Category Archives: Fundamentalist terror

Eritrean man was lynched by Israelis in uniform, new video shows | The Electronic Intifada

On 18 October, 29-year-old Eritrean refugee Haftom Zarhum was severely beaten and shot to death by a vengeful mob of Israeli soldiers, prison officers and police in and out of uniform, security camera footage recently obtained by the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz has revealed.The mob mistook Zarhum, unarmed and injured, for the gunman who had opened fire moments earlier at the central bus station in Bir al-Saba (Beer Sheva), a city in the south of present-day Israel.

Source: Eritrean man was lynched by Israelis in uniform, new video shows | The Electronic Intifada

Senator Heinrich: Armed Extremists at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Must Be Prosecuted – Native News Online

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the U.S. Committee on Indian Affairs, expressed his concern over the continued takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon by armed extremists, and urged the U.S. Department of Justice to fully prosecute anyone who has broken the law.US Senator Martin Heinrich“Unfortunately, the attack on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is only the latest effort in a growing campaign by anti-government interests to seize and sell off the American people’s public lands,” Sen. Heinrich wrote in the letter. “I am concerned that the absence of federal prosecution after similar events in the past, such as the 2014 standoff near Bunkerville, Nevada, may have emboldened these individuals to seize federal property in the Malheur standoff. There must be consequences for this sort of dangerous action. When the federal government does not fulfill its duty in prosecuting violations of the law, individuals are emboldened to further defy the law.”Efforts to seize and sell off America’s public lands are deeply unpopular in the West. Recent polling in Western states, including New Mexico, found that an overwhelming majority of voters in the region oppose transferring national public lands to state ownership.

Source: Senator Heinrich: Armed Extremists at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Must Be Prosecuted – Native News Online

Fervor in Oregon Compound and Fear Outside It – The New York Times

Unfamiliar people have been stalking refuge employees, idling outside their homes and questioning them at some of the few grocery stores in Burns, said the sheriff, Dave Ward. “While not direct physical threats,” he said in a statement recently, “these activities are clearly designed to try to intimidate.”Tensions escalated over the weekend when another band of outsiders arrived at the refuge’s entrance, toting long guns and promising to act as liaisons between law enforcement officials and the occupiers at Malheur. When the occupiers rebuffed the group, the newcomers headed to the county courthouse, surrounded it and demanded to meet with the sheriff. He acquiesced, but nothing came of the meeting.AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyAdvertisementContinue reading the main storyInside the occupied compound, life has settled into a sort of giddy war-room-style routine, one that mixes the mundane — laundry, snowball fights, nap time for the children — with bellicose talk of facing down federal agents and heading off what some people holed up in the compound say is a government plan to force all Americans to move to cities by 2040.“We expect the federal government to voluntarily step back, observe the Constitution and back off,” Ryan Bundy, who is leading the occupation with his brother Ammon, said in an interview at the compound. “They better back off,” Mr. Bundy continued. “If they don’t, then this is going to continue to happen.”PhotoZoey Justus, 9, came with her parents to meet the occupiers at the wildlife refuge. Credit Julie Turkewitz/The New York TimesOn Tuesday, the occupiers emerged once again at the entrance to the refuge, and a spokesman for the group, LaVoy Finicum, a rancher in his mid-50s from Arizona, stood before the microphone to announce that the protesters would travel to town on Friday evening “to explain to the community why we are here and when we will be leaving.”The refuge sits about 30 miles from Burns, in a remote area past snow-covered ranches and a single restaurant labeled “saloon.” The Bundy brothers, sons of a Nevada rancher named Cliven Bundy who made national news in 2014 for facing down the federal government over grazing fees on public lands, say they came here to support Dwight L. Hammond and his son Steven D. Hammond, who have been jailed for arson for setting fires that burned federal lands. However, the Hammond family and other local ranchers have said they do not welcome the gesture.The protesters, most of them from outside Oregon, have blocked off the entrance road with a conscripted government vehicle, and each morning they haul out a photo-ready horse named Hellboy for a quick news conference with reporters. The landscape is surveyed 24 hours a day by a rotating cast of armed watchmen who climb into a fire tower with broken windows.Each morning at 4, a man named Duane Ehmer takes Hellboy on a pre-dawn inspection of the refuge, an 1860 cavalry pistol clipped to his hip. “I’m looking for anybody that ain’t supposed to be there,” he said.PhotoAmmon Bundy, left, one of the occupation leaders, and one of his sons at the wildlife refuge on Saturday night. Credit Julie Turkewitz/The New York TimesDeeper inside, down an icy, tree-lined road, the group has seized about a dozen buildings, and the Bundy brothers have commandeered the cluttered office of Linda Sue Beck, a government biologist who had been leading a war on invasive carp before the occupiers took over.The heart of the protest, however, is a quarter-mile from the biologist’s office, at a bunkhouse with bedrooms and a large kitchen where women marinate chicken, grill salmon, bake brownies and organize a stockroom that swelling with donations from around the nation. To slip in, a reporter just has to ask.“We are here because we are needed. We were asked to come,” said Debra Bass, 61, a Nevadan who is running the kitchen. Speaking of Harney County ranchers, she said, “Our hope is to lift them up and give them the courage to fight back.”On any given day, there appeared to be about 25 people on the compound, though the number varies with visitors. The Justus family was visiting from Baker City, Ore., where they say they have been frustrated by management coming from Washington, D.C., including a plan they said would close hundreds of miles of roads in their area. “It’s like New York asking me to run a subway,” Mr. Justus said. “It doesn’t make sense.”Other visitors included Matt Wandersee, 26, a barber from Texas; Kristi Jernigan, 44, who described herself as a Christian missionary from Tennessee; and Paul Nelson O’Leary, an Idahoan who came dressed as one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Source: Fervor in Oregon Compound and Fear Outside It – The New York Times

