USAs kärnvapenstrategi leder till 11 nya kärnvapenstater efter 2030.

Study Warns US Nuclear Strategy is on Course for Disaster

CSIS report calls for new policy in coming years or US will lose deterrence and over 11 states will go nuclear in mass proliferation.

†Barack  Hussein †Antisemitism †Israel. .........

Knessetmedlemmar läser upp vittnesbörd från soldater -

MKs read testimony from soldiers defending IDF’s morality

Extremvänsterorganisationen "Breaking the Silence" som betalas i stor mängd av organisationer som EU och andra, se här, är en av Shachars favoriter. Denna artikel innehåller många israeliska knessetmedlemmars bevis hur mycket Breaking the Silence råljuger, och använder i huvudsak hemliga vittnen vars stories inte kan kontrolleras. Även om man har försökt, det är bara stories. Läs mer på
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/joseph-puder/reservists-defend-the-good-name-of-the-idf/

DN och TT kör vidare med hemmapåhittade lögner, och är förtjust att Hamas gillar FN-rapporten. Det är viktigare för dem än att ett antal amerikanska militära experter lovordar Israels metod att försvara sig. Liksom att Egypten inte heller släppte in FNs välkända antisemiter till Gaza, så hela rapporten är ren fantasi, vad de tyckte när de för länge sedan skev rapporten.

Läs noga vad militära experter säger om Israels krigföring: länk1, länk2, länk3. Något TT vägrar att göra för att inte kontamineras av sanningen.

The initiative by MK Yoav Kisch (Likud), an IAF pilot, was a response to the UN’s report on Operation Protective Edge, which claimed that the IDF committed war crimes.
An IDF soldier looks through binoculars. (photo credit:REUTERS)

MKs read testimony by IDF soldiers about the lengths to which the military goes to avoid civilian casualties, during their weekly one-minute speeches on Tuesday.

The initiative by MK Yoav Kisch (Likud), an IAF pilot, was a response to the UN’s report on Operation Protective Edge, which claimed that the IDF committed war crimes. Kisch collected testimony from members of the "My Truth" [se länk ovan] which seeks to defend IDF soldiers’ image around the world.

Kisch recounted that, as a pilot, he made sure there were no civilians in every target before setting off to bomb it, and there were several times in which he turned around and did not drop a bomb because there was a suspicion that there were civilians at the target.

MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union), who still does reserve duty as an infantry soldier, also spoke of his experiences: “I never received or heard an order meant to harm civilians. We often received orders that put our lives in danger, in order to prevent harming civilians.”

“The IDF followed all the rules to clear areas of civilians, but Hamas cynically forced some to stay,” MK Danny Atar (Zionist Union) said, reading testimony from a Golani soldier. “[Palestinians] were killed by explosives they didn’t know were there, that Hamas planted.”

“We lost our element of surprise, the best of our sons, to make sure we wouldn’t kill civilians that the enemy used as human shields,” he added.

MK Oren Hazan read testimony from a soldier named Shahar Ilanberg, who said that he saw children in an area that had been cleared of civilians for a week and a half. When he told them to leave, they said they are looking for food, and he and other soldiers gave them food.

Later, the soldiers found that they had miscalculated and they did not have enough food for themselves. When they asked if they could make some pasta from one of the Gazan homes, their officer told them no, “that is looting, and we are not an army that loots.”

MK Merav Ben-Ari (Kulanu) read testimony by Dror Dagan, who was injured while arresting a terrorist, and listened from the visitors’ gallery, sitting in his wheelchair.

“When we burst into the house and quickly scanned the rooms, the wife of the terrorist, a senior Hamas member, fainted. As a medic, I did not hesitate and started taking care of her,” Dagan wrote. “Not two minutes passed and it turned out that it was a trap. It was all pretend, a trick to gain time so the suspect could get organized.”

“I was injured, because I was taught the values of the IDF, to take care of anyone who is injured, even if it is the wife of a terrorist,” Dagan added.

MK David Bitan (Likud) read testimony from a soldier who brought food to Gazans to break their Ramadan fast. When journalists tried to take photographs, Hamas forced them to put their cameras away.

“As a medic, I have to treat all people, even terrorists,” MK Yinon Magal (Bayit Yehudi) read from Gal Shmul’s testimony from his IDF service not during Protective Edge. “I took care of a Syrian rebel who was missing a hand. I saved his life. Once he was better, he said he’ll be back to conquer Jerusalem.”

In his own words, Magal said: “One day the world will apologize to us…Look at any other country dealing with terrorism – US, UK, anyone – and try to find an army that is more moral than the IDF. There isn’t one.”

Other lawmakers who participated were MKs Nava Boker, Nurit Koren and Miki Zohar of Likud, Ayelet Verbin-Nahmias and Revital Swid of Zionist Union, Yaakov Peri and Haim Yelin of Yesh Atid, Sharon Gal (Yisrael Beytenu), Yinon Magal (Bayit Yehudi), Yoav Ben-Tzur (Shas) and Uri Maklev (UTJ).

“A year since the end of Operation Protective Edge is the right time for the world to know and hear the true stories of fighters that were never told before. There is no army in the world who is more careful about its morality and purity of arms like the IDF,” Kisch said.

My Truth said that they’re glad MKs joined the efforts of “fighters from across the political spectrum, right and left, who fought in the battlefield in the spirit of the IDF and its ethical and moral code, who will not let extremist organizations like Breaking the Silence slander our names and present a false story in Israel and around the world, in which the IDF and its soldiers are the worst offenders.”

†FN †UNHRC †Antisemitism †Israel. .........

Irakiska shiitiska terrorister (d.v.s. Hizbollah) delar armebas med USA i Irak.

Att Obongon och Hizbollah gärna småspråkar med varann vet vi. Obama kämpar med och mot alla i en enda röra,



Caroline Glick: The Americans are providing close air support and training Hezbollah. They are even sharing a military base. Hon gav nedanstående länk.

