[Garowe] Governor Wes Moore ordered the Maryland flag to be lowered to half-staff Saturday, in honor of the life of Special Operator First Class Christopher J. Chambers.
Chambers was one of two Navy SEALs who died during an operation near Somalia on Jan. 11.
Chambers, 37, of Maryland, enlisted in the Navy in 2012 and graduated from SEAL training in 2014. His awards include the Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat "C" and three Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medals. Ingram, 27, of Texas, enlisted in 2019 and graduated from SEAL training in 2021.
During the mission on Jan. 11, officials say Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram began climbing the ladder onto the boat, he slipped, falling into a gap the waves had created between the vessel and the SEALs' combatant craft.
As he went under, Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers jumped into the gap to try to save him, according to U.S. officials familiar with the incident.
The 11-day search and rescue mission to locate the two SEALs was called off on Sunday and became a recovery effort.
The flag will remain at half-staff until sunset on the day of Chambers’ memorial.
#2
Texas Gov. Abbott gave a similar order for the Texas native SEAL late last week, but along I35 Sat-Sun, several large (car dealers, mostly) flags were full staff.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/29/2024 14:40 Comments ||
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#3
A governor or president can give an order for flags to fly at half-staff at government buildings.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/29/2024 15:23 Comments ||
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#4
Customers can give a response at non-mandatory flag fliers. Prolly just an oversight? Perhaps EV dealers?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2024 18:25 Comments ||
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“Apartheid”, Israel style.
Though not Jewish, he fought to be allowed to volunteer for army service, choosing a combat unit, then he fought to become an Israeli citizen. And then he died defending his adopted country. All honour to him, and to the parents who reared such a son!
[IsraelTimes] Interior Minister Moshe Arbel delivers the news to Imelda, a temporary resident, and Rico, who was deported 20 years ago, during a bereavement visit to the family
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel instructed the Population and Immigration Authority to grant citizenship to the Philippines-born parents of fallen soldier Cedrick Garin, he told Hebrew media outlets on Sunday.
Arbel delivered the news to Imelda and Rico, the slain IDF reservists’ parents, during a bereavement visit on Sunday, and told them his ministry would sort out the question of citizenship immediately, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
Imelda raised Cedrick in Israel alone while working as a cleaner after his father was deported when he was two, and the fallen soldier gained Israeli citizenship after completing his IDF service. Imelda, however, currently holds the status of temporary resident.
"Cedrick’s parents sacrificed that which was most precious to them for the country, and we need to be by their side at this time," Arbel told Haaretz on Sunday. "There is much weight to the issue of status and citizenship, but it’s important to remember that also temporary residents have rights like national insurance and the ability to work."
During his last year of high school, Cedrick dropped out and got in trouble with the law, before later turning his life around and fighting to enlist in a combat position in the IDF and serve his adopted country.
Cedrick’s wife, Daniela, told Kan that he was "one of those pure kids who get caught in bad situations," and that he decided to make a change in his life because he felt he was disappointing his mother.
Toward the end of his service in 2021, he earned a certificate of distinction from the head of the IDF’s Southern Command for his service.
Daniela, also the child of Filipino migrants colonists, recounted that even after Cedrick’s military service and the recognition of his exemplary contribution, "he thought the country would finally see him... but he had to fight also for his citizenship. He was very disappointed by the state."
Cedrick was a loving son to Imelda, his loved ones said at his funeral on Thursday. His ultimate goal was to be able to provide financially for her so that she could stop working, they noted, adding that he was happily married and was looking forward to one day becoming a father.
"He wanted kids from a young age," Daniela told Kan on Sunday. "He would say to me ’Don’t worry, go out and have fun. I’ll build you a home with lots of joy,'" she recalled, noting that they wanted to "build a home in Israel, in our country — this is our home, we don’t have anything else."
She also told Kan that during the whole time he was serving in the reserves over the past three months, Cedrick only came home once, surprising her on her birthday.
"He came home last week to surprise me with a bouquet of flowers that is refusing to wilt," she said. "I never begged him to stay home, but this time I did. I felt like I needed him for one more day, and he moved mountains to stay with me for an extra day."
Cedrick was one of 21 soldiers who were killed last week after an RPG attack triggered a blast that collapsed two buildings with soldiers inside them. The incident made that day the deadliest for IDF troops since it launched a ground operation in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... He was laid to rest last week in Tel Aviv’s Givat Shaul military cemetery.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have decided to leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Reuters reported this on January 28.
“Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso said they were leaving the ECOWAS regional bloc,” the publication said.
A joint statement by the three countries expressed disappointment with ECOWAS's retreat from its ideals and the influence of Western countries on the organization, and noted that the organization did not help the Sahel countries in the fight against terrorism, but only complicated the situation with sanctions.
Niger's military-appointed Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zein accused ECOWAS of dishonesty on 25 January following the failure of a negotiating mission that was scheduled to arrive in Niamey that day. The community delegation said it was unable to attend the talks due to a technical problem with the aircraft.
As Regnum reported, a coup took place in Niger on July 26, 2023. The military removed President Mohamed Bazoum from governing the country and blocked him from his residence. During the coup, General Abdurahman Tchiani signed a decree on the formation of a new transitional government.
After this, ECOWAS threatened the new authorities of Niger with a military operation for some time, and then imposed sanctions against the country. At the end of December 2023, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zein stated that Niger intended to resume negotiations with ECOWAS in January and called on the organization to lift the restrictions.
The Niger delegation led by the country's new prime minister arrived in Moscow on January 16. According to Mondafrique, the purpose of the trip of representatives of the African country is to “diversify” the circle of partners. Niger authorities want to explore opportunities for cooperation in various fields, including defense, agriculture, energy, health and oil.
The Pentagon abandoned joint exercises with the military of six African countries - Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger and Sudan, the intention to conduct which as of December 20 was still in the plans of the defense department. The press service of the US Department of Defense statedthis in response to a request from the Washington Post.
Government costs for the exercise were expected to be "millions of dollars," according to documents that have not been made public. At the same time, we are talking about a number of “problem” countries in which democratic governments have been overthrown or charges of human rights violations have been brought against them, including extrajudicial killings and mass rape - US law prohibits the provision of security assistance to such states.
Earlier this week, Congressmen Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) demanded assurances from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that troops from post-coup countries would not participate in joint exercises with the United States. The publication noted that the sudden change in the Pentagon's plans could be the result of criticism of the White House by Democrats.
As Regnum reported, NATO spokesman Dylan White on January 24 announced the start of NATO's largest military exercise in a decade, Steadfast Defender 2024. The US Navy landing ship Gunston Hall also participates in them.
As the Commander-in-Chief of NATO's joint forces in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, clarified, they will involve 90 thousand military personnel from countries that are members of the alliance. At the same time, Britain was going to send more than 20 thousand of its military personnel to participate in Steadfast Defender 2024. Sweden, which has applied to join the North Atlantic Alliance in May 2022, will also participate in the exercises.
According to media reports, Steadfast Defender 2024 will simulate the start of the third world war. The legend of the exercise suggests that a fictional state will attack one of the NATO countries.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said on January 25 that Moscow understands the true goals of the NATO exercises and who they are aimed at. He emphasized that Moscow never “wore rose-colored glasses.”
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, emphasized that NATO’s plans to conduct large-scale exercises near the borders of Russia are an outright provocation and pose a threat to Europe.
[Regnum] The UK Navy does not have enough power to strike targets of the rebel Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) in Yemen. The British newspaper The Telegraph wrote about this on January 27.
It is noted that British ships were unable to strike Houthi targets in Yemen. In view of this, the British army is forced to use aircraft for strikes, which have to fly 2.4 thousand km from the nearest base.
As retired British Rear Admiral Chris Parry noted, because of this, the British Navy is unable to compete with the Russian and Chinese navies, since in this case the difference in weapons is comparable to the difference between a knife and a pistol.
What he actually said was, “The point is you don’t bring a knife to a gun fight, and at the moment we have the knives and they have the guns.”
As Regnum reported, on January 25, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saria said that fighters from the Ansar Allah movement launched a missile attack on a US warship in the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This happened as a result of a collision with a group of American destroyers.
US Central Command reported on January 20 that from November 19 to January 18, the Houthis attacked civilian ships in the Red Sea at least 31 times using anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones.
Ansar Allah is a rebel movement ruling northern Yemen that cooperates with Iran and the Hezbollah party from Lebanon. It began supporting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with attacks on civilian ships in the Red Sea after the Israeli army launched a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave.
