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Israeli prosecutors charge 3 Jewish suspects over 'attempted lynching' of Arab man pulled out of his car and beaten
24 May, 2021 14:58
A vandalized Arab restaurant after clashes in the Israeli town of Bat Yam on May 12.
© AFP / Gil Cohen-Magen
Two Jewish men and an unnamed minor were indicted on charges of attempted murder and terrorism Monday over a brutal attack that landed an Arab man in hospital during the height of Israeli-Palestinian tensions earlier this month.
The victim, Saeed Mousa, was assaulted by a mob in the town of Bat Yam on May 12 as an exchange of strikes between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Gaza-based armed group Hamas provoked a wave of violent Jewish-Palestinian clashes inside Israel.
Mousa was dragged out of his car and harshly beaten with flagpoles and even an electric scooter in a shocking attack broadcast on live TV. The Israeli-Arab was taken to hospital in serious condition, but has reportedly improved.
On Monday, the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office charged Netanel Binyamin, 25, Lahav Ohanina, 18, and a 16-year-old minor, whose name couldn't be disclosed for legal reasons, over the attack on Mousa. In its statement, the prosecutors described the incident as an "attempted lynching".
The three have been indicted over the attempted murder of Mousa and face other charges ranging from aggravated intentional assault to causing a public disturbance and incitement to terrorism. They acted out of nationalist and racist motives, the prosecutors said.
The suspects are also believed to have taken part in an attack on an Arab-owned restaurant, while shouting "Death to Arabs," on that same day.
According to prosecutors, the trio were active members of a group on WhatsApp, which urged Jews to come to the promenade in Bat Yam in order to target Israeli-Arabs.
The Israeli public broadcaster Kan reportedly filmed Ohanina saying that he and the others took to the streets on May 12 “to fight with Arabs,” declaring “we will beat them; if necessary, we will kill them.”
On Sunday, the Israeli Justice Ministry announced that it had so far filed 140 indictments against around 230 people in relation to the clashes and rioting earlier this month. The ministry didn’t reveal the nationalities of the suspects, but the Jerusalem Post paper reported that only around 20 of them were Jews while the majority were Arabs.
One of the differences between Palestinians and Jews is that Palestinians have never prosecuted a Palestinian for injuring or murdering a Jew. Indeed, they are declared heroes and they or their survivors are given nice pensions in respect of the murderer.
Israeli police 'neutralize' assailant who stabbed two in East Jerusalem
24 May, 2021 11:34
© REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli police have shot dead a knife-wielding attacker who stabbed two people in an area of East Jerusalem that has been a focal point of protests and clashes between Palestinians and law enforcement in recent weeks.
Israeli police said in a tweet on Monday that a terrorist arrived at a rail station, pulled out a knife and wounded two people. “Police officers who were on the scene responded quickly, fired at the attacker – and neutralized him,” the post reads.
The assailant injured two men in their 20s during the attack, one seriously and one moderately, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service.
A widely circulated video appears to show one of the victims wearing an Israeli military uniform. In the graphic video, the man can be seen kneeling with a knife in his back while medics treat him.
The incident took place near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, where the possible eviction of Palestinian families was a flashpoint for mass protests that sparked the 11-day war between Israel and Gaza militants.
Images published by Reuters appear to show the assailant motionless on the side of the road while surrounded by medics and security personnel. Israeli security forces have been deployed to the area and can be seen standing on guard.
A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Egypt, has held for four days but tensions remain high in East Jerusalem. On Friday, violent clashes erupted at Al-Aqsa mosque, just hours after the ceasefire was agreed.
Sheikh Jarrah, IS
Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv to ‘bolster’ Gaza ceasefire as 500+ Biden campaign staffers call to ‘hold Israel accountable’
25 May, 2021 05:32
FILE PHOTO: The Israeli settlement of Har Homa is seen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
© Reuters / Mussa Qawasma
Over 500 Joe Biden campaign staffers have penned an open letter calling on the White House to pressure Israel to change its behavior, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken embarks on a trip to meet leaders in Tel Aviv.
Addressed directly to Biden, the letter asked the president to “unequivocally condemn Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians” during a recent flare-up of fighting with armed groups in Gaza, arguing that Tel Aviv must be pressured to change the “underlying conditions” that give rise to periodic violence between the two sides.
Then you must deal with the fanatical hatred Palestinians have for Jews.
“We commend your efforts to broker a ceasefire. Yet, we also cannot unsee the horrific violence that unfolded in recent weeks in Israel/Palestine, and we implore you to continue using the power of your office to hold Israel accountable for its actions and lay the groundwork for justice and lasting peace,” the staffers said.
To ensure a lasting ceasefire and a future of peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians, we ask that you work to end the underlying conditions of occupation, blockade, and settlement expansion...
There will be no lasting ceasefire as long as there are Jews in Israel. Can't you understand that? Hamas does not want peace, they want Israel gone!
