Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Jailed Palestinian leader blasts UN statehood bid
Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti sharply criticized the Palestinian Authority on Monday and called to reword the bid submitted to the UN requesting recognition of a state and an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines by 2017.Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian voices show dissent over statehood resolution at UN
In a letter sent from Israeli prison, Barghouti said he supported the unilateral move to go to the UN but slammed the current bid as an “unjustified fallback which will have a very negative impact on the Palestinian position,” Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.
The senior Fatah leader said any mention of land swaps with Israel must be removed and that the bid should focus on the major issues of settlement expansion, Jerusalem, and the blockade on Gaza.
“We must stop negotiating with ourselves uselessly,” he added.
Barghouti also said the Palestinian prisoners issue should take central place in the document. (h/t Elder of Lobby )
The Palestinian National Initiative, an independent political movement led by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, said the draft resolution includes “dangerous lapses” that compromise Palestinian demands.PA and Fatah: “Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and Nazareth are ours”
The movement claimed that the PA leadership presented the draft resolution so as to have an excuse to avoid joining the International Criminal Court.
The movement criticized the resolution for “equating between Palestinians and Israel, ignoring the fact that one part has been occupying and repressing the other for the past 66 years.”
It also rejected the reference to Jerusalem as the capital of two states. This would pave the way for Israel to take most parts of the city and turn the Palestinian presence into a symbolic one, the movement said.
The Palestinian Authority and Fatah continue to deny Israel's right to exist and present Israeli cities as "Palestinian." Recently, Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi emphasized on Lebanese TV that "Haifa, Jaffa, Acre and Nazareth are Palestinian," and this "despite" the opinions of "the Americans and the Israelis":Fatah official: Israeli cities "Haifa, Jaffa, Acre and Nazareth are Palestinian"
Fatah Central Committee member, Tawfiq Tirawi: "Don't you dare think there is even a single Palestinian, whether he supports the two-state solution or another path, who would agree to these settlements being part of Israel, and that Haifa, Jaffa and Acre are not Palestinian. No. Haifa, Jaffa, Acre and Nazareth are Palestinian, despite the Americans and the Israelis."
[Al-Mayadeen TV (Lebanon), Dec. 14, 2014; posted on Tirawi's Facebook page]
A Maccabean solution for the Gaza Strip
It was in the year 145 BCE, some two decades after the liberation of the Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of the oil, that the Hasmonean king Jonathan, the youngest of Matityahu’s five sons, attacked Gaza and its hostile population.Lessons From a Foiled Terror Attack in Tel Aviv
Following in the footsteps of his older brother Judah the Maccabee, Jonathan heroically proceeded to subdue his foes.
As the historian Josephus writes in his The Antiquities of the Jews (Volume 13, 5:5), “[H] e set a part of his army round about Gaza itself, so with the rest he overran their land, and spoiled it, and burnt what was in it. When the people of Gaza saw themselves in this state of affliction... so they sent to Jonathan, and professed they would be his friends, and afford him assistance.” In other words, Jonathan conquered the area, pacified it thoroughly and compelled Gaza’s residents to plead for peace.
Nonetheless, despite their professions of amity, Gaza’s residents continued to agitate against Israel, leading Simon the Maccabee, who had succeeded Jonathan, to conclude what his brother had started.
When most people picture a terrorist, the image is rarely of a pregnant Jewish woman. And this is exactly how terrorists use our preconceived notions about violence, motherhood, and gender to enhance the success of their terrorist attacks.Foreign Policy: Unilateral Palestinian Move “Risks a Serious Rupture with the United States”
On December 15th, Israeli security and intelligence officials arrested five Palestinians who were planning a major suicide-bombing mission in Tel Aviv. According to Israel National News, Yasmin Sha’aban, an Arab woman from Janin, and four other terrorists, were “in touch with a terrorist operative from Gaza who gave them instructions on how to assemble explosives and carry out the attack.” Yasmin was “supposed to carry out the attack with an explosives belt hidden in her clothes while disguised as a pregnant Jewish woman.”
