There has been growing internal criticism inside Germany over the security assistance provided by the Merkel government to Israel. The criticism has grown since last summer, due to Operation Protective Edge.

The German media reported that following the heavy bombing of the Gaza Strip by the IDF, Berlin decided not to approve new arms exports to Israel. However, according to prestigious German weekly Der Spiegel, the lack of exports was due to a dearth of new requests from Israel, not any material policy change by Merkel.

Future hostages in Australia have started #illRideWithYou, pledging support for Muslims

(NBC) Twitter users pledged their support for Australian Muslims facing a possible backlash as a suspected Islamist gunman took hostages in a Sydney cafe. The hashtag #IllRideWithYou trended globally as unconfirmed reports suggest that women in traditional Muslim dress had been intimidated on public transport in Sydney. Australian Muslim leaders also released a statement condemning the cafe siege, calling it a "despicable act."








Jihad in Sydney: Sheik Man Haron Moni is holding several people hostage at Martin Place cafe, demands ISIS flag to be delivered to him

(News.com.au) Police have authorised the naming of Sheik Man Haron Monis, 49, who is a self-styled preacher of Islamic State on bail for accessory to murder, as the gunman who is holding 15 terrified hostages in Sydney’s Lindt cafe.

He has a sawn-off shotgun and is understood to be a fringe Islamist. The gunman arrived in Australia as a refugee in 1996, The Australian and Sky News reports.

Hundreds of heavily-armed police continue to hold an intense security cordon around the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place and central Sydney remains in lockdown as negotiators try to secure the safe release of hostages caught in a siege.

Five hostages emerged from the central Sydney cafe yesterday.

They are being held by Monis who has forced them to display an Islamic flag, which has sparked fears of a terrorist attack.

More...
(JPost) According to Sky News Australia, the man is also demanding that authorities deliver Islamic State flags to the café. Earlier on Monday, hostages were seen holding a black flag with Arabic and Islamic insignia against the window of the Lindt café in the center of Sydney’s business hub.

Sky News reported on Monday that there are fears the assailant has planted four bombs on the premises. Television reports also indicate that the gunman is using one of the female hostages as a human shield, complicating efforts to bring the crisis to a resolution.

An Australian television channel, Network Ten, reportedly spoke to two hostages inside the café. The hostages “were hysterical as they relayed the man’s demands.”
Australia asks Israel for Israel an for anti-terror advice.
(Times Israel) Israel is in contact with Australian authorities over the unfolding hostage situation in a Sydney coffee shop, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Monday.

Speaking to Israel Radio, Ya’alon said that Israel would do anything it could to help.

Police have said they are negotiating with the gunman, who has apparently made a number of demands via phone calls that hostages were forced to make to local media organizations.

Australian officials have yet to confirm that the Monday morning attack, in which a gunman stormed a central Sydney cafe and took an unknown number of people hostage, is terror related, though they have pointed to indications that it is “politically motivated.”

Shortly after taking the coffee shop, the gunman forced hostages to display a flag with an Islamic affirmation of faith, leading some to believe the incident was related to Islamist terror.

“This seems to be another attack by an Islamist, jihadist organization, part of the phenomenon of the spread of global jihad, and the terrorism it brings to different places, which also reaches Australia,” Ya’alon told the radio station.

He did not say what led him to the conclusion that the attack was connected to a jihadist organization.

More...

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Israel's enemies want it to withdraw from East Jerusalem and Judea

For starters. Next will be West Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Eilat, etc.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected talk of Israel withdrawing from east Jerusalem and the West Bank within two years, on the eve of a meeting with the top US diplomat.

"We... stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, that is an attempt to compel us by means of UN decisions to withdraw to the 1967 lines within two years," said Netanyahu.

The Jewish state seized east Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank during the 1967 Six-Day War. It pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

Netanyahu said such a withdrawal now would bring "Islamic extremists to the suburbs of Tel Aviv and to the heart of Jerusalem."

More...

Thursday, December 11, 2014

New Shariah compliant 'Islamic doll' launched in Britain has no facial features

(UK) A new ‘Islamic doll’ with no facial features has been launched in Britain.