Suicide Bomb Near Polio Center in Pakistan Kills at Least 16 – The New York Times

At least 16 people were killed on Wednesday in a suicide bombing outside a polio vaccination center in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, officials and witnesses said.Thirteen of the victims were police officers, said Syed Imtiaz Shah, a senior official with the Quetta police. He said the officers were there to guard polio workers, who are often targeted by Islamist militants in Pakistan.The attack came on the third day of a vaccination campaign in the province of Baluchistan, of which Quetta is the capital. The bomber, who was also killed, walked up to police officers and detonated what Mr. Shah said amounted to more than 20 pounds of explosives.A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Muhammad Khurrasani, claimed responsibility for the attack on the militants’ behalf. Two civilians and a paramilitary police officer were also killed, and 10 police officers and nine civilians were wounded.

Source: Suicide Bomb Near Polio Center in Pakistan Kills at Least 16 – The New York Times

Marseille anti-Semitic attacks spark debate over wearing skull caps | News | DW.COM | 12.01.2016

A string of anti-Semitic attacks in Marseille has raised questions over whether Jewish men and boys should wear their skullcaps. The city’s Jewish leader Zvi Ammar has urged Jews not to wear a kippa “until better days.”

Source: Marseille anti-Semitic attacks spark debate over wearing skull caps | News | DW.COM | 12.01.2016

Israel Faces New Brand of Terrorism, This Time From Young Settlers – The New York Times

Shin Bet, says the younger Mr. Meyer belongs to a Jewish terrorist network, some of whose members have been charged with grave crimes, including the July arson attack that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents in the West Bank village of Duma. The two suspects in that case also spent time in these hills.The existence of the network, known as the Revolt for the title of its manifesto, became known about six months ago, after the arrest of several suspected members. This latest manifestation of Jewish terrorism is the creation of young extremists rebelling against what they view as the inertia of the Israeli establishment, and it has fermented in lawless outposts like Baladim, a tiny encampment outside Maale Shlomo, and Geulat Zion to the north.PhotoMr. Meyer at his lawyer’s office in Jerusalem. Mr. Meyer was held in administrative detention for five months as a suspect in arson attacks before being released last week, and remains under house arrest at night. Credit Rina Castelnuovo for The New York TimesShin Bet says the group poses a continuing danger of violence, and the authorities have gone after it using extraordinary methods that were previously reserved for Palestinians accused of terrorism. Suspects have been imprisoned without charge under administrative detention orders, and have been denied meetings with lawyers for as long as three weeks.

