When Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was freed from a UK prison last week, my initial feeling was that the UK allowed him to be freed because of petrol interests and a need to appease Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi.
The UK freed this fanatic on so-called "compassionate" grounds, stating that he has only three weeks to live. Yet many have suggested that the medical information about Megrahi is in doubt. Even if it were true that al-Megrahi has less than a month to live, this murderer showed no compassion when he helped to orchestrate the bombing/crashing in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland which killed 270 innocent people. To make matters worse, al-Megrahi received a festive welcome in his native Libya where he is revered as a martyr.
It turns out our cynical perception of Megrahi's sudden freedom is probably accurate, according to leaked ministerial letters suggesting that freeing him was good for the UK's petrol interests. Here's an excerpt about this outrage from the UK's Times Online:
The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.
Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.
The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.
The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests....
On August 26, 2009, Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas terrorists over three years ago, celebrated his 23rd birthday.
My birthday happens to fall right around the time of Gilad Shalit's. While I was spending time with my family and friends, I couldn't help but think of Gilad. It is surreal that this 23-year-old young man has spent the last three years of his life in inhumane captivity. The Red Cross and the United Nations have both miserably failed in preserving the human rights of this young man. While Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons communicate with the outside world, Gilad has not even been able to receive a visit from the Red Cross (ICRC) which is a violation of international law.
It is heartening to see activists from around the world take part in protests in order to secure freedom for this man.
Aviva Shalit, the mother of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, made an emotional speech Thursday in honor of her son's 23rd birthday. “I'm so sorry that we failed to protect you, and to prevent your suffering. I'm sorry that we have failed to bring you back home to this day,” she said at a gathering in the northern town of Mitzpeh Hila, where the Shalit family resides.
"My Gilad... you've already paid the full, painful price for mistakes that were not your own,” she said. “You bear the yoke alone, on your thin back, for the fourth year now... alone and lonely, somewhere out there in the darkness.”
Aviva Shalit expressed sympathy with the Arab residents of Gaza, but told them to blame their leaders for their situation. “Hundreds of thousands of residents of Gaza, simple people, bystanders, are also paying the price for their leaders' adventure for more than three years now,” she said.
Hundreds of Gilad's relatives, friends and neighbors turned out for the event. Also present were the families of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, IDF reservists who were kidnapped while patrolling near Lebanon, about two weeks after Shalit. Regev's and Goldwasser's bodies were returned in 2008, two years after the kidnapping, in a prisoner exchange deal that saw the release of the infamous Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar.
Gilad Shalit was kidnapped more than three years ago by Gaza terrorists affiliated with Hamas. Hamas has since taken charge of negotiations for Shalit's release, and is demanding the release of more than 1,000 terrorists from Israeli prisons in exchange for the young soldier.
Hamas has never allowed international observers to visit Shalit, and has released only three letters and one taped message from him.
Racism has no place in any society. Unfortunately, even in the most advanced and civilized countries we see evidence of its existence.
Several Ethiopian Jews in Israel have complained about discrimination in the enrollment process for school. This kind of blatant racism is despicable. President Peres eloquently stated that this "disgrace" is something that "no person in Israel can accept" at a conference this week. I am encouraged that President Shimon Peres has called for protests against schools in Petach Tikva, Israel.
President Shimon Peres on Thursday called on young leaders to protest against the failure to integrate 102 students of Ethiopian descent in religious schools in Petah Tikva, on the backdrop of threats made by parents' committees in the city not to open the school year.
Speaking at a conference of the Lead project in the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel, the president told 400 10th graders, "If I were you, I would get on a bus and travel to Petah Tikva immediately, to demonstrate against those opposing the integration of Ethiopian students in three of the city's schools."
From Asked by one of the teenagers about ways to influence social procedures in the country, Peres said, "Let me give you a concrete example – the refusal to admit Ethiopian students into schools is a disgrace no person in Israel can accept.
"As the president of this state, I strongly condemn it and hope the school year will open as planned in Petah Tikva and that no discrimination against any student will be allowed in the State of Israel. The youth has a huge amount of power in pushing processes forward, so don't hesitate – make your voices heard."
The forum of unofficial recognized schools in Petah Tikva said in response that the president should study the facts before talking....
Israel is a multicultural society and it is crucial to look past an individual's race. My own relatives are natives from Middle Eastern cities like Baghdad and Damascus, and also from Ethiopia in the case of my maternal grandfather. It is disheartening to see such poor treatment of a dedicated, hard-working community in Israel.
Footage taken along the Israeli and Lebanese border shows Lebanese villagers attacking Hezbollah operatives on August 23-24, 2009. The violent clashes took place in the village of Merwakhin in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon is far from being a stable country, partially because of the various groups that compose the demographics. These groups include the Maronite Christians, Druze and Shi'ite Muslims. Lebanon suffered under Syrian occupation. The strengthening of the Iranian-funded Hezbollah has also caused severe problems for the country, including the proxy war in 2006.
