Middle East Madness > Largest ever wildfires in Israel; Israel defends Druze against Syrian terrorists; British stupidity or antisemitism, or both

 

Israel hit with ‘largest ever’ wildfires

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a national emergency over the situation

The flames and smoke rising in the wildfire that broke out in a forested area between the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. © Getty Images / Mostafa Alkharouf

Israeli firefighters continue to battle wildfires that have been raging near Jerusalem for two days. Emergency services have described them as some of the “largest ever” in the country’s history.

The fires broke out on Wednesday along the main highway connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, spreading quickly due to the heat and strong winds.

The key highway and several other roads in the area were shut down, with people in at least ten communities forced to evacuate from what witnesses described as “walls of flame.”

More than 160 firefighting teams and 12 aircraft were deployed to contain the wildfires.

On Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “we are now in a national emergency, not just a local one,” adding that “defending Jerusalem” was a priority.

Firefighters worked through the night, unblocking the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and allowing residents in several settlements to return to their homes on Thursday. However, the fire service acknowledged in a statement that “at this stage we still have not gained control” of the conflagration.

According to the local media, at least 12 civilians and 17 firefighters, including two pregnant women, have been hospitalized due to smoke inhalation and burns.

About 5,000 acres had burned out as of Thursday, including about 3,200 acres of forest. Canada Park, outside the city of Modi’in, has been the most affected, according to the forestry organization Jewish National Fund.

Netanyahu also announced that 18 people had been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the fires. However, police sources told the local media that only three detentions had actually been made and that the suspects had been trying to start fires not near Jerusalem but elsewhere.

The wildfires have prompted the Israeli authorities to reduce the scale of Independence Day celebrations, marked on April 30 and May 1. The traditional torch-lighting ceremony in Jerusalem was canceled.

The chairman of the Israel Fire and Air Rescue Association, Dov Ganem, has blamed the wildfires on the government, saying that it had been unprepared to tackle disasters of such scale. Ganem told the news outlet Walla that he had long been pushing for the country to develop an advanced aerial firefighting capability, but that his calls had been ignored by officials.

Israel strikes Syria in ‘defense of local minority’

Sectarian clashes between government-linked armed groups and Druze fighters have broken out near Damascus

FILE PHOTO. ©  Global Look Press / Hannes P Albert

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has launched a drone strike against an “extremist group” in Syria. In a joint statement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz called the attack a “warning operation” aimed at preventing violence against a Syrian Druze minority.

The strike targeted a “gathering of an extremist group that was preparing to continue its attack on the Druze population” in Syria, according to the Times of Israel. IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir has reportedly ordered troops to further target Syrian government sites “if the violence against the Druze does not stop.”

Clashes between the Syrian government-linked armed groups and Druze fighters have erupted around Damascus, according to AFP.

At least 11 people were killed as “outlaw groups targeted civilians and security forces” in the Damascus suburb of Sahnaya on Wednesday, just a day after similar clashes claimed 17 lives in Jaramana, a mainly Druze and Christian suburb, according to the news agency.

Syrian village asks to be annexed by Israel – media

The new Syrian authorities are dealing with tensions following sectarian violence in the coastal Latakia province, mostly targeting Alawites and Christians, that reportedly claimed 1,000 lives.

Or, maybe 2000. But nobody is really counting.

The violence prompted the US and Russia to denounce the persecution of Syrian minority groups, while the EU blamed “pro-Assad elements” attacking “interim government forces.”

Syria’s Interior Ministry has claimed the Israeli strike killed one member of the Syrian national security force, deployed to the area to stop clashes between armed groups, according to Reuters. The Syrian SANA news agency confirmed the Israeli strike but provided no information on any casualties.

Druze are a minority religious group that follows an offshoot of Islam and makes up 3% of Syria’s population. Some Druze in southern Syria asked for Israeli protection, calling it the “lesser evil” after the ousting of Bashar Assad in December following a surprise insurgency by Islamist forces.

