05/28 Links: Corbyn honored Munich massacre terrorist; Europe Fights Back with Candles and Teddy Bears ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Corbyn honored PLO official believed behind Munich massacre

Amid an uproar over Jeremy Corbyn’s recent remarks on jihadist terrorism in the UK, a British newspaper has revealed the Labour Party leader attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the grave of a senior Palestinian official believed to have been involved in the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
In October 2014, Corbyn, in an article published in the radical left-wing website Morning Star, recalled a recent visit to Tunisia where he marked the anniversary of Israel’s 1985 attack on the Palestine Liberation Organization’s headquarters there, laying wreaths at a cemetery commemorating Palestinians said killed by Israeli forces in various incidents.
“After wreaths were laid at the graves of those who died on that day [at Sabra and Shatila] and on the graves of others killed by Mossad agents in Paris in 1991, we moved to the poignant statue in the main avenue of the coastal town of Ben Arous, which was festooned with Palestinian and Tunisian flags,” Corbyn wrote.
It seems he was talking about the grave of PLO official Atef Bseiso, PLO’s head of intelligence, thought to have been a key planner of the Munich massacre
There is no record of Israel’s spy agency carrying out an assassination in the French capital around that time, but the June 1992 killing of Bseiso in Paris has been blamed on Israel.
Israel denied any role in the killing, suggesting Bseiso’s death was the result of internal rivalries within the PLO.
Israeli officials did note, however, that as the PLO’s head of intelligence, Bseiso was likely involved in planning the 1972 massacre.

Europe Fights Back with Candles and Teddy Bears

The sad truth is that Europe has never had the political will to wage a total war against ISIS and the other jihadist groups. Otherwise, Raqaa and Mosul would already have been neutralized. Instead, Islamists have been taking over Molenbeek in Belgium, the French suburbs and large swaths of Britain. We now should be celebrating the liberation of Mosul and the return of Christians to their homes; instead we are mourning 22 people murdered and 64 wounded by an Islamic suicide-bomber in Manchester, and 29 Christians killed in Egypt this week alone.
Serious fighting would require massive bombing to eliminate as many Islamists as possible. But we are apparently not ready to abandon our masochistic rules of engagement, which privilege the enemy's people over our own. Europe also never demanded that its Muslim communities disavow jihadism and Islamic law, sharia. This silence is what helps Islamists shut the mouths of brave Muslim dissidents. Meanwhile, Europe's armies are getting smaller by the day, as if we already consider this game done.
After every attack, Europe's leaders recycle the same empty slogans: "Carry on"; "We are stronger"; "Business as usual". The Muslim Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, tells us that we must get used to daily carnage! He says he believes that the threat of terror attacks is "part and parcel of living in a big city", and that major cities around the world "have got to be prepared for these sorts of things". Does he seriously mean that we are supposed to get used to the massacre of our own children in the Manchester Arena? Islamic terror has now become part of the landscape of so many major European cities: Paris, Copenhagen, Nice, Toulouse, Berlin....
Instead of concentrating on jihad and radical Islam, Europe's leaders continue to talk about the "Russian threat". It would indeed be a mistake to neglect Russian expansionism. But did Vladimir Putin's troops attack Westminster? Did Russian agents blow themselves up, taking the lives of children at a Manchester concert? Did a former Soviet spy massacre Swedes walking in Stockholm? For Europe's leaders, talking about Putin appears a welcome distraction from the real enemies.

Salman Abedi reported teacher at his secondary school for being an Islamophobe because he condemned suicide bombers

The Manchester attacker – who slaughtered 22 people at a concert by pop-star Ariana Grande on Monday – studied at Burnage Academy for Boys between 2009 and 2011.
Abedi was part of an Arabic-speaking “clique” during his time at the school, The Times reports.
He is believed to have been part of a group of teens that became upset when one of their teachers brought up the topic of suicide attacks.
The teacher “asked what they thought of someone who would strap on a bomb and blow people up”, according to a source quoted by the paper.
The source said the boys then went to their RE teacher and lodged a complaint, telling them it was “Islamophobic”.