The ‘Deeni Doll’ has no eyes, nose or mouth whatsoever in a bid to comply with Islamic rules governing the depiction of faces.

[...]

“The Deeni Doll has no face on it whatsoever and is Shariah compliant.”

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Seven Somali women killed in 'barbaric' attacks

You don't hear the left talking about the real war on women.
Mogadishu (AFP) - At least seven women have been killed in "barbaric" attacks in Somalia after Shebab insurgents beheaded a soldier's wife, prompting revenge executions of women close to the Islamists, elders said Thursday.

The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab earlier this week snatched two women -- a soldier's wife and a chef for the government troops -- before chopping the heads off both, elders in the southwestern Tiyeglow district told AFP.

"It was horrible, Al-Shebab killed two innocent women connected with the government troops," said Aliyow Isack, an elder.

In revenge, the widowed soldier and his colleagues rounded up women connected to Shebab fighters.

"For the death of the two women, they arrested 10 women whom they said were wives of Al-Shebab militants, killing five before the elders rescued and freed the rest," Isack added.

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'Stronger than ever' jihadists kill 5,042 in a month

London (AFP) - Jihadist attacks around the world in November killed a total of 5,042 people, showing Islamist extremism is "stronger than ever" despite Al-Qaeda's declining role, a new study published on Thursday said.

There were 664 attacks in 14 countries during the month, according to the joint report by the BBC World Service and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King's College London.

The research found Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria were responsible for around half of the violence -- 308 attacks responsible for 2,206 deaths.

"The data makes it clear that jihadists and Al-Qaeda are no longer one and the same," the report said.

It said that 60 percent of the killing was done by groups with no formal association with Al-Qaeda, pointing to "an increasingly ambitious, complex, sophisticated and far-reaching movement".

"It seems obvious that the jihadist movement... (is) stronger than ever and that countering (it) will be a generational challenge," the research said.

The worst-affected country was Iraq -- where deaths accounted for around a third of the monthly total -- followed by Nigeria, Afghanistan and Syria.

The study is the first of its kind and could not be compared to previous monthly statistics.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Lions maul neo-Nazi activist in Spain

(Times of Israel) A 45-year-old neo-Nazi activist was seriously injured by three lions after he entered the animals’ enclosure at the Barcelona zoo on Sunday.

Barcelona’s fire department was called to the northeastern city’s zoo where witnesses said they saw the man, wearing a military-style uniform, jump into the den, the city government said in a statement.

Emergency services used fire hoses to distance the lions from the man, who had been attacked and dragged into a tunnel within their enclosure.

Around half an hour after he entered the enclosure, rescue services removed the man, identified by local media as Justo Jose, and took him to a hospital where he is in serious but not life-threatening condition, the statement said.

It wasn’t Jose’s first time in the news. He was arrested on November 23 for hanging swastika banners over the Casa Milà building in Barcelona, as part of an anti-abortion demonstration. Alongside the symbol of the genocidal Nazi regime, Jose wrote on one of the banners that abortion was “murder,” according to local media.

On September 11, he was caught burning a flag near the statue of the 17th century Catalan leader Rafael Casanova, and in early November he tried to break into the Palau de la Generalitat, the seat of the Catalan government.

The spokesman for the fire department insisted that Jose’s entrance into the enclosure was deliberate, although it wasn’t immediately clear if it was a political protest.

Report: Two Hezbollah men killed in alleged IAF strike on Syrian sites storing Russian-made advanced missiles for Hezbollah; Moscow demands explanation

Fire from alleged IAF strike in Syria
A heartfelt GFY should do it.
(Ynet) Two Hezbollah activists were killed Sunday in what foreign sources have said was an Israeli airstrike on military targets in Syria, the Al Arabiya news channel reported Monday. The report contradicts earlier claims by Syrian security forces, who said Sunday that there had been no casualties in the attack.

While official Israel continues to keep mum on the daylight attack in Syria that has been attributed to it, the Arab press has in the meantime published more and more details about the alleged Israeli assault.

