What's New

Resources updated between Monday, July 7, 2014 and Sunday, July 13, 2014

July 13, 2014

"At least 411 prisoners have been executed in Iran from the beginning of January 2014 to the end of June of the same year. This indicates that the execution wave, which recommenced after the most recent Iranian presidential election, is continuing. According to reports by Iran Human Rights (IHR), more than 870 people have been executed since the election of Mr. Hassan Rouhani in June 2013. IHR calls on the international community to take serious measures to stop the execution wave in Iran."

Iran: 411 Executions in the First Half of 2014 Document

Indian women protest rapes, May 31, Uttar Pradesh

"A 14-year-old girl was raped on the orders of a village leader in northern India, police said, as a form of punishment against her brother. The girl's brother had been accused of trying to assault another woman. According to police, the rape victim says she was raped by the husband of the other woman, a punishment for the brother's alleged actions decided by the village of Swang's unelected headman. The accused rapist and the girl's brother were in police custody Friday and hadn't been charged, according to spokesman for the Jharkhand police. Police also arrested the village chief, and said the investigation is continuing...The case echoed a similar case that stirred a national outcry in January when a 20-year-old woman in the eastern state of West Bengal was allegedly gang-raped by a village chief and 12 other men as punishment for dating a man outside her community."

India Police Say Teen Raped On Orders From Village Chief Document

July 12, 2014

President Obama

As Palestinian terror dramatically escalates, the Obama administration is working hard – not to defeat the terrorists, but to tie Israel's hands behind its back.

Sure, there is background noise paying lip-service to an Israeli right of self-defense and babbling about a Palestinian peace partner.

The reality, however, is that responsibility for the harrowing transition from the kidnap and murder of three Jewish teenagers by Hamas members to 4 million Israelis running in terror from Hamas rocket attacks leads directly to the White House.

Here are the dots that need to be connected.

On June 2, President Obama emboldened Hamas by immediately announcing that American support and financial aid would keep flowing to a newly formed Palestinian unity government that included the terrorist organization.

While the rockets flew and the kidnappers murdered, the State Department continued to insist on the existence of a phantasmagorical technocratic terrorist.

For instance, on July 2, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki explained a unity government between Hamas and Fatah – that was mysteriously missing the Hamas half. "They're not a part of the technocratic government," she said. "Obviously, the technocratic government is different from the reconciliation process. Obviously, everything's linked. It's all – but it's different."

Then there is the Obama administration's twisted response to the kidnapping and murder of Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrach and Gilad Sha'ar.

Over 18 days, Obama never called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Palestinian leader Mahboud Abbas to voice concern over the abduction of Fraenkel, a dual American-Israeli citizen.

In fact, Obama never publicly commented on the kidnapping of this American boy, or the grotesque anti-Semitism and support for the kidnapping that mushroomed across Palestinian society while he stayed silent – until the lifeless bodies of Fraenkel and the other boys were discovered on June 30.

By contrast, Obama did call Netanyahu on July 10, complaining about the reported police maltreatment of an American-Palestinian teenager who seems to have thought going to a riot in a war zone was a good way to spend a summer vacation. And Obama prioritized this case – to the highest level possible in the world of diplomacy – knowing that the State Department had already descended on Israeli authorities within hours, and that Israeli officials had already taken action to address it.

To this day, the Obama administration has refused to admit there was any Palestinian perpetrator involved in the teens' kidnap and murder.

The Nuremberg Tribunal taught us that "crimes...are committed by men, not by abstract entities." Refusing to out the criminals responsible for killing Jews is a hell of an incentive to keep going.

Add to the list White House Middle East Coordinator Philip Gordon's contribution. On July 8, while hundreds of rockets were slamming into Israel and targeting Tel Aviv, Gordon was dispatched to Tel Aviv to slam Israel too. Evidently refusing to believe his lying eyes, Gordon blamed Israel for "no movement on the political track" and threatened it with "international isolation."