FBI 'warned MI5 in January that the Manchester bomber was planning an attack on Britain'

UK security chiefs were warned in January that Salman Abedi was planning an attack in Britain, it was claimed last night.
According to a security source, the FBI told MI5 that Abedi was part of a North African Islamic State cell plotting to strike a political target in the UK.
The information came from a US investigation into Abedi and his links to terrorist groups in Libya. The Mail on Sunday has also been told that US security services put him on a terror watch list – used by agents to identify key suspects – in 2016.
The shocking claim piles further pressure on MI5 to reveal when and how it became aware of Abedi, and why UK spies decided he did not pose a significant threat to British security.
The source told The Mail on Sunday: 'In early 2017 the FBI told MI5 that Abedi belonged to a North African terror gang based in Manchester, which was looking for a political target in this country.

Manchester killer's imam 'was filmed fighting with militants in Libya despite claiming he was there to help his parents and brothers flee the violence'

The chief imam of the mosque where Manchester bomber Salman Abedi worshipped fought with militants in Libya, it was reported last night.
Mustafa Graf, 46, appeared alongside elders at Didsbury Mosque at a press conference on Wednesday, condemning the atrocity which killed 22 people and distancing themselves from Abedi.
Mr Graf admits being in Libya during the 2011 revolution and that he was captured by forces from the Gaddafi regime.
He claimed he was there to help his parents and brothers flee the fighting, but in a video report shot by the French AFP news agency, a British fighter named Mostafa Abdallah Graf describes preparations for battle against Gaddafi’s forces at Beni Walid, near Tripoli.
Interviewed in front of militants loading large bombs and other munitions, he is wearing a desert combat uniform and sunglasses.
In Arabic, he says: ‘These munitions are from various cities in Libya. They are for tanks, heavy artillery and missiles. Thank God everything is ready – we’re just waiting for orders to attack.’

BBC Radio 4’s ‘The World Tonight’ inverts history in Manchester

Almost 24 hours after the horrific terror attack in Manchester, on May 23rd the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘The World Tonight’ was broadcast from Albert Square in that city.
The programme included a discussion (from 34:15 here) between presenter Ritula Shah and local interviewees. After one interviewee had described Manchester as a “resilient city”, Shah turned to historian Michala Hulme of MMU (from 38:10).
Shah [interrupts]: “But, but just remind us of the kind of tensions that have riven the city in the past. I think we’ve seen Jewish riots in the 1940s. There’ve been all sorts of incidents where communities in Manchester – I mean Manchester is no exception – but have pitted one against the other.”
If Hulme the historian seems to be somewhat at a loss regarding Shah’s specific claim of “Jewish riots in the 1940s”, that should not come as much of a surprise. We too have been unable to find any record of rioting by Jews in Manchester during that decade.
Records do however show that in early August 1947, during a bank holiday, rioting against Jews took place over a number of days in Manchester, Salford and additional towns and cities. In an article published by the New Statesman, Daniel Trilling described the events:

Nevada legislature passes anti-BDS law

The Nevada State Assembly unanimously passed on Wednesday a bill that would outlaw government bodies from conducting business with companies that boycott the Jewish state. Last month, the state Senate approved the same anti-BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) legislation in a 19-2 vote.
“The BDS movement focuses on discriminating against businesses, organizations, and institutions simply for exercising their right to freely associate with Israel, or for being of Jewish or Israeli heritage,” said Dillon Hosier, national director of State Government Affairs at Israeli-American Coalition for Action.
He added, “Nevada has strong economic ties with companies targeted by BDS in sectors like water sustainability, alternative energy and cyber security. Allowing BDS to infiltrate this state would greatly disenfranchise Nevadans and harm our long-term economic interests.”
The anti-BDS legislation will be sent to Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, for his approval.
Mark Hutchison, the Republican Party Nevada lieutenant governor, introduced the anti- BDS legislation while previously serving in the state Senate.
In an op-ed in the Las Vegas Sun he wrote earlier this month that the legislation will aid the state’s economy.

IsraellyCool: Be On The Look Out For Jew And Israel Hate At Palestine Expo London 2017

Palestine Expo 2017 is coming up on the 8th and 9th of July in the heart of London. It is being held in a building owned and managed by a government agency right opposite Westminster Abbey and a literal hand grenade’s throw from the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
Palestine Expo will be the biggest social, cultural and entertainment event on Palestine to ever take place in Europe. It will take place over 2 days and across 5 floors at the award winning Queen Elizabeth II Centre.
The event will have inspiration speakers, interactive zones, a knowledge village, a food court, live entertainment, an academic workshop, a gallery, a shopping quarter and a student hub.
The list of “inspirational speakers” is entirely unbalanced and will showcase a wide range uniformly hostile opinions from “we hate Jews living on their indigenous lands” to “we really, really, really hate Jews living on their indigenous lands”.