Al-Arabiya also said that one of the two dead men had been a senior military official in Hezbollah.

According to reports, which are so far unsubstantiated, eight Israel Air Force warplanes participated in the strikes close to the international airport on the outskirts of Damascus. The target, the reports say, was most likely a warehouse containing new Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles that were en route to Lebanon.

More...

Top Iranian official: Obama is 'knocking on every door', 'begging to meet Rouhani'

Khamenei office official boasts that Obama is 'knocking on every door' just to meet Hassan Rouhani, and that it 'demonstrates strength.'

(INN) The head of the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei insists that US President Barack Obama is chasing after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, according to footage provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

"When you see the American president knocking on every door just to meet our president for a few minutes, this is no trivial matter," Mohammad Golpayegani stated in an i (Iranian news channel) broadcast. "Some people lurk in the UN corridor just to get the chance to shake (Obama's) hand, and he does not deign to even do that."

"Yet he sends mediators and goes to such efforts (in order to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani)," he continued. "This demonstrates our strength."

The statement follows news that Obama had sent a secret letter to Khamenei in October without informing its regional partners (Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) in which he called for cooperation against Islamic State (ISIS) and a nuclear agreement.

Earlier that month, American and Arab officials revealed to the Wall Street Journal that Obama has moved closer to Iran and its terror proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, citing "secret channels of communications" to Iran via senior Shi'ite sources in Iraq.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Muslim convert John Maguire, an ISIS fighter from Ottawa, appears on video warning Canada of attacks ‘where it hurts you the most’

(National Post) A Muslim convert who left Ottawa last year to join ISIS resurfaced in a propaganda video on Sunday to threaten Canadians they will be “indiscriminately targeted” in retaliation for joining the international military coalition fighting the terror group.

In a six-minute video, he said the October killings of two Canadian Forces members in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and Ottawa by men who had adopted Islamist extremist beliefs were a “direct response” to Canada’s role in Iraq.

“The more bombs you drop on our people, the more Muslims will realize and understand that today, waging jihad against the West and its allies around the world is beyond a shadow of the doubt a religious obligation binding upon every Muslim,” he said.
While he identified himself as Abu Anwar al-Canadi, three former friends said they recognized him as John Maguire, a former University of Ottawa student who converted to Islam and became radicalized before vanishing last year.

His family told the National Post the RCMP had told his mother he was in Syria and had travelled there on a one-way ticket. Posting online under the name “Yahya” Maguire, he had called Canada “evil” and said that he wanted “the opportunity for martyrdom.”

Originally from Kemptville, Ont., the 23-year-old is one of the dozens of Canadians believed to be fighting with extremist groups in Iraq and Syria. Since the attacks in Quebec and Ottawa, the government has proposed new legislation to better track them abroad.

The video, posted onto Twitter and jihadi Web forums, and distributed by the SITE Intelligence Group, said Canada was “waging war” against Muslims. “So it should not surprise you when operations by the Muslims are executed where it hurts you the most – on your very own soil – in retaliation to your unprovoked acts of aggression towards our people,” Maguire said.

“You have absolutely no right to live in a state of safety and security when your country is carrying out atrocities on our people,” he added. “Your people will be indiscriminately targeted as you indiscriminately target our people.”

Like many jihadists, Mr. Maguire claimed he had been an ordinary Canadian until his religious awakening. “I was one of you. I was a typical Canadian. I grew up on the hockey rink and spent my teenage years on stage playing guitar,” he said.

“I had no criminal record. I was a bright student and maintained a strong GPA in university. So how could one of your people end up in my place? And why is it that your own people are the ones turning against you at home? The answer is that we have accepted the true call of the prophets and messengers of God.”

He told Canadians to convert to Islam.

Canada has sent six CF-18s to Kuwait to participate in air strikes against ISIS, which has been attempting to impose its backwards ideology on Syrians and Iraqis through a brutal campaign of atrocities ranging from mass executions, ethnic cleansing, forced conversions and enslaving members of minority faiths.

