Saudi Arabia Takes Two Curious Steps Into the 20th Century

Saudi TV airs controversial new series about

Jewish woman in the Gulf, in Ramadan

Saudi TV airs controversial new series about Jewish woman in the Gulf. The MBC TV drama series Umm Haroun. (Facebook/MBC)

Controversial Arab TV series that provoked angry responses airs the first episode about the life of a Jewish woman in the Gulf states during the 1940s and opens with a monologue from the protagonist – in Hebrew.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

The new Saudi-produced television series “Umm Haroun” that has provoked a storm in the Arab world went on the air at the start of Ramadan featuring an impressive monologue in Arabic-accented Hebrew by the protagonist, Channel 12 reported Sunday.

The new drama on the Arab network MBC sparked controversy because of the subject matter – the life of a Jewish woman living in a Arab lands – and was slammed by critics claiming that any portrayal of Jews is a capitulation to Zionism.

Produced by the London-based Saudi-owned Middle East Broadcasting Company (MBC), the show “Umm Haroun” features well-known Kuwaiti actress Hayat al-Fahad, 71, in the role of a Jewish midwife and nurse, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“Before our footsteps fade away and before our lives fall into memory, we will be lost with the time that is left,” the leading character says. “On the staff of Moses that performed miracles, I decided to write about us and we knew that you would come back to us, I write and document everything about us. We are the gulf Jews we were born in the lands of the gulf.”

The show’s promotional trailers and ads had already provoked accusations from the Arab world that Saudi Arabia is engaging in normalization with Israel.

“The story of the series sparked a lot of controversy among followers of social networking sites, after a promo was published of the series that tells the story of a Jewish mother who is suffering because of her Judaism in the Gulf during the 1940s,” the Saudi24 news website reported.

The Hamas terror group fumed over the show, calling the series a “political and cultural attempt to introduce the Zionist project to Gulf society.”

“The character of Umm Haroun reminds me of [former Israeli Prime Minister] Golda Meir, the head of the occupation government, who was a murderous criminal,” The Jerusalem Post quoted senior Hamas official Ra’fat Murra.

“This is the goal of normalization: hatred, slow killing and internal destruction. The series aims to falsify history and gradually introduce Gulf society to normalization with the Zionist occupation, at a time when some [Arab] rulers are panting to build close ties with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to protect their thrones,” Murra added.

The promotional trailer from MBC said the series centers around the relations between Muslims and Jews in Kuwait during the 1940s, where approximately 200 Jewish families lived, the Post reported. The Jewish protagonist is from Turkey and the plot focuses on her as a social outcast in the Gulf because of her religion. She lives in Iran and Iraq before eventually moving to Bahrain to work.

Post reporter Khaled Abu Aker tracked angry Arab social media reaction.

“We have many successful and heroic women in the Gulf,” a woman named Hana al-Qahtan posted. “Why do we need to turn a Jewish woman into a hero in our dramas?”

An angry tweet from a man identified as Ahmed Madani said he could not understand why an Arab network would feature a television series about a Jewish woman during Ramadan.

Saudi24 reported on another Arab who defended the series: “I do not see the need to be sensitive to the ‘Umm Haroun’ series. The Jews lived in some Gulf countries, and they were also rooted in many Arab countries,” the unnamed person wrote. “They were oppressed … after watching the series, we may evaluate and judge it. If the goal is normalization, it is rejected by us.”

Filmed in the UAE, the show was directed by Egyptian Muhammad Jamal al-Adl and stars various Arab actors.

Saudi Arabia giving up caning

By John Torrendo BBC

Saudi Arabia is giving up raipoista criminal punishment. Whipping is expected to be replaced with imprisonment or fines.

Flagellation removal is part of reforms to Saudi Arabia led by the King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman strive to improve the country’s badly damaged identify the fame.

Caning in the headlines the last time in 2015, when Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to ten years in prison and a thousand lashes. He’s already flogged, but later caning is transferred to Badawi’s poor health.

Among others, the Sakharov human rights prize award winning Badawi is still in prison in Saudi Arabia.

Badawi still has about 2 years to go on his sentence which was for 10 years imprisonment and 1000 lashes. He received the first 50 lashes but has not had any further. Some fear he would not survive another 50 lashes, which might be the only cause for postponing them.