This @nytimes whitewashing of Sarsour's overt anti-Semitism is repulsive. A moral stain. The spirit of Duranty lives https://t.co/xYsZ87SM2C
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 28, 2017

Washington Post Slams Israel, Ignores Ethics

In this article entitled “A Palestinian’s daily commute through an Israeli checkpoint” the Washington Post’s William Booth and Sufian Taha explore the difficulties of commuting from the West Bank into Israel, along with evocatively disturbing photos by Linda Davidson.
The commute involves passing through a checkpoint, which the article portrays as inconvenient, time consuming, and (in the opinion of their Palestinian interviewee) also humiliating. Checkpoints do have a reputation for being not only a hardship for Palestinians, but also a painful dilemma for Israelis.
Yet in what is at best a stunning display of unprofessionalism, or at worst an actual anti-Israel agenda, The Washington Post avoids discussing any degree of Palestinian responsibility for their present situation, and does not include any input at all from Israelis. In doing so, the authors make the checkpoint out to be an act of intentional Israeli malice against Palestinians, rather than the outgrowth of a genuinely difficult and complex situation.
“I think they do it deliberately, to put us in our place,” said Abu Rafat, 51, a stout barrel of a man with gray hair, a tile worker.
At a whopping 68 column inches long, this article article contains 2,716 words, 12 photographs and one video:
Number of words from Israeli authorities: zero.
Number of words explaining why checkpoints were built in the first place (to prevent Palestinian terrorism): zero.
Number of words from any Israelis at all: zero.

Guardian evokes ‘Bibi puppeteer’ controlling Trump’s policy towards Iran

First, if Trump “really” believes that Iran is the foremost sponsor of terrorism, that’s because this is precisely what the most recent US State Department Report on Terrorism in fact concludes that “Iran remained the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2015, providing a range of support, including financial, training, and equipment, to groups around the world – particularly Hizballah”.
The Observer editorial then suggested that Trump’s view on Iran’s involvement in global terror may have a foreign root cause.
Or is he responding blindly to middle America’s perennial need for international bogeymen, to his own irrational hatred of Obama’s landmark nuclear deal and to overstated Saudi and Israeli fears? Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s fiercely anti-Iran prime minister, must be in the running for string-puller of the year. Trump is a bit big to be a puppet but he certainly acts like one at times.
Readers of this blog would of course recall that this odious suggestion, that Israeli and or Jewish politicians pull the strings of US foreign policy, was criticised by the Guardian’s own readers’ editor following the publication of this 2012 cartoon by Steve Bell.

PMW: Norway acts on PMW report, demands Palestinian youth center return money
Shortly after PMW reported that a Palestinian youth center built with Norwegian and UN money was named after a terrorist murderer, Norway condemned it and demanded their money be returned. (28/05/2017)

On Friday, Palestinian Media Watch reported that a Palestinian youth center built with Norwegian and UN money and with the involvement of the PA's Ministry of Local Government had been named the "Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Center" after the terrorist who led the murder of 37 in a bus hijacking. The very same day, Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende condemned the center and demanded that the Norwegian money be returned:
"The glorification of terrorist attacks is completely unacceptable, and I deplore this decision in the strongest possible terms. Norway will not allow itself to be associated with institutions that take the names of terrorists in this way... We have asked for the logo of the Norwegian representation office to be removed from the building immediately, and for the funding that has been allocated to the centre to be repaid." [Norwegian Foreign Ministry website, May 26, 2017]
The Foreign Minister added that before Norway funds new projects, new procedures must be in place to prevent this from happening again:
"'We will not enter into any new agreements with either the Palestinian Election Commission or UN Women in Palestinian areas until satisfactory procedures are in place to ensure that nothing of this nature happens again,' said [Foreign Minister] Mr Brende."
The UN also dissociated itself from the center, rejecting the choice of name as "wrong and unacceptable":
UN Assistant Secretary General for Development and Humanitarian Coordinator for Palestine, Robert Piper: "The United Nations support for this center ended last year. The inauguration of the center took place a few weeks ago, well after the UN association with it concluded. The name chosen by the community center is wrong and unacceptable. The UN Women logo should not be associated with it and it will be removed immediately." [Robert Piper on Twitter, May 26, 2017]
UN Women: "UN Women supported the rehabilitation of a community building in Burqa last year but has had no role in the naming or any other activity related to the Centre since the completion of the project was at the end of 2016.
The UN Women logo in the recent inauguration event was used without any prior authorization from the UN. UN Women is asking the community Centre, with immediate effect, to withdraw the UN Women logo from all public material, and not to use its logo for any events or activities."
[UN Women website, May 26, 2017]