Excellent video on what and who really brought about the nakba

According to Palestinians, they were expelled from Israel by the Jewish armies in 1948. A large documentation, and many testimonies from Arab leaders and historians intend to prove that, actually, they fled the zone of conflict because of Arab propaganda, spreading the fake news of massacres... Deir Yassin, among those so said massacres, became a legend. Such as Jenin, and Gaza will be decades later. Pallywood, pallywood...

Pope Francis Says Christians Are Being ‘Driven From the Middle East’

ERBIL, Iraq (AFP) — Pope Francis said Christians are being “driven from the Middle East,” in a message to Iraqi Christians forced to flee by Islamic State group jihadists.

“It would seem that they (the extremists) do not want there to be any Christians, but you bear witness to Christ,” he said in a video address timed to coincide with a visit Saturday by French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin to the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil.

“I think of the wounds, of the pain of women with their children, the elderly and the displaced, the wounds of those who are victims of every type of violence,” Francis said according to a transcript.

Thousands of Christians took refuge in Erbil after IS jihadists in June overran Mosul, Iraq’s second city, and forced hundreds of thousands of them, as well as members of the Yazidi community, to flee their homes.

“Due to an extremist and fundamentalist group, entire communities, especially, but not only, Christians and Yazidi, have suffered and continue to suffer, inhuman violence because of their religious and ethnic identity,” the pope said.

“Christians and Yazidi have been forced out of their homes; they have had to abandon everything to save their lives, but they have not denied their faith.”

“Even holy buildings, monuments, religious symbols and cultural heritage have been affected by the violence, almost as if to cancel every trace, every memory of the other.”

Last weekend, the pontiff visited Turkey where he met Bartholomew I, the ecumenical patriarch and spiritual leader of the world’s roughly 250 million Orthodox Christians.

The two clerics issued a joint statement in which they spoke out against anti-Christian violence in the region.

More...

British Christian Zionist Hailed as ‘Godfather’ of IDF Reburied in Israel

(JNS.org) The ashes of John Henry Patterson, a British Christian Zionist hailed as the “godfather” of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were reburied in a ceremony near Netanya.

Born in 1867, Lt. Col. Patterson came to Palestine during World War I after serving in east Africa as a colonial officer, where he became famous for killing two giant man-eating lions. Patterson eventually commanded the Jewish Legion, the first Jewish force on the field of battle in the area in nearly two thousand years, in campaigns in Gallipoli and Palestine.

Ze’ev Jabotinsky, a leading figure in Zionism who was also one of Patterson’s fellow soldiers, once said that ”in all of Jewish history we have never had a Christian friend as understanding and devoted.”

Netanyahu’s father was close friends with Patterson when the two worked together to advocate for Israeli statehood. Netanyahu’s brother Yonatan, who was killed in Operation Entebbe in Uganda in 1976, was named in Patterson’s honor.

Netanyahu described Patterson as helping to reshape the image of the Jewish people from centuries of wonderers without a homeland to warriors.

“[Patterson] had absolute confidence that the Jews would make remarkable soldiers – not adequate soldiers, but remarkable soldiers. And I think he had a lot to do with that. He began the reconstitution of the ability of the Jews to defend ourselves,” Netanyahu said, the Independent reported.

Alan Patterson, grandson of John Henry Patterson, said that it was one of his grandfather’s dying wishes to be buried alongside his fellow soldiers. Patterson’s ashes, along with his wife Frances, had been interred in California, where he lived when he passed away in 1947. They will now be interred in Moshav Avihayil, which was founded by Jewish Legion veterans in 1921.

The two angry men on Europe’s borders

(The Guardian) Two angry men. They govern large countries that border Europe. They rail against the west, which is at great pains to find the right way to deal with them. It seems that hardly a week goes by without Recep Tayyip Erdogan or Vladimir Putin lashing out at the United States or Europe. In a recent diatribe in front of Istanbul university students, Erdogan warned against modern-day “Lawrences of Arabia” trying to undermine Turkish power.