Now, if the 950 lashes are dropped from his sentence because of this new policy, will he get several more years added to his imprisonment? It would be cruel and unusual, but not surprising.

Dutch Farmer's Backlash Against Climate Change Alarmism

Dutch farmers clog highways in protest at politicians labeling them

climate change problem

© AFP / ANP / Vincent Jannink

Dutch farmers blocked hundreds of miles of major roads with their tractors to protest what they say are attempts to scapegoat their industry and paint them as a “problem” that needs fixing in discussions over climate change.

Up to 10,000 farmers took to the highways in their tractors on Monday to slowly make their way to The Hague causing 620 miles (998km) of traffic jams and the worst morning commute in the country’s history.

Some farmers managed to avoid the traffic by driving along the North Sea beaches to reach the city. 

In a statement, police said they “respect that farmers are standing up for their interest” and that they were trying to facilitate the protest as well as they could, but urged tractor drivers to follow instructions of traffic guides on the routes.

No official measures against farmers have yet been announced, but one party has suggested that the Netherlands should cut back 50 percent on the number of live animals produced every year. A broad package of measures includes a proposal to grant financial aid to farmers who want to cease their operations or adopt greener practices, the Associated Press reported.

“Farmers and growers are sick of being painted as a ‘problem’ that needs a ‘solution,’” Dirk Bruins of industry group LTO said in a statement.

“This is about our families, our future, the future of our children. It’s about our way of life,” sheep farmer Bart Kemp told the crowds of farmers gathered in The Hague and called for a “new era in which the food producers of the Netherlands are listened to.”

The farmers’ protest also comes after a court found the country is in violation of EU emissions rules — and the dispute highlights the dilemma faced by governments eager to pass popular eco-friendly laws and reduce emissions while trying to mitigate the negative effects on those who earn their livelihoods in the biggest emissions-producing industries.

Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten said she was ready to listen to farmers’ concerns and assured them that the country was working toward “a strong agricultural sector with an eye on a healthy environment.”

Police said they detained two demonstrators — one who drove through a metal fence and another who attempted to interfere with the detention.

Agricultural animals are a factor in the global warming debate, perhaps a bigger factor than fossil fuels, producing methane gas that may actually contribute to warming. This, however, can be mitigated significantly by an adjustment in diet. 

While thousands of people are starving to death, this is not the time to cut food production.

Conservatism Emerging in Rural Sweden With Backlash Against #PCMadness

‘Tradition is important to us’: Swedish town rebels against

LGBT rainbow flag on city hall

A man holds a rainbow flag during the Gay Pride Parade on August 2, 2014, in Stockholm, Sweden.

© Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP

A municipality in Sweden decided to quit flying LGBT pride flags on public buildings, after conservative parties took over the city council.

The town of Solvesborg in southeastern Sweden has voted to stop hoisting the rainbow-colored flag on the city hall every August during Stockholm Pride, the annual LGBT-themed festival held in the nation’s capital. From now on, only local and national flags are allowed on public buildings.

The idea of flying the Pride colors was introduced in 2013, when the city council was led by the center-left Social Democrats. But now the city is controlled by conservative Swedish Democrats (SD) and three other right-leaning parties, who decided to revise the local flag code.

“Tradition is important to us, and I know many of our older residents share this view,” Mayor Louise Erixon (SD) explained the move to discard the Pride flag.

Not everyone is happy with the new flag policy, though. Politician and LGBT-themed event organizer Sophia Ahlin scolded her colleagues in the Moderate Party who sided with SD against the Pride Flag. “Their decision goes completely against what the Moderates stand for in terms of equality of all people,” she argued.

Having legalized same-sex marriage in 2009, Sweden is considered to be a largely liberal and LGBTQ-friendly country. However, Solvesborg with its population of around 9,000 is often described in the media as an example of conservatism becoming more popular in Sweden’s countryside. The leader of the Swedish Democrats, Jimmie Akesson, grew up in the town, while mayor Erixon is his partner. He wrote in an Instagram post that no flags of political significance would be hoisted on city hall.