Finally, the president's overriding message has been one of obscene moral relativism. Begrudging throwaway lines about Israeli self-defense are routinely accompanied by appeals for "all sides" to "restrain" themselves – the democratic state under attack and the genocidal terrorist organization.

Even when Obama did write a condolence message to the families of Naftali, Eyal and Gilad, he used it as an opportunity to lecture Israel, and the euphemistic "all parties," "to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation."

A dozen times over the past three weeks, both during the kidnap-murders and the Gaza rocket attacks, the press briefings of the State Department spokesman have included: "We encourage all sides to exercise restraint."

On July 8 – before he had ever called Netanyahu on the Hamas terror attacks – Obama instructed Israel's democratically elected leaders from the op-ed pages of an Israeli newspaper: "All parties must exercise restraint..."

When Obama finally picked up a phone and called Netanyahu on July 10, he "urged both sides not to escalate the crisis and to restore calm."

Given that Hamas' official screed is to kill Jews everywhere and obliterate Israel, the president's orders were directed to a party of one – the one under attack.

The fact is that in the middle of one more variation of the Arab war against the Jews, President Obama did not call Israel's leader to offer unwavering support for Israel's right of self-defense. On the contrary, he wants a cease-fire now. Having done everything in his power to rescue Hamas politically, he is now trying to save it materially.

It may seem mystifying why the president of the United States should talk the talk of self-defense but walk the walk of self-defeat. But this is the same man who saved Bashar al-Assad, strengthened Vladimir Putin and legitimized Hassan Rouhani.

Rescuing Palestinian terrorists is not the exception, it's the rule.

Israel under attack & Obama's obscene moral relativism Article

July 10, 2014

Marzieh Rasouli

"The prominent journalist Marzieh Rasouli was summoned to Evin Prison on July 8, 2014, for the implementation of her sentence of 50 lashes and two years' imprisonment, she announced on Twitter, even though Rasouli has not yet received confirmation of the initial sentence from the appeals court. 'They quickly want to implement the sentence,' she added on Twitter. Her case is one of many recently, reflecting a current wave of arrests, prosecution under vague national security grounds, and imprisonment of journalists in Iran."

New Wave of Arrests and Prison Sentences Against Journalists in Iran Document

UN Headquarters, New York City

As Palestinian rocket fire rains down on the Israeli heartland - deliberately targeting the civilian population - the UN held a meeting denouncing Israel's efforts to use of the right of self-defense.

On July 9, 2014 the UN "Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People" - created in 1975 to implement the infamous Zionism-is-racism General Assembly resolution - met at UN headquarters in New York "to commemorate" fondly the "wall case." The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion ten years ago that declared Israel's security fence to be a violation of international law. The fact that the barrier has saved thousands of Israeli lives and ended an era of Palestinian suicide-bombing horrors was irrelevant to the Court - whose members included a former Egyptian ambassador who had been directly involved in the subject matter and refused to recuse himself.

So while Palestinian terrorists openly dedicated to genocide engage in the most fundamental breach of the right to life, the Committee issued a statement in which it accused Israel of "systematic and deliberate violations of international law". The statement also supported the "Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)" campaign intended to destroy Israel politically, should a military approach fail: "Ensuring that businesses and corporations have no links with companies involved with and profiting from the occupation, including from the settlements and the wall, would be a significant step."

Here is a sampling of the grotesque UN effort - accompanied by its trusty hand-picked civil society "representatives" - to deny the Jewish state alone the right to defend itself:

  • The Chairman of the Committee Abdou Salam Diallo from Senegal blamed Israel for "the recent escalation of violence on the ground, and the ensuing tragic consequences".
  • Shawqi Al-Aissa, Minister for Agriculture, Social and Prisoner Affairs of the Palestinian Authority said "Israel...aimed to 'empty' the land of its Palestinian residents. Today, Israel was continuing its crimes against civilians in Gaza. The excuse of security concerns for such practices was not accepted by anyone anymore". He also "called for an independent committee to investigate crimes that included the recent murder of a Palestinian teenager and to "charge Israel with the crime of apartheid" before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
  • Oscar Leon Gonzalez of Cuba said "Israel felt it had immunity from its crimes because it was protected by the United States."
  • Melis Kurultay of Turkey, "deplored Israel's Operation Protective Edge launched on Tuesday and the killing of 28 Palestinians since the start of that operation."
  • Sarah Whitson, Executive Director of the Middle East and North African Division of Human Rights Watch, speaking on behalf of civil society organizations, said Israel should be tried for "war crimes" before the ICC. Bill Van Esveld, Senior Israel and Palestine Researcher of Human Rights Watch accused Israel of "coercing confessions from Palestinians, including from children and mentally disabled persons, to arrest and detain them".

As Hamas terror blasts Israel's heartland, UN holds meeting blasting Israel's efforts at self-defense Article

July 8, 2014

Gaza rocket attacks from Hamas have escalated from 6 on June 27, 2014 to more than 160 on July 8, 2014. Targets include a day care center, summer camps, schools, and homes, the clear intention being to target and murder as many Jewish civilians as possible. The attacks follow days during which the UN and the Obama administration issued repeated calls for Israeli "restraint" - in effect attempting to diminish Israel's essential right of self-defense.

In the latest salvo, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon refuses to name the perpetrators of the attacks "from Gaza." No mention is made of "Hamas." And while the rockets should "stop," what is really bothering the UNSG is alleged Palestinian victims. "The Secretary-General is extremely concerned at the dangerous escalation of violence, which has already resulted in multiple Palestinian deaths and injuries as a result of Israeli operations against Gaza."

Instead of an Israeli right of self-defense, Ban Ki-moon "reiterates his call on all actors to exercise maximum restraint." He goes even further and legitimizes Palestinian terrorism with his simultaneous complaint directed at Israel that "the unsustainable situation in Gaza will also need to be addressed in its political, security, humanitarian and development dimensions as part of a comprehensive solution."

As for the notoriously anti-Israel UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, she had this to say: "From a human rights point of view, I utterly condemn these rocket attacks and more especially I condemn Israel's excessive acts of retaliation."

Hamas rocket attacks skyrocket as UN & Obama administration focus on "restraining" Israel Article

July 7, 2014

Shelly Dadon, the 20-year-old resident of Afula whose body was found on Thursday in the woods near Migdal Haemek

"Israel Police announced [on July 6, 2014] that an Israeli Arab was behind the murder of 20-year-old Shelly Dadon in an empty parking lot in northern Israel on May 1, and that the killer is suspected to have had nationalistic motives. The suspect is Hussein Khalifa, 34, from Iblin, a taxi driver who drove workers to and from factories in the Migdal Haemek industrial zone, according to the ISA – Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). "During ISA questioning, Hussein Khalifa confessed to murdering Dadon and disclosed many details regarding the murder," Shin Bet investigators said in a statement. "On the morning of the day of the murder...he picked up the deceased. She requested that he drive her to a job interview in the industrial zone. He drove her to an abandoned parking lot on the outskirts of the industrial zone (not far from her requested destination) where he stabbed her to death and fled the scene in his cab....The announcement comes after a months-long investigation into Dadon's death."

Nine days after the murder, some 2,000 people marched in Afula in Dadon's memory - without rioting.

Israeli Arab confesses to murder of 20-year old Israeli Jew, Shelly Dadon Article

The swatika flag once again hosited above the Palestinian town of Beit Ummar.

The swastika was hoisted in the Palestinian town of Beit Ummar northwest of Hebron, relatively close to where the bodies of three Israeli teens were discovered in a shallow grave last Monday. The youths - Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkael and Eyal Yifrah - were kidnapped on June 12 and murdered by Hamas terrorists.

The three boys were buried in the presence of thousands of Israelis, without incident, as the entire nation mourned. Before and after the funeral, dozens of Hamas rockets from Gaza rained down upon Israel.