Many of the Lebanese are not supportive of Hezbollah, an Iranian-funded terrorist group that not only targets Israel, but makes life for Lebanese citizens miserable as well.
This latest news is extremely troubling, especially considering the pain of family members of the victims on the Pan Am Flight 103.
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi showed no compassion when he helped to orchestrate the bombing/crashing in 1988 over Lockerbie in Scotland. Al-Megrahi received a festive welcome in his native Libya where he is revered as a martyr.
This "compassionate" gesture by Scottish authorities is detestable. One has to wonder if this is merely another method of appeasing the Libyan nutcase Muammar al-Gaddafi for oil.
Here is an excerpt from Fox News about this latest insanity:
The man responsible for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing returned home to Libya on Thursday to cheering crowds, and throngs of people waving posters of the convicted killer, who flew to his native country to die after Scotland released him from prison.
Scotland's decision to free Abdel Baset al-Megrahi outraged some relatives of the 270 people killed when the jetliner blew up over a Scottish town.
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, 57, spent roughly 11 days behind bars for each victim in the bombing. President Barack Obama said the decision to free the terminally ill bomber on compassionate grounds was a mistake and warned Libya not to give him a hero's welcome.
But thousands were on hand to greet him warmly when his plane from Scotland touched down at a military airport in Tripoli. There was a festive atmosphere with some wearing t-shirts with al-Megrahi's picture.
New reports from Yemen indicate that most of the Jewish Yemenite population is ready to leave their native country following increased hostilities from radicals. From the Jerusalem Post:
Israeli sources confirmed on Thursday Yemeni media reports that the overwhelming majority of the final remnant of Yemen's ancient Jewish community, numbering some 250 people, are looking to leave the country due to persecution and violence.
"About 120 of the Yemeni Jews want to move to Israel, 100 want to move to the US" - where there is a small Yemenite Jewish community - "and between 20 and 30 want to stay," the source said, citing information obtained from the community.
Some of the Jews wishing to leave are unable to do so because they are having trouble selling their property, the source said.
Saba, Yemen's official state news agency, reported Wednesday on a "mini-exodus" of Jews from the country "triggered by alleged harassment" and "fear of persecution."
The article quoted Rabbi Yahya Yaish, chief rabbi of the Ridah and Amran districts, who said that "all Jews in the area are preparing to leave for Israel within the next [few] days."
Yaish is the brother of Moshe Yaish al-Nahari, a community leader who was murdered in December by a local man who demanded that he convert to Islam. Nahari's three daughters moved to Israel shortly after his murder, while his three sons made aliya in recent days with the help of the Jewish Agency, according to reports in the Yemeni media. His killer was sentenced to death in June....
A group of Islamists said to be ideologically close with Al Qaeda clashed with Hamas, which is also a radical Islamist organization. Six have been killed in clashes between Hamas and a Salafist cleric's supporters. Salafists are ideologically similar to advocates of Wahhabism.
A three-year-old boy, according to Egyptian reports, was seriously wounded. Here is an excerpt from the Agence France Presse:
Six people were killed and 50 wounded in Gaza fighting on Friday after Hamas police stormed a mosque where radicals had declared an Islamist "emirate" in the Palestinian territory, emergency services said.
The clashes began in the afternoon after weekly prayers in the southern city of Rafah, which straddles the Egyptian border, and were continuing after dark, witnesses said.
At least one of the dead was a Hamas policeman, while 10 of the wounded were said to be in critical condition following the confrontation, one of the most violent incidents in Gaza since the Israel's 22-day onslaught on the impoverished enclave in December and January.
An Egyptian security official said a three-year-old boy was critically wounded by a bullet from the fighting across the border.
Witnesses said that following the prayers, a group of Palestinians announced the formation of the Islamist "emirate," defying the authority of Hamas, which has ruled Gaza's 1.5 million people for the past two years.
"We are today proclaiming the creation of an Islamist Emirate in the Gaza Strip," Abdul Latif Musa, a representative of Jund Ansar Allah (Soldiers of the Partisans of God), said at the Bin Taymiyya mosque, the witnesses reported.
Musa was surrounded by armed fighters when he made his statement, according to the witnesses.
Rafah is the Gaza stronghold of the so-called Salafist movement, of which Jund Ansar Allah is said to a part and which is ideologically close to Al-Qaeda....
Captured in this aerial footage, a Hamas terrorist plants an IED and then climbs into a house containing uninvolved civilians. Later the civilians and the Hamas terrorist exit the house waiving a white flag, at which point IDF troops approach and arrest the terrorist.
This is just one of many examples of how Hamas uses uninvolved civilians as human shields. This example is particularly egregious since the terrorist used civilians waving a white flag to try to evade IDF soldiers. [1]
Sabina Amidi has published a troubling report about executions of lawyers in Iran. If these sources in Iran are accurate it would mean that the Iranian mullah-backed regime has resorted to silencing the opposition by murdering their lawyers. Here is an excerpt from the report, via the Jerusalem Post:
Seven lawyers in Tabriz and Mashhad who had been representing young Iranians detained in post-presidential election protests have been killed by the Iranian authorities in recent days, according to sources in Iran.