Israel rips UN over support for PA center glorifying terror

The Foreign Ministry expressed worry over the UN’s financial support for a PA women’s center named after notorious female terrorist Dalal Mughrabi.
Mughrabi headed the brutal murder of no fewer than 37 people in the Coastal Highway massacre in 1978.
Foreign Ministry representative Elon Bar spoke today with the UN’s “Humanitarian Coordinator” for the Palestinian Arabs, Robert Piper.
During their conversation, Bar expressed concern over the UN’s continued support of Palestinian Arab incitement and glorification of terrorists who murdered Jews.
He demanded that Piper clarify the UN’s funding, and expressed Israel’s expectation that the UN act so that such occurrences do not happen in the future.

UN Watch: UN Women wants logo pulled from Palestinian center named for terrorist, yet won’t condemn

UN Women said it is asking for its logo to be pulled from a Palestinian youth center named after a terrorist, but, unlike Norway’s government, the world body for gender equality failed to express condemnation.
A Palestinian NGO known as “Women’s Technical Affairs Committee” (WTAC) recently named a youth center for women after Dalal Mughrabi, who in 1978 led a group of terrorists that hijacked a bus and killed 37 Israelis, including 12 children. The incident was exposed by Palestinian Media Watch.
The “Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Center” is listed as a joint initiative of WTAC, the PA, UN Women, and the Norwegian government.
The center, reported Ma’an, in an article that has now been deleted, “will focus especially on the history of the struggle of Martyr Dalal Mughrabi and on presenting it to the youth groups.”
Norway issued a swift denunciation. “The glorification of terrorist attacks is completely unacceptable, and I deplore this decision in the strongest possible terms,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende. “Norway will not allow itself to be associated with institutions that take the names of terrorists in this way. We will not accept the use of Norwegian aid funding for such purposes.”
By contrast, however, the UN issued a series of weak statements that fell far short of condemnation, and made no mention that its beneficiary glorified terrorism.

Trump uses Ramadan message to urge end to violence

US President Donald Trump wished Muslims “a joyful Ramadan,” on Friday, urging them to use the holy month to reject violence by Islamist extremists.
“On behalf of the American people, I would like to wish all Muslims a joyful Ramadan,” said Trump, who is winding up a first overseas trip as president that included a stop in Saudi Arabia.
“This year, the holiday begins as the world mourns the innocent victims of barbaric terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and Egypt, acts of depravity that are directly contrary to the spirit of Ramadan,” said the US leader, who campaigned last year on a pledge to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
“Such acts only steel our resolve to defeat the terrorists and their perverted ideology,” he said in his message to the world’s estimated 1.6 billion Muslims.

Palestinian Officials Are Frustrated With Trump’s Pro-Israel Positions, Document Reveals

Palestinian officials are frustrated with President Donald Trump’s pro-Israel positions, the Hebrew news site nrg reported on Sunday, citing a new document authored by a top Ramallah political figure.
In the paper, which summarizes the diplomatic work the Palestinian Authority has done since Trump entered office earlier this year, Saeb Erekat — the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee and chief PA negotiator — wrote, “The Americans will vote against all plans and resolutions regarding Palestine at the [UN] Human Rights Council and UNESCO. Likewise, the American government will defend Israel at all international institutions and organizations, in accordance with President Trump’s declaration. Furthermore, the American government is threatening to leave the Human Rights Council if a resolution is passed against Israel.”
Erekat went on to note that, as of yet, the Trump administration has refrained from “publicly expressing support for a two-state solution, based on the 1967 borders, like the previous administration did.”
Also, Erekat continued, the Trump administration has not openly stated its “opposition to settlements, and hasn’t recognized the fact they are illegal.”
“The current administration…has not demanded that the Israeli government reduce construction in them [the settlements],” Erekat said.

