Category Archives: human rights

′Every dark skin in Israel is now a target′ | Middle East | DW.COM | 23.10.2015

a recent study has found that about 40 percent of the imprisoned minors in the country are Ethiopians, despite their small part in the total population – only 1.6 percent. This is perhaps not a shocking revelation; however, in a country which is already a patchwork of so many different ethnic origins, this is a very disturbing escalation.Smaller attacks, resulting in light injuries, hardly make it into the mainstream news, and thus dozens of racial incidents remain within the social media sphere, or at the very best appear as a short sentence on news tickers.Two weeks ago, a 22-year-old Israeli Jew from the northern town of Kiryat Ata stabbed another Israeli because he thought his victim was an Arab. Unlike the times when the assailant was Palestinian, this time Haifa Magistrate’s Court placed a gag order on revealing the attacker’s name and other identifiers at the request of his attorney.

Source: ′Every dark skin in Israel is now a target′ | Middle East | DW.COM | 23.10.2015

Court by Court, Lawyers Fight Policies That Fall Heavily on the Poor – The New York Times

There are many more Clantons among the nation’s 15,000 trial courts, civil rights lawyers say, and the key to broad change lies with state and local governments. So courthouse by courthouse, groups as small as Equal Justice Under Law, founded by Mr. Karakatsanis and a fellow Harvard Law School graduate, Phil Telfeyan, and as large as the American Civil Liberties Union are waging a guerrilla campaign to reverse what they consider unconstitutional but widespread practices that penalize the poor. These include jail time for failure to pay fines, cash and property seizure in the absence of criminal charges, and the failure to provide competent lawyers.

Source: Court by Court, Lawyers Fight Policies That Fall Heavily on the Poor – The New York Times

The renewed blood pact between Israeli, Palestinian extremists – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

The chief rabbi of the town of Safed, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, was especially impressive when he told followers at his weekly lesson last week, “I heard that in cases like this, and in other cases, policemen were afraid to shoot the male or female terrorist out of compassion and pity. I don’t understand this. What’s the meaning of not shooting a terrorist? Empty your magazine at her! That’s what needs to be done. … A policeman who kills a terrorist should get a bouquet of flowers, gifts and money.” This public servant, who also serves as the head of the rabbinical council of the national emergency medical service Magen David Adom, claimed that Jewish law permits medical staff to kill wounded terrorists. “If they cannot be killed,” he added, “make it so that in the end they will die. Feed them spoiled food, so that they get a stomach upset and end up dying. That’s what one should learn at MDA.”

Source: The renewed blood pact between Israeli, Palestinian extremists – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Young Dalit writer targeted in Davanagere – The Hindu

According to a complaint filed by 23-year-old Huchangi Prasad, a journalism student at Davanagere University who had published a ‘controversial’ book a year ago, an unidentified man came to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe hostel at the university in the early hours, claiming that Mr. Prasad’s mother had been hospitalised following a heart attack. Apparently in “shock”, the student followed the man who promised to take him to the hospital. Midway, in an isolated corner of APMC Yard, a group of eight to ten people ambushed him.“They surrounded me and started to push me around. They said my writings were anti-Hindu as I talked about the caste system. They even put kumkum all over my face. They pulled out a knife and said they will cut my fingers off so I can never write again,” Mr. Prasad told The Hindu.

Source: Young Dalit writer targeted in Davanagere – The Hindu

Online campaigns seek to unite Arabs and Jews | TOP STORIES | DW.COM | 22.10.2015

As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict simmers, and political rhetoric exacerbates tensions rather than calms them, a different voice is gathering pace online. It isn’t mainstream, and it’s largely led by women.

