‘A danger to humanity’: Activists block Hungarian PM’s convoy at Yad Vashem

“I am here because I believe Orbán has no reason to be in Yad Vashem,” said Veronica Cohen, a Holocaust survivor born in Hungary. “Because of his anti-humanistic attitude, because of his incitement against refugees. We were once refugees, we are in a sense a nation of refugees, and it is our duty to protect them. He is a danger to humanity.”

“Unfortunately the prime minister of Israel also has very little respect for human life. The new laws passed recently are leading us toward fascism,” Cohen added, as she held a sign reading “Never Again.”

Dozens of demonstrators, including Holocaust survivors and descendants of survivors, block Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s convoy outside Israeli Holocaust museum. ‘He is a danger to humanity.’

By Oren Ziv

Dozens of demonstrators blocked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s motorcade as he left Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum, in Jerusalem Thursday, as part of his official visit to the country. The demonstrators were protesting Orbán’s anti-Semitism, as well as his iron-fisted policies toward asylum seekers in his country.

[tmwinpost]

The demonstrators held signs in both Hebrew and Hungarian and yelled the word “shame” while blocking the convoy as it tried to leave the museum. Within minutes the crowd was dispersed by Shin Bet agents and police officers, with the protesters continuing to chant as Orbán planted a tree in The Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations, dedicated to non-Jews who aided Jews during the Holocaust.

Orbán has been waging an anti-Semitic campaign against billionaire George Soros, himself a Hungarian Jew, and has enacted harsh policies against refugees, including by building detention camps and a separation barrier on Hungary’s borders.

“I am here because I believe Orbán has no reason to be in Yad Vashem,” said Veronica Cohen, a Holocaust survivor born in Hungary. “Because of his anti-humanistic attitude, because of his incitement against refugees. We were once refugees, we are in a sense a nation of refugees, and it is our duty to protect them. He is a danger to humanity.”

“Unfortunately the prime minister of Israel also has very little respect for human life. The new laws passed recently are leading us toward fascism,” Cohen added, as she held a sign reading “Never Again.”

“We are protesting against this shameful visit,” said Attorney Eitay Mack, one of the organizers of the action. “Orbán is carrying out an anti-Semitic and racist campaign in Hungary against George Soros. The heads of the Jewish community in Hungary have called it dangerous.”

Mack also spoke about policies that Yad Vashem can enact regarding visits by racist leaders. “Every dictator, every murderer who wants to buy weapons from Israel must come and lay a wreath at Yad Vashem. We saw the head of the junta in Myanmar come here for a visit, only to carry out a genocidal campaign months later. We saw the prime minister of Kenya, who is suspected of crimes against humanity. Yad Vashem has turned into an institution that whitewashes the crimes of these regimes — as long as they do business with Israel.”

Yael Weiss-Reind, whose family was murdered in Hungary during the Holocaust, said that Yad Vashem was granting legitimacy to these regimes when it “accepts leaders who carry out policies and ideologies that are very similar to what we saw decades ago.”

“My family is from Hungary,” she says, “my grandfather was murdered in Auschwitz, and the prime minister of Hungary, who is being welcomed here with respect, has previously expressed his admiration for the leader who helped carry out the annihilation of 564,000 Jews. I am disgusted by the fact that the State of Israel is hosting him.”

This article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.

Don’t fear the rise of designer babies, gene editing is about curing disease | Kenan Malik

No! It is about making money and possibly – oops – causing disease unintended, as well as furthering ideas of dead Nazis! If we had given in to such hysteria over IVF, Louise Brown would never have been born

‘Designer babies on horizon”, ran the headlines. Last week, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an independent body advising on policy, published a report on genome editing and human reproduction.

New scientific techniques, such as CRISPR-Cas9 – molecular “scissors” that allow scientists to snip the genome at specific points – have transformed genetics in recent years and raised questions about what is practically possible and ethically acceptable. Despite the lurid headlines, they are not ushering in a new world of designer babies.

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‘I tended to the bodies’: attacked by the Philippine army

Villagers massacred amid conflict between indigenous community and coffee plantation

When the soldiers opened fire on Datal Bonglangon village, there was first confusion, then terror, then grief. But Marivic Danyan – one of the younger, quieter members of the community – decided to be strong. Reluctantly, heartbreakingly strong.

The young T’boli woman had been preparing lunch when her remote, indigenous community on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao was peppered with gunfire. One bullet ripped into the wooden wall beside her. Another pierced the corrugated tin roof.

I urge people not to buy coffee from this region. It has caused us so much suffering

Continue reading…

Ukrainian hunger striker ‘on edge of life and death’

Ukrainian prisoner Oleh Sentsov, on hunger strike for the last 68 days, is on the edge of life and death, his cousin Natalya Kaplan has told The Independent. 