'Two States, One Hope' rally in Tel Aviv draws thousands

Some 15,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to protest what organizers called 50 years of Israeli occupation and control of the Palestinian people. The rally was organized by several left-wing parties and groups, including the Labor and Meretz parties, Peace Now, the Geneva Initiative and the New Israel Fund.
Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union), Meretz Chairwoman Zehava Galon and Joint Arab List head Ayman Odeh spoke at the rally, as did Peace Now Director Avi Buskila and New Israel Fund Chairwoman Talia Sasson.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sent a special message to the audience, which was read by the organizers.
"There is no stronger voice than the one endorsing just and comprehensive peace. ... The only way to end the conflict and the struggle against terrorism in the region and around the world is with the two-state solution, along the June 1967 borders -- Palestine alongside Israel," Abbas said.

UN body said to bury positive report on Israel under Syrian pressure

The UN’s health agency buried a report praising Israel, under pressure from the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, UN Watch said in a statement Friday.
The report on Israel’s cooperation with a WHO mission to the Golan heights “was not published, not even the parts which had already been completed,” the NGO said. It added that the World Health Organization not only failed to table the report praising Israel, but also then went on to adopt a blatantly anti-Israel resolution.
According to the Geneva-based organization, the UN agency adopted in its annual assembly a resolution co-sponsored by Syria that targeted Israel over “health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and 10 other countries took the floor to express regret over the resolution.
“This is clearly due to the Syrian behavior, which we can only condemn in the strongest terms,” representatives of the EU countries were quoted by UN Watch as saying.

.@IsaackWendy works @HRW on LGBT issues, but she wrote this @UN_Women report calling to sue Israel for "apartheid": https://t.co/uVQSD3ijdd
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 28, 2017

Netanyahu Unveils 5-Year Development Plan for Jerusalem; Projects Include Western Wall Elevator

In a special cabinet meeting convened underneath the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday the commencement of a five-year Jerusalem development plan.
While cabinet meetings are typically held in the prime minster’s office, Netanyahu said, “On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation and unification of the city of Jerusalem, we are holding the government meeting here in the Western Wall Tunnels.”
Netanyahu announced the five-year development plan for Jerusalem and new initiatives to increase tourism to Israel’s capital city. A new elevator to the Western Wall will ease access for people with disabilities. The elevator will begin in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City and descend 85 feet to the Western Wall complex. A new tunnel will give pedestrians using the elevator direct access to the Western Wall security gate.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of a “special new cable car tourism project” starting from the First Station outdoor mall to the Old City’s Dung Gate.

Erekat slams Israel for holding cabinet meeting in Western Wall Tunnels

Top Palestinain negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned Israel for holding its weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday in the Western Wall tunnels, an archaeological site in the Old City.
Government ministers convened their cabinet meeting in the Western Wall tunnels to mark 50 years since the IDF captured the site during the Six-Day War. At the meeting, the ministers announced a five-year development plan for Jerusalem.
“The Israeli Government has decided to mark 50 years occupation, and the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan, by sending a clear message to the Palestinian people that the systematic violations of their inalienable rights are going to continue,” Erekat said.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem including the Western Wall tunnels to be under its sovereignty.

PayPal probes neo-Nazi account supportive of Holocaust denier, Hezbollah

The US-based online payment company PayPal launched an investigation last week into its account with the German neo-Nazi organization Der Dritte Weg (The Third Way), a pro-Hezbollah and pro-Assad regime entity that also supports the convicted Holocaust denier Horst Mahler.
In response to a Jerusalem Post query on Twitter, AskPayPal wrote in German: "We, in no way, wish to support this [The Third Way]." PayPal sent a second tweet to the Post, saying the financial giant will make its inquiry into the neo-Nazis a "priority." The Third Way lists various PayPal funding amounts on its website ranging from 10 Euro to 100 Euro. PayPal is the only payment method listed on the website of The Third Way and urges donors to sponsor its "party work."
The Simon Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff told the Post on Sunday, "If they [PayPal] are serious about implementing their policy against racial incitement and the dissemination of hatred, they should not be hiding behind the fact that Germany has not banned The Third Way, which is clearly antisemitic and actively promotes antisemitism." Zuroff oversees the Jerusalem-based office of the Wiesenthal Center.