Why 'LGBT-Free Zones' are on the Rise in Poland

Far-left backlash in a far-right country

Nationalist ruling party calls 'LGBT ideology' a 'threat'

amid growing number of Pride marches

CBC Radio 

On stickers distributed in weekly conservative magazine, Gazeta Polska, this week, the phrase 'LGBT-free zone'

circles a rainbow with a cross through it. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Activists in Poland say so-called LGBT-free zones across the predominantly Catholic country point to efforts by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to stoke anti-LGBT sentiment ahead of a parliamentary election this fall.

Local media reports suggest that across Poland, more than two dozen cities and towns — some led by PiS members — have declared their regions LGBT-free zones in recent months. The majority are situated in the historically conservative southeastern part of the country.

While the declarations are not enforceable, activists say they signal a targeted effort to exclude LGBT residents.

"It's a statement saying that a specific kind of people is not welcome there," said Ola Kaczorek, co-president of the Warsaw-based Love Does Not Exclude Association.

The number of supposedly LGBT-free regions has grown since Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski signed a declaration in February supporting sexual and gender diverse communities in that city, Kaczorek said.

Ola Kaczorek, second from right, waves a flag during the pride parade in Warsaw,

representing Love Does Not Exclude Association. (Love Does Not Exclude Association)

Officials of the nationalist PiS party, which won a majority in 2015 running on an anti-immigration platform, have been vocal in their opposition to LGBT rights. Activists say that with migration to Poland slowing significantly since 2015, the party is looking for a new group to target.

Because a political party has to have people to demonize in order to win an election.

At a rally ahead of European Parliament elections in May, PiS president Jaroslaw Kacynski told a crowd that "LGBT ideology" was a "threat" to Polish society.

"They are not saying LGBT+ people are a threat, but they're saying that LGBT+ ideology is a threat," said Kaczorek. "Then people who are taking part [in pride marches] are not seen as humans, but as a part of some kind of ideology … [and] that is terrifying for some people."

Violence at pro-LGBT march

On July 20, advocates took to the streets of Białystok, a city in the Law and Justice party stronghold Podlasie Voivodeship, for the region's first-ever Pride march, and were met with violence from conservative and religious protesters. 

Białystok is considered an LGBT-free zone, according to a map plotted by LGBT advocacy group Lambda Warsaw.

Protesters chanted slogans, including 'God, honour, motherland', and burned a rainbow flag, at the first-ever

Pride march in Białystok, Poland on July 20. (Agnieszka Sadowska/Agencja Gazeta via Reuters)

Video from the event shows firecrackers exploding throughout the crowd and homophobic chanting from a group of men burning a rainbow flag.

"I have never seen anything like that before," said Małgorzata Mróz, a 20-year-old University of Warsaw student who travelled to join the march.

"People shouted at me that I'm a bitch, that I should die," she said adding that counter-protesters threw rocks and bottles at LGBT advocates. 

It's been just this great grassroots movement

that's been growing and expanding

- Ola Kaczorek

Both Mróz and Kaczorek told Day 6 there wasn't enough of a police presence.

Police arrested 25 people following the attacks, according to a Reuters report.

While the Polish government did not respond to a question about accusations that they support anti-LGBT sentiment, they did address the violence in Białystok.

"In Poland, there is no acceptance of behaviours slighting the rights of other persons," said Elżbieta Witek, the minister of the interior and administration, in an emailed statement to Day 6.

Małgorzata Mróz, 20, covers her mouth after tear gas is dispersed during the first-ever Pride march in Białystok, Poland, on July 20. The protest became violent when conservative and religious counter-protesters intercepted the march. (Agata Kubis/Submitted by Malgorzata Mroz)

But while the country's Education Minister Dariusz Piontkowski told private broadcaster TVN on Sunday that LGBT people shouldn't be excluded in Poland, he questioned the intent of pride marches.

"These kinds of marches... awaken resistance"

Education Minister Dariusz Piontkowski

"These kinds of marches, initiated by groups that are trying to force through their non-standard sexual behaviours, awaken resistance ... it's worth considering if such events should be organized in the future," he said. 

Mróz, who grew up in Częstochowa, organized a pride march in the small, southern city last year. There was no violence like that in Białystok, but the march was unwelcomed.