Last week, Putin hit out at the US during a meeting of the Valdai Club in Sochi, his annual PR forum. The Russian leader compared his country to a bear who will “not ask permission” to act and “will not let anyone have its taiga [land]”. Putin denounced American “unilateral diktats” and “legal nihilism”, painting over his own unilateralism and illegality over the annexation of Crimea.

Regional crises in Syria and Ukraine have triggered this new bout of estrangement. Erdogan resents having been put under pressure by the US over his refusal to intervene directly in Syria against Islamic State (Isis). Putin has framed the Ukrainian conflict as the consequence of Euro-Atlantic manoeuvres into Russia’s neighbourhood. He casts his policy as the defence of ethnic Russians abroad.

The Turkish and Russian presidents together govern nearly 220 million citizens. Their countries have registered strong growth since the beginning of the century. They want to throw their weight around and this has, it seems, caught many people off guard. Western diplomacy has been scrambling for answers.

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Why Is Europe Obsessed With 'Palestine'?

(Ynet) The lower house of the French Parliament has voted in favor of recognizing a state called Palestine. The same resolution will undoubtedly be adopted in a few days by the upper house as well, making the decision official – yet non-binding as far as the government is concerned.

Sweden was the first European state to make the odd decision to recognize a state that doesn’t actually exist. Spain and Britain are expected to follow in its footsteps in the near future.

With all my willingness to understand these decisions – which are anyway devoid of meaning – I just can't comprehend what pushes European countries to make a move which has absolutely no logic or benefit for that inexistent Palestine. Don't the governments of those countries have their own problems which required immediate attention?

Take French President Fran̤ois Hollande, for example. The man who broke the unpopularity record in his country must have more important things to do than, as he stated in recent days, work vigorously for two years to bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians Рand that is why it is important for France to recognize the Palestinian state.

It's very strange that he's prepared to recognize a state which doesn’t even exist. The fact that more than 10% of France's citizens are Muslim cannot serve as an excuse either, as it is hard to know whether they will all vote for Hollande's party in the next elections.

It's also very strange that the Spanish government believes it should recognize Palestine while fighting an all-out war against the Catalans' independence ambitions. An independent Catalonia? Heaven forbid. And what about the fact that most of the region's residents are in favor of separating from Madrid? It's easier to recognize Palestine, a move which most Spaniards couldn’t care less about, than take care of the real domestic problems, including the shaky economic situation.

In Britain, David Cameron's government put a lot of effort and work in fighting the Scottish people's independence ambitions. It succeeded, but London knows very well that this is only a temporary victory and that the Scots will come back shortly and demand another referendum about separating from Britain.

But alongside the effort to thwart the Scottish people's ambitions, the London parliament did not forget Palestine. Independence for the Scots? Heaven forbid. But for Palestine, no problem. Why Britain has a very high percentage of Muslim residents as well.

These acts of recognition are useless. Do they mean that there is indeed a Palestinian state? Absolutely not. They contain a PR trick, but no essence. Even Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and his people understand very well that all the decisions and declarations will not advance their ambitions.

Without Israel's consent, there will never be a Palestinian state. They will be able to get one only through an agreement with us. Because when it comes to this issue, the small Israel equals the huge bloc of dozens of Arab and Muslim states and their supporters wherever they are.

If they wish to fulfill their ambitions, the Palestinians had better realize that as soon as possible.

Suspected U.S. drone strike kills 4 Taliban in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone strike on a Pakistani Taliban compound in North Waziristan tribal region killed at least four alleged militants Sunday, officials said.

Two missiles fired from a drone hit a compound in the village of Khara Tanga in the Datta Khel area, two Pakistani intelligence officials said. The strike also wounded two militants, they said.

The officials said Pakistani Taliban linked to commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur used the compound, but it wasn't immediately known whether Bahadur was there at the time of the strike.

"There is (suspicion) that an important commander was within the compound when missiles struck but this is yet to be verified," one of the intelligence officials said.

More...

Obama hands over senior Taliban commander to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. military in Afghanistan has handed over three Pakistani detainees to Islamabad, including one who Pakistani intelligence officers said is a senior Taliban commander long wanted by the Pakistani government.

