All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Estonia to Aid Gaza With 75,000 Euros | News | ERR

Estonia has earmarked 75,000 to ease the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, with the money going to the area through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

“Access to water is a huge problem and there are also problems with sewage disposal, and medication is needed,” Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said.

via Estonia to Aid Gaza With 75,000 Euros | News | ERR.

Israeli Strike Kills a Leader of Islamic Jihad – NYTimes.com

Israeli forces killed a leader of Islamic Jihad’s military wing and two of his sons early Friday with an airstrike on their home in the southern Gaza Strip, as the Palestinian death toll topped 800 in the battle’s 18th day. A 36-year-old reservist also fell in combat in Gaza’s north, the military said, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed over the past week to 33.

A statement from Islamic Jihad, which has been fighting Israel alongside the Islamist Hamas movement, said that Salah Abu Hassanein, 45 — a spokesman for its militia, Al-Quds Brigades — and his sons, aged 15 and 12, were killed in the entrance to their home in the southern city of Rafah.

via Israeli Strike Kills a Leader of Islamic Jihad – NYTimes.com.

That is so precise – that someone had to know that the two sons were being killed at same time. Leader? The PR person is a fighter to be assassinated along with his sons?

Wenzhou river mysteriously turns blood-red overnight : Shanghaiist

And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

A river in Wenzhou, taking notes from a page in the Bible’s book of Revelation, began flowing a sinister blood-red color overnight, local residents discovered yesterday morning, despite there being no chemical factories nearby.

via Wenzhou river mysteriously turns blood-red overnight : Shanghaiist.

7th Seal?

Today I was spat on because I looked different. | Úna-Minh Kavanagh

And you’re a fucking chink!’

That’s how I was greeted today while hovering outside a hotel in Dublin City Centre while I waited for a friend. The group went by laughing, I exclaimed an exasperated ‘oh fuck off…’, one of the young boys then grabbed my face and shook it, I was spat on.

This was the first time I had received a physical racial assault – I was shook. I’m 21 and had become slightly desensitized to all the racial slurs I was thrown on a regular basis, but this was frightening. I felt humiliated taking the spit out of my hair and sadly no one came to my aid, or asked it I was ok, even on this bustling street.

I met with my friend and contemplated what had actually happened. The more I thought about it the more I got the courage to act. This was the time to do something, anything, to tackle the closemindedness of a nation who prided themselves on being ‘welcoming.’ There and then it truly was a lie.

I gathered my thoughts, posted my outrage online and then reported it to the Gardaí. The experience was horrible and terrifying but I am not a coward.

These kids were in their teens. What these boys did was unacceptable and foolish.

I shouldn’t need to hide or feel scared in my own country. Racism. Hate. How dare anyone think that this disgusting behaviour is ok?

Do I hate them? Absolutely not. I pity them and I pity their parents who have no idea of richness a multicultural society can bring. I feel sorry for them. Oh and by the way, I’m Irish.

via Today I was spat on because I looked different. | Úna-Minh Kavanagh.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Condemns Attack On School In Gaza – Look to the Stars

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he is “appalled” by the news of an attack on a United Nations-run school in Gaza where hundreds of people had taken refuge from the ongoing hostilities, adding that the incident underscores the need to stop all fighting immediately.

“Many have been killed – including women and children, as well as UN staff,” Mr. Ban said in statement issued in Erbil, Iraq, where he is currently on an official visit. “Circumstances are still unclear. I strongly condemn this act.”

Media reports say at least 15 people died in the attack on the school in Beit Hanoun, which was run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). More than 100,000 Gazans – 5 per cent of the total population – have sought refuge in UNRWA facilities since the conflict began over two weeks ago.

Mr. Ban expressed his profound condolences to the families of the victims and those of the many hundreds of innocent Gazans who have tragically been killed as a result of what he described as “the massive Israeli assault.”

The UN chief, who has been in the region this week to express solidarity with Israelis and Palestinians and to help them end the current cycle of violence, again stressed to all sides that they must abide by their international obligations to respect the sanctity of civilian life and the inviolability of UN premises, and to honour their obligations to humanitarian workers.

“Today’s attack underscores the imperative for the killing to stop – and to stop now,” Mr. Ban declared.

via Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Condemns Attack On School In Gaza – Look to the Stars.

empty shoes | Palestine Rose

Oh what will you wear for Eid,

My darling young one,

Oh what will you wear for Eid,

My darling young one?

I’ll wear my burial shroud

In my Grave.

I Miss You

Mother, please don’t be afraid

For me, my journey cut short

By Israeli Demons’ so Loud,—

Their rockets went past clouds

In the sky, a Space

Satellite Saw Gaza Ablaze.

I Miss You

Mother, please don’t be afraid

For me, my journey cut short

By Israeli Demons’ so Loud,—

I’m Praying for Gaza, my head bowed.

In Paradise, with Allah, who Hears

Every Prayer, He wiped away all of my Tears.

via empty shoes | Palestine Rose.

Isis denies ordering that all girls in Mosul undergo FGM | World | The Guardian

Was it spin? No matter now – it would be difficult for them to do secretly now! There are no secrets anymore guys.

Ahmed Obaydi, a spokesman for Mosul police, told BasNews: “Baghdadi’s decision to have all women circumcised is, as he claims, to prevent immorality and promote Islamic attitudes among Muslims. The decision was made by Baghdadi as a ‘gift’ for people in Mosul.” But Mohammed, a local journalist, told the Guardian he knew no one who had been told by Isis that their female relatives should undergo FGM. “This is mainly media hype with no substance,” he said.

Isis supporters quickly dismissed the story as a hoax. “If Isis responds to every lie and rumour they will not be able to control all these areas you hear about,” tweeted one. “Please ask UN to prove their claims before you hear from us.” The same Twitter account, whose name is derived from an Arabic word meaning “monster”, contains multiple images of the decapitated heads of Syrian soldiers taken in the Raqqa areas near the Iraqi border.

According to the Iraqi paper al-Mustaqbal, which also reported on the alleged fatwa earlier this week, the practice of FGM is alien to Iraqi society except the Kurdish provinces. Worldwide, more than 130 million girls and women have undergone FGM.

The FGM story broke against a background of wider concern about the situation in Mosul, whose Christian community has been forced to flee under threat of forced conversion or execution by jihadists who have turned churches into mosques and confiscated property.

Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has lambasted Isis for its “criminality and terrorism”. Last weekend Isis gave the city’s Christians a stark choice: convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or face death.

via Isis denies ordering that all girls in Mosul undergo FGM | World | The Guardian.

Interview with Former Israeli Security Chief Yuval Diskin – SPIEGEL ONLINE

In an interview with SPIEGEL, Yuval Diskin, former director of Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet, speaks of the current clash between Israel and the Palestinians, what must be done to achieve peace and the lack of leadership in the Middle East.

via Interview with Former Israeli Security Chief Yuval Diskin – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Organic carob powder recalled nationwide over salmonella | OregonLive.com

A California company is recalling organic carob powder potentially contaminated with salmonella that was distributed nationwide.

Earth Circle Organics, a company based in Grass Valley, is pulling a number of lots of its Organic Carob Powder with expiration dates of June 5, 2015. The powder was sold to distributors and retail outlets in the United States and Canada.

via Organic carob powder recalled nationwide over salmonella | OregonLive.com.