Why was Yasmin instructed to dress as a pregnant Jewish woman? The answer lies in how the West views women, motherhood, and violence. First and foremost, we associate terrorism, or any violence for that matter, with men. Men are considered to be more aggressive, and women more docile. Second, Yasmin was instructed to dress as a pregnant woman not just because her “belly” would fit explosives—she was instructed to do so because she wouldn’t be checked as thoroughly at a checkpoint. This is because we view motherhood as life-giving, while terrorism is life-taking. Third, in Israel, Jewish women are viewed as inconspicuous compared to their Muslim counterparts. To sum it up, pregnant Jewish women are seen as the face of innocence in every conceivable way.
Foreign Policy on Thursday assessed growing tensions between Palestinian officials and Washington, citing a range of statements to the effect that relations between Ramallah and Washington may become strained should the Palestinians continue to press unilateral moves toward statehood at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The outlet, which said the bid “risks a serious rupture with the United States,” quoted one European diplomat as saying that Ramallah was “not really interested in achieving an outcome, but in provoking a public standoff with the United States.”Once Again, Palestinians Looking to Circumvent Negotiations With Israel Through U.N.
Foreign Policy argued that the chance that the Palestinian resolution would be adopted was “virtually zero,” noting that Foggy Bottom “has sought to assure Israel that it will block any U.N. resolution that threatens its security and risks undercutting the prospects of a negotiated settlement to the crisis.”
A draft resolution submitted to the UNSC on Wednesday included a demand for a timeline for the withdrawal of Israeli security forces from areas that the Palestinians intend to claim for a future state, as well as a deadline for the parties to reach a peace agreement. The State Department and top lawmakers had already on Thursday stated opposition to the moves, with State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki flatly stating at the day’s press briefing that “in terms of the specifics of [the draft resolution] in its current form, we couldn’t support it.”
One would think that the killings of 132 children in Pakistan at the hands of Taliban terrorists would cause the international community to focus on how to deal with the untrammeled mayhem and chaos caused by jihadi organizations.David's Sling 'can intercept warheads over enemy territory,' Rafael official tells 'Post'
Instead, that old favorite of multilateral organizations, bashing and marginalizing Israel, is back with a fury, but with some new twists. Over the past few months, a perfect storm of bias has come about: from the “recognition” of a Palestinian state by a growing number of European parliaments, to the convening of the signatories to the Geneva Convention to condemn Israel’s acting in self-defense during this summer’s Gaza conflict to the current attempt to impose a date and time certain for creation of a Palestinian state in the United Nations Security Council.
In some instances, and in some capitals, there are winks and nods to the need for negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian issue. But these efforts are not serious, being lame attempts to be politically correct.
The David’s Sling defense system will be able to intercept projectiles beyond Israel’s borders, a senior official from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems told The Jerusalem Post in recent days.What threat does an Iranian-backed Yemen pose to Israel?
“David’s Sling has an interception range which ensures intercept before a threat enters Israeli territory. David’s Sling can intercept any rocket or missiles inside the atmosphere, and over enemy areas,” Ari Sacher, of Rafael’s Air Superiority Systems Division, said.
The system can shoot down incoming warheads irrespective of whether they are conventional or carrying an unconventional warhead, Sacher added.
“Two David’s Sling batteries will cover the whole of Israel,” he said. “It protects Israel against strategic threats, and has the range, the speed and the maneuverability to do so.
The air force is preparing to receive this system.”
Iranian-backed Shi’ite Houthi rebels’ takeover of Yemen’s capital in September has raised alarms not only among its regional Sunni rivals, such as neighboring Saudi Arabia, but also in Israel.8 Arab east Jerusalem residents indicted for using Facebook to incite terrorism
If the Houthis are able to solidify control over the southernmost country on the Arabian Peninsula, which lying on the Red Sea is Israel’s outlet from its southern port in Eilat, it could create a risk for Israel and other countries’ sea traffic.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti could also be affected if Yemen would become an Iranian hub. If any of these countries would cooperate with Israel to counter such a scenario still remains up in the air.
