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Israel says Hamas endangering Palestinians as IDF posts video showing militants’ rocket misfiring and landing in Gaza
20 May, 2021 12:57
© Twitter / @IDF
The Israel Defense Forces has laid some of the blame for the death and destruction experienced by the people of Gaza at the feet of Hamas, sharing a video of a misfiring militant rocket landing in the enclave.
In a tweet in the early hours of Thursday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted a video accompanied by the comment, “The people of Gaza are endangered every time it happens.”
This is not the first time the IDF has attempted to show the people of Gaza are endangered by Hamas’ malfunctioning operations. On Monday, the IDF claimed 460 of Hamas’s 3,150 rockets had misfired.
Not too hard to believe when you consider that they were probably made in Iran. Iran, which shoots down passenger planes on purpose, by mistake.
Posts earlier this week claimed that 15% percent of Hamas launches were landing in Gaza. “It’s time for the world to hold Hamas accountable,” another tweet read.
Media coverage of the conflict between Jerusalem and the Palestinian militant group has often focused on the casualties of Israel’s aerial bombardment. Health officials in Gaza say 228 residents have been killed since the fighting began on May 10. Israeli authorities say 12 people have died in Israel, with the majority of Hamas rockets having been intercepted by Jerusalem’s Iron Dome defense capability.
High-profile celebrities such as Bella Hadid, a supermodel of Palestinian descent, have expressed their condemnation of Israel’s occupation and its ongoing campaign. “It’s free Palestine til Palestine is free!!!” she wrote, after attending a rally in New York on Saturday. Last week, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters told RT the world must pressurize Israel to end its “murderous attack on Gaza.”
Obviously, brains are not directly proportional to beauty or musical ability.
However, Israel has not been without high-profile support itself. Last Wednesday, ‘Wonder Woman’ star and former Miss Israel winner Gal Gadot took to Twitter, saying, “Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation.” She added that Israel’s “neighbors” deserved the same.
Conflict erupted last week following heated protests over the eviction of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The demonstrations prompted a harsh crackdown by the Israeli security forces, with hundreds injured in the ensuing clashes. A raid by Israeli police on the Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, on one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar, served as a trigger for broader conflict, with Hamas responding by firing rockets from Gaza at targets in Israel.
As the human cost of the war grows, international calls for a truce have gone largely unanswered. Asked on Israel’s Kan state radio if a ceasefire would begin on Friday, Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen said, “No. We are definitely seeing very significant international pressure ... We will finish the operation when we decide we have attained our goals.”
German army officer who posed as Syrian refugee on trial
for planning attack on politicians
20 May, 2021 12:54
© Boris Roessler/Pool via REUTERS
A young man who served in the German army has gone on trial for planning to attack at least one politician while posing as a Syrian asylum seeker in order to whip up anger against migrants.
The man, identified as Franco A., went on trial on Thursday, having been arrested in 2017. An investigation revealed that he had applied for asylum in 2016 under his Syrian refugee alias David Benjamin and succeeded in tricking authorities who granted him temporary residence in Germany.
According to investigators, the man posed as a French-speaking asylum seeker and claimed not to know a word of German. He traveled from the Illkirch barracks in France, where he had served in the prestigious Franco-German brigade, to his asylum hearing, where he faked the need for an interpreter.
Franco A was eventually arrested in Vienna in February 2017, while attempting to collect the loaded pistol he had stowed in airport toilets after an officers’ ball.
The prosecution said on Thursday that he had stolen ammunition from the German military and had identified former justice and current Foreign Minister Heiko Maas or Vice President Claudia Roth as possible targets for an attack.
Speaking at the time, Ursula von der Leyen, who was then the German defense minister and now heads up the European Commission, said the attack would have been a “horror scenario.” “There would have been a weapon at the site with fingerprints on it. We’d have put the prints in the system and have got the match of a Syrian refugee,” she stated.
Franco A. denied the charge that he had planned an attack, telling reporters when he entered the court building in Frankfurt: “I can assure you I am not a far-right extremist … I have a clean conscience ... I have never planned any actions to the disadvantage of any person.” The accused sported a beard and long black hair tied in a ponytail.