The letter features a series of demands, urging Biden to push the Israeli government to end the blockade on Gaza and settlement expansion in the West Bank, including in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where looming evictions for Palestinian residents served as a flashpoint for the last round of fighting.
The staffers also asked the administration to pressure Tel Aviv to respect international law – which prohibits West Bank settlements – to investigate Israeli strikes in Gaza, end federal tax breaks for donations to settler groups and to “support Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”
As the letter made the rounds on Monday night, Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport ahead of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He will also travel to Egypt and Jordan later in the trip, where he is expected to discuss a ceasefire deal mediated by Cairo that ended 11 days of fighting in Gaza, as well as efforts to rebuild there.
The eruption of violence left at least 248 Palestinians and 12 Israelis dead, seeing thousands of Hamas rockets fired into Israeli cities and hundreds of IDF airstrikes in response.
The staffers’ plea also comes amid mounting pressure from progressive Democrats to alter the tight US relationship with Israel, with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) leading efforts in Congress to block a $735 weapons deal to Tel Aviv, first reported at the height of fighting in Gaza.
“At a moment when US-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale go through without even a congressional debate,” Sanders said last week before introducing a resolution to block the sale.
Israel is the only country in the world that I have ever heard of that gives people an hour's warning before blowing up their building. Hamas deliberately plants their missile silos in places where children and civilians will suffer casualties. These people are incredibly evil.
We need to take a hard look at whether the sale of these weapons is actually helping do that, or whether it is simply fueling conflict.
What about stopping the missiles entering Gaza for use against Israel. Your plan would leave Israel helpless against the next attack, but, perhaps that is what you want.
The West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip were occupied by Israeli forces following the Six Day War in 1967. Though Tel Aviv evacuated its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 – keeping it under blockade ever since – settlements have continued to grow in the other territories, seeing hundreds of Jewish communities built on land taken from Arab owners. More than 440,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank, as well as another 209,000 across 12 neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, according to data compiled by Peace Now and B'Tselem.
It's astonishing to me that the UN would expect Israel, or any country, to not occupy land conquered from their enemies during war started by their enemies. The UN's attitude toward Israel is unlike any other country in the world and is an example of spectacular anti-semitism.
If Gaza was able to import 5000 missiles while being blockaded, how many could they import if their ports were wide open?
I have been writing for many years now that the USA would abandon Israel soon, and this letter is an indication that the majority of Democrats are ready to do that. The minute that happens, Israel will be attacked most grievously and America will have to stand in judgment.
Rise of Islamophobia in the West propelled by US strategy to ‘demonize’ Muslims, Turkey’s Erdogan says
25 May, 2021 15:42
Fueled by Washington’s anti-Muslim attitude after 9/11, Islamophobia is “spreading like cancer” in the West, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed, adding that those who used to target Jews have now turned on Muslims.
Read the story immediately above. Growing Islamophobia, since 911, is an obvious consequence of a horrifically evil attack. the hundreds of terrorist acts since, nearly all committed by Muslims, are not helping Islam's image as the Religion of Peace. But rather, a religion of terrorists, child rapists, and liars.
“The US administration’s strategy to demonize Muslims post-9/11 has served as a means to further trigger anti-Muslim sentiment that already existed in the cultural structure of many Western societies,” Erdogan said in a speech at the International Symposium on Media and Islamophobia in Ankara on Tuesday.
The rise of anti-Muslim sentiment has become a serious problem due to the inaction of governments in the EU and the US to challenge it, Erdogan added. Now, right-wing groups which were long considered marginal, have instead become mainstream political forces in many European countries, and those who used to target the Jewish community have turned against Muslims.
Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment have been spreading like cancer cells in many parts of the globe, primarily in the West.
So has antisemitism! Mostly thanks to propaganda coming from Muslims.
Erdogan blasted the very word ‘Islamophobia’, saying that it was invented by Western societies to sugarcoat what actually is “new racism against Muslims” and “hostility against Islam.”
Ankara’s relations with both Washington and Brussels have been tense in recent years, with Erdogan frequently raising the persecution of Muslims in his jabs against Western leaders.
Erdogan has been increasingly unhappy over American pressure on Turkey to give up on Russian-made S-400 missile systems, Washington’s support for Kurdish militias in Syria, which are deemed terrorists by Ankara, and US reluctance to hand over exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who was accused of masterminding a failed military coup in Turkey in 2016.
Earlier this week, Erdogan insisted that he wants “stronger cooperation with our European friends and allies” amid a cooldown in relations between Brussels and Ankara over a whole range of international issues.
EU leaders have expressed concerns over Turkey’s involvement in the fighting in Libya, its support of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and Ankara’s aggressive rivalry for maritime jurisdiction and energy exploration rights in the Mediterranean with Greece and Cyprus.
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