Category: Watching

The Quiet Struggle Over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

Joseph Puder – June 12, 2020

There is a quiet struggle going on over control of East Jerusalem’s Noble Sanctuary (Haram al-Sharif) or Temple Mount.  It is not as you might guess between Israel and the Palestinians.  It is actually between two Sunni-Muslim nations, the Hashemites Kingdom of Jordan and Erdogan’s Turkey.  To the extent that Israel is involved in this quiet struggle, it is to strengthen Jordan’s position against the encroaching Turks, by adding Saudi representatives to the Islamic Waqf Council.  The Islamic Waqf Council controls the activities surrounding the Noble Sanctuary or Temple Mount.  Israel has engaged the U.S. administration to mediate the issue with the Saudis.

The Hashemites, who once controlled Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest sites, lost out to the Saudis in the 1920’s.  The Hashemites are related by a bloodline to the Prophet Mohammad through his daughter Fatimah and her husband Ali, the Fourth Caliph.  Hasan, the son of Fatimah and Ali, is the progenitor of the Hashemite line, which is a subdivision of the Quraysh tribe.  The consolation prize was control over Islam’s third holiest site -The Noble Sanctuary or Temple Mount where the Al-Aqsa and Omar mosques are located. The Prophet Mohammad is said to have flown from the al-Aqsa mosque to heaven on his horse named Buraq.

Given the historical rivalry between the House of Saud and the Hashemites, Jordanians in the past would not contemplate allowing their Saudi rivals a foothold in Jerusalem’s holy places.  But now, after 100 years, Erdogan’s Turkey is challenging Jordan’s control over the Temple Mount. Jordan, under the Hashemite King Abdullah II, is finally relenting to the Saudis out of financial necessity and a looming threat from Erdogan’s Turkey.

Even more significantly, Turkey’s influence peddling in Jerusalem is not limited to the Temple Mount.  In its efforts to bolster the Palestinians, Erdogan’s Turkish government delivered a treasure trove of 140,000 pages of microfilm, which includes land registrations under the Ottoman Empire from 1517-1917.   The Palestinian Authority (PA) has used it to challenge Israeli ownership of real estate in various parts of the country.  The Turkish development NGO or TIKA, working on behalf of the Turkish government has invested around $1.3 million annually in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. The Turkish organization, “Our Legacy,” funded by TIKA, has as its goal the “protection of the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the Ottoman legacy in Jerusalem.

https://www.frontpagemag.com

Some nations said gearing up to recognize Palestine if annexation goes ahead

TOI staff – June 10,2020

Palestinian and European officials have indicated some countries could retaliate for unilateral Israeli annexation of sections of the West Bank by recognizing a Palestinian state and sanctioning Israel, Hebrew media outlets reported Wednesday.

Quoting unnamed Palestinian officials, Kan TV news reported that several European countries, among them Ireland, have said they will recognize a Palestinian state if Israel extends sovereignty over areas designated for it under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

The report said the Palestinian Authority was also querying the positions of France, Spain, Luxembourg, Portugal and Belgium. A committee in the latter’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the government to recognize a Palestinian state. That resolution is slated to be debated in the full chamber in the next 15 days.

Meanwhile, during meetings with Israeli leaders Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was said to issue similar warnings.

According to reports in Haaretz and Walla news, Maas warned that while Germany was unlikely to take punitive measures against Israel if it moves forward with annexation, other countries could impose sanctions or recognize a Palestinian state.

Maas, who held separate meetings during a quick visit to Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, told them some countries in the European Union were pushing to sanction Israel if annexation moves forward, the reports said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com

New Video Shows Planned Parenthood Rep Admitting Under Oath to Being Paid for Baby Body Parts

– May 28, 2020

A new video released by the same organization that conducted an undercover investigation into Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted baby parts shows unsealed video footage of officials being questioned under oath about their knowledge of the payments, including one who admitted that the affiliate was only paid when it provided “usable” samples. Email communication and other documents likewise unsealed by a court also reveals the affiliate had an internal awareness of the exchange of organs and tissues for monetary payment.

Planned Parenthood has denied for years that it engaged in the sale of aborted baby parts, which is illegal under federal law.

The Center for Medical Progress (CMP), led by David Daleiden, released the video on Tuesday after a court unsealed the recorded testimony and documents, which came out of a lawsuit that Planned Parenthood had filed against the pro-life activist.

A number of Planned Parenthood officials gave deposition last year during the legal proceedings, being questioned in person by an attorney in relation to the subject matter in the lawsuit.

One of those that gave sworn testimony was Tram Nguyen, the director of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, who was among those who were sent a proposed contract in 2015 by Daleiden as he posed undercover as a representative of a procurement company called BioMax. The contract offered to pay $750 per fetal liver and $1,600 for each liver/thymus pair.