“We don’t know how long his body will keep going, but we’ve been told he’s in a pre-death state,” she said. “It’s a miracle he has lasted this long.”

The filmmaker and pro-Ukrainian activist was detained in Crimea in 2014. A year later, he was controversially sentenced by military court to 20 years’ imprisonment.

The case against him was formally terrorism, but many believe the real reason was his active opposition to Russia’s annexation.

In May, he announced a hunger strike – the aim of which, he said, was not his own freedom, but that of several dozen Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia. He told family and friends he was ready to go to the end.

Two weeks ago, Ms Kaplan travelled to the Russian far north, 2,000km away from Moscow, to see her cousin in prison. She said he had lost more than 15kg since beginning the hunger strike, and his health was “deteriorating rapidly”. 


Ukrainian filmmaker times hunger strike for World Cup


Approximately one week ago, Mr Sentsov was transferred to an intensive care unit following a heart seizure. No one is certain exactly when this happened, she said, since Mr Sentsov, in information isolation, is no longer sure of his calendar.

“He remembers that they tried to forcefeed him in hospital, but he resisted,” she said.

“They came up with a compromise, where he agreed to take two to three spoonfuls of nutritional mix to support his heart. After 68 days of starvation, he needs much more than this.” 

Lawyer Dmitry Dinze, who visited Mr Sentsov on Thursday, described his client as in “very pale, very bad shape”. He likened him to the gaunt, haunted leading character in Kashchei the Immortal, a Soviet-era film.

But he told The Independent he had no doubt that Mr Sentsov would continue his hunger strike – even though he might have “just a few weeks” left. 

We don’t know how long his body will keep going, but we’ve been told he’s in a pre-death state 

Natalya Kaplan, cousin 

There is little sense that Ukraine and Russia are close to agreement on a deal that would see Mr Sentsov released. After a slow start, the Ukrainian government is doing “all that it can” to free him, Mr Dinze said.

Several prominent figures inside Russia and beyond have filed petitions, urging Vladimir Putin to pardon the film director. 

On 22 June, his mother also wrote to the Russian president. “I will not try to persuade you about my son’s innocence, but I will simply say that he killed no one,” she wrote.

“His children are waiting for him. They will never be happy without a father.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he would look into the matter. But Mr Putin, who has insisted Mr Sentsov is a terrorist, has so far chosen not to respond directly. 

Russia tests ‘invincible’ hypersonic missile

In June, Mr Putin reportedly agreed with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko that human rights ombudsmen would be allowed to visit prisoners in each others’ countries. 

On 26 June, Russian ombudsman Tamara Moskalkova travelled to Kiev and was granted access to Russian sailors being held by Ukraine. Ukrainian ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova flew to Russia in return.

But she spent over two weeks trying, unsuccessfully, to get access to Mr Sentsov.

Ms Denisova told The Independent that she saw “no sign” the Russian side was ready to agree to release Mr Sentsov.  

“We offered 36 people in exchange. We have not received one reply to our offer,” she said. 

“What is there to talk about? There is only one person who decides the question and that is Putin.”

This Is How Vladimir Putin Manufactures Conflict Between Nations

Saddening that so many playing into Putin’s hands.

As Helsinki’s one-on-one presidential summit looms, with foreign policy mavens fearing that Vladimir Putin will run circles around a clueless Donald Trump, it’s time to examine what makes the Kremlin’s Chekist-in-Chief tick. Our president’s troubling statement that Putin and his KGB background are “fine” at least focused attention where it needs to be, on the undeniable fact that a career in the Soviet secret police made the Russian strongman who he is.

The Chekist worldview that forms Putin’s mental furniture is cynical and cunning to a degree that naïve Westerners—and from the Kremlin point of view pretty much all Westerners are naïve and easily exploited—find difficult to believe. Westerners simply shut eyes and ears, since the reality is so unpleasant. The casual manner with which Kremlin spies ruthlessly exploit others for their own ends is not a nice story, given that their methods embrace violence and life-ruining measures as nonchalantly as Westerners order a cup of coffee.

The cornerstone of the Chekist worldview is provocation, what the Russians call provokatsiya. It’s not new, indeed it was honed into a secret weapon in the late Tsarist era, to be perfected under the Bolsheviks. I’ve tried to explain this alien concept to Westerners for years, and it really boils down to a basic, rather nasty concept:

Read the rest at The Observer …

Exclusive: U.S. open to lifting sanctions off aluminum giant Rusal… AKA: Vlad says let my people go – so #TraitorTrump obliges!

The U.S. Treasury is open to removing Russian aluminum producer Rusal from a U.S. sanctions list, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday, adding the objective was “not to put Rusal out of business.”