Of course, it's apparent that you cannot believe a single word he says.
In 2015, there was an influx of 890,000 migrants into Germany, mainly from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Their massed arrival caused anger among German right-wing groups and provoked numerous protests.
Violent clashes erupt between Palestinians & Israeli police at Al-Aqsa mosque,
hours after ceasefire agreed
21 May, 2021 14:33
Israeli security forces and Palestinian Muslim worshippers clash in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, on May 21, 2021. © AFP / AHMAD GHARABLI
Stun grenades, rocks and petrol bombs have reportedly been exchanged by Israeli authorities and Palestinians at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, where thousands gathered to celebrate the latest truce between Israel and Hamas.
Palestinians flocked to the famous landmark on Friday for prayers and celebrations, chanting and waving flags, while Israeli police stood guard.
In footage posted online by the Palestinian Al Qastal network, hundreds of people – both men and women – can be seen turning and running away from the holy site, as smoke rises close to its walls. At least 20 Palestinians have been injured, Reuters reported citing medics.
The clashes unfolded as some of the Palestinians threw petrol bombs and stones at their opponents, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the media. Israelis responded with stun grenades to disperse the crowds.
The recent flare-up of intense fighting between Israeli forces and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the most violent since 2014, began with clashes at Al-Aqsa mosque, a sensitive site for both Muslims and Jews. After 11 days of airstrikes and bombardment, with over 240 deadly casualties on both sides, a mutual ceasefire was agreed on Thursday, with the combatants confirming they would observe it starting from 2am local time on Friday.
Iran unveils ‘Gaza’ drone as well as new radar and
surface-to-air missile capability
21 May, 2021 12:58
unveiling a new combat drone called "Gaza" in tribute to Palestinians, in the capital Tehran.
© AFP / SEPAH NEWS / IRAN'S REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS WEBSITE
Iran has unveiled three new defense capabilities amid ongoing tensions with the US, including the ‘Quds’ radar system, a surface-to-air missile system dubbed ‘9-Day,’ and a drone called ‘Gaza’ with a 2,000km operating range.
In a ceremony on Friday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in the presence of Commander-in-Chief Major General Hossein Salami, unveiled three new pieces of defense hardware developed in Iran.
Among them is a new drone named ‘Gaza’, reportedly capable of various surveillance, combat, reconnaissance missions with a flight duration of 35 hours. The indigenously made UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) proudly displays its name along the fuselage.
Iranian media claims the drone can fly more than 2,000km, carrying 13 bombs, in combat missions, as well as 500kg of reconnaissance and communications equipment. The drone’s range puts Israel’s most populated city of Tel Aviv within operating range.
But it's obviously for defence purposes only, right? Many people defend Iran and its frequent threats to annihilate Israel as just political talk. Putting millions of dollars into a weapon specifically designed to reach Israel's largest city is not political gesturing. Iran intends to destroy Israel!
Iran also showed off its new, indigenously developed ‘9-Day’ surface-to-air missile system, which is reportedly capable of intercepting close-range threats such as cruise missiles, aircraft bombs, and UAVs.
Salami was also present for the unveiling of the ‘Quds’ radar system, which has been produced for fast deployment and can be moved quickly.
Iran prides itself on its indigenously built defense capabilities and has publicly rolled out numerous new systems over the past year amid increasing tensions with the US and its allies. In February, Iran unveiled 340 new missile-firing speedboats shortly after the launch of the forward-base ship, ‘Makran’, a 228-meter converted oil tanker.
‘It was an attack on our borders, not a migratory crisis’:
Spain says 6,500 migrants returned to Morocco
21 May, 2021 10:06
Spain’s interior minister has reported that 6,500 adults of the more than 8,000 people who crossed Ceuta’s border this week have already been returned, describing the movement of migrants as an “attack” on the country’s borders.
Speaking on Friday, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Radio COPE that the situation on Spain’s border with Morocco had normalized, adding that he hoped the diplomatic spat with Rabat “will be as short as possible.”