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Starmer, Lammy display their remarkable stupidity,

and/or outright antisemitism in deal with the PA.

UK signs anti-Israel ‘memorandum of understanding’ with PA to work toward ‘two-state solution’

May 2, 2025 11:00 am By Christine Douglass-Williams

The Palestinians do not seek a two-state solution. They seek a one-state solution. The Palestinian National Charter States: “the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time….”

The so-called “State of Palestine” is already fully embraced and accepted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which does not recognize the State of Israel. In 2020, the OIC issued a strong, unified declaration:

Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr. Yousef A. Al-Othaimeen, asserted that the issue of Palestine and al-Quds is the OIC’s raison d’être, pivotal cause, and source of unity and strength. “It is at the heart of the OIC’s joint Islamic action and the main consensus of all Member States.

It is evident and obvious that the Palestinian “resistance” from “the River to the Sea” has nothing to do with peace or the establishment of two states that will coexist side by side in peace. Islam conquered the Middle East, which included primarily territory that had belonged to Christians. Yet after controlling the region for centuries, Islam failed to stop the establishment of a Jewish state. To counter it, foes of Israel invented the Palestinian people to sell to useful idiots. This deeply entrenched propaganda empowered antisemitic sentiments. Even in the face of hard facts, history and the constant threat to Israel’s existence, Israel continues to be persecuted and internationally harassed. The UK is governed by a far-left government that is now concluding a groundbreaking “Memorandum of Understanding” to further smear Israel as an obstacle to peace. Furthermore, it signed this document with only one party — the jihadist portion. The document has no weight or meaning, except to attempt to further delegitimize the State of Israel.

The Palestinian Authority is no better than Hamas. The UK government appears to have no knowledge of, or interest in, the Palestinian Authority’s pay-for-slay program, which is aimed at incentivizing the murder of Israelis. The UK government is an antisemitic disgrace; it knows exactly what it is doing in its ruthless quest to undermine Israel in the name of “peace.”

The so-called “Memorandum of Understanding” also smears Israel as an occupying state.

UK Signs Memorandum of Understanding With Palestinian Authority to Advance Two-State Solution

by Ailin Vilches Arguello, Algemeiner, April 28, 2025:

The United Kingdom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Monday to advance “Palestinian statehood” as part of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy hosted the PA’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in London, marking the first official visit by a PA leader to the UK since 2021.

“This visit marks a significant step in strengthening our relationship with the Palestinian Authority — a key partner for peace,” Lammy said, emphasizing that Britain is dedicated to recognizing a “Palestinian state at a time that will have the greatest impact.”

The MoU reiterates the British government’s recognition of the PA as the sole legitimate governing power in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories,” rejecting any role for the terrorist group Hamas — which violently eliminated its Palestinian opposition in a brief conflict in 2007, taking full control of Gaza after winning legislative elections the prior year. It also underscores the importance of reunifying Gaza and the west Bank under PA control.

“The UK will continue to press for a return to the ceasefire and a return of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Starmer wrote in a post on X.

“We are committed to a two-state solution, with lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Lammy added.

The British government also announced a £101 million ($135 million) aid package intended to provide humanitarian relief, stimulate economic development, and strengthen governance reforms in Gaza and the West Bank…..

£101 million to create a two state solution which is neither a solution, nor is it wanted by the Palestinians. But they will happily take the money from the hapless British and run.

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Islam in America > Muslim Cop trashes Rabbi's Car - No problem in Chicago; Surprising surges from Catholicism to Islam and away from Christ

 

Chicago: Muslim cop vandalizes rabbi’s car, is not fired from the force or even disciplined

Mar 26, 2025 3:00 pm By Robert Spencer

If a Jewish cop had vandalized a Muslim cleric’s car, do you think the police would have been slow to fire him? Also, we would be inundated with propaganda about “Islamophobia.” But this gets little notice.