[IsraelTimes] Candidate from center-right CDU wins slim victory over AfD challenger in run-off in eastern Thuringia for a district administrator post, in first election since national uproar
The German far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party suffered a narrow electoral defeat on Sunday after huge protests swept across the country against the anti-immigration group over revelations of debates about mass expulsions of immigrants colonists.
A candidate from the mainstream center-right CDU won a slim victory over an AfD challenger in a run-off in eastern Thuringia for a district administrator post.
Over a million people have marched in recent days in cities from Hamburg to Dresden to Stuttgart in protest of the AfD party and hundreds of thousands poured into the streets again on Saturday and Sunday.
The wave of mobilization was sparked by a January 10 report by investigative outlet Correctiv, which revealed that AfD members had discussed the expulsion of immigrants colonists and "non-assimilated citizens" at a Potsdam meeting with hard boys.
Sunday’s run-off vote in eastern Thuringia for a district administrator post was the first election since the outrage over the meeting.
After a first-round vote in which the AfD’s Uwe Thrum topped the polls in the Saale-Orla district, he garnered 47.6 percent in the deciding round against 52.4 percent for CDU candidate Christian Herrgott.
Both the CDU and the center-left SPD heaved a sigh of relief at the result.
The leader of the CDU’s Thuringia branch Mario Voigt thanked voters for joining hands to "beat the purported Alternative," while his SPD counterpart Georg Maier said the large voter turnout and mobilization of the civil society had led to the "very important result."
NEVER AGAIN
The AfD had been hoping to notch up another victory after having secured its first district administrator position last June, also in Thuringia, and its first town mayor in July in neighboring Saxony-Anhalt.
Nationwide opinion polls put the AfD in second place after the conservatives, and well above Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats.
A first poll since the protests showed support for the anti-immigration party slipping 1.5 percentage points.
But the far-right party still tops surveys in three eastern states which are due to hold regional elections in September, even though local branches of the party in two of them — Saxony and Thuringia — have been classified as a "confirmed" hard boy organization by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
The classification gives the agency more powers to monitor the branches and had been accorded because of the AfD’s efforts to undermine democracy and for its anti-immigrant rhetoric.
The AfD also said that it has gained 1,900 new members since January 10, when the Correctiv report was published.
In his regular video address released Saturday, Scholz for the second week in a row urged the population to stand up against hard boys.
"’Never again’ is not only directed at the state. ’Never again’ requires everyone’s vigilance. Our democracy is not God-given, it is man-made. It is strong when we support it. It needs us when it is attacked," he said.
[Breitbart] An Afghan migrant working as a security Guard who allegedly threw Molotov cocktails and opened fire with a long gun at a Canadian city hall is said to have published a wide-ranging video manifesto talking of diverse subjects like “genocide” in Gaza, house prices, and the importance of obeying Canadian law before the attack, reports claim.
A man opened fire at Edmonton City Hall on Tuesday, lighting “several” incendiary devices described as “Molotov cocktails” before shooting rounds from a long gun into the walls and ceiling. He was subsequently apprehended by security who detained him until the police could arrive and nobody was killed. A suspect, named as 28-year-old Bezhani Sarvar by Canada’s Globe and Mail has been charged with six counts including reckless use of a weapon, arson, and throwing explosives with intent to cause harm and appeared in court on Thursday.
Security footage of the incident shows a man carrying a rifle and wearing a security guard’s uniform walking through a City Hall corridor, opening fire, and then throwing the firearm to the ground and walking away. The newspaper cites comments of the accused man’s employer, a Canadian charity which provides security work to military and police veterans, saying the Afghan migrant was a civilian employee and had been a “good and reliable” worker to this point.
The security guard who apprehended the suspect was praised for his heroism, but he shrugged it off, saying: “‘Well sir, I was just doing my job”.
Several Canadian outlets report the alleged shooter released a manifesto before the attack, including National Post, Global News, The Toronto Sun, and Rebel News, but also note police haven’t officially confirmed their provenance yet and have generally released very little information on their investigation. Police say they are aware of the footage and are reviewing it.
Indeed, the lack of attention given to the shooting is such that the Toronto Sun complains it appears the story is being deliberately neglected or “covered up”, noting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tweeted about a hockey game on Tuesday, when one may have otherwise expected the national leader to be talking about an alleged terror attack on national soil.
The video concludes: “We need to start filtering our water, we need to watch what we are eating, we need to start eating healthy… Salaam-Alaikum, inshallah I’ll succeed with my mission, if I don’t succeed I know someone else will succeed for me.”
