Israel reveals its massive humanitarian aid to Syria
ISRAEL - The Israeli military on Wednesday unveiled the scope of its humanitarian assistance in Syria that has dramatically mushroomed over the last year to include treating chronically ill children who have no access to hospitals, building clinics in Syria, and supplying hundreds of tons of food, medicines and clothes to war-ravaged villages across the border.
Since Syria disintegrated in a brutal civil war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced, Israel has struggled with how to deal with the humanitarian disaster taking place just across the border, a dilemma made even more complicated by the fact that Israel and Syria remain officially at war. Israel initially responded by providing medical treatment to Syrians wounded in the war, treating more than 3,000 people in field hospitals on the border and in public hospitals, mostly in northern Israel since 2013.
But on Wednesday the army revealed that since June 2016 it has quietly been working on Operation Good Neighbor, a massive multi-faceted humanitarian relief operation to keep starvation away from the thousands of Syrians who live along the border and provide basic medical treatment to those who cannot access it in Syria because of the war.
In the year since the operation was launched, over 600 Syrian children, accompanied by their mothers, have come to Israel for treatment. Hundreds of tons of food, medical equipment and clothing have also been sent across the border to Syria, clearly bearing Hebrew labels from Israeli companies.
Greek holiday island battles to recover from deadly quake
GREECE - The Greek holiday island of Kos on Saturday was struggling to recover from a quake that killed two people and injured hundreds, with tourists facing flight delays and the damaged main harbour closed for a second day. The 6.7-magnitude tremor also left hundreds more injured in the Turkish resort of Bodrum, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) across the sea from Kos. "Given the amount of people outside at the time, having only two victims is a miracle," deputy Kos mayor David Yerasklis told Kathimerini daily. The undersea quake struck at 1:31 am Friday (2231 GMT Thursday) between Kos and Bodrum.
Strong quake off Turkish and Greek coasts kills two, injures scores
GREECE - A powerful earthquake killed at least two people and injured scores when it struck near major Turkish and Greek tourist destinations in the Aegean Sea early on Friday, officials said. Local officials said 100 people were injured on the Greek holiday island of Kos, a destination favored by British holidaymakers. The identity of the victims was not immediately known.
Across a narrow Aegean Sea waterway in Turkey's Bodrum, about 70 people were admitted to hospital, with injuries suffered in their attempts to flee the overnight tremor, which struck at 1.31 am (6:30 pm ET Thursday). The tremor, whose magnitude was initially reported as 6.9, was very shallow, just 6.2 miles (10 km) below the seabed, the US Geological Survey said.
Turkey's location between the Arabian tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate renders it prone to earthquakes. In October 2011, more than 600 people died in the eastern province of Van following a 7.2-magnitude quake and powerful aftershocks. In 1999, two massive earthquakes killed about 20,000 people in Turkey's densely populated northwest. The same year, a 5.9 magnitude quake killed 143 people in Greece.
Jerusalem Mayor Makes Historic Deal With ultra-Orthodox Rabbis
CommentISRAEL - The agreement reached between Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis is a necessary, vital development, but also a worrying one. Among the city’s secular residents, there’s a popular myth that Jerusalem is en route to becoming completely ultra-Orthodox. As far back as the 1980s, angry secular prophets were screaming that Jerusalem was destined to become a poor, closed-off, ultra-Orthodox city with a dwindling and oppressed secular minority.
But this prophecy has proven false time after time. The proportion of the city’s residents who are ultra-Orthodox has risen, but only modestly, due to mass emigration from the city by young ultra-Orthodox couples. A secular mayor has been elected, and powerful new forces have arisen within the city’s secular community that have waged successful battles against closing places of entertainment on Shabbat, excluding women and altering the city’s character.
In the battle over Shabbat, for instance, secular residents have won a clear victory. Unlike in the 1980s and 1990s, there are now dozens of movie theaters, cafes, restaurants and other places of entertainment open on Shabbat.
Fatah calls for ‘Day of Rage’ amid new Temple Mount security
ISRAEL - The Fatah movement, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called for a “Day of Rage” on Wednesday to protest new security measures installed by Israel at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem starting Sunday, two days after a terror attack by three Israeli-Arabs killed two Israeli police officers. Following Friday’s terror attack, Israel closed the compound for the first time in decades, reopening it to Muslims on Sunday and to non-Muslims on Monday. The “Day of Rage” announcement came amid a night of unrest in East Jerusalem and the Old City as Palestinian rioters clashed with police, hurling stones and firebombs and blocking roads.