Their deaths have deterred other lawyers from taking detainees' cases, they added.
The sources spoke to The Jerusalem Post by telephone, and requested that their identities remain undisclosed for their own security.
In Tabriz, Iran's fourth-largest city, the bodies of five lawyers were returned to their families earlier this week, the sources said. The five had been representing some of the hundreds of Iranians detained in the northwestern city during the post-election protests. They were then themselves accused of disrupting security and encouraging unethical actions against the regime, and were sentenced to three years each in jail.
Three of them then died from injuries suffered during their detention. They were so badly beaten that their families could barely recognize their faces, this reporter was told.
The other two - prominent figures in the local community - were executed, having been sentenced to death on trumped-up charges of drug possession, the sources said.
"These men did everything they could to help those people who had been wrongfully detained," one source said. "The two more prominent figures were made an example of by the regime - hence the drug charges. They were both good Muslims, and they were framed by the regime's local authorities."
The regime's aim, this source said, was to discourage other lawyers and activists from taking their places.
On Wednesday, the sources said, protesters came out into the streets to rally in their memory. They carried flowers and pictures of the men, and chanted from the Koran as they marched. Prayers recited by the demonstrators commemorated the lives and good deeds of the deceased....
Fatah leaders responded with loud applause when two terrorists who committed the worst terror attack in Israel's history were referred to as heroic Martyrs by former PA Prime Minister Abu Alaa, at the opening ceremony of Fatah's Sixth General Conference:
"We have in our midst the hero Khaled Abu-Usbah, hero of the operation [terror attack] led by the Shahida (Martyr) Dalal Mughrabi [loud applause from the audience]. We salute him and welcome him. And [we salute] the hero, the Shahida (Martyr) Dalal. [He shouts:] All the glory! All the glory! All the glory! All the sisters here are Dalal's sisters." [PATV (Fatah), Aug. 4, 2009]
Dalal Mughrabi and Khaled Abu-Usbah are seen as Palestinian heroes for having carried out the bus hijacking in 1978 in which 37 Israeli civilians, 12 of them children, were murdered.
Former Prime Minister Abu Alaa (Ahmad Qurei), who read the statement, is the current Chairman of Fatah Department for Recruitment and Organization.
Here's a news update from this week that the worldwide media missed. From the UK's Times Online:
Three years after Israel fought a bloody war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, there are fears that hostilities could erupt again — this time with the militant group better armed than ever.
According to Israeli, United Nations and Hezbollah officials, the Shia Muslim militia is stronger than it was in 2006 when it took on the Israeli army in a war that killed 1,191 Lebanese and 43 Israeli civilians.
Hezbollah has up to 40,000 rockets and is training its forces to use ground-to-ground missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv, and anti-aircraft missiles that could challenge Israel’s dominance of the skies over Lebanon.
Brigadier-General Alon Friedman, the deputy head of the Israeli Northern Command, told The Times from his headquarters overlooking the Israeli-Lebanese border that the peace of the past three years could “explode at any minute”.
His concerns were due partly to threats from Hezbollah’s leadership. Last month Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, warned that if the southern suburbs of Beirut were bombed as they were in the last war, he would strike back against Tel Aviv, the largest Israeli city....
Israel hasn't had any interest in attacking Lebanon except to ensure the protection of Israeli citizens from Hezbollah attacks. Hezbollah, an Iranian-funded Islamic terror group, initiated a war against Israel in 2006, utilizing the Lebanese population as human shields while they launched thousands of missiles at northern Israel.
What was their reason for attacking Israel? When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, the Israeli government did not take any territory from the Lebanese. The result of leaving Lebanon for Israel was rocket strikes and causalities in 2006. In short, Israel's unilateral truce with Lebanon in 2000 brought a war with Hezbollah in 2006. Unfortunately, rather than supporting the Israelis so they could finally destroy Hezbollah, U.S. and international pressure caused Israeli politicians to back down. The result has been Iran's rearmament of Hezbollah.
Lebanon is far from being a stable country, partially because of the various groups that compose the demographics. These groups include the Maronite Christians, Druze and Shi'ite Muslims. Lebanon suffered under Syrian occupation. The strengthening of the Iranian-funded Hezbollah has also caused severe problems for the country, including the proxy war in 2006.
I am a journalist and researcher, and have written numerous research and investigative pieces. My work has been published with several notable organizations, including CAMERA on Campus, the Jewish Policy Center, Pajamas Media, and the Investigative Project on Terror.
My interests include ethics and epistemology, history, economics, and international relations.
I graduated from the University of California, Irvine with distinguished honors, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English. Presently I am pursuing a Master's degree at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism in the field of Broadcast Journalism. I can be reached at Reut AT reutrcohen DOT com.