Suspect Bezhani Sarvar is due back in court in February.
The very strange video. Can anyone here translate the non-English bit in the last minute?
An alleged video of the Edmonton City Hall shooter has surfaced, where he explains the motivation for his “mission” pic.twitter.com/2s7z9ZOWfl
The Daily Mail has photos of Mr. Sarvar being entirely not peaceful, and also one of him posed in front of a warlike, Persian-style tapestry with a long gun of some sort, smoking. This may be a still from the second video he posted, according to the DM, which was also subsequently pulled from Twitter, in which he spoke entirely not in English.
#1
The term "genocide" has been redefined by the Left. IMO, just a matter of time until white cop shooting a black criminal will be branded as "genocide".
#2
What better way to stop genocide than killing a bunch of people! Wait, a sec. Isn't that exactly what the Israelis are doing? Irony of ironies, all is irony.
[IsraelTimes] NBC says Pentagon reviewing which munitions could be used to push Netanyahu to reduce intensity of war, allow more aid into Gaza; administration says no change in US policy.
No resignations among the Joint Chiefs in protest? It looks like they all agree with the Biden administration’s clever idea.
Washington is weighing using weapons supplies as leverage to pressure Israel to reduce the intensity of its operations in the Gaza Strip, according to a Sunday report by US television network NBC.
The J Street version of love for Israel.
Although no decisions have been made, the White House asked the Defense Department to review which weapons could be used as leverage on Israel, the report said, pointing at 155 mm artillery shells and JDAM kits to turn missiles into precision munitions.
The report cited three current US officials and a former official.
All anonymous, of course, if three there really are. And any/all could be powerless interns trying to create events from underneath.
The White House did not issue an outright denial in its response to the report on Sunday, but said that there is no change in its Israel policy.
“Israel has a right and obligation to defend themselves against the threat of Hamas, while abiding by international humanitarian law and protecting civilian lives, and we remain committed to support Israel in its fight against Hamas,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said. “We have done so since October 7, and will continue to. There has not been a change in our policy.”
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the report.
Probably not true, but only the most determinedly oblivious would be surprised if it was.
The administration is focused on offensive military equipment in its review of what it could possibly withhold or delay,” the report said. It noted, however, that officials “have also discussed offering the Israeli government more of the weapons it has requested” — to encourage Israel “to take some steps the administration has requested.”
Perhaps it is merely that NBC is overexcited about the idea of hamstringing that horrid country of the Jooooooos.
NBC said defensive systems and munitions, like Iron Dome interceptors, are not under consideration for having their delivery slowed down.
One of Washington’s goals is to convince Israel to open humanitarian corridors to allow more aid to reach Gazans. The US has also repeatedly urged Israel to do more to reduce civilian casualties.
The “Yes, but” approach.
“There’s a lot more that needs to be done and that they need to be more careful about,” says an administration official.
In December, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken fast-tracked the sale of munitions to Israel, bypassing congressional review, including 155 mm artillery shells and related equipment worth $147.5 million. Earlier the same month, Blinken used the same emergency authority to fast-track the sale of $106 million in roughly 14,000 tank shells to Israel on December 9.
The White House has been pressing Israel on the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in Gaza, its vision for the “day after” Hamas and the growing number of civilian casualties in the Strip.
The Netanyahu government has made some concessions on humanitarian issues, including allowing large shipments of flour to enter Gaza through the Ashdod port earlier this month.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is of increasing urgency for Biden, as he faces protests from progressives upset about his administration’s support for Israel in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and the rising civilian death toll.
Biden faces an election in November, and is lagging behind likely GOP challenger Donald Trump in most polls. In November, Biden helped broker a temporary ceasefire that saw critical aid reach Gaza and the release of some hostages held by the terrorists.
For a given value of Biden, anyway.
Last week, Defense Ministry Director-General Eyal Zamir conducted a working visit to Washington, during which he met with senior Pentagon and State Department officials, as well as executives from major US defense companies to discuss the advancement of the defense deals.
Defense sources told The Times of Israel that Israel’s plans to procure a new squadron of 25 F35i stealth fighter jets, a squadron of 25 F-15IA fighter jets — the Israeli variant of the advanced F-15EX — and a squadron of 12 Apache helicopters were advanced during the discussions.
The Defense Ministry delegation also worked to advance the continued supply of American munitions amid the war.