Reuters revealed details of Iranian military and financial support to the Houthis before and after their takeover of Sanaa, according to Yemeni, Western and Iranian sources.
Eight Arab east Jerusalem residents arrested last week on charges of using their Facebook accounts to allegedly incite terrorism were indicted by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Monday.Hamas-Supporting Qatari Leader Buys Paris Dwelling Owned by Disabled IDF Soldiers Group For $3M
The suspects were charged with “incitement to violence or terror” and “supporting a terrorist group” after disseminating numerous photos and videos imploring Arabs to kill Jews and Israeli security forces.
“They directly called for violence and terror against [Jewish] citizens and security forces and praised, encouraged and supported these deeds and their perpetrators,” the indictment stated.
Their arrests followed a joint, protracted undercover investigation between the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Jerusalem police and Border Police during which police seized all of the suspects’ computers and mobile devices.
In some of the photos extracted from the accounts, which police said garnered thousands of “likes,” the suspects were posing with weapons, including pistols and M-16s.
Sheikh Tamim Ben Hamad Al-Thani became an unlikely “donor” to disabled Israeli soldiers when he recently paid far above market value for a Paris apartment owned by an IDF non-profit support group, Walla News said Monday.PA Minister voices libel that Israel seeks to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque and build "alleged Temple"
In the recent $3 million deal, Al-Thani – who is a major backer of Hamas – beat out lower offers for the five-room property, located near the Champs-Elysees in the City of Light’s prestigious 8th Arrondissement. The price did not include brokerage fees.
The Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization (ZVDO) received the property as an inheritance from its late former owner, the late French Jew, Danielle Susan Davis.
Negotiations over the apartment, which is intended for one of the royal family members who is expected to begin studying at the Sorbonne, were held without any involvement by the Israeli NPO.
PA Minister of Religious Affairs Sheikh Yusuf Ida'is:
“All that Israel wants is to Judaize the Holy City, take over the Al-Aqsa Mosque, destroy it and build the alleged Temple. Under Jerusalem there is a city of tunnels belonging to Israel. Yesterday, I was told that Israel has an underground market beneath the Jaffa Gate, which draws many [Palestinian]residents who shop there.” [Official PA TV, Dec. 3, 2014]
JCPA: Hamas Has Its Sights on the West Bank
Hamas directly threatened Fatah that it will take over the West Bank. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar declared on December 10, “Just as we liberated Gaza, just as we established a real national government in it … we will make the same effort in the West Bank as we prepare to extend our presence to all of Palestine.PA forms committee to take over Gaza crossings
Is there a connection between the numerous arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members in Jordan and the wave of arrests of Hamas operatives in the West Bank that Palestinian security forces are now carrying out? Yes."
Gaza-based Hamas is indeed in a tight bind. Hamas has decided to export its crisis from Gaza to the West Bank. From Jordan’s perspective, Hamas’ ambition to take control of the West Bank appears to be part of a much larger process involving a Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Jordan itself.
The connecting link between Hamas’ intentions regarding the West Bank and the Muslim Brotherhood’s plans for Jordan is Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, who resides in Qatar.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has established an official committee to take over control of Gaza’s crossings in a bid to accelerate the reconstruction of the war-battered territory, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported Monday.Egypt keeps Rafah crossing open for a third day
The rehabilitation is more or less frozen, according to Palestinian officials. International donors have so far failed to deliver the billions of dollars in aid money that was promised to rebuild the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said Monday.
In the wake of the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas over the summer, international donors promised — at a conference in Cairo in October — $2.7 billion to help rebuild Gaza. But, according to Mustafa, “not even one penny” has been received from major donors such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
Egypt kept its Rafah border crossing with Gaza open for a third day on Tuesday, state media said, after nearly 2,000 people used the terminal in the first two days.Abbas and Hamas Trade Recriminations Over Delay in Gaza Reconstruction
The Rafah crossing, the only access point to the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel, opened on Sunday for only the second time in two months to allow people stranded in Egypt to enter the Palestinian enclave.
State news agency MENA said that 1,950 people had used the crossing since it was opened.