Iran's Forces and U.S. Share a Base in Iraq

 

173 JUN 22, 2015 1:37 PM EDT

By Josh Rogin & Eli Lake

The U.S. military and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are getting closer and closer in Iraq, even sharing a base, while Iran uses those militias to expand its influence in Iraq and fight alongside the Bashar al-Assad regime in neighboring Syria.

Two senior administration officials confirmed to us that U.S. soldiers and Shiite militia groups are both using the Taqqadum military base in Anbar, the same Iraqi base where President Obama is sending an additional 450 U.S. military personnel to help train the local forces fighting against the Islamic State. Some of the Iran-backed Shiite militias at the base have killed American soldiers in the past.

Some inside the Obama administration fear that sharing the base puts U.S. soldiers at risk. The U.S. intelligence community has reported back to Washington that representatives of some of the more extreme militias have been spying on U.S. operations at Taqqadum, one senior administration official told us. That could be calamitous if the fragile relationship between the U.S. military and the Shiite militias comes apart and Iran-backed forces decide to again target U.S. troops.

American critics of this growing cooperation between the U.S. military and the Iranian-backed militias call it a betrayal of the U.S. personnel who fought against the militias during the 10-year U.S. occupation of Iraq.

“It’s an insult to the families of the American soldiers that were wounded and killed in battles in which the Shia militias were the enemy,” Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain told us. “Now, providing arms to them and supporting them, it’s very hard for those families to understand.”

The U.S. is not directly training Shiite units of what are known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, which include tens of thousands of Iraqis who have volunteered to fight against the Islamic State as well as thousands of hardened militants who ultimately answer to militia leaders loyal to Tehran. But the U.S. is flying close air support missions for those forces.

The U.S. gives weapons directly only to the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Security Forces, but the lines between them and the militias are blurry. U.S. weapons often fall into the hands of militias like Iraqi Hezbollah. Sometimes the military cooperation is even more explicit. Commanders of some of the hard-line militias sit in on U.S. military briefings on operations that were meant for the government-controlled Iraqi Security Forces, a senior administration official said.

This collaboration with terrorist groups that have killed Americans was seen as unavoidable as the U.S. marshaled Iraqis against the Islamic State, but could prove counterproductive to U.S. interests in the long term, this official said.

The militias comprise largely Shiite volunteers and are headed by the leader of the Iraqi Hezbollah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. He was sanctioned in 2009 by the Treasury Department for destabilizing Iraq. Al-Muhandis is a close associate of Qassem Suleimani, the Iranian Quds Force commander, who has snapped selfies with the militia leader at key battles.

Other militias that have participated in the fighting against the Islamic State include the League of the Righteous, which in 2007 carried out a brutal roadside execution of five U.S. soldiers near Karbala. The group to this day boasts of its killing of U.S. soldiers. In an interview in February, a spokesman for the militia defended the killings and said his militia had killed many more American soldiers.

Members of these groups have also been deployed by Iran to defend the Assad regime in neighboring Syria. James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, confirmed in a June 3 letter to seven Republican senators, which we obtained, that "Iran and Hezbollah have also leveraged allied Iraqi Shiia militant and terrorist groups -- which receive training in Iran -- to participate in pro-Assad operations."

The Washington Institute in 2013 identified three militias -- the League of the Righteous, Iraqi Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada -- as sending elite fighters to Syria to fight for Assad.  All three help to lead the popular mobilization committees that fight the Islamic State in Iraq.

These militias also stand accused of gross human rights abuses and battlefield atrocities in Sunni areas where they have fought. The State Department heavily criticized Iran’s support for the Iraqi militias and those militias’ behavior in its annual report on worldwide terrorism, released late last week.

“Despite its pledge to support Iraq’s stabilization, Iran increased training and funding to Iraqi Shia militia groups in response to ISIL’s advance into Iraq. Many of these groups, such as Iraqi Hezbollah,have exacerbated sectarian tensions in Iraq and have committed serious human rights abuses against primarily Sunni civilians,” the State Department reported. “Similar to Hezbollah fighters, many of these trained Shia militants have used these skills to fight for the Assad regime in Syria or against ISIL in Iraq.”Accounts of the number of Iraqi Shiite fighters at Taqqadum vary. One senior administration official told us there are “only a few” militia representatives at the base, to coordinate with Iraqi Security Forces, while the bulk of the popular mobilization forces are deployed in the field, mostly around Ramadi, which is held by the Islamic State. A different senior administration official told us that there were hundreds of Shiite militia fighters at the base recently and that they flow in and out of the base for operations in the area.

The U.S. government has sought and received formal assurances from the government of Iraq that the Shiite militias on the base would not interfere with American military personnel. But there’s widespread skepticism that the politicians in Baghdad exert any real control over the hard-line militias. So far, in the 11 months since U.S. special operations forces have been in Iraq, Iranian-supported militias in Iraq and U.S. personnel have not clashed while fighting a common enemy.

“There’s no real command and control from the central government,” one senior administration official said. “Even if these guys don’t attack us … Iran is ushering in a new Hezbollah era in Iraq, and we will have aided and abetted it.”

With the deadline approaching for a nuclear deal that would place up to $150 billion in the hands of Iran, the U.S. is now openly acknowledging in its annual report on international terrorism that Iran is supporting a foreign legion, comprising Afghans, Iraqis and Lebanese fighters, to defend Iranian interests throughout the Middle East.

But the U.S. response to this is inconsistent. In Iraq, America is fighting alongside Iranian-backed militias. In Syria, U.S.-supported forces are fighting against these same militias. The tragedy of this policy is that the Islamic State has been able to hold and expand its territory in Iraq and Syria, while Iran has been able to tighten its grip on Baghdad.