#2
Israel’s plans to procure a new squadron of 25 F35i stealth fighter jets, a squadron of 25 F-15IA fighter jets... and a squadron of 12 Apache helicopters
That is a tasty bit of cheese. So, who does the White House want to appease more - White House interns and college students OR the Military Industrial Complex.
/me puts a chip on the defense contractors
#6
Secretary Blinken openly announced he was doing that with the president’s ok. Perhaps the honourable senatrix from the great state of Harvard and her colleagues should take it up with the boss.
How dare they leave their ghetto and walk our streets as if they were real people!
[IsraelTimes] Several IDF reserve soldiers have become the subject of a war crimes complaint submitted in Holland against the background of the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, after they traveled to The Hague to draw international attention to the crimes carried out by Hamas ...one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... on October 7, Channel 12 reports.
According to the report, the reservists, who were released from fighting in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... in order to attend Friday’s ruling on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, gave a series of interviews to international media outlets in defense of the war against the Hamas terror group.
After a social media post from one of the reservists came to light, in which he referenced the Amalekites, the biblical enemy of the ancient Israelites, in relation to Hamas, a complaint was lodged with Dutch prosecutors for the reservists to be investigated.
A quote from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the Amalekites was cited by the South African legal team in its genocide allegations against Israel two weeks ago. In response, the Prime Minister’s Office said that when Netanyahu used the biblical quotation "Remember what Amalek did to you," he was using it as a way of describing the savage Hamas attack of October 7, and certainly not as a call for wanton killings. The PMO pointed out that the same phrase appears in a permanent exhibit at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, as well at a memorial in The Hague itself for Dutch Jews murdered in the Holocaust.
The reservists were reportedly advised to lie low following the incident and have since returned to Israel.
In a statement, the IDF’s spokesperson’s unit says the reservists were "given standard instructions for this type of incident," and adds that they "returned on a pre-scheduled flight."
[GEO.TV] UN officials and aid groups have called for countries to reconsider their decision to pause funding for the UN refugee agency for Paleostinians on Sunday, warning that its life-saving aid for some two million people in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... was in jeopardy.
At least nine countries, including top donors the United States and Germany, have paused funding for the UN Refugee Agency for Paleostinians (UNRWA) following allegations by Israel that some of its staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas ...always the voice of sweet reason... attacks.
"While I understand their concerns — I was myself horrified by these accusations - I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA's operations," UN Secretary-General António Guterres ...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years... said on Sunday.
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner-general, also urged countries to "reconsider their decisions before UNRWA is forced to suspend its humanitarian response."
[IsraelTimes] Details have been published about some of Israel’s specific accusations against individual employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, UNRWA, which have caused the agency to fire 12 workers and many countries to halt their funding for the body.
The New York Times, citing a dossier provided to the US government, reports that one UNRWA school counselor from Khan Younis in southern Gaza is “accused of working with his son to abduct a woman from Israel.”
“A social worker from Nuseirat, in central Gaza, is accused of helping to bring the body of a dead Israeli soldier to Gaza, as well as distributing ammunition and coordinating vehicles on the day of the attack,” the report continues.
It also says a third employee is “described as taking part in the massacre at a kibbutz where 97 people died” — apparently Kibbutz Be’eri, which was ravaged on October 7 in the Hamas-led onslaught.
The Times says the dossier details the names, details and positions in UNRWA of the 12 people, and contends that 10 of the UNRWA workers in question are members of Hamas while one belongs to Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The report says Israel’s intelligence is based on tracking the phones of six of the people, monitoring of phone calls by others who allegedly discussed their involvement in the onslaught, and text messages received by three others, including one ordering him to bring RPGs stored at his home.
Well then.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2024 00:00 ||
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[35 views]
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[IsraelTimes] On Monday morning, the Knesset House Committee is slated to hear arguments in an unusual debate that will determine the political future of lawmaker Ofer Cassif, the only Jewish member of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party.