Chicago PD Still Hasn’t Disciplined Cop Who Pled Guilty To Vandalizing Rabbi’s Car

by Kassy Akiva, Daily Wire, March 24, 2025:

A Chicago police officer has yet to face any disciplinary action from his police force after pleading guilty to vandalizing an elderly man’s car, according to the victim’s family, who believe the car was targeted because it belongs to a Jew.

Mohammed Khan, 35, was arrested last March after he broke the side mirrors off of the vehicle of 77-year-old Rabbi Abraham Wineberg who was visiting his granddaughter and great grandchildren in Chicago’s West Rogers Park Neighborhood.

Khan was seen in surveillance footage from around 2:30 a.m. on March 3, 2024, where he first issued a parking ticket to Wineberg, who was illegally parked in Khan’s private handicapped spot, issued to accommodate Khan’s handicapped family member. Khan was off duty at the time and driving his personal vehicle.

Footage shows Khan peering through the rear window at Jewish and Hebrew prayer books and paraphernalia. He then returned on foot, and was seen in the footage kicking off one of the vehicle’s mirrors, which was left dangling by its wire. A few minutes later, he is seen from another angle returning again to break the other mirror, which Wineberg’s family says was completely cut off with a tool. The vehicle was then later towed….

Khan was sentenced to 40 hours of community service, 10 hours of anger management, and $800 to pay for damages, according to Wolf.

Wolf receives an email every few months from the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs telling him that their investigation into his complaint about Khan is still ongoing, despite Khan pleading guilty.

The family’s patience has run out and they filed a complaint to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division earlier this month to seek action. The complaint seeks damages under the Fourth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, and common law of the State of Illinois for malicious acts that damage property.

The suit alleges that the incident caused Wineberg “a great amount of stress and emotional distress” which was compounded “by the realization that Khan had evidently acted in such a fashion after noticing that the owner of the car was likely Jewish.”

“Why is Khan still in the force? Why are they still investigating? He already pleaded guilty. If this was a Jewish cop and a Muslim victim would this be the same story?”…

 

From Rome to Mecca: The Surprising Surge of U.S. Latino Catholics Joining Islam

Apr 4, 2025 12:00 pm By Jules Gomes

Global survey finds shocking hemorrhage of adults who were raised Christians leaving the Church

Most people around the world raised as Christians are abandoning their religion, but nearly all adults who were raised Muslim remain within Islam, according to a Pew Research Survey of 36 countries published on March 26.

Most conversions to Islam are occurring in America – and sadly, most of the new converts (13%) say they were raised as Christians. The United States has the highest or entrance rate into Islam of any of the countries studied, with one-fifth of Muslim Americans saying they were raised in other faiths or none.

Latino Catholics, in particular, are converting to Islam in significant numbers, corresponding surveys over the last two decades have found.

About 9% of converts to Islam are Latino, a 2020 survey confirmed — up from 5% in 2017. Many are of either Mexican or Puerto Rican descent, but conversion to Islam is also a phenomenon across Latin America, the report stated.

Conversion to Islam: Sociological or Theological?

The new phenomenon of single-parent homes in Latino Catholic families could be a factor drawing Latinas to Islam; in 2023, almost a third of Hispanic families were led by a single mother, according to U.S. Census data. By contrast, American Muslims are less likely to be divorced. 

However, most Islamic converts (about 50% of them women who have chosen to wear head coverings, as The Tablet reported last year) cited theological rather than sociological reasons for their conversion. About 95% of respondents in the Latino Muslim Survey said monotheism led to their conversion, and 94% claimed it was a desire for a direct connection to the Creator.

Allah is not the Creator - Jesus Christ is the Creator > In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. John 1.

Furthermore, Mohammed is not the way to the Creator > The statement "no one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6) signifies that Jesus is the sole path to God, and that faith in Him is essential for salvation.