Source: Exclusive: U.S. open to lifting sanctions off aluminum giant Rusal…

Trump says NFL players who kneel for anthem shouldn’t play or be paid

KKKIng #TraitorTrump – fool on the hill and evil clown.

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  • President ‘can’t believe’ NFL anthem debate remains in play
  • Trump proposes two-step punishment for players who kneel

President Donald Trump is once again inserting himself into the culture war over protests by NFL athletes during the national anthem.

Trump tweeted on Friday that he “can’t believe” the debate has reignited after the Associated Press reported on the Miami Dolphins formally telling players they could be punished for protesting on the field. The NFL and NFL Players Association said in a joint statement Thursday night they were halting enforcement of all anthem rules while they work out a solution.

Continue reading…

Trump-regret syndrome is spreading among Republicans after Helsinki: How far will it go?

Trump-regret syndrome is spreading among Republicans after Helsinki: How far will it go?:

trumpgrets:

“He’s stood by Trump when he criticized Gold Star families, waffled on condemning the neo-Nazis who rioted in Charlottesville and, until this week, has never so much as considered the possibility Trump had colluded with Russia. ‘I’ve had it,’ he said. ‘There is some shit I will not eat. I’m done apologizing for Donald J. Trump. Done.’

“… Almost to a person, former Trump campaign staffers tell me they regret tying themselves to Donald Trump for a myriad of reasons. Some have found it nearly impossible to find another job in politics as the brand itself has spoiled. They even find it difficult to get work in the private sector as the stink of Trump travels with them.”

Ohio Governor Commutes Death Sentence Based on Jurors Concerns About Unfair Sentencing

Ohio Governor John Kasich (pictured, left) has commuted the death sentence imposed on Raymond Tibbetts (pictured, right) to life without parole, in response to a juror’s concerns about the unfairness of the sentencing proceedings in the case. It was the seventh time Kasich had commuted a prisoner’s death sentence. The July 20, 2018, news release announcing the commutation explained that Kasich had granted clemency because “fundamental flaws in [the] sentencing phase of [Tibbetts’s] trial … [had] prevented the jury from making an informed decision about whether Tibbetts deserved the death penalty.” Kasich had previously issued Tibbetts a reprieve, delaying his scheduled February 13 execution until October 17, after receiving a detailed letter from juror Ross Geiger asking him “to show mercy” to Tibbetts. Geiger’s January 30 letter alerted the governor to serious flaws in the trial that misled jurors to sentence Tibbetts to death, including defense counsel’s failure to present critical mitigating evidence about Tibbetts’s horrific upbringing and the prosecution’s misrepresentation of important details of Tibbetts’s family history. “If I had known all the facts,” Geiger wrote, “if the prosecutors had been honest and forthcoming about the horrors [Tibbetts] and his siblings experienced in the foster care system, and if we had an accurate understanding of the effects of Mr. Tibbetts’ severe drug and alcohol addiction and his improper opioid prescription, I would have voted for life without parole over death.” As part of his order granting the reprieve, Gov. Kasich directed the Ohio Parole Board to reconvene to hear Geiger’s concerns and to reconsider Tibbetts’s request for clemency. However, even after hearing from Geiger, the parole board voted 8-1 to recommend against clemency. In a statement by Tibbetts’s lawyers praising the commutation, Erin Barnhart said, “Governor Kasich acted in the interests of fairness and justice by recognizing that Mr. Tibbetts’ death sentence was fundamentally unreliable. The jury was deprived of crucial information about the abusive and traumatic upbringing and the long-term impact it had on Mr. Tibbetts and his siblings. These circumstances provided compelling reasons for the exercise of clemency to correct the failures in the legal process in this case.” Kasich also granted a reprieve to Ohio death-row prisoner Cleveland Jackson, pushing back his execution by nine months to “allow his newly appointed legal counsel sufficient time to review the case and properly prepare for his clemency hearing before the Parole Board.” Jackson’s September 13 execution is now rescheduled for May 29, 2019.

Tibbetts’s commutation is the third in the United States in 2018 and the second in Ohio. On February 22, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott commuted Thomas Whitaker’s sentence to life in prison, and on March 26, Gov. Kasich granted a commutation to William Montgomery.

(Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Gov. Kasich Spares Life Of Convicted Killer Raymond Tibbetts, Associated Press, July 20, 2018; Kasich Grants Reprieve to Cleveland Jackson and Commutes Sentence of Raymond Tibbetts, Office of John Kasich, July 20, 2018; Atty Stmt Re: Breaking: Gov. Kasich Commutes Death Sentence of Raymond Tibbetts, July 20, 2018.) Read the Warrant of Commutation here. See ClemencyInnocence, and Prosecutorial Misconduct

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