Palestinians Want Israeli Commitment to Two-State Solution
MIDDLE EAST - The Jerusalem Post reports: The Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on Monday made ambiguous statements about Palestinian preconditions for reviving peace talks. In one part of an interview with the Chinese daily Xinhua, Maliki said that the Palestinians’ only precondition for reviving talks is that Israel commit to the two-state solution. “We are ready to engage in negotiations when Israel announces that it is committed to the two-state solution as the primary and only solution,” Maliki said, speaking from Beijing, where he is accompanying PA President Abbas on a four-day visit. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he supports a two-state solution, but many ministers and members of his government strongly oppose it.
Jeff Sessions Announces Plans To INCREASE Asset Forfeiture
USA - Continuing the immoral, unethical (and probably unconstitutional) practice of “asset forfeiture” by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is bad enough. Now President Trump’s top lawman said he plans to increase the practice, which involves law enforcement seizing the personal property from suspected criminals without them having ever being charged with a crime.
Asset forfeiture became popular in the 1980s, when gangs and drug cartels ruled America’s streets. Law enforcement were able to not only arrest the offenders, but disrupt their entire operation by seizing their cars, guns, and any cash they had.
Since then, Reason Magazine reports, the practice has gone haywire. Local law enforcement now rely on the money seized to pay for essential services like weapons, cars and uniforms. Between 1989 and 2010, the US Attorney’s offices seized almost $13 billion in property. And that number has accelerated to more than $1 billion per year.
How bad is it? In 2014, the US Government seized more money and property from Americans than common burglars did.
Many Republicans are not fans of this move – and are making their voices heard. Representative Justin Amash of Michigan tweeted Monday that “This policy takes us backward. Congress must step up to protect the property of Americans from a government that keeps stealing from them.”
FBI tells parents: beware of toys spying on your children
USA - The FBI has issued a warning to parents about the dangers of hi-tech toys that can connect to the internet and contain technology such as microphones and cameras. The US security agency said criminals could use the technology in smart toys to gather sensitive information about children, such as their location, name and what they look like. It sent out an alert for parents that said connected toys could put children "at risk" of being targeted by criminals for identity theft or exploitation.
"[Smart] toys typically contain sensors, microphones, cameras, data storage components, and other multimedia capabilities - including speech recognition and GPS options," said the FBI in the warning. "These features could put the privacy and safety of children at risk due to the large amount of personal information that may be unwittingly disclosed." Toys can gather personal information such as a child's name, school, hobbies, and likes and dislikes, which could be used for criminal purposes, it added.
The concerns are not unfounded. Cyber criminals hacked VTech in 2015 and accessed the details of more than 6.4 million children from 15 countries. Fisher-Price's Smart Toy Bear, one of the most popular children's toys of Christmas 2015, was found to have a problem that could have given hackers personal details about a child. Fears were also raised about a new interactive Barbie that can listen to children.
England: Mothers Born Abroad Now Account for 28.2 Per Cent of Births
UK - New Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that mothers born outside the UK accounted for 28.2 per cent of live births in England and Wales in 2016. Of the 696,271 live births in England and Wales recorded for the year, almost 200,000 were to mothers who were themselves born outside the United Kingdom – the highest proportion on record. Birth rates in migrant communities tend to be above the national average. Considered alongside annual gross immigration approaching and sometimes exceeding 600,000, this suggests that the United Kingdom will undergo a major demographic shift as older generations begin to pass away and be replaced with migrant and migrant-descended families.
Ultra Rich Gay Activist Targets Christians
USA - In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, tech millionaire turned LGBTQ activist Tim Gill said he’s aiming to punish Christians who don’t want to participate in same-sex weddings. For more than two decades, the software programmer has poured an estimated $422 million into various gay rights causes. After the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal in all 50 states in 2015, Gill turned his attention and resources to targeting Christians. The election of Donald Trump, who claims to support gay rights but stocked his administration with anti-LGBTQ extremists, has only emboldened those looking to erase the gains of the past decade. Gill refuses to go on the defense. ‘We’re going into the hardest states in the country,’ he says. ‘We’re going to punish the wicked.’
Temple Mount tensions heat up
ISRAEL - Clashes broke out between Muslim worshippers and police in the Old City of Jerusalem for the third night in a row on Tuesday, in response to Israel placing metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount compound following a terror attack in the area. According to police, after evening prayers at a gate outside the Temple Mount, a group of Muslim worshippers “started throwing rocks and bottles at the officers” who were stationed in the Old City.
In response, the officers used riot dispersal equipment — notably rubber bullets and stun grenades — to break up the clashes, police said. In videos from the scene, people can be seen running away as stun grenades echo across the Old City’s narrow alleyways. Similar clashes broke out at the site on Sunday and Monday nights as well, as Muslim worshipers held protest prayers against the metal detectors outside the Temple Mount gates.