6 Palestinians, including police, suspected of shooting at IDF troops

The Shin Bet domestic security agency on Sunday said it had arrested a number of Palestinian men — including three members of the
PA security forces– suspected of being behind a recent shooting attack on IDF troops in the West Bank.
In addition to an April 29 attack at the Jabara checkpoint near the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem, the Shin Bet said, the cell was accused of six other shooting attacks on Israeli soldiers.
The security agency said that the six-member cell included three members of the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Services, one of whom previously served time in an Israeli prison on terror charges before being released in a 2011 prisoner exchange for abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
During the arrest, the date of which was not given in the Shin Bet statement, the security agency said it uncovered two homemade “Carlo” rifles and at least seven pipe bombs.

'When will the government actually treat Hamas like terrorists?'

The parents of IDF Liuetenent Hadar Goldin, who is held by the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, protested on Sunday against the way in which the terrorists' hunger strike ended.
Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul were killed in action during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, Hamas has illegally held their bodies hostage since the conflict.
In a statement issued by the family, they said that they are particularly angry about the agreement on improving the frequency of family visits to imprisoned terrorists.
"It seems that the government, headed by Netanyahu, surrendered once again to the Hamas terrorist prisoners holding IDF soldiers Lieutenant Hadar Goldin and Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul, since Operation Protective Edge," the statement said.
The Goldin family added, "This is the government's futility and helplessness, which is constantly waving a white flag against the worst enemies of Israel."

Hamas insists: We're not a terror organization

Hamas continues to blast U.S. President Donald Trump for saying in a speech this week that Hamas and Hezbollah were on par with other terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State (ISIS).
Hamas member Mushir al-Masri claimed that the description of Hamas as a terrorist organization by Trump was an expression of bias in favor of Israel which, he claimed, serves the interests of the "enemy".
He accused Washington of a double standard, and stressed that Palestinian Arabs would continue to liberate “Palestine” by fighting the “occupation”.
Earlier this week, Hamas Vice President Mousa Abu Marzouk said in response to Trump’s speech that the organization is a movement for national freedom from the Israeli "occupation."
"The U.S. is partnering with the Zionist occupation, and providing them with money and weapons so they will be able to carry out terror attacks against our oppressed nation," Marzouk tweeted.

UN: Fatah-Hamas ‘tug-of-war’ could lead to fresh conflict in Gaza

Tightened tensions between Fatah and Hamas could lead to another conflict in the Gaza Strip, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned on Friday.
In Gaza, we are walking into another crisis with our eyes wide open,” Mladenov told the UN Security Council during its monthly meeting in New York on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I am today warning the Security Council that unless urgent measures are taken to de-escalate, the crisis risks spiraling out of control with devastating consequences for Palestinians and Israelis alike,” Mladenov said.
“Since Hamas established an administrative committee in March, a parallel institution to run governmental affairs in Gaza, the intra-Palestinian political tug-of-war has led to a significant deterioration in relations between Fatah and Hamas,” Mladenov continued.

So How Do You Fake a Hunger Strike During Ramadan? Asking for a friend by Marwan Barghouti (satire)

Hey gang! Big Marwan over here, and welcome to “Blogging with Barghouti“! Coming to you from the belly of the beast in the Zionist Entity’s biggest, baddest, most inhumane jail. The jail that STILL does not comply with our inalienable rights to 20 TV channels, cell phones and unlimited magazines (No. Really. that’s our demand!) Which is why we are still conducting our steadfast and honorable hunger strike. Refusing food: No bread, no vegetables, no meat, no nothing.
Anyhoo, Ramadan started today. No eating or drinking from dawn ’til dusk. Forbidden. Kinda strict. Which raises an important philosophical question. Suppose you know some guy. Lets call him “Narwan“. So “Narwan” is on a hunger strike, but he tends to “march to his own drum”. Like he’s been known to sneak a chocolate bar in the loo when nobody is looking. Again, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Maybe he eats….oh I don’t know, a Tortit Brand chocolate bar. With its seductive melange of milk and chocolate. Just sitting there all day. Tempting you. Begging you. Saying “Hey big guy. Over here. I’m all alone waiting for you Marwa….”
Whoah!!! Where we?? Oh yeah…. “Dudes who fake a hunger strike during Ramadan“. So again, some big questions here. I mean, should he only secretly eat Tortit chocolate during the hours of darkness? And what about Iftar? Can he pause his fake hunger strike long enough to break the fast at sundown? Wait. Tortit’s Halal, right?