If the hearing goes badly for Cassif, he could soon face an unprecedented vote in the Knesset plenum to expel him from the legislative body, the result of his parliamentary colleagues’ intense anger over his public support for a South African petition to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
In response to Cassif’s "treasonous" actions, Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer set out to invoke a previously unused legal mechanism contained in the 2016 "Suspension Law," under which legislators may expel colleagues from their ranks if they are found to have committed one of a number of infractions, including expressing support "for an armed struggle" against Israel or inciting racism.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
01/29/2024 00:51 ||
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#1
Ofer Cassif: Entering the political sphere, as a student influenced by Marxism and socialism he worked as a parliamentary assistant to Hadash MK Meir Vilner. For the April 2019 Knesset elections, he was placed fifth on the joint Hadash–Ta'al list and filled the "Jewish slot" after the retirement of Dov Khenin. In March 2019, he was banned from contesting the elections by the Central Election Committee due to what it described as provocative statements he had made, such as calling Ayelet Shaked a "neo-Nazi".the first time an individual had been barred from a party list.
[IsraelTimes] Acceding to US pressure, the war cabinet last Thursday approved allowing a United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... delegation to enter northern Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... to assess the situation there and map the residents’ needs ahead of a mass return home, the Ynet news site reports, adding the Jerusalem has placed conditions.
The move is largely procedural after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm... said earlier this month that Israeli leaders had agreed to facilitate the visit.
There are no details on when the visit will take place.
Ynet says Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has conditioned the visit on the UN team first touring Israeli communities ravaged during Hamas ...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ’s October 7 onslaught; on Israel clarifying that okaying the visit doesn’t constitute an intention to return Gazooks to the Strip’s north; and on having a US official join the UN delegation.
#3
They don't actually need to visit to draw their conclusions.
"We prefer to think of it as working within a pre-defined framework. That way, we don't sound like useless wankers. Also, by visiting on-site, we get per diem + expenses."
Tel Aviv, though not Israel’s capitol, has some of the best restaurants and nightlife in the world, ‘tis said.
I’ve not been, but just about every year their Blues society sends bands to the International Blues Competition in Memphis, and they regularly make it into the final round.
[IsraelTimes] New York Times says bully boyz in Gazoo cut open Israeli-fired duds to create rockets; theft from IDF is also major source of weapons
What say you, dear Reader? Is this a real and significant problem, or are the New York Times’ overpaid fantasists making stuff up again?
Hamas ...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... steals a "significant number" of its weapons from Israel, and much of its material for explosives from IDF duds, reported The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... on Sunday, citing Israeli and Western intelligence officials, and a former senior Israeli police officer.
Intelligence gleaned during the ongoing war in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... has helped Israel understand that it badly underestimated the number of rockets and other explosives Hamas was able to create from munitions fired from Israel that failed to detonate. One Western military official claimed that most of Hamas’s explosives used in the war have come from unwent kaboom! IDF shells and missiles.
An Israeli intelligence officer told The New York Times that the failure rate for IDF munitions fired into Gaza could be as high as 15 percent.
Another major source of weapons is theft from IDF bases, which often reach the West Bank or Gaza via the Sinai desert.
Hamas has also been able extract explosives from warheads of up to 2,000 pounds and repurpose them, according to the report. A single 750-pound bomb that doesn’t explode could provide material for hundreds of rockets, the newspaper reported.
Hamas was estimated to possess up to 20,000 rockets before October 7, around half of which it has since fired at Israel.
Hamas maintains a range of additional sources of weapons, including domestic manufacture and smuggling through the Egypt-Gaza border.
An Israeli military official familiar with Hamas’s arsenal told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the group also uses a combination of smuggled "off-the-shelf" weaponry, including AK-47s, RPGs and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as a large collection of home-grown weapons often made with easily accessible civilian materials.
"We are searching everywhere for weapons, for political support, for money," Hamas front man Ghazi Hamad recently said in an interview with the AP, declining to discuss specifically who has been providing its weapons or how they were snuck into Gaza.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/29/2024 10:31 Comments ||
Top||
#3
A single 750-pound bomb that doesn’t explode could provide material for hundreds of rockets
"Mahmood, take this angle grinder and cut open the case of this unexploded bomb."
This could be a viable strategy given a sufficient supply of Mahmoods. Although, the work product will be a bit unstable. I SNORTED. SOTD
In rocketry, there is a fine line between burning rapidly and burning all at once. My understanding is the Hamas home-made rockets are fueled with sugar and fertilizer, rather like a giant bottle rocket.
#5
citing Israeli and Western intelligence officials, and others who wanted it to be true. Can we get it included in the upcoming UN site-visit report?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/29/2024 14:50 Comments ||
Top||
#6
...Absolute crap.
Explosives filler has to be melted and cast under EXTREMELY precise and controlled conditions. The work accidents would have been regular, spectacular, and unmistakable. There is no way in HELL that the Gazans are capable of this.