On July 6, 2014, six Israelis were arrested by Israeli authorities in connection with the murder of Arab teenager, Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, whose body was discovered on July 1, 2014. The murder was denounced immediately by Prime Minister Netanyahu - and by Rachel Frenkael, courageous mother of Naftali Frenkael, only a day after she buried her son. Despite the arrests, and the clear evidence that this was an isolated act, Palestinians have used the murder and the funeral of Abu Khdeir to engage in widespread rioting.

In the meantime, Palestinian kidnappers and murderers of Gilad, Naftali and Eyal continue to elude capture, harbored by fellow Palestinians.

Swastika flies in Palestinian town as Arabs riot Article

"New evidence of the Assad regime's mass murder shows a systematic approach to atrocities not seen since the Holocaust, says the State Department's top war crimes official. Tens of thousands of photographs showing the Syrian government's torture, murder, and mass starvation are evidence of the kind of systematic atrocities not seen Hitler's Nazi regime exterminated millions during World War II, according to the State Department's top war crimes official. Stephen Rapp, the State Department's ambassador-at-large for War Crimes and director of the Office of Global Criminal Justice, has reviewed large sections of a huge collection of photos and written records of Syrian government atrocities smuggled out of the country by a former military photographer known as 'Caesar.' Rapp spoke about the evidence at a July 3 event at the Atlantic Council in Washington. 'This is solid evidence of the kind of machinery of cruel death that we haven't seen frankly since the Nazis,' he said. 'If it is as it appears thus far, we're talking about more than 10,000 individuals being killed in custody over the period from 2011 to 2013, including largely men but also some very, very young men and boys and women... It's shocking to me, as a prosecutor-I'm used to evidence not being so strong.'"

U.S.: Assad's 'Machinery of Death' Worst Since the Nazis Document

"Gunmen fired indiscriminately at homes, burned down a church and raided a police station in two attacks on Kenyan coastal towns overnight, killing at least 29 people. Twenty of the victims were killed in an attack in the Gamba area of Tana River county, where gunmen rushed the police station and freed suspected al-Shabab militants. Another nine were killed in a separate raid at the Hindi trading centre in neighbouring Lamu county, near the town of Mpeketoni where 65 people were killed last month. The Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which last September attacked the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, claimed responsibility for the attacks. Mwenda Njoka, a spokesman for the interior ministry, told Reuters: 'There were two attacks in Lamu and Tana River last night. In Lamu we have nine people dead and in Tana River we have 20. The number could rise.' Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, told Reuters in Mogadishu that the Somali group was behind both attacks on Saturday night. It had also said it was responsible for the June raids in Lamu County, around Mpeketoni. But President Uhuru Kenyatta dismissed al-Shabab's claim last month and blamed local politicians, stoking an already fierce row with the opposition, which denied any role. Regardless of who is blamed this time, the violence will hammer an already beleaguered tourist industry that has been hit by a wave of militant attacks..."

29 People Killed In Overnight Attacks By Terror Group Al-Shabab Document

Saudi human rights activist Waleed Abul-Khair

"A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced a prominent human rights lawyer on Sunday to 15 years imprisonment and barred him from traveling for another 15 years after that on charges related to his activism. The Specialized Criminal Court in the western coastal city of Jiddah found Waleed Abul-Khair guilty of 'undermining the regime and officials,' 'inciting public opinion' and 'insulting the judiciary.' The court, which was set up in 2008 to try terrorism cases, also fined him 200,000 riyals ($53,000). His wife Samar Badawi told The Associated Press that her husband rejected his right to appeal the verdict. Abul-Khair, who was arrested in April, also refused to sign the judgment. 'He rejected the verdict and refused to submit an appeal because he says this court is not legitimate. He does not see this court as legitimate,' his wife said. Badawi said her husband, who helped found a group called Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, was tried under a new anti-terrorism law that targets activists and bans all form of political dissent or calls for reform. His organization and any related websites were ordered shut down, according to the official Saudi Press Agency."

Saudi Rights Lawyer Sentenced to 15 Years Prison Document