A major factor in the conversion rate is the proselytizing (dawah) efforts Islamic evangelistic organizations like IslamInSpanish Centro Islámico in Houston, Texas, make, actively reaching out to Latino Catholics. In November 2021, Latino Muslims celebrated the grand opening of what they claim is the only Spanish-language mosque in the U.S.

“IslamInSpanish is a pioneer,” remarked Dr. Craig Considine, a practicing Catholic and senior lecturer in Islamic Studies at Rice University, noting how Islam’s directives on daily prayer and bans on alcohol, gambling and pork are a draw for disillusioned Catholics. “It’s food for the soul, food for the brain.”

Maybe, but it's not Manna from Heaven! Christianity ministers to the spirit, the eternal spirit. Islam ministers to the flesh, the very thing Jesus teaches us to overcome.

Catholics Fail to Evangelize Muslims

Considine also stressed that Islam is drawing converts by building community: “It’s multi-ethnic. It’s multinational. It’s multi-racial,” he said. “It’s the quintessential American story of community building. The Irish and Italians did it. And now they’re doing it not through Christianity but through Islam.”

Robert Spencer, who has written 29 books on Islam and the Middle East, told The Stream the Catholic Church is failing evangelize Muslims, though Muslims are proselyting Catholics:

“Many Hispanic Catholics are turning to Islam, and the Catholic Church is doing absolutely nothing to counter this growing trend,” he said. “This is because the Vatican II documents have given rise to a great deal of confusion over whether Muslims should be evangelized at all, or are part of the ‘plan of salvation.’ Pope Francis has added to this confusion by conducting numerous outreach meetings with Muslim leaders and concluding the highly misleading Document on Human Fraternity.

“And so while Muslim groups make concerted efforts to convert Catholics, the Church hierarchy persists in fondly assuming that Muslims are their partners in faith.”

The American Muslim Association of North America, based in North Miami, says heavily Hispanic South Florida in particular is home to a rising number of Latino Muslims.

“What most Latinos who have embraced Islam find most amazing is their cultural affinity to the Muslim culture,” said Wilfredo Ruiz, a Puerto Rican-born Muslim who converted a decade ago and is a lawyer for the South Florida chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations. “It’s like rediscovering your past. That area of our past has been hidden from us.

“Our language is nurtured by more than 4,000 words that come from Arabic. Every word in Spanish that starts with ‘al,’ for example, like alcalde, alcantarilla, almohada” comes from Arabic.

Prosperous Nations Hit by Christian Recession

According to the Pew report, the only other country experiencing a high “accession” rate to Islam is Kenya, with 11% of Kenyan Muslims saying they were raised in another religion or with no religion.

On a global level, the survey revealed that Spain, a traditionally Catholic country, suffered the largest net losses for Catholics from “religious switching” (in proportion to the size of its population) of any country surveyed.

About 36% of Spanish adults have left Christianity, while just 3% of Spanish adults have entered Christianity.

The survey also revealed that the Church has sustained net losses of 20 percentage points or more of the total adult populations in Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Chile, the United States, and Italy due to “switching.”

Most who have left the Church no longer identify with any religion, saying they are now atheist, agnostic or have no religion in particular. This trend is especially strong in many high-income countries.

The highest retention rates for Christianity are in the Philippines, Hungary, and Nigeria, where nearly all adults who were raised Christian are still Christian today, the pollsters found.

Surprising for Nigeria, considering more than ten years of Islamic genocide happening in that awful country.

Despite the fact that Singapore is a high-income country, a larger share of adults joined rather than left Christianity. While 12% of Singaporean adults say they were raised Christian, 18% currently identify as Christians — a net gain of 6% of all Singaporean adults.

In Asia, the lowest retention rate among Christians was found in South Korea. About half of Koreans raised Christian still identify as Christian (51%), while the other half (49%) are no longer Christian.

Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral. This article has been cross-posted with the author’s permission from The Stream.

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