To be fair, they have not only that but also an excess of Abeds and Abdullahs. Not all could be set to digging tunnels through the sandy soil with a spoon.
This is exactly the discussion I’d hoped for when I posted the article. Carry on.
[IsraelTimes] Prime minister tells US newspaper that ’most Israelis’ share his views regarding the future of Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... following war, says Israel will need to maintain ’security control’ over enclave
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published Friday in The Wall Street Journal that Israel’s war efforts against Hamas ...a regional Iranian catspaw,... are going "better than expected."
"It took the US and its allies nine months to defeat radical forces in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... ," he said, referring to the 2016-2017 war against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... in Iraq. "Mosul is smaller than Gaza and did not have the massive terror underground infrastructure."
Speaking to a contributing columnist to the paper, Netanyahu added that despite what it might look like from the outside, he believes he represents the views held by the majority of Israelis when it comes to the day after the war in Gaza, and the future of the Paleostinians.
"Some in the United States believe that the obstacle to peace with the Paleostinians is me," he said in the interview. "They don’t realize that I reflect the view of most Israelis." Regarding a future two-state solution, Netanyahu said that any future agreement would require Israel to retain "overall security control" of all areas west of the Jordan River — including the Gaza Strip.
While calling October 7 the worst day in Israeli history, during which Hamas massacred close to 1,200 people in Israel and took another 253 hostage, the prime minister did not say anything to the news outlet regarding his responsibility for not preventing the attack, an issue he has dodged since the beginning of the war.
Netanyahu did express concern over the growing sentiment against Israel in Western public opinion, specifically mentioning the December congressional hearings of three prominent university presidents, in which they refused to condemn genocidal calls against Jews, and a recent poll showing that 20 percent of US adults between the ages of 18-29 hold positive views of the late Osama bin Laden ...... who doesn't live anywhere anymore...... "America is the vanguard of freedom and the guarantor of liberty in this century," he said. "If a younger generation emerges in America that supports the head-choppers, it is a problem for civilization."
When asked about the South African case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, Netanyahu said that "what South Africa did was shameful. South Africa is basically aligning itself, in the name of opposing genocide, with the genocidal murderers of Hamas. The only difference between what Hamas did and the Nazis did is capability, not intent."
Netanyahu repeated this sentiment in a presser on Saturday night, calling the allegations of genocide against Israel "ridiculous" and saying that they prove "that many in the world have not learned a thing from the Holocaust."
Netanyahu also told The Wall Street Journal that his actions and close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... prevented Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... from building "a second Hezbollah base" in Syria. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... the premier conveyed disquietude over the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s warming relations with Russia: "Iran has become the chief arms supplier to Russia, and we’re obviously concerned about Russian reciprocation," he said.
[GEO.TV] Two bigwigs of the United States government administration have said the US negotiators could potentially seal a deal between Israel and Hamas ...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... that would pause Israel’s military assault in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... for two months in exchange for the freedom of over 100 hostages detained by the fighters in the October 7 attack, an international media organization reported.
The possible deal would be implemented in two phases. First, a ceasefire would be adopted to release women, the elderly and maimed hostages. Then, during the 30 days’ pause, the Israeli authorities and Hamas fighters would work out details for the second phase, wherein detained Israeli soldiers and civilians would be freed. The deal also includes allowing more humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[20 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#2
Prime Minister's Office: 'Reports of hostage deal are incorrect' The Prime Minister's Office on Monday denied reports that Israel agreed to a hostage deal through which thousands of terrorists, some considered "heavy, with blood on their hands" would be released.
"The reports about the deal are incorrect and include conditions that are unacceptable to Israel. We will continue to total victory," the message states.
[IsraelTimes] Despite order, hundreds of protesters, including family members of hostages, cut through fields to skirt police roadblocks and prevent aid trucks from entering Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
The IDF announced on Sunday the establishment of a closed military zone around the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip, after days of protests by family members of hostages had largely blocked humanitarian aid from passing through.
The new order, which was signed Saturday night by IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, makes it illegal for civilians to be in the vicinity of the crossing or on nearby roads.
Despite the order, hundreds of activists still made it to the crossing on Sunday and told Channel 13 that they had marched through nearby fields to circumvent police roadblocks in order to block trucks from carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Large groups of activists, including some families of hostages being held by Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... in Gaza, protested daily at the crossing last week, demanding that no aid be allowed to enter Gaza via Israel as long as the hostages remain in captivity.