To contact the authors on this story:

Josh Rogin at joshrogin@bloomberg.net
Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor on this story:
Philip Gray at philipgray@bloomberg.net

†Hizbollah †Barack Hussein †Antisemitism †Israel. .........

Hur Dror Failure kommer att tas emot.

Det ska bli verkligt intressant att se vad Israel gör med idioterna. Mr Failure är portförbjuden till Israel. Att återkomma så länge det gäller är ett seriöst brott. Hoppas han får tillfälle att studera israeliska fängelser länge nog.

Se även IDF monitoring progress of latest Gaza-bound flotilla

IDF: Flotilla will be stopped

The army is preparing to stop the pro-Palestinian flotilla from reaching Gaza. On the boats are parliamentarians and diplomats from all over the world, including an Israeli Arab MK.

Jun 21, 2015, 09:00PM | Omri Ariel

Vad som kommer att möta Dror Failure.

The IDF has officially been instructed to stop the anti-Israel flotilla, which according to reports has sailed out and is now between Italy and Greece headed towards Gaza’s shores. It consists of two small vessels carrying anti-Israel activists from various countries and which do not seem to have a large enough capacity for much humanitarian or medical equipment.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett referred to the planned flotilla this evening and stated: “Ten years after the disengagement, from Gush Qatif rockets are fired at Israel, from Gaza tunnels are dug into our communities, and from Turkey comes boats of terror to our shores. We promised that ‘there is a solution for every settler’ and we received ‘there is a solution for every terrorist.’ We evacuated Jews and we received flotillas.” He stressed that Israel needs to say in a clear voice “we don’t run away anymore from our land and the Palestinians lost all of their rights if they had any to demand it.”

Earlier on Sunday, MK Basel Ghattas of the Joint Arab List announced his participation in the flotilla and called it "a civilian boat of peace," adding that "trying to reach Gaza through international waters does not count as being aggressive to anyone. Aggressiveness is to impose a blockade." MK Sharon Gal of Yisrael Beitenu stated in response that this is “further proof that the Joint Arab List is a fifth column." He added that MK Ghattas is "an extremist who hates Israel and intends to join the next ship of terror, which is similar to the one his party member Zoabi had attended."

On Saturday, Russian news agency RT reported that at least three ships have already sailed out from several Mediterranean Sea ports. The list of participants has been kept secret, but reportedly it is known that among the activists is a former Tunisian president, as well as athletes, parliamentarians, diplomats, journalists and a Catholic nun.

RT's journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova interviewed the participants and heard about their fears of a violent clash with the IDF forces, as well as their suspicions of possibly having a "mole" among them.

Dror Feiler, 63, a well-known Swedish musician of Israeli origin, is among the activists. He was born in Israel, served in the army and immigrated to Sweden 40 years ago. His mother still lives in Israel, but he has been denied entrance to the country. "It is possible that we won't reach Gaza," he told Kevorkona, "but we will reach many hearts that will beat together with Gaza."

†Hamas †Dror Failure †palestinier  †mediakritik †Antisemitism †Israel. .........

Israels druser försöker hjälpa syriska druser.

Balkaniseringen av Syrien.

WATCH: Israeli Druze protest against massacre of Syrian brethren
The protesters wish to pressure Israel to find a solution for the besieged Druze in Syria, who have been suffering violent attacks from rebel groups.

Jun 20, 2015, 01:00PM | Omri Ariel

Thousands of Israel's Druze minority attended a demonstration Saturday morning in the northern Druze village of Beit Jann, in support of their brethren in Syria who are under siege by Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda-linked rebel group.

The organizers of the demonstration claimed they will continue their protest until a solution is found for the Druze living in southern Syria's mountainous region, nicknamed Jabal al-Druze for its Druze majority. Earlier this week, the Syrian rebels surrounded it and have since murdered at least 20 of them.

"Israel is going to be flooded with demonstrations like this," one of the organizers exclaimed. A citizen of Beit Jann told Channel 2 News: "We are here because we want to tell our brothers in Syria – we will not let anybody harm you."

So far, the Druze protest has received quiet support from the Israeli public. Druze villages in the Galilee have lately been visited by some Israeli Jews, as well as people of other religions and ethnic groups, who wished to donate money in order to assist the besieged Druze in Syria.

During last week, dozens of Druze citizens from the Golan Heights gathered along the border with Syria and watched over to the other side using binoculars. They told media sources they were worried for their families' safety.

The IDF has pledged to give humanitarian aid to any refugee who approaches the border with Israel. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, IDF Spokesperson Moti Almoz said the situation in the northern Golan was "uneventful" and "under control", but later that day the army declared an area in the northeastern Golan a closed military zone, limiting access to residents only.

†druser  †Israel. .........

Kostnadsfördelning.

Löfven betalar den arabiska stenkastaren, en Israelisk soldat betalar plåstret på en arabisk unge som fått en sten i huvudet från araben.

†Abbas †Wallström †palestinier †donationer †mediakritik †Antisemitism †Israel. .........

Snart bombas mänskliga sköldar i södra Libanon.

Där var ett fasligt gnäll från EU/Sverige när Israel försvarade sig mot Hamas på det enda möjliga sättet, när de avsiktligt placerade mänskliga sköldar på militära mål.

Nu har EU chansen att berätta för Israel hur de ska lösa problemet innan det händer i Hizbollahland. Kan inte EU lösa det problemet är det babbel som kommer från det hållet. Frankrike är nu seglande i Mellanöstern för att lösa alla problem samtidigt som de inte har den minsta aning om hur de ska lösa sina egna islamistproblem.

Varenda installation på kartan strider mot Säkerhetsrådets resolution 1701. Kartan är några år gammal.

Hizbollahinstallationer, för några år sedan.

Amir Eshel explains why Israel has little choice to act if its enemies use civilians as human shields.