In a Facebook post late on Tuesday night, Morocco’s Minister of State for Human Rights El Mustapha Ramid warned Madrid not to underestimate Rabat, suggesting that Morocco had allowed migrants to move towards Spain in retaliation for Madrid’s assent in allowing medical care for a Western Sahara independence leader who is ill.
“What did Spain expect from Morocco, which sees its neighbor hosting the head of a group that took up arms against the kingdom?” he wrote. Brahim Ghali, who heads up Polisario, a Western Sahara independence group, was admitted by Madrid in April to be treated for Covid-19.
Grande-Marlaska hit back on Friday, noting: “It is inconceivable that a humanitarian gesture triggers a situation like the crisis in Ceuta.”
Spanish officials accused Moroccan authorities on Tuesday of being passive to a wave of migrants running and swimming towards the Spanish border at Ceuta. Some said Moroccan border guards actually ushered migrants through the gate.
Denmark plans ‘expulsion’ center for unwanted migrants & foreign criminals
on small island despite protests by locals
21 May, 2021 05:40
Denmark has previously considered moving migrants to Lindholm Island (pictured here in December 2018),
but those plans were scrapped in 2019 © REUTERS/Emil Gjerdingnielson
The Danish government has unveiled plans to create a deportation center to house foreign criminals and asylum rejects on a “tourist” island despite protests by the locals, citing security risks.
A small island of Langeland – a scenic tourist destination that is home to quaint towns and some museums – is about to house a large center for foreign criminals awaiting deportation and those who were ordered to leave Denmark but cannot be forced to return to their country – all thanks to a new initiative by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democratic government.
“Before the election, the Social Democrats promised that we would establish a new exit center for the foreigners who have been sentenced to deportation. We are now fulfilling that promise,” Foreign Affairs and Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye said on Wednesday, adding that the move would provide relief to other communities that “have been affected for a long time” because of housing such people.
Tesfaye also vowed to toughen punishment for those who were sentenced to deportation if they commit new offenses.
Currently, as many as 130 people could be sent to the new facility, according to Danish media. Some 100 of them were sentenced to deportation; another 30 are on “tolerated stay,” which means that they have no right to be in Denmark but could not be deported for certain reasons. One of the potential residents of the facility is described as a “foreign fighter” and two are considered to be a threat to the kingdom’s security.
The reasons that prevent the authorities from deporting those on “tolerated stay” include situations in which such people are considered stateless, or in which there is no readmission agreement between Denmark and their home countries. Some of them opposed the rejection of their asylum claims, citing purported dangers they could face at home.
The “expulsion center,” which will be located on the southern tip of Langeland, is expected to become fully operational in the second quarter of 2022.
“We want… greater consequences for people, if [they] have already been sentenced to deportation and commit new crimes,” Tesfaye said.
Yet, not everyone seems to be thrilled with the prospect. Local communities in Langeland are concerned about the impact the facility could have on the tourism industry as well as their own security.
The island’s municipal council has recently said that it was cut off from discussions about a potential deportation center, venting frustration at the government for “arbitrarily” placing “the country’s most hardened criminal foreigners in the middle of a small community.”
The government’s plans have also faced criticism from its allies in parliament. Carl Valentin, an immigration spokesperson for the Socialist People’s Party, which backs Frederiksen’s cabinet, said that his fellow party members “are having a bit of a hard time understanding why [the center] should be on Langeland.”
“Langeland already has problems and survives on tourism. And it is no secret that it is not much fun to have an expulsion center for people on tolerated stays in your neighborhood,” he added. The center-right Liberal Party, the largest opposition party in the Danish parliament, expressed its support for the previous cabinet’s plan involving the establishment of such a center on an uninhabited island. However, the Frederiksen government rejected the idea, noting that hosting unwanted migrants on Langeland would be twice as cheap.
Denmark, which already has some of the strictest immigration controls in Europe, have been toughening its immigration policies under its Social Democratic government. Earlier, it announced plans to put caps on “non-Western” residents in certain neighborhoods labeled as “ghettos” to prevent “parallel societies.”
Frederiksen also urged officials in January to reduce the flow of asylum seekers into the country to “zero.”