"Częstochowa is also my city," she said. "I will be there because it's my place and I have a right to be there."

Church and state

Ahead of last weekend's events in Białystok, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda opposed the march, in a statement, calling it "foreign" to the region. Wojda also expressed "gratitude" for those who "defend Christian values."

According to 2016 numbers from Statistics Poland, more than 90 per cent of Poles identify as Roman Catholic.

"The church has a huge influence on people and it's a great outlet if someone wants to use it — and the ruling party is using it because lots and lots of people are regularly going to the church," Kaczorek said.

Though Kaczorek believes the Law and Justice party will win a second term in an election to be likely held in October, she has hope the LGBT community's activism will pay off.

Participants attend the city's first Pride march in support of the LGBT community in Bialystok, Poland, on July 20. (Agnieszka Sadowska/Agencja Gazeta via Reuters)

When Gazeta Polska, a conservative weekly magazine, included stickers emblazoned with the words "LGBT-free zone" in Wednesday's issue, a Polish judge ordered a ban on distributing the stickers any further Thursday.

Kaczorek believes if the ruling party continues to oppose LGBT rights, it will encourage the community to fight back. 

This year, there were more than 20 pride marches across Poland's 16 voivodeships.

"It's been just this great grassroots movement that's been growing and expanding — and there are new young people in smaller towns that don't want to migrate to bigger cities," Kaczorek said.

"They want to show themselves in their local communities and do something to show that we are here; we are everywhere. We are normal everyday people."

Why do Catholics and most Christians have a problem with LGBTQ ideology? Is it because God called it an abomination? Is it because He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and a couple other small cities because of their sexual license? Does it have to do with their Pride Parades, which are often obscene and yet tolerated by police and parents of small children? Is it because God hates 'pride' in any form? 

There should be absolutely no tolerance for violence against gays and lesbians and trans. But neither should they be flaunting their stuff in the face of God and man. As the Education Minister said, 'These kinds of marches... awaken resistance.'

A little common sense and modesty would go a long way toward peace and coexistence.

60 Hospitals in Romania Won’t Do Abortions as More Doctors Refuse to Kill Babies

 Abortion backlash in Romania

And they haven't even seen 'Unplanned' yet

INTERNATIONAL   MICAIAH BILGER  

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA

Romania has one of the highest abortion rates in all of Europe, but a growing number of doctors in the country are refusing to abort unborn babies.

EU Observer reports 60 of the 189 hospitals in the country (about 30 percent) will not abort unborn babies because of their doctors’ moral or religious objections.

“The law does not oblige us to do this, as it is a service on request, and we can accept or not,” said Robert Danca, manager of Cuza Voda hospital.

Abortions are legal in Romania for any reason up to 14 weeks, without even required counseling or waiting periods, according to the report. While public hospitals must provide abortions by law, doctors may refuse under Romanian conscience protection laws.

Reporters with The Black Sea publication recently contacted all the public hospitals in the country to ask if they do abortions. The investigation found that 60 would not.

One doctor, Daniela Chiriac, told the news outlet that she quit doing abortions seven years ago at the Municipal Clinical Emergency Hospital in Timisoara because she now believes they are a sin.

“I thought that if I could avoid a sin, then I should do it,” she said. “There are many patients who ask me to recommend someone else and I refuse, because it is also a sin.”

According to the report:

Individual doctors in Romania have the right to refuse to perform abortions.

The 2016 professional code for medics outlines that any doctor can decline to provide services if it affects their professional independence or moral values, or contravenes their professional principles.

These “conscience-based refusal” laws are common in most European countries – but when every doctor in a hospital invokes them, women find their access to healthcare faces restrictions.

Human rights lawyer Iustina Ionescu argues that any woman refused an abortion by her local hospital could sue, drawing a distinction between individual doctors and the healthcare provided.

“The doctor might not be held responsible,” she says, “but ‘the unit’ is a service provider covered by the healthcare law, and does not have such an explicit provision. I would say it is illegal for the healthcare unit to refuse, but we would need [to bring] a case.”

Abortion activists are pushing to overturn conscience protections for these reasons. Some now argue that doctors should be forced to abort unborn babies, even if it goes against their religious or moral beliefs. Earlier this week in America, Democrats in Congress voted against several measures to strengthen conscience protections for medical workers who oppose the killing of unborn babies.