It said that 1,137 people came from Gaza and 813 went to the territory from Egypt on Sunday and Monday.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is falling back on political infighting to deal with the crises facing the Palestinian Authority (PA), accusing rival Hamas of being the cause of Palestinian woes.Coca Cola to open Gaza factory
Last week, Abbas blamed Hamas for “slowing down” reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, claiming that Hamas prevented the PA from taking over control of Gaza and its border crossings. Abbas also accused Hamas of having secret contact with Israel and the United States.
Despite claims of poverty, last week Hamas held a massive parade celebrating its 27th anniversary, showing off its extensive arsenal and burning a Jew in effigy.
Construction of Coca Cola’s first factory in the Gaza Strip began Monday, as the IDF Coordinator of Government Activities (COGAT) in the Territories oversaw the entry of the initial construction equipment into the coastal enclave.Gaza: Have a Coke and a smile
The factory, which will be located in Gaza’s Karmi industrial zone, will cost $20 million and is expected to eventually employ 1,000 workers, according to a report on the Israeli NRG news site.
The construction equipment originated in Jordan, entered Israel through the Yitzhak Rabin border terminal, and was brought into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing Monday afternoon.
The project’s initiators are Palestinian entrepreneurs Munib al-Masri and Zahi Khouri. Khouri is the chairman of the Palestinian National Beverage Company and owns three Coca Cola franchises in the West Bank.
The plant is expected to employ 360 Palestinians by 2016. Eventually, the plant is expected to provide employment to nearly 1,000 in Gaza. The construction is expected to take three years at a cost of $20 million.Report: Hamas Arrests Female 'Spy' for Israel
And because its Gaza, not everyone is happy with the prospect of jobs and normalization. After all, wasn't Coca-Cola on the boycott list?
Hamas has arrested a Palestinian Arab double agent working for Israeli intelligence, the Hamas-run Al-Majd security website stated Monday.Egyptian operations against terrorism redoubles as attacks continue
According to the report, which is based on a security source, the Palestinian agent in her forties was instructed by the Israeli intelligence agency to gather information on the whereabouts of senior officers in the military wings of the Palestinian terror organizations during Operation Protective Edge.
In this context, it said, she followed the officers' wives in an attempt to find the hiding places of their husbands.
The site also said that during Protective Edge Hamas security forces arrested several women on charges of gathering information about terror organizations, including through social visits with terrorists' families to express support for them, as a cover for discovering where their children were fighting against the IDF.
Egypt forces killed five suspected jihadists on Sunday that were allegedly affiliated with the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which pledged loyalty to Islamic State.Natural gas pipeline in Sinai targeted by gunmen
Security forces killed the suspects during a raid on a farm in the Sharqiya province where they were preparing bombs, according to an Interior Ministry statement, the Egyptian website Mada Masr reported.
Egyptian forces also arrested 65 suspects during raids in northern Sinai, a security source said on Sunday, according to Egyptian state news agency MENA. Another 108 fugitives and criminals were arrested in the same region, said a security source quoted by MENA.
The army said it killed 14 suspected jihadists and arrested another 45 during raids in northern Sinai from Thursday to Saturday, an army spokesman said, according to a report by Ahram Online.
Forty other suspects were also arrested and five hideouts were destroyed.
Gunmen blew up and set fire to a natural gas line in the Sinai peninsula early Tuesday, the latest of a series of dozens attacks targeting the key line in recent years.Al-Jazeera shuts down its Egypt channel
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, near the town of el-Arish, in the northern Sinai.
Egyptian security officials said all roads leading to the area had been closed after the explosion, which took place early Tuesday morning.
The official Egyptian news agency MENA said the national gas company had stopped the flow of the gas.
Since the ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 the pipeline has been attacked over two dozen times by jihadists, causing interruptions in the delivery of natural gas to Israel and Jordan.
The Doha-based al-Jazeera satellite station has shut down its Egypt channel, which has been at the center of tensions between Egypt and Qatar.The churches burned after Egypt’s coup last year are still in ruins (PHOTOS)
The closure of al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr comes amid a Saudi-led effort to reconcile between Egypt and Qatar over the latter’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt accuses al-Jazeera of supporting the Brotherhood and Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, who was ousted by the military in 2013.