Source: Online campaigns seek to unite Arabs and Jews | TOP STORIES | DW.COM | 22.10.2015

WitnessLA.com LA Youth Ambassador Shot in GA

Once on a path not all that different from the teen who shot him, Semaj turned his life around with help from the Building a Lifetime of Options and Opportunities for Men (BLOOM) program, which aims to give justice system-involved teens in South LA control over their circumstances by connecting them with mentors and local organizations that provide education and employment services.After speaking at the forum, Semaj and another young man were approached by three teens who brought them to a housing project called Yamacraw Village and attempted to rob them. When Semaj tried to run away, one of the boys shot him three times.One of the bullets severed Semaj’s spinal cord. Doctors told Semaj he will never walk again.The 17-year-old who shot Semaj was actually supposed to be in attendance at the conference, but did not show up.In a video aired on Savannah’s local NBC station, Semaj cried when talking about how he would never be able to run again, which he says is how he works through pain in his life, but said that he would not give up working to help troubled kids. “I’m not going to be able to walk again, and that hurts me,” Semaj said, “but it’s not going to stop me from doing what I’ve got to do. So I’m just going to stay out here and try to make a difference.”

Source: WitnessLA.com » Blog Archive » LA Youth Ambassador Shot in GA, Social Worker Calls New Group Home Law Counter-Intuitive, and More

Netanyahu’s Hitler Speech is nothing new | Hummus For Thought

Moshe Zimmermann said the comments essentially made Netanyahu a Holocaust denier. “Any attempt to deflect the burden from Hitler to others is a form of Holocaust denial,” he told The Associated Press. Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said that “Netanyahu hates Palestinians so much that he is willing to absolve Hitler of the murder of 6 million Jews.”Netanyahu’s claim does not need debunking. It never happened. Pure fiction. But that wasn’t the point. The point was to try and link the fate of the Jews under European fascists (and under so-called Western democracies I might add) with Palestinian resistance to Zionist Settler Colonialism. It is such a preposterous position that one can only react to it in disgust.

Source: Netanyahu’s Hitler Speech is nothing new | Hummus For Thought

Netanyhau: Hitler Only Wanted to Expel Jews, but Jerusalem Mufti Told Him to Burn Them – Israel News – Israel News – Haaretz Israeli News Source

Searching for excuse to exterminate Palestinians or give leave to extremists to go on killing spree!?!

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked public uproar when on Wednesday he claimed that the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, was the one who planted the idea of the extermination of European Jewry in Adolf Hitler’s mind. The Nazi ruler, Netanyahu said, had no intention of killing the Jews, but only to expel them.

Source: Netanyhau: Hitler Only Wanted to Expel Jews, but Jerusalem Mufti Told Him to Burn Them – Israel News – Israel News – Haaretz Israeli News Source

Israel begins construction of new wall separating Jews and Arabs in East Jerusalem

 

A new ghetto rising!

Israeli authorities have begun building another barrier to separate Jewish and Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. The efforts come amid a spate of attacks directed at Jewish civilians by Palestinians.

Source: Israel begins construction of new wall separating Jews and Arabs in East Jerusalem

′New facet of violence′ in Germany | Germany | DW.COM | 19.10.2015

{If you don’t stand with the refugees, who will stand with you when the mob comes to your door?}

Anti-immigrant sentiments in Germany are on the rise, and taking on harsher forms. DW spoke to Professor Andreas Zick, an expert on violence and conflict, as the anti-migrant Pegida movement was getting ready to celebrate its first anniversary in the group’s eastern stronghold of Dresden.DW: A man who was active in the far-right scene in the past on Saturday stabbed the Cologne mayoral candidate responsible for refugees in the city. Germany’s interior minister said the attack underlines growing concerns over hatred and violence amid the refugee crisis. Is this in fact a new “quality” of violence? Are people losing their inhibitions?Professor Andreas Zick: Yes, we’re seeing a new facet of violence. In Germany, we’ve had 179 right-wing extremist killings since 1990, there have been more than 500 hate crimes against asylum housing, and now there’s the same phenomenon of “lone-wolf” terrorism that we observe on the Islamist terrorist scene.Is the mood in Germany changing?Dramatically. A year ago, when Pegida started these marches in Dresden, we already argued that from the perspective of extremism research, the symbols and the communications via the Internet were very aggressive. It was violence-oriented from the beginning. We know the right-wing extremist milieus tried to be in the streets and also on the Internet, where they discussed what to do. Over the last few months, the idea in the radicalized milieu of not only communicating and shouting out the hate, but of acting and controlling the streets has gained momentum.

Source: ′New facet of violence′ in Germany | Germany | DW.COM | 19.10.2015