The transfer of Latif Mehsud, a close confidante of the former head of the Pakistani Taliban, underlines the improving relations between the U.S., Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan has long demanded that Afghanistan hand over militants operating in its territory, and the issue was a source of sharp tension between Pakistan and former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The U.S. did not name the prisoners but two Pakistani intelligence officials say Mehsud was among them. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

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Syrian TV: Israeli jets strike sites near Damascus

(Times of Israel) Syrian media reported Israeli fighter jets launched an airstrike on several military bases on the outskirts of Damascus, near the Syria-Lebanon border Sunday.

The alleged attack was reported by Syria’s official SANA news agency and by Shiite terror group Hezbollah’s official television station al-Manar.

The SANA report claimed one attack took place near Damascus’s main airport.

“The Israeli enemy attacked Syria by targeting two safe areas in Damascus province, namely the Dimas area and the area of Damascus International Airport,” said SANA, adding that no casualties were reported.

Israeli officials did not immediately respond to the reports.

This is what Islam is all about


Saudi-born US naval engineer arrested for giving undercover agent info on how to sink carrier

Mostafa Ahmed Awwad
(Fox News) A Naval engineer is facing charges that he gave an FBI undercover agent posing as an Egyptian intelligence officer secret documents about the new Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier while discussing how to sink the vessel with a missile.

Mostafa Ahmed Awwad, 35, of Yorktown, Va., was arrested Friday on an FBI affidavit that reads like it came from a Tom Clancy novel.

Federal prosecutors in Virginia say that during his conversations with the undercover, Awwad arranged to use a dead-drop location along a secluded hiking trail to pass secrets about the Ford, which is being built in Virginia for delivery to the Navy in 2016.

The affidavit says that at a hotel meeting on Oct. 9 Awwad gave the undercover drawings of the aircraft carrier that he said were top secret. During the meeting, "Awwad discussed where to strike the vessel with a missile in order to sink it," the affidavit says.

The FBI undercover was posing as an Egyptian spy named "Yousef" and spoke to Awwad in Arabic.

The Virginian Pilot said Saturday that Awwad cried as he was led into the courtroom for a brief hearing before a federal magistrate judge in Norfolk. He wore a pink collared shirts, sweater vest and tan pants, the paper said.

The judge ordered Awwad detained until a hearing Wednesday.

The indictment accuses Awwad of two counts of attempted exportation of defense articles and technical data. Each count is punishable by 20 years in prison.

The affidavit says Awwad was born in Saudia Arabia and married a U.S. citizen in Cairo in 2007. After his marriage he took steps to become an American citizen.

The court papers also say the Navy hired Awwad to work in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s nuclear engineering and planning department in February and that he got a security clearance in August.

The FBI sting began in September when the undercover contacted Awwad. The court papers do not say why Awwad became a target.

During their first meeting in a park in Hampton, Va., Awwad explained to "Yousef" that he intended to use his position to obtain military technology for use by the Egyptian government, including but not limited to, the designs of the USS Gerald Ford nuclear aircraft carrier.

"Awwad agreed to conduct clandestine communications with the undercover FBI agent by email and unattributable telephones and to conduct 'dead drops' in a concealed location in the park," the Justice Department said in a press release, cited by the Navy Times.

At the Oct. 9 meeting Awwad asked for $1,500 to buy a tiny camera to enable him to photograph restricted material around the shipyard, according to the affidavit.

On Oct. 23, Awwad retrieved $3,000 in cash left at the dead-drop location. He left behind a container with an external hard drive and two passport photos. The FBI later collected the containers.

The day after Thanksgiving Awwad was observed in his Navy office holding what appeared to be aircraft design schematics which he placed on the floor and photographed.

The Pilot said the USS Ford is the lead ship in the Navy’s new class of carriers. The Ford stands 25 stories high and is three football fields long.

Retired rear admiral Fred Metz, head of the Navy’s carrier and air station program until 1991, told the paper its bad enough for the schematics of any Navy vessel to be given away.

"But it’s worse to give away the Ford's," he said. "There is a whole lot of new technology on it we haven't seen before."