Three journalists from al-Jazeera’s English channel were sentenced this summer to at least seven years in prison on charges of aiding the Brotherhood, which the government declared a terrorist organization.
Exactly 16 months ago here, as news flowed in of the bloody dispersal of sit-ins in Cairo that left more than 800 supporters of ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi dead, angry mobs in this Upper Egyptian city took to the street and attacked churches, shops and other Christian-run establishments.Missing Peace: The unlikely founding fathers of the Islamic State
The same thing happened around the country. Dozens of Christian institutions were looted and burned, with residents blaming Islamists from nearby villages for most of the attacks. Christians, who make up roughly 10 percent of the Egyptian population, were seen as supporting the military coup that ousted Islamist President Morsi a month earlier and targeted many of his supporters. Sectarian rhetoric at pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo had for weeks accused Coptic Christians of supporting Morsi’s July 3 overthrow.
The government used the August church burnings, particularly in Minya — which has a large Coptic population and saw some of the worst attacks — to justify the heavy security crackdown that followed.
But that iron fist did little to help Christians who’d been targeted. Their churches, which the army promised to fix more than a year ago, still stand half-built as Minya’s Copts prepare for another drafty Christmas.
All have said publicly that the Jews control the world and that they are the enemies of Allah and must be expelled from Muslim land (meaning Palestine) or they are to be killed. They also stated that Jihad should continue until Islam rules the world.Backed by American Airstrikes, Kurds Advance Against ISIS in Sinjar
So the ideology of the Islamic State is not new. It is rooted in the ideology of Islamists who previously, not coincidentally, collaborated with the Nazis.
The similarities between the methods of IS and those of the Nazis are striking as well as the ideology that underlies those methods. For Islamic State, the ‘ubermensch’ is a Muslim who has abandoned the state of barbaric negligence (Jahaliyah) which in IS view also prevails in Arab countries and that is typical of the West. Jahaliyah existed before the advent of Muhammad and the goal of Islamists is to bring the Umma, the Islamic world community, back to the early days of Islam and the path of the upright Caliphs who led the Islamic empire at the time.
Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, who was an admirer of Hitler and Mussolini, had the model of the SS in mind when he founded the so-called shock battalions. These battalions intended to do what ISIL is now doing in Iraq and Syria. So it comes as no surprise that a variation on al-Banna’s slogan can now be seen on the black flags of Islamic State: ‘Allah is our objective, the Koran is our constitution, the Prophet our leader; struggle is our way and death for Allah is our highest aspiration. ‘
With the assistance of American airstrikes, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have pushed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) forces back in Sinjar, securing much of the city and freeing hundreds of Yazidis, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.Islamic State Steps Up Violent Recruitment of Children for Battle
In one of the most successful counterattacks against the extremists since the group took over huge swaths of the country in June, about 1,500 Kurdish fighters known as Peshmerga, backed by Yazidi and Christian militia units, pushed into the city center on Sunday.
The coordinated assault came nearly a week after American aircraft launched 47 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in the area—one of the most concentrated strikes since the U.S. started attacking the militants in Iraq in August. Aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition continued to pound Islamic State positions throughout the past week.
According to the Journal, while the Kurds have retaken the northern part of Sinjar, they encountered resistance from ISIS as they moved towards the center of the city. The Peshmerga’s push has freed the majority of Yazidis who have been trapped on Sinjar mountain since August.
Reuters explains the significance of the Kurds capturing Sinjar:
Seizing the town would restore the majority of territory Iraq’s Kurds lost in the jihadist group’s surprise August offensive.
It would also give a huge strategic victory to both the Iraqi Kurds and the central government in Baghdad, as the Kurdish fighters could then cut the highway from Syria to Mosul, a vital supply line for Islamic State.