Email correspondence shows that Nguyen advised colleague Dyann Santos that she wanted to “move forward” with the contract. She similarly stated when questioned, “I knew I wanted to move forward with it.” When asked if there is anything in writing that shows she opposed the payment, she said “no.”

Planned Parenthood had told the media previously that it rejected the contract.

https://christiannews.ne

Benjamin Netanyahu suggests microchipping kids, slammed by experts

LEON SVERDLOV   – May 8, 2020

Cyber experts slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his proposal to “microchip” children who return to schools and kindergartens as the coronavirus lockdown is lifted, Ynet reported on Friday.

While speaking at a press conference on Monday, Netanyahu suggested the Health Ministry use new technology to help Israel adjust to its new routine as the state is lifting the coronavirus lockdown. “That is, technology that has not been used before and is allowed under the legislation we shall enact,” he clarified.

“I spoke with our heads of technology in order to find measures Israel is good at, such as sensors. For instance, every person, every kid – I want it on kids first – would have a sensor that would sound an alarm when you get too close, like the ones on cars,” the prime minister said.

“It will be hard to do it to more than a million schoolchildren who return to their educational institutions in order to ensure one student sits at the distance of two meters from another. It is fictional and dangerous,” cyber resilience expert Einat Meron told Ynet.

“It will be hard to do it to more than a million schoolchildren who return to their educational institutions in order to ensure one student sits at the distance of two meters from another. It is fictional and dangerous,” cyber resilience expert Einat Meron told Ynet.

“Theoretically, I get the idea behind it,” she said. “But although such distance-sensitive microchips exist in vehicles, it is different in humans.” According to Meron, “a beeping sound telling me I got close to someone is not enough. Who says it will change anything? I would have gotten closer either way.”

The expert added that “the actual issue is the enforcement, and here everything changes.” Meron told Ynet that “microchipping children will not pass any test – both practically and legally.” Similar to Meron’s notion that notifying citizens on their distance will not affect their actions, many fear the state would make use of the information available from the sensors.

https://www.jpost.com

George Soros: Germany’s ECB Ruling May Spell ‘the End of the EU as We Know It’

Sputnik News – May 12, 2020

Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled last week that the eurozone’s central bank had overstepped its mandate when purchasing government debt under its quantitative easing (QE) programme and threatened to block new purchases of German bonds by the bank.

Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros has predicted that the ripening institutional showdown in the EU may bring about an end to the union as we know it.

“I am particularly concerned about the survival of the EU because it is an incomplete union,” Soros said in an interview with the Independent.

He added that the EU’s creation process was never completed, and that makes Europe “exceptionally vulnerable – more vulnerable than the US not just because it is an incomplete union but also because it is based on the rule of law. And the wheels of justice move very slowly, while threats such as the Covid-19 virus move very fast.”

The 89-year-old investor expressed grave concern over Germany’s Constitutional Court, which last week challenged the European Central Bank’s mass government debt-buying programme and gave the bank a three-month ultimatum to justify the proportionality of its bond purchases or risk losing the Bundesbank as a participant.

The European Commission in response threatened to sue Germany, although EU officials said on Monday that immediate legal action against Berlin is unlikely.

https://sputniknews.com

German Catholic Church Confesses it ‘Was Complicit’ in WWII by Not Opposing Nazi Regime

Sputnik News – May 2, 3030

The news comes two months after the Vatican opened its archives on Pope Pius XII, who led the Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958 and has been subject to harsh criticism due to his stance on the Holocaust and the Nazi regime in general.

The council of Catholic bishops in Germany has confessed that the church was “complicit in the war” by not opposing the Nazis during World War II, according to The Times.

“Inasmuch as the bishops did not oppose the war with a clear ‘no’, and most of them bolstered the [German nation’s] will to endure, they made themselves complicit in the war… The bishops may not have shared the Nazis’ justification for the war on the grounds of racial ideology, but their words and their images gave succour both to soldiers and the regime prosecuting the war, as they lent the war an additional sense of purpose”, the document said.

It also says that the leaders of German Catholics did not support Nazi ideas, but still helped the government and the military by organizing hospitals and providing spiritual guidance to the soldiers during the war.

According to the Daily Mail, the new report, released one week before the 75th anniversary of Victory Day, was described by one prelate as a “confession of guilt”.

https://sputniknews.com

Iran Warns Germany of ‘Consequences’ for Total Ban on Hezbollah

Simon Kent – May 1, 2020

Germany’s total ban on Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist organization drew a swift response Friday from Iran, with the Islamic republic saying “consequences” would follow.

As Breitbart News reported, Hezbollah was labeled a “Shiite terrorist organisation” with dozens of police and special forces storming mosques and associations across Germany linked to the terror group.

German political support followed swiftly.

Hezbollah activities “violate criminal law and the organization opposes the concept of international understanding,” German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in announcing the move.