Israel Air Force chief Major-General Amir Eshel warned Hezbollah and Hamas in a recent interview with German newspaper Die Zeit that if the situation required, Israel would not hesitate to attack its military command centers situated in civilian buildings in Gaza or Lebanon.

"The strategy of these two organizations [Hezbollah and Hamas] is to wage war on Israel as a way to question our legitimacy," Eshel said, continuing, "so years ago they began to transfer military infrastructure to residential areas thereby turning the population into a human shield."

The Die Zeit interview with Eshel was reported by Channel 2.

"Many villages in Lebanon are built anew to turn into army bases with underground missile sites, and ammunition storage. This is how things are in some areas of Beirut as well," he said.

"What are we supposed to do? Sit quietly?" the IAF chief queried.

Eshel said that the IDF uses various means to warn civilians about attacks including sending text messages in order to give them a chance to take shelter in a safe area.

"We also warn civilians by using small light explosives prior to an attack," Eshel added, emphasizing that the "IDF would not show restraint due to the immoral war tactics of our enemies."

At the beginning of the month, a senior military source said in the event of a new conflict with Hezbollah, the IDF would seek to evacuate more than a million civilians in south Lebanon within 24 hours before proceeding to strike thousands of Hezbollah targets in some 240 villages and built-up regions.

Large-scale Hezbollah rocket and missile fire would be met with civilian evacuations, massive Israeli aerial strikes, followed by a ground offensive, the source said.

Discussing a new strategy for dealing with Hezbollah’s battle doctrine of using civilian built-up areas as military bases to rain death and destruction upon Israel, the source spoke as the IDF approached the conclusion of a week long drill simulating conflict on multiple fronts, including the Israel Air Force practicing striking of large numbers of targets and simulating conflict in northern combat arenas.

“If we have no choice, we have to evacuate 1 million, 1.5 million residents in Lebanon, and act,” the source said. “Hezbollah should not plan to fire on us and try to kill our civilians, and expect that we would respond by acting according to standards it seems to think only exist here.”

Failure to evacuate the civilian population would result in many thousands of non-combatant deaths, according to IDF assessments.

Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, gave a televised address earlier this month vowing to “displace millions of Israelis in the coming war...if it was imposed on Lebanon.”

Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.

†Hizbollah  †Antisemitism †Israel. .........

Israels och USAs flygvapen tecknar ovanligt samarbetsavtal.

USA (inte Obama) och Israel samarbetar på många punkter.

(Ofer Zidon/Flash90)

Israeli and US Air Forces sign historic strategic pact

June 14, 2015

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News
The Israeli and US Air Forces tightened cooperation last week with the signing of a strategic agreement aimed at formalizing their collaboration.

An IAF fighter jet takes off. (Edi Israel/Flash90)

In what was described as an historic agreement, Israeli and American Air Forces signed an unprecedented accord, which was revealed last Monday, formalizing the joint cooperation. Included was a work plan for the coming year.

“It is a constitutive moment and a significant milestone in the cooperation between the forces, realized for the first time in a signed agreement,” said Brigadier General Ya’akov Sharabani, the IAF’s attaché in Washington.

The two sides signed an ASNR (Air Senior National Representative) document, which gathers all fields of cooperation under one roof by building a joint annual work plan addressing these issues with the goal of promoting the relevant interests of each force.

“There is a year-long, deep cooperation between the forces as the US is our most significant and strong ally,” explained Sharabani.

“What makes the ASNR document special is how it codifies everything that the IAF and USAF has been doing together and identifies new areas where we can cooperate,” added Maj. Gen. Lawrence Martin, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force International Affairs. “In that sense, the ASNR is not only a very practical framework for moving forward the issues both of our air forces care about, but it also clearly serves as evidence of the deep and committed friendship between us.”

Relationship Shared by Few


Secretary of the US Air Force Deborah Lee James meets with Amir Eshel, the Commander in Chief of the IAF. (Matty Stern/US Embassy Tel Aviv)

The process that preceded the signing event lasted nearly two years and began with the visit of UASF (US Air Force) Commander General Mark Welsh to the IAF in August 2013.

In May, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James visited Israel. It was James’ visit to Israel in her current position, during which she met with senior Israel Air Force leaders, learned about IAF capabilities first-hand during visits to operational units, and looked to the future by discussing the framework for expanded security cooperative activities. “Secretary of the Air Force James’ visit exemplifies the strong US-Israel military relationship,” the US Embassy in Israel underscored in a statement.

The event earlier this month marked the completion of the process as the agreement was signed by IAF Chief of Staff Brigadier General Amikam Norkin and Maj. Gen. Martin.

“During the second visit, the commanders spoke of the importance of cooperation and the need to deepen it,” Sharabani explained. “We translated this vision into an operational document that provides an exact definition of that endeavor.”

The Israelis and Americans formed 12 teams of officers who will deal with the common interests of the forces. “We share common threats and both face the challenge of ensuring we have the best air forces in a budget-constrained environment that often requires us to make tough choices about modernization priorities,” said Martin. Some teams were tasked with dealing with the joint drills, others with absorption of the F-35 stealth jets in the IAF, and yet others with airborne medicine and flight safety.

“In the near future we will be training together as part of the ‘Red-Flag’ advanced aerial combat training exercise in America, American teams will deploy in Israel for the ‘Blue-Flag’ aerial combat training exercise and we will also become the first foreign force to take part in the comprehensive ‘Southern Strike’ aerial combat training exercise,” Sharabani said. “We have a good, fruitful cooperation between the Israeli and American Air Forces. Only few countries have agreements similar to this one.”

†USA  †Israel. .........

Saudiska studenter besökte Israels Ambassad i Washington.

Report: Saudi Students Visited Israel's US Embassy

Saudi documents published by WikiLeaks on Friday reveal that Gulf state students visited with Israeli embassy officials in Washington.