After repeated attempts, the protesters succeeded at blocking at least some of the aid on Wednesday and did so again on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on October 7. In response, Israel launched an extensive military campaign against the terrorist organization, and the government initially said no aid would be allowed into Gaza.
By the end of October, however, Israel was allowing humanitarian aid to enter the Strip through the Rafah crossing on the Gaza border with Egypt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since said multiple times that without minimal aid being given to Gaza, the IDF would be unable to complete its objectives in the war due to risks such as diseases.
As part of a temporary truce deal in November, 105 hostages were released, and Israel promised to up the number of trucks carrying aid to 200 a day, but could not keep up with the demand with only one crossing open. As a result, Netanyahu announced in mid-December that Israel would reopen Kerem Shalom to allow more aid into the Strip.
Over the past week, however, protesters have demanded that humanitarian aid for Gaza be withheld until the remainder of the hostages are released, and have gone to the Kerem Shalom crossing daily to attempt to block the trucks.
Officials in US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. The very model of probity.... ’s administration, who have pushed Israel to allow aid for Gaza throughout the war, urged Israel to ensure that the crossing remained open and aid continued to make it through despite the civil disturbances.
Netanyahu repeated that the aid was essential to success in the war during a presser on Saturday night, and added that officials were instructed to take care of the issue.
"I understand the families’ plight, but [giving aid to Gaza] is our policy," he said.
Such an interesting statement, given that when Hamas won the January 2006 legislative election, violence erupted between factions in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip... and in Gaza Hamas took over by force of arms. There hasn’t been a “national” election since, though there’ve been ongoing reconciliation negotiations and several agreements, each duly cheated upon.
[IsraelTimes] Deputy PM says Palestinians need to find common ground; PA Foreign Ministry slams funding freeze of UNRWA in response to some staffers’ Oct. 7 involvement as ‘collective punishment’
44% in the West Bank said they support Hamas, up from just 12% in September. In Gaza, the terror group enjoys 42% support, up from 38% three months ago.
The Paleostinian Authority’s deputy prime minister said Saturday that President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase.... would be willing to hand control over his government to Hamas
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] As trial wraps up in Tehran, prosecutor says Johan Floderus charged with ’very extensive intelligence cooperation with the Zionist occupation regime’
The trial of a Swedish EU diplomat wrapped up in Tehran on Sunday, with Iranian prosecutors seeking the maximum penalty for the man accused of spying for Israel.
The prosecutor said that 33-year-old Johan Floderus — who works for the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... diplomatic service — was charged with "very extensive intelligence cooperation with the Zionist occupation regime," meaning Israel, according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.
"Given the important nature and adverse effects of the accused’s actions, I demand the maximum penalty," Mizan reported the prosecutor as saying.
Floderus was charged with "corruption on earth," which is one of Iran’s most serious offenses and carries a maximum penalty of death.
The Swedish national was arrested on April 17, 2022, at Tehran airport on his return to Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... from a trip with friends, and has been on trial since December 2023.
No date has yet been set for the verdict.
Mizan published photos of Floderus in a prisoner’s uniform accompanied by his two lawyers in a near-empty Tehran courtroom.
It said the court sessions have ended, but his lawyers have a week to submit their defense.
Sweden and the EU have repeatedly called for Floderus’s immediate release, arguing that there was "absolutely no reason" for him to be held in Evin Prison, where a number of government opponents are also being held.
On January 17, Sweden summoned the Iranian chargé d’affaires to demand the release of citizens "arbitrarily detained" in Iran.
Relations between Sweden and Iran have deteriorated since a Swedish court in July 2022 handed down a life sentence to Iranian national Hamid Noury "for grave breaches of international humanitarian law and murder."
Noury is a former Iranian prison official. The case related to the killing of at least 5,000 prisoners across Iran to avenge attacks carried out by exiled opposition group the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) at the end of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88.
Governments, human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... groups and families of foreign nationals being held in Iran have accused Tehran of engaging in "hostage diplomacy."
A number of European nationals are being held in Iran, including four from La Belle France.
Louis Arnaud, a French national, was sentenced in November to five years in prison for propaganda and endangering the security of the country.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Garowe] Governor 
...one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
...always the voice of sweet reason...
...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
[IsraelTimes] New York Times says 
...a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