‘No Jews,’ other anti-Semitic messages painted on NY home

The words “No Jews” was spray painted from floor to ceiling on the walls of a home for sale in Rockland County, New York.
Anti-Semitic messages also were painted throughout the home, including in the kitchen and on the floors. The graffiti was discovered in the empty home, which is for sale, last week, by a home inspector who was checking on the structure for a couple that wished to purchase it.
The inspector was acting on behalf of an Orthodox Jewish couple, CBS New York reported.
The Haverstraw Police told local media that the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
The Anti-Defamation League condemned the anti-Semitic attack “which was designed to send a message of fear and intimidation not just to the victim, but also to the broader community,” said Evan R. Bernstein, ADL New York regional director, in a statement. “The vandalism of a home for sale in a county with a rapidly growing Jewish community sends a deplorable message that Jews are not welcome. We expect that community leaders and elected officials will make clear that all are welcome in Rockland and that anti-Semitism and bigotry have no place in our communities.”

Tel Aviv City Hall lit with Egypt flag in solidarity with Copt terror victims

The Tel Aviv municipality building was lit in the colors of the Egyptian flag Saturday night, in a gesture of solidarity with Israel’s neighbor a day after a deadly shooting attack near Cairo.
The building had been illuminated in various flags following other international terror attacks — on Tuesday it was lit in the colors of the Union Jack after a deadly suicide bombing in Manchester — but the latest tribute is the first time the gesture has been made toward an Arab country.
Twenty-nine people were killed Friday morning when a bus carrying Christian Copts pilgrims was shot at by masked gunmen in the Egyptian Minya province, south of Cairo. According to the Egyptian cabinet, 13 of the victims remained hospitalized in Cairo on Saturday evening.
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which came on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The attack drew immediate condemnation from Israel.

Jerusalem dig sheds light on 2,000-year-old eating habits of local Jews

Ancient Jerusalemites from the Second Temple period were kosher and dined primarily on sheep and goat, while cows and chickens came in a distant second and third, researchers from Tel Aviv University reported in the most comprehensive study of its kind.
Following several years of archeological digs at an ancient landfill in the City of David, an analysis of the findings from the 1st century CE was published this week in the Tel Aviv Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University.
The study – written by Dr. Yuval Gadot, Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen and Dr. Abra Spiciarich – is titled “The Faunal Evidence From Early Roman Jerusalem: The People Behind the Garbage.”
Gadot, a senior lecturer at the university’s department of archeology said on Sunday that the protracted dig took place some 800 meters from the Temple Mount.

Chance find reveals only known footage of Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg

In newly discovered footage of Swedish Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg — the only known instance that he was caught on film — the man who would go on to save tens of thousands of Jews can be seen instructing army recruits at a firing range in 1940.
The archive movie was first broadcast a month ago during a cultural program on the Swedish public service television SVT, but it wasn’t until last week that a researcher realized that the instructor overseeing the gun practice was Wallenberg.
It is the only known footage of Wallenberg, who, as a Swedish diplomat in Hungary, was credited with helping at least 20,000 Jews escape the Holocaust. He is believed to have died in Soviet captivity, but when and how remains unclear.
In the 25-second clip, Wallenberg can be seen at a central Stockholm location in what researchers say was the summer or autumn of 1940. Wallenberg, who would have been 29 at the time, wears an army uniform as he instructs recruits firing rifles at targets in the basement of a building.

Children saved by Sir Nicholas Winton unveil plaque in their parents’ honour

The children saved by Sir Nicholas Winton from Nazi death camps have unveiled a monument in Prague’s main train station to honour their parents.
Sir Nicholas arranged eight trains to carry 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia through Germany to Britain at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
He died in 2015 at the age of 106.
The children were sent to foster parents. At home, most of their parents died in the Holocaust.
The Farewell Memorial is a replica of a 1939 train door, with the hands of children on one side and those of parents on the other.
Milena Grenfell-Baines, one of those saved, said on Saturday the monument was a belated expression of thanks.

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