By Cynthia Blank
First Publish: 6/21/2015, 1:47 PM

A group of students from Saudi Arabia and a number of other Gulf states visited the Israeli Embassy in Washington as part of an international education program, classified documents published by WikiLeaks on Friday reveal.

According to the documents, just some of the 60,000 secret Saudi diplomatic communications leaked, the embassy staff gave the students diplomatic briefings. The students even took pictures with the staff.

Saudi Arabia responded on Saturday telling citizens not to distribute "documents that might be faked."

That statement, made by the Foreign Ministry on its Twitter account, appears to be the only government response to the leak; both state and private media ignored the WikiLeaks release.

The documents, according to WikiLeaks, include embassy communications, emails between diplomats and reports from other official state departments and organizations.

The international organization, which publishes secret and classifiedinformation as well as news leaks, says this first batch of 60,000 documents is the lead up to the eventual release of some half a million Saudi documents it has obtained.

WikiLeaks would not say from where it had collected the documents.

†SaudiArabien  †Israel. .........

Hur den f.d. kristna världen tar sitt ansvar.

Förövarna strömmar nu in i Sverige och EU eftersom ingen hindrar dom. Ingen kontrollerar vem de är eftersom pass till Sverige utgör - avsaknad av pass. De får säten i parlamenten, Muslimska Brödraskapet har helt infiltrerat Obamas regim. Finns det någon räddning för västvärldens kultur?

Follow Gatestone: 