The Islamic State (IS) is stepping up its recruitment and indoctrination of children, who are seen as “central” to the terror group’s strategy to dominate the Middle East and breed a new generation of radical fighters, according to terrorism experts and regional watchdog groups.Iranian official says no plans to resume full ties with US even if nuclear deal reached
IS (also known as ISIL or ISIS) views children—or so-called “cubs of the Islamic State”—as key to its takeover of the Middle East. IS followers routinely use social media to disseminate brutal photos of young jihadist children kicking severed heads down the road or brandishing automatic weapons.
This type of propaganda serves a dual mission: It motivates extremists to join IS’s fight and also serves as a warning to Western powers seeking to downplay the terror group’s successes, according to those tracking the situation. Some fighters on the battlefield are no older then 16 and have been extensively trained in IS military camps.
A top Iranian official on Monday ruled out any possibility that an agreement with the West over the nuclear issue could eventually lead to a full resumption of diplomatic ties with the United States.Turkey's Erdogan says birth control 'treason' against Turkish lineage
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Council, said that while a deal on the Iranian nuclear program would go a long way toward defusing tensions with the West, there are no plans to strive for a full-fledged rapprochement with Washington.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has described birth control as a form of "treason," saying it threatened the country's bloodline.Heading for a Jew-Free Turkey
Erdogan urged a newly married couple at their wedding late on Sunday to have at least three children to help boost Turkish population figures, a common refrain from the president, who worries a declining birth rate may undermine economic growth.
"For years they committed a treason of birth control in this country, seeking to dry up our bloodline. Lineage is very important both economically and spiritually," he told the couple after serving as their witness at the wedding. A video of the speech was posted on the mainstream Radikal news website.
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 200,000 Jews in Turkish lands – when the entire population was barely 10 million. Today, the Turkish population has reached 77 million – and there are fewer than 17,000 Jews.Bullet smashes through window at Paris synagogue
Moris Gabay, a Turkish Jewish writer for Salom, the Istanbul Jewish newspaper, recently wrote in his column, "Are Turkish Jews Leaving?:" "We face threats, attacks and harassment every day. Hope is fading. Is it necessary for a 'Hrant among us' to be shot in order for the government, the opposition, civil society, our neighbors and jurists to see this?" 'Hrant' whom he referred to is Hrant Dink, a Turkish Armenian journalist who was shot dead in 2007 by a gang of nationalist Turks.
On Dec. 15, the Turkish liberal daily Radikal interviewed Gabay, who started by showing Radikal's reporter dozens of threats and hate messages he has received through Twitter, Facebook and mail messages. "This is almost daily," he said.
According to Gabay, only this year 37% of high-school graduates in Istanbul's Jewish community left Turkey to study abroad, twice as many as in previous years. "We don't know how many of them will return," he says. "But the idea to leave Turkey (for good) is also in the minds of my generation."
A bullet fired from an air gun crashed through a window of a Paris synagogue’s office. The rabbi and his assistant were in the David Ben Ichay Synagogue in Belleville, in the northeastern section of the French capital, when the bullet was fired on Monday night. Nobody was injured in the attack.Unease as France reels from bloody attacks
French police reportedly are searching for two suspects who were outside the synagogue about 10 minutes before the attack, the JSSNews website reported.
Police found a bullet hole in the office windowpane, Israel Radio said.
Three successive car-rammings and knife assaults have left over 20 people injured
While the motives behind the incidents — a knife attack on police and two car rampages onto passers-by — remain unclear, the violence has jarred nerves after repeated jihadist calls for “lone wolf” action in France over its fight against Islamic extremism.
“Fear over Christmas” titled local daily Le Parisien, while Le Figaro newspaper wrote a front-page editorial headlined “enemies from within.”
The violence began on Saturday when a man reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar” was shot dead after walking into a police station in the central town of Joue-les-Tours and attacking three officers with a knife, two of whom were seriously injured.
Then on Sunday evening, a driver plowed into pedestrians in Dijon in the east, injuring 13 people and also shouting the same Islamic phrase which means “God Is Greater” and has in the past been used by extremists when waging violent attacks.
And on Monday night, another man rammed into a bustling Christmas market with his car in the western city of Nantes, injuring 10 people — one of whom is critical — before stabbing himself repeatedly and being arrested.
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