Category Archives: Global Politics

Watch: What is the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act? | The Electronic Intifada

 

the lead author of the anti-Semitism definition used by the State Department, Kenneth Stern, is urging US lawmakers not to advance the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act.In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Stern warns that incorporating the definition of anti-Semitism into law would be “unconstitutional and unwise” and would “actually harm Jewish students and have a toxic effect on the academy.”“I disagree with BDS,” Stern writes, “but it is wrong to say that BDS is inherently a form of anti-Semitism, and even if it were it would be improper to try and censor pro-BDS campus activity, which is political speech and should be answered by more speech and education, not suppression.”In the video, we speak about the history of Israel advocacy groups’ attempts to move the Department of Education to classify Palestinian rights activism as a form of discrimination and their increasing reliance on undemocratic measures to suppress the growing BDS movement.

Source: Watch: What is the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act? | The Electronic Intifada

Danish People’s Party MP: ‘Shoot at migrants’ – The Local – Trump thinking about offering him a job?

In one exchange, Berth said that migrants who try to reach Europe by boat should be shot.  “The only way you can do it effectively is simply to turn the boats away and say ‘You can’t sail into this territorial border, if you do you will either be shot or you will be turned around and sailed back’,” he said.  The debate’s host, Ole Stephensen, gave Berth the opportunity to clarify himself by asking if he really believed boats of migrants should be fired upon. Berth said it was “an example” of what could be done to protect the EU’s borders.  “We need to do what is necessary to ensure that the border is not violated,” he added.  His debate opponent Bosse seemed to hardly be able to believe what she had just heard.  “You cannot stand here and say that they be shot in the Mediterranean. I simply refuse to believe it,” she said.  As the clip of his comments began to circulate, Berth took to Facebook in an attempt to “address a coming press storm”.  “I of course don’t mean that a ship under the command of Nato or Frontex should shoot at migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. What I mean is that warning shots should be fired at a vessel that is crossing into European territorial waters!” he said.  A lawmaker for the ruling Venstre party, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, said on Twitter that the remarks were “not okay” and that “warning shots are… a warning of what is to follow.”

Source: Danish People’s Party MP: ‘Shoot at migrants’ – The Local

Woman charged with threatening Sandy Hook victim’s family | US news | The Guardian And all these nutcases can easily get guns!

A Florida woman has been charged with making death threats against the parent of a child who died in the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre because she thought the attack was a hoax, federal authorities announced on Wednesday. Lucy Richards, 57, of Tampa was arrested Monday after a grand jury indictment on four felony counts of transmitting threats, the US justice department said in a statement.

Source: Woman charged with threatening Sandy Hook victim’s family | US news | The Guardian

The Rolling Stones. sympathy for the devil. (powerful images) – YouTube Deja vu too 1968-2016

warning: this video contains images that may cause upset.I put up some of the most powerful photographs we have all more than likely seen at some point in our lives.the things we humans do to each other!they all seemed to fit with the music.

Assaulted Muslim MTA Employee Blames Trump For Rise In Hate Crimes: Gothamist

An off-duty Muslim MTA employee was assaulted and harassed yesterday by a man at Grand Central who allegedly called her a “terrorist.” Soha Salama, 45, was pushed down a flight of stairs by a man who she says shouted the Islamophobic slurs at her. In a subsequent interview, Salama told the NY Post she had never experienced anything like this before, and blames the recent uptick in hate crimes on the election of Donald Trump.”I think this hate is raised after the election,” Salama told the Post. “During the Obama administration this hate wasn’t there. It’s because of the hate speeches we hear on the media. In the 20 years I live here, I didn’t experience something like that. As soon as the election and Mr. Trump spreads this hate speech around, it’s different now. He leads the people in the wrong direction.”

Source: Assaulted Muslim MTA Employee Blames Trump For Rise In Hate Crimes: Gothamist

Now Roberta’s Is Getting Threatening Pizzagate-Related Phone Calls: Gothamist

Pizzagate, the conspiracy theory that claims (with no evidence) that high-ranking Democratic officials and allies operate an international pedophilia ring centered around Washington, DC’s Comet Pizza, made a cameo in New York City this month when employees of Roberta’s received threatening phone calls related to the internet fixation.