"Islamic! Islamic!" Muslim Persecutions of Christians, April, 2015 by Raymond Ibrahim June 20, 2015 at 5:00 am http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6001/islamic-persecution He could hear from inside his room where he was hiding the gunmen opening doors and inquiring if the people inside were Muslims or Christians. "The motorbike riders got down from their bike and started beating [Christian journalist] Shamim Masih and... warned him that if he did not stop reporting on Christian issues, they knew his family and home and would teach him and his family a lesson." — Nazir S. Batti, Pakistan Christian Congress Party. "The city of Mosul alone had 45 churches. Now there is not a single one. The buildings have been destroyed. Four hundred churches have been destroyed in Syria. ... The same is happening in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Northern Africa." — Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia "What happened to Christians in Iraq and Syria... does not receive Arabic media coverage that befits human beings, whatever their religion." — Hani Naqshabandi, Saudi writer. Islamic State Slaughters Christian Ethiopians Just two months after the Islamic State [IS] published a video depicting its members slaughtering 21 Coptic Christians in Libya, on Sunday, April 19, the jihadi Islamic group released another video of more Christians in Libya -- approximately 30 Ethiopians -- disparagingly referred to by an IS spokesman as "worshippers of the cross" -- being butchered for not paying jizya, extortion money demanded of the "People of the Book" who refuse to convert to Islam, according to Koran 9:29. Some of the Christians were shot execution-style in the back of their heads, the others had their heads carved off, like the Copts before them. The IS spokesman further addressed "Christians everywhere": We say to Christians everywhere, the Islamic State will expand, with Allah's permission. And it will reach you even if you are in fortified strongholds. So whoever enters Islam will have security, and whoever accepts the Dhimmah contract [subjugated, third-class treatment and social status] will have security. But whoever refuses will see nothing from us but the edge of a spear. The men will be killed and the children will be enslaved, and their wealth will be taken as booty. This is the judgment of Allah and His Messenger. In a statement, the Coptic Christian Church of Egypt pointed out that the Ethiopian martyrs, like the 21 Copts before them, were "murdered purely for refusing to renounce their faith." Al Shabaab Murders 147, Separates Muslims from Christians On April 2 in Kenya, gunmen from the Somali Islamic group, Al Shabaab -- "the [Islamic] youth" -- stormed Garissa University, singled out Christian students, and murdered them, beheading some. A total of 147 people were killed in the attack -- making this jihad more "spectacular" than the 2013 Al Shabaab attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, which left 67 people dead (then too, Islamic gunmen singled out Christians for slaughter). Islamic gunmen were careful to separate Christians from Muslims before beginning the carnage, eyewitnesses said. (While Kenya is 83% Christian, it still has an 11% Muslim minority.) Collins Wetangula, vice chairman of the student union, said he could hear, from inside his room where he was hiding, the gunmen opening doors and inquiring if the people inside were Muslims or Christians. "If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot. With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die." Al Shabaab has a long history of singling out Christians from among Muslims for slaughter (hereare four examples). Other jihadi groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State, also make it a point to select out Christians before slaughtering them -- a fact often omitted by the "mainstream media." Egyptian Churches under Attack On April 5, as Coptic Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday, a church was attacked in Alexandria, Egypt. Gunmen in a vehicle opened fire on the church during the night, injuring a police officer and two civilians. On April 12, Easter Sunday according to the Orthodox calendar, two explosions targeting churches took place in the Zagazig area. One car explosion took place near a Coptic Orthodox church and another bomb exploded near the Evangelical Church in the same area. Although no casualties were reported, large numbers could have easily resulted, based on precedent. For example, on January 1, 2011, as Egypt's Christians ushered in the New Year, car bombs went off near the Two Saints Church in Alexandria, resulting in 23 dead worshippers and dozens critically injured. Muslims rioted because President Sisi had agreed that Copts could build a church in Al-Our, where 13 of the 21 Christians beheaded by the Islamic State had grown up, and where their families still live. Local Muslims arose in violence soon after Islamic prayers on Friday, April 3. They shouted that they would never allow a church to be built, that "Egypt is Islamic!" By nightfall, Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown at another Coptic church, cars were set ablaze -- including one belonging to a relative of a man decapitated by the Islamic State -- and several people were injured.[1] A day later, on April 4, Muslims rioted and attacked the Christians of the village of Gala', Samalout district. After waiting for years to repair their dilapidated church (see pictures), local Copts finally received all the proper permits to begin restoration. Soon Coptic homes, businesses and persons were attacked with hurled rocks. Christian-owned farms were destroyed and their crops uprooted. Islamic slogans were constantly shouted, including "There is no god but Allah" and "Islamic! Islamic!" After waiting for 44 years, the Christians of Nag Shenouda, in the city of Sohag, finally received the necessary permit to build a new church. Muslims rioted and burned down the tent the Christians had erected to worship under. The Christians of Nag Shenouda were forced to celebrate Easter in the street (picture here). When one of them tried to hold a worship service in his home, a Muslim mob attacked him and his household. More Islamic Attacks on Christian Churches Syria: The Islamic State destroyed at least three churches under its control: On Easter Sunday, the Islamic State destroyed the Virgin Mary Church -- an Assyrian church built and consecrated in 1934 -- in Tel Nasri, northeast Syria. Tel Nasri, loosely translated as "Christian Hill," is one of the dozens of Assyrian Christian villages along the Khabur river; all were attacked and occupied by the Islamic State in late February (more here and here). On April 28, the St. Odisho Assyrian Church in Tel Tal, and the St. Rita Tilel Armenian Church in Aleppo, were also destroyed. Nigeria: A Muslim mob set fire to a church in a Christian village in Nigeria's northern Kano State on April 1. Muslims were searching for a young man in order to kill him; he had renounced Islam and re-converted to Christianity. The mob with machetes also attacked Christian villagers, torched the home of a pastor, and killed one of his daughters. According to a local official, General Dikko: The church and all the properties were burnt down in the presence of the Christian community despite all pleadings for them to stop the destruction. The arsonists gathered cornstalks and put them inside the church in order to cause greater damage.... We have the right to belong to any religion of our choice and live anywhere in this country. We call on the authorities at all levels to rise up to their responsibilities of protecting lives and properties of every citizen in this country. Pakistan: Two assailants on motorbikes opened fire on the main gates of a church and Christian school in Lahore; in the crossfire, two passersby were injured. Malaysia: On Sunday, April 19, a Muslim mob of approximately 50 people rioted and protestedagainst a small Protestant church in the capital of Kuala Lumpur The object of their wrath was thecross atop the building of worship. Members of the mob said that the cross, the central symbol of Christianity, represented "a challenge to Islam" and could "influence the faith of young people." The cross was removed. More Muslim Slaughter of Christians High Seas: On April 16, during a recent crossing from Libya, Muslim migrants threw as many as 53 Christians overboard, according to police in Sicily. The reported motive was that the victims "professed the Christian faith while the aggressors were Muslim." Another report said that the reason the Christians were thrown overboard is because a boy was seen praying to the Judeo-Christian God. Muslims commanded him to stop, saying "Here, we only pray to Allah." Eventually the Muslims, in the words of a witness, "went mad," and started screaming, "Allahu Akbar!;" then began hurling Christians into the sea.