Source: Israel Faces New Brand of Terrorism, This Time From Young Settlers – The New York Times

Mohamed Sheka: The Young Egyptian Behind the Hurghada Attack | Nervana

In sum, regardless of the truth behind what happened in Hurghada, there is no doubt that Mohamed Sheka was a radicalized youth full of hate toward his country and the Western world, even rejecting any lenient explanations of Islamic texts. Sheka is now dead; the question, however, is how many of our youth are radicalized like him? And how can Egypt reverse such a disturbing phenomenon? I am not sure there are any easy answers to those questions.

Source: Mohamed Sheka: The Young Egyptian Behind the Hurghada Attack | Nervana

Jewish settlers bore into Palestinian children’s bedroom | The Electronic Intifada

Israel’s high court has temporarily halted the eviction of the Sub Laban family from their home in the Muslim quarter of occupied Jerusalem’s Old City, but that has not stopped Jewish settlers from harassing the family in an apparent attempt to pressure them to leave.On 3 January the family came home to find that the Jewish settlers who took over the adjacent apartment last month had drilled six large holes into the concrete walls of the children’s bedroom.The video above shows the surreal situation where family members could peer through the holes and see the settlers continuing to bore into the house.According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the Sub Laban family called the police, who came to the house and asked the settlers to repair the damage, but took no further measures against them.

Source: Jewish settlers bore into Palestinian children’s bedroom | The Electronic Intifada

Constitutional Smoke and Mirrors: Illegal Occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge – Native News Online

The Hammonds and the County of Harney have neither invited nor welcomed Bundy and his group of militiamen. Nonetheless, the militiamen are referring to themselves as ‘patriots’ and are encouraging all who value the constitution to come join their fight-which directly contradicts the property clause of the Constitution. Article IV, section 3, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution states, “The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States ….”  Although there are some parts of the Constitution that may seem vague or up for interpretation, this particular clause is not one of them. Additionally, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge lies on land that was formally designated for the Paiute tribe. Conflicts in the region between Native Americans and ranchers led the federal government to discontinue the reservation in 1879 and relocate the Paiutes under Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. In 1908 Teddy Roosevelt declared the area a wildlife refuge for birds and other migratory animals.

Source: Constitutional Smoke and Mirrors: Illegal Occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge – Native News Online

Burns Paiute Tribe Reacts to Takeover of Ancestral Land by “Group of Clowns” – Native News Online

“We as a Tribal Council, believe it is important to set the record straight: the land prior to 1890 belonged to the Paiute, not ranchers as Bundy has stated,” said Cecil Dick, tribal council member.“WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF A GROUP OF NATIVES HAD GONE OVER THERE TO TAKOVER THE LAND? I THINK PEOPLE NEED TO THINK ABOUT THAT AND WE DON’T NEED SOME GROUP OF CLOWNS TO COME IN HERE TO SPEAK FOR US…THEY NEED TO GET OUT. WE ARE HARD-WORKING PEOPLE. WE CAN STAND UP FOR OUR OWN RIGHTS,” STATED JARVIS KENNEDY, TRIBAL COUNCIL MEMBER AND  OF THE BURNS PAIUTE TRIBE.Charlotte Rodrique, tribal chairperson of the Burns Paiute Tribe. Photo from FacebookRodrique, who has been tribal chairperson of the Burns Paiute Tribe for the past five years, disputes that any group of ranchers were ever rigthful owners of the land. While the land was never ceded by the Paiute, she said the wildlife refuge land was part of a the Treaty of 1868 that was never ratified by the U.S. Senate, but both parties have  upheld the language fo the treaty.

Source: Burns Paiute Tribe Reacts to Takeover of Ancestral Land by “Group of Clowns” – Native News Online