The detectors were set up on Sunday after a deadly terror attack that left two Israeli cops dead on Friday. The three killers, Arab-Israelis from Umm al-Fahm, emerged from the compound and opened fire on the police officers just outside. Following the terror attack, Israel made the rare move of closing the compound while it searched for more weaponry there, reopening it to Muslims on Sunday and to non-Muslims on Monday.
Palestinian officials denounced a “fierce and organized attack” by Israel against East Jerusalemites. They called for maintaining the delicate status quo at the Temple Mount, according to which the Jordanian Waqf manages the site while Israel controls access. Muslims accuse Israel of breaking the status quo by installing the metal detectors.
The Temple Mount is Wakf-less
ISRAEL - This week, the reading of the Book of Numbers is brought to a conclusion, and the Jewish people prepare to usher in the month of Menachem Av, time of a heightened Holy Temple/Temple Mount consciousness. Against this backdrop, a dramatic change may be taking place on the Temple Mount, in the aftermath of a brutal terror attack that claimed the lives of two police officers. This week's edition of Temple Talk finds Yitzchak Reuven and Rabbi Chaim Richman analyzing the news and relating to the question on everyone's mind: Is the status quo on the Temple Mount about to change? Have we seen the last of the Muslim Wakf's domination on the Temple Mount?
Israel to Reestablish Jewish Sovereignty on Temple Mount, Says MK
ISRAEL - The Islamic Waqf’s jurisdiction over the Temple Mount is over and Israel will now work to reestablish Jewish sovereignty over the holy site, said Knesset Member Avi Dichter (Likud) on Tuesday. “Israel is the sovereign on the Temple Mount, period. The fact that the Waqf became a sovereign on the Temple Mount ended last Friday,” declared Dichter, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and former head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), on Israeli public radio, Israel National News reported.
“The question of our policy [at the Temple Mount] may not be clear to the Palestinians, but it is very clear to us… The Mount will remain under the control of the Israel Police.” The move comes in the wake of the events of last Friday, when three Palestinian terrorists used the holy site to launch a terror attack against Israeli forces, killing two Israeli police officers. Israel closed the Temple Mount to all visitors in its aftermath, sparking Muslim outrage worldwide.
However, when the site was reopened on Sunday, Muslim visitors recoiled at new security measures instituted as a result of the attack and refused to enter in protest. The measures include the installation of metal detectors at the entrances used by Muslim worshippers. Waqf officials balked, refusing to ascend to the site and calling for a widespread boycott. A Waqf statement released on Monday urged Muslims “to reject and boycott all the Israeli aggression measures, including changing the historical status quo including imposing the metal detectors.”
Should Israel use the unexpected opportunity to take back control of the Temple Mount, the significance and implications would be beyond imagining. The Mount has not been under lasting Jewish control for thousands of years. If Israel succeeds in regaining sovereignty, it will be a triumph worthy of two millennia of Jewish prayer and longing, not to mention an unprecedented opportunity to begin reconstruction of the Mount and Temple as they were in Biblical days.
We Need To Build Trump’s Wall
USA - Did you know that Mexico is the second deadliest nation on the entire planet? The drug war down there continues to spiral completely out of control, and often the violence spills over to our own side of the border. Thanks to President Trump, security along the border is improving, but we still have a long, long way to go.
Ultimately what we need is a physical barrier, because large numbers of illegal immigrants continue to pour through the soft spots in our border security. I know that a lot of liberals don’t like the idea of a wall, but that is the only way that we are going to make sure that everyone comes into this country through the front door.
The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we will always need a certain level of immigration from other nations. But prior to the Trump administration, our approach to immigration policy was absolutely insane. We had made the legal immigration process an extremely costly and complicated nightmare that hardly anyone could understand or navigate, and yet we had kept the back door completely wide open for drug dealers, gang members, terrorists, sexual predators and anyone that just wanted to take advantage of the system.
We have got to make our legal system of immigration less costly and less complicated, and at the same time we need to slam the back door completely shut so that everyone is forced to come in to the US through the front door.
UK’s First State-Funded Muslim School Taken Over by Government
UK - England’s first state-funded Muslim secondary school – that segregated boys and girls and had books promoting domestic violence and marital rape – is to be taken over by the Government. The Al-Hijrah School in Birmingham, which became state-funded in 2001, was put into special measures last summer after the pro-rape texts were found in the institution’s library and a child died from an allergic reaction.
In a report published in May, the inspector Ofsted also identified bullying, said the playground was chaotic, teaching was poor, pupils were not safe and some staff did not know what to do in medical emergencies. The school was given an “inadequate” judgment, the lowest ranking.
The damning report also criticised the school’s policy of segregating boys and girls, sparking a lengthy legal battle, which is still ongoing. The school attempted to suppress the report’s findings with funding from Birmingham city council.
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The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.