Source: Now Roberta’s Is Getting Threatening Pizzagate-Related Phone Calls: Gothamist

Israel singled out African scholar for deportation, world church group says | The Electronic Intifada

The World Council of Churches has strongly condemned Israel’s deportation of its associate general secretary Dr. Isabel Apawo Phiri.In a statement on Tuesday, the Geneva-based ecumenical organization said that Apawo Phiri had been “apprehended, interrogated and deported” upon arrival at Tel Aviv airport.The World Council of Churches said it “deeply regrets the Israeli antagonism against the WCC’s initiatives for peace with justice for both Palestinians and Israelis.”Apawo Phiri was the only African member of a WCC staff delegation and “the only one denied entry,” according to the group. The reason Israeli authorities provided, according to WCC, was “prevention of illegal immigration considerations.”The WCC said it had instructed lawyers to appeal against “this patently unjust and discriminatory action.”

Source: Israel singled out African scholar for deportation, world church group says | The Electronic Intifada

Both Feeling Threatened, American Muslims and Jews Join Hands – The New York Times

After joining in blessings over home-baked challah and sparkling grape juice (instead of wine, out of consideration for the Muslims), Ms. Firdaus talked with four Jewish women she had never met before, balancing plates of Indian food on their laps. They found that the spate of hate crimes and the ominous talk by Mr. Trump or his advisers about barring Muslims from entering the country and registering those living here had caused all of them to think about Germany in the years before the Holocaust.“When did you know it was time to leave?” Ms. Firdaus asked one woman who had just recounted how her relatives had fled the Nazis. “The ones that didn’t leave are the ones who went to Auschwitz.”The Jewish women tried to convince her that they would not let it come to that. “If Muslims have to register, we’re all going to register,” said Mahela Morrow-Jones, who is helping to build the first West Coast chapter of the Sisterhood in Santa Barbara, Calif. “You’ve got to believe it, sister.”Groups are reaching out not just to clergy members, but also to laypeople, including business executives, students and women.

Source: Both Feeling Threatened, American Muslims and Jews Join Hands – The New York Times

In Washington Pizzeria Attack, Fake News Brought Real Guns – The New York Times

Edgar M. Welch, a 28-year-old father of two from Salisbury, N.C., recently read online that Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in northwest Washington, was harboring young children as sex slaves as part of a child-abuse ring led by Hillary Clinton.The articles making those allegations were widespread across the web, appearing on sites including Facebook and Twitter. Apparently concerned, Mr. Welch drove about six hours on Sunday from his home to Comet Ping Pong to see the situation for himself, according to court documents. Not long after arriving at the pizzeria, the police said, he fired from an assault-like AR-15 rifle. The police arrested him. They found two weapons in the restaurant, a rifle and a handgun. No one was hurt.In an arraignment on Monday, a heavily tattooed Mr. Welch, wearing a white jumpsuit and shackles, was ordered held. According to the criminal complaint, he told the authorities that he was armed to help rescue children but that he surrendered peacefully after finding no evidence that “children were being harbored in the restaurant.” He was charged with four counts, including felony assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a gun without a license outside a home or business.Unbeknown to Mr. Welch, what he had been reading online were fake news articles about Comet Ping Pong, which have swollen in number over time. The false articles against the pizzeria began appearing on social networks and websites in late October, not long before the presidential election, with the restaurant identified as being the headquarters for a child-trafficking ring.

Source: In Washington Pizzeria Attack, Fake News Brought Real Guns – The New York Times

Israeli teens charged for brutally beating asylum seeker to death | +972 Magazine

Two weeks ago two Israeli teens murdered Babikir Adham-Uvdo, a Darfuri asylum seeker who lived in the city of Petah Tikva, not far from Tel Aviv. Adham-Uvdo was attacked after he reportedly spoke to two white teenage girls. The teenagers kicked him in the head for an hour and a half, leaving him for dead. His body was found and brought to Rabin Medical Center. After four days in the hospital, Adham-Uvdo was taken off life support and died.On Sunday the State Attorney indicted the two teenagers, 19-year-old Dennis Bershivitz and a 16-year-old minor, on manslaughter charges. Manslaughter, not murder, since the State Attorney argues that it cannot be proven that the two intended to kill Adham-Uvdo. The State Attorney claims that it cannot be proven that the two acted out of racism.This is an absurd claim: whoever kicks a helpless person in the head for an hour and a half clearly intends to kill him. It is also clear that the killing was racially motivated: had a white person been caught with the teenage girls, we would safely say that the two attackers would not act the same way.Channel 10’s Itay Vered’s excellent report [Hebrew] shows how several Petah Tikva locals responded to the attack. One woman can be seen saying “whoever isn’t Jewish can go fuck himself,” a different woman says “this is the Jewish state, why do we need Muslims?” while a passerby is asked his opinion on the fact that a brutal killing had taken place right where he was standing. His response: “Okay, so what? Yalla.”

Source: Israeli teens charged for brutally beating asylum seeker to death | +972 Magazine