In Romania, some politicians are working to combat the high abortion rate with pregnancy support programs. According to the report, MP Matei-Adrian Dobrovie proposed providing state funding to pregnancy resource centers that provide support to mothers and babies. He said Romania has the second highest rate of abortions per live birth in the European Union.

“These centers exist in other countries, such as the United States, and in Romanian legislation they are not regulated,” Dobrovie said. “I proposed to the ministry of labour that these centers should be included and the occupation of assistant and counselor in the pregnancy crisis to be included in the social services.”

Bless you MP Debrovie. May the hearts of other legislators be so inclined.

Backlash Against NRA, Gun Industry Spreads in Wake of Florida Shooting

Are the voiceless finding their voice?

Several notable businesses have either cut ties with the NRA

or demanded measures to reduce violence

CBC News

Over 20 businesses offer some type of incentive to National Rifle Association members in the U.S., according to reports. (Ted S. Warren/Associated Press)

The National Rifle Association and the firearms industry are facing backlash in the wake of the deadly Florida high school shooting, with calls to boycott the big lobby group spreading from social media to businesses.

Over the past week, several notable businesses have either cut ties with the NRA or demanded measures from the association to address gun violence in the U.S.

First National Bank of Omaha announced Thursday it would not renew a contract with the group to issue NRA-branded Visa credit cards.

"Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA," said bank spokesperson Kevin Langin.

Meanwhile, rental car company Enterprise, which also owns Alamo and National car rentals, said on Twitter it would end its discount program for NRA members as of March 26. 

U.S. cybersecurity firm Symantec also took to Twitter on Friday to announce it would stop its discount program with the group.

Insurance giant Metlife  cut discounts for members, while Chubb announced it would stop underwriting a controversial NRA-branded insurance policy for gun owners that covers legal costs in self-defence shootings.

Over 20 businesses offer some type of incentive to NRA members in the U.S., according to reports.

Gun stocks

On Wall Street, the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock, said it would be speaking with weapons manufacturers and distributors to "understand their response" to the Florida high school killing last week that killed 17 people, in the second deadliest public school shooting in U.S. history.

"We focus on engaging with the company and understanding how they are responding to society's expectations of them," BlackRock spokesperson Ed Sweeney told Reuters.

The investment company has over $6 trillion in assets under management and is the largest shareholder in major gunmakers such as Sturm Ruger & Co. and American Outdoor Brands.

Shares of the two gun manufacturers recovered from steep losses in morning trading on Friday, with Sturm Ruger closing up 1.8 per cent, while American Outdoor Brands lost 1.2 per cent in New York.

Under pressure

The responses from businesses come as gun control activists and social media users continued to increase pressure on lawmakers and industry players to take action in response to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HIgh School.

The hashtag #BoycottNRA remained one of the top trending topics on Twitter in the U.S. on Friday.

Online backlash heightened this week after NRA leaders attacked the Democratic Party and gun control activists, saying they were exploiting the Florida shooting. 

"Evil walks among us and God help us if we don't harden our schools and protect our kids," said NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.

"The whole idea from some of our opponents that armed security makes us less safe is completely ridiculous."

He accused Democrats and "elites" of wanting to "eradicate all individual freedoms."

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to speak at the same conference today after aligning himself with the group on Thursday when he suggested that some teachers could be be armed in schools.  

The NRA is one of the biggest financial contributors in elections, spending nearly $55 million in influencing the leadership race in 2016, according to records.

Gun regulation

Yet despite his support for the NRA, Trump called for more gun regulation in the U.S. after meeting this week with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas and their families.

He has commented and tweeted this week about measures such as background checks and increasing the age limit for purchases of some kinds of guns.

Several U.S. states have also announced new gun safety initiatives. 

The Democratic governors for northeastern states of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island said they would co-operate to seize and trace illegal guns and prevent dangerous people from making legal purchases. 

The states are vulnerable to trafficking, because they are located on the Interstate 95 corridor, which is the one of the most travelled highways in the U.S.

In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott announced proposed measures to address state gun laws, including raising the age to purchase firearms to 21, and banning the purchase and sale of bump stocks.