[2] Nigeria: "All 276 Christian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 may have been among a group of women slaughtered by Boko Haram last month [March], Nigerian media reported Monday, April 6,"[3] according to a "U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights." Syria: Islamic rebels fired rockets at a Christian neighborhood in Aleppo on the night of April 10-11. The attack left massive destruction in the eastern section of the predominantly Assyrian and Armenian Sulaymaniyah district. At least 40 people, mostly Assyrians -- including women and children -- were killed. An Assyrian Catholic Cathedral was also shelled, injuring three civilians. "Our Easter feast has turned to grief," a nun in Aleppo said: "Some people woke up to find themselves without a home and others did not see the life died under the rubble because they were victims of violence." Egypt: A Muslim man repeatedly stabbed a Christian woman with a knife, then threw her body into a canal. The Coptic woman, Gamila Basilious, 48-years-old and married, lived in Minya. According to police reports, the man, Mahmoud Hassan Abdulhamid, came to her door inquiring about her husband. When he discovered her husband was not present, he took advantage of the situation by attacking her with a knife, repeatedly stabbing her neck and chest. As "infidels," Coptic Christians are regularly attacked in Egypt. The attacks include kidnapping, church attacks, and random slaughter. Islamic Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytization Uganda: Five Muslim men gang-raped and beat a Christian pastor's 17-year-old daughter. The attacks were reportedly done in "retaliation" for the pastor's refusal to stop Christian worship services in a Muslim-majority region. The girl was approaching the New Hope Church building where her father serves as pastor when she was abducted and taken to nearby bushes by the rapists. In her words: The five Muslims took hold of me, and they raped me there. I tried to scream, but they threatened to kill me. One of them said, "Your father should stop this prayer meeting of trying to change Muslims to become Christians and close the church building — we have warned him several times. The suspects fled when church members arrived for an all-night prayer vigil. They rushed her to a local clinic, where she was treated for serious injuries and mental trauma. According to her father, "The girl still has problems communicating. She just says a few words and then keeps quiet. She needs trauma counseling." Earlier, the father had received messages threatening him and demanding he cease holding Christian worship services. One text message said, "Be you informed that we do not want your church in this area. If you continue worship here, then you will live to regret it." Bangladesh: A Muslim mob attacked a former Muslim and his wife for converting to Christianity. The couple was attacked while coming home after being baptized. The man was slapped across the face by a Muslim imam in front of the convert's two young children. The Islamic mob further broke the fence of the new Christians' family home and said they would chase the "apostates" out of the village for leaving Islam. The man who baptized the couple was also attacked, beaten by the mob at his home, and later lost his job. Egypt: Gad Yunan, a Coptic Christian teacher, and five of his Coptic students were arrested on the charge of "contempt of religions." Their "crime" was to have made a 30-second video on Yunan's iPhone, poking fun at the Islamic State -- which Egypt's Muslims and authorities apparently equate with making fun of Islam, even as Muslims in the West insist that IS has "nothing to do with Islam." Yunan was "banished" from his village of al-Nasriya in an effort to appease local Muslims; they had reacted to the video with violence, including pelting the homes and businesses of Christians with stones. According to Khamis, Yunan's brother: "I don't see any insulting of Islam in the video. They were joking and making fun of Daesh (the Arabic acronym for IS), not Islam. My brother didn't intend to insult the Islamic religion." [4] Ethiopia: Gemechu Jorgo and Sheikh Amin -- two men who were distributing Bibles in Ethiopia's Melka Belo region -- were arrested. Islamic law bans the advertisement and dissemination of any religion other than Islam. While imprisoned, both men endured harassment and physical abuse by authorities. At one point, Jorgo reminded District Administrator Jamal Adam of his constitutional right to practice his Christian faith freely. In response, the Muslim administrator used Jorgo's Bible to slap him in the face three times. Amin, formerly a Muslim sheikh and prayer leader of a mosque, is a recent convert to Christianity. While in prison, officials persistently pressured the apostate to renounce Christ and return to Islam. He refused. Both men were eventually released. Ethiopia is a Christian-majority nation, although Muslims make up about one-third of the population. Uzbekistan: Reports appearing in April told of the harassing, jailing and fining of several Christians for exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief. One of the prisoners of conscience -- Council of Churches Baptist Doniyor Akhmedov -- was fined more than three years' official minimum wage after his release from 15 days in jail. Other prisoners of conscience to be jailed for short periods include a Protestant in Bukhara, who received seven days' imprisonment for "illegal" religious activity, and another Protestant, who received 10 days' jail time for "teaching religion illegally." Their identities remain anonymous for fear that they might suffer further reprisals. Nine more Protestants were fined for "illegally storing" Christian literature and materials. Their homes were raided by police, who confiscated Christian books, CDs and DVDs. "Religious minorities face tight scrutiny in Uzbekistan as they are unable to openly practice their beliefs without facing major penalties such as jail terms or heavy fines," Forum 18 News reported. Dhimmitude: Generic Violence and Hostility against Christians France: On April 15, 215 Christian gravestones and crosses in the cemetery of Saint-Roch de Castres (Tarn) were damaged and desecrated (pictures here). The man responsible was later arrested. According to the prosecutor, Charlotte Beluet: "The suspect, arrested at 12:45 on Thursday, matches the description given by a witness, a cemetery employee, who came across the man dressed in a white djellaba [Arab/Muslim garb], and followed him... The man repeats Muslim prayers over and over, he drools and cannot be communicated with: his condition has been declared incompatible with preliminary detention." He was hospitalized on the assumption that he is "mentally unbalanced." Iraq: The Islamic State published pictures of its members destroying Christian tombstones and crosses in cemeteries under its control, including Mosul's oldest Christian cemetery near the Syrian Orthodox Cathedral. IS quoted Islamic scriptures justifying its actions. Several jihadi websites posted these pictures. Some include Islamic State members using sledgehammers to destroy gravestones and efface the crosses carved on them. An Islamic State member is shown destroying a Christian tombstone in Mosul, Iraq, in April 2015. (Image source: MEMRI) Bangladesh: On Easter day, a Catholic Christian village made up of tribal Khasia people wasattacked by Muslims. The Muslim owner of a tea plantation, Syed Ara Begum, along with a Muslim mob, attacked the Christian village as its population was celebrating Mass. The plantation owner is reportedly seeking to seize the Christians' land. Apparently after hearing the cries of his flock, Fr. James Kiron Rozario ran to the site of the attack. Once there, the crowd of Muslims attacked him with a knife, seriously wounded him and threatened to kill him. The Muslim mob went on to steal items worth almost $4,000. They also destroyed Bibles, crosses, holy pictures, musical instruments and homes; and randomly killed chickens and goats. According to Msgr. Bejoy N. D'Cruze OMI, Bishop of Syleht, "We live in fear. ... We want justice and security for our priests and our faithful. We hope that the government will find a peaceful solution and that our people can live free from tensions.... They [Catholic Khasia] are a very peaceful community but often fall victims of the Bengali [Muslim] majority." Pakistan: On the morning of April 17, suspected Islamic gunmen opened fire on St Francis High School, a Catholic school founded in 1842 in Lahore and long considered one of the finest schools in the city. One student and two security guards were injured and taken to hospital. Although the motive behind the attack has yet to be established, Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, a prominent Christian rights official in Pakistan, said in a statement that this "new attack witnesses the deterioration of the situation of Christians in Pakistan and spreads even more fear." On March 29, Shamim Masih -- a Christian reporter exposing Muslim persecution -- was attackedin Islamabad by two men on a motorcycle. According to the leader of the Pakistan Christian Congress party, Nazir S. Bhatti "The motorbike riders got down from their bike and started beating Shamim Masih.... [They] broke his arm and warned him that if he did not