“Hezbollah denies Israel’s right to exist, threatens violence and terror and continues to massively upgrade its rocket arsenal,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter. “We in Germany must exhaust the means of the rule of law to take action against the criminal and terrorist activities of Hezbollah.”

The German crackdown on Hezbollah means its flags are banned at all demonstrations and meetings across the country. Berlin’s municipal government already bans Hezbollah symbols and flags at demonstrations.

Germany, like most of Europe, has until now dragged its feet in outlawing both the military and political arms of the Lebanon-based group to protect relations with Beirut and Tehran.

The U.S., UK, Netherlands and Israel designates the anti-Israel group in its entirety a terror organization.

https://www.breitbart.com

Pro-life activists ordered to pay Planned Parenthood over $1.2M for exposé on baby body parts scandal

Michael Gryboski – May 1, 2020

A federal judge has issued an order demanding that a group of pro-life activists who were behind a series of undercover videos taken at Planned Parenthood facilities and abortion conferences are liable for more than $1.2 million in damages.

U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick of the Northern District of California released an order Wednesday against individuals connected to the Center for Medical Progress.

At issue was an Unfair Competition Law claim brought by Planned Parenthood and the plaintiffs California Business & Professions Code.

Orrick ruled in favor of the claim, citing a jury verdict from last November that found CMP, its founder David Daleiden, and activists including Troy Newman of Operation Rescue guilty of violating several laws when investigators went undercover at Planned Parenthood facilities and events.

In addition to issuing an injunction banning those named from attending Planned Parenthood events, Orrick also found them liable for large sums of money.

This includes $1,259,370 in damages related to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, plus other damages and attorneys’ fees.

“… the illegal and fraudulent prongs of the UCL are satisfied given the jury’s verdict that defendants engaged in numerous illegal and fraudulent acts in California and emanating from California, against California-based plaintiffs and others, committed in violation of California law, Federal law, and the laws of other jurisdictions,” wrote Orrick.

In a statement released Thursday, Operation Rescue noted that Newman intends to appeal the order, arguing that he and his fellow pro-life activists did nothing wrong.

https://www.christianpost.com

40 Per Cent of Italians Want to Leave The Euro and the European Union

Chris Tomlinson  – April 24, 2020

Italian anger at the European Union continues to remain high as a poll released this week shows four in ten would like their country to leave both the euro currency and the political bloc.

The Bidimedia poll showed that while 6.1 per cent said they wanted only to leave the EU and 7.1 per cent said they only wanted to leave the euro, 40 per cent said they back pulling out of both institutions. Meanwhile, 41.7 per cent of Italians prefer to remain in both, Il Giornale reports.

The vast majority of Italians, some 59.9 per cent, said they were against the use of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), an EU bailout fund that could loan the country money and has been proposed as a way to combat the effects of the Wuhan coronavirus.

Use of the ESM had also been suggested last December but was heavily rejected by populist Italian Senator Matteo Salvini who said it “would sanction a sale of unbalanced national sovereignty” and claimed that Germany and its banks would be the real beneficiary.

Earlier this month, members of the Five Star Movement, who form the current Italian ruling coalition with the leftist Democratic Party, threatened to bring down Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government if the ESM were used.

“I am saying this clearly: if the government has said yes to the ESM, this majority will no longer have my vote,” Five Star Movement Senator Mario Michele Giarrusso said.

Confidence in Prime Minister Conte is also wavering, with the Bidimedia poll showing 43.9 per cent of Italians have no confidence and 11.8 per cent have little confidence in his leadership.

https://www.breitbart.com

After Coronavirus Response Failures, Almost Half of Italians Want to Leave the EU

Chris Tomlinson – April 14, 2020

A Tecnè poll has revealed that Italians are becoming more and more critical of the European Union, with 49 per cent saying they want Italy out.

Just 51 per cent of the Italian public said they want to remain in the EU, which has been widely criticised across the country for lack of solidarity with Italy since the start of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

The poll is a far cry from previous surveys, according to newspaper Il Giornale, which cited a November 2018 study which showed consensus was far more favourable to the European Union, saying opposition to an Italian exit has fallen by 20 per cent in two years.

The EU reaction to the Italian coronavirus outbreak, which has led to the deaths of more than 20,000 people across the country so far, led to some Italians burning EU flags on social media and Italian politicians taking down EU flags from offices and public spaces in protest.

The reaction from Italians led European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to issue an apology earlier this month that was published by newspaper La Repubblica.

“It must be acknowledged that in the first days of the crisis, faced with the need for a common European response, too many have thought only of the problems of their own homes,” she said and added: “They did not realise that we can defeat this pandemic only together, as a Union. It was malicious behaviour and could have been avoided.”

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte later issued a warning to the EU saying that the political bloc may collapse if other member states do not act with solidarity and help countries most affected by coronavirus.

https://www.breitbart.com