stop reporting on Christian issues, they knew his family and home and would teach him and his family a lesson." As usual, police failed to register the incident. In the words of Bhatti: "as Shamim Masih is a Christian journalist... the police and administration are not paying any attention or interest to investigate this incident." On April 1, Islamic militants shot and wounded the brother of the Christian lawyer and activist Sardar Mushtaq Gill. This is the latest attack on Gill and his family by Islamic militants, apparently angered at him for criticizing the controversial blasphemy laws -- an excuse routinely used to attack Pakistan's Christian minority. According to the human rights official, "Pervaiz Gill [his brother] suffered a bullet wound to his lower back, and was rushed to Jinah Hospital in Lahore where it was removed." However, "the police is not arresting the shooter," publicly identified as Muhammad Bilal; "Our life remains under threat if the shooter is not arrested." Last August, Gill's home was sprayed with bullets during the night, for the second time. Syria: Since the city of Idlib fell to Islamic rebels on March 28, its Christian inhabitants have been attacked, and a 57-year-old Greek Orthodox priest, Ibrahim Farah, head of the Greek-Orthodox parish dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was kidnapped. As of last reports, Farah, who chose to remain in the city and tend to other Christians unable to flee, was awaiting a "trial." Encouraging Words, No Actions Because the Muslim persecution of Christians is growing exponentially, more Christian and political leaders are beginning to mention it, although there is no commensurate response. During a Mass in April, Pope Francis said that today's Church is a "Church of martyrs." He continued: In these days how many Stephens there are in the world! Let us think of our brothers whose throats were slit on the beach in Libya [by the Islamic State]; let us think of the young boy who was burnt alive by his; let us think of those migrants thrown from their boat into the open sea by other migrants because they were Christians; let us think — just the day before yesterday — of those Ethiopians assassinated because they were Christians... and of many others. Many others of whom we do not even know and who are suffering in jails because they are Christians... The Church today is a Church of martyrs: they suffer, they give their lives and we receive the blessing of God for their witness. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia -- who once wrote a letter to Barack Obama beseeching the president to reconsider his foreign policies that enable the persecution of Christians in Syria -- spoke again of the threat of Christian extinction in the Mideast: I regularly get reports of horrible crimes that are committed there against Christians, especially in northern Iraq. I have visited those places and I remember that there were many churches and monasteries there. The city of Mosul alone had 45 churches. Now there is not a single one. The buildings have been destroyed. Four hundred churches have been destroyed in Syria... Now Christianity is the most persecuted religion. The same is happening in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Northern Africa. According to Saudi novelist and writer, Hani Naqshabandi, "Our religious institutions do not give us room to exercise free thought... They [Saudi institutions] said that the Christian is an infidel, a denizen of hell, an enemy to Allah and Islam. So we said, 'Allah's curse on them.'" He also stated the little-known fact that "Christians are in need of protection ... What happened to Christians in Iraq and Syria, and further regions like Algeria, does not receive Arabic media coverage that befits human beings, whatever their religion." Even United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, regularly criticized for being too soft on Islamists, said the following remarks during his Easter message: We have a duty to speak out about the persecution of Christians around the world too. It is truly shocking that in 2015 there are still Christians being threatened, tortured, even killed because of their faith. From Egypt to Nigeria, Libya to North Korea. Across the Middle East Christians have been hounded out of their homes, forced to flee from village to village; many of them forced to renounce their faith or brutally murdered. To all those brave Christians in Iraq and Syria who practice their faith or shelter others, we will say, "We stand with you." About this Series While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some — by no means all — of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report. It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages, ethnicities and locations. [1] According to a local priest and Coptic spokesman, the Muslim assault on a Coptic Christian church proposed to be built, with President Sisi's permission, to honor the 21 Coptic Christians who were slaughtered by the Islamic State in Libya, was all too typical and a reminder that Islamic Sharia sentiment continues to trump the sovereignty of the Egyptian state. During aninterview he said: First, what happened is that, when we make a decision for the church but then cannot implement this decision [to build the church] because some of the Muslims do not want it, because they don't want the church—this is, first and foremost, a failure of the state and its authority and a failure of the rule of law. When a group comes to oppose [with violence, several Copts were injured], and the police leaves them free, this is like a disease that will spread everywhere. Today, for example, there is a decision, but there are say 3-4 Brotherhood or Salafis opposing it, and the government appears protesting with them—in this case, you have given everyone who wants to oppose [with violence] the opportunity to oppose. [2] According to the Associated Press: Palermo police said they had detained 15 people suspected in the high seas assault, which they learned of while interviewing tearful survivors from Nigeria and Ghana who had arrived in Palermo Wednesday morning after being rescued at sea by the ship Ellensborg. The 15 were accused of multiple homicide aggravated by religious hatred, police said in a statement. The survivors said they had boarded a rubber boat April 14 on the Libyan coast with 105 passengers aboard, part of the wave of migrants taking advantage of calm seas and warm weather to make the risky crossing from Libya, where most smuggling operations originate. During the crossing, the migrants from Nigeria and Ghana — believed to be Christians — were threatened with being abandoned at sea by some 15 other passengers from the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali and Guinea Bissau. Eventually the threat was carried out and 12 were pushed overboard. The statement said the motive was that the victims "professed the Christian faith while the aggressors were Muslim." The surviving Christians, the statement said, only managed to stay on board by forming a "human chain" to resist the assault... [3] The influential newspaper, This Day, cited Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein as saying that "The recent recovery of territories in northeastern Nigeria has brought to light macabre scenes of mass graves and more obvious signs of killings by Boko Haram." He cited various reports obtained by his office in Geneva which "include the murder of the wives of combatants, women and girls actually held in slavery." [4] One Coptic shop owner told of the wild reaction of Muslims after they found out about the video: There were three or four marches in different places in the village, as our village is a very big village. They were chanting slogans against Christians and Christianity. They were chanting: "With our souls and blood, we will defend you, oh Islam! We will not leave you; we will take revenge for you!" They were pelting Christian homes with stones, pounding threateningly on doors and windows, attacking shops owned by Coptic Christians. They destroyed the door of my shop and they destroyed a photo studio owned by the father of one of the boys. For three days we were living in terror and panic. We stayed in our homes and our children didn't go to their schools. We also couldn't go to church to attend the masses for [Coptic] Holy Week. Another local Copt described how his home was attacked: On Thursday evening (9 April), the Muslim demonstrators attacked our home. They pelted it with stones and insulted us. They were shouting, "Oh kafirs (infidels), we can't let you live here. We will oust you from our village." They also stole the windows from our home.... We were unable to go to the church during these events. Also, we didn't go to the church on Saturday to attend the Easter mass. Until now, we have been staying at our homes and are afraid that the attacks against us will be renewed. Raymond Ibrahim is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War in Christians(published by Regnery in cooperation with Gatestone Institute, April 2013). 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