01/15 Links Pt2: Saddam Hussein - Fatah and PA hero; Pat Condell: Nothing to do with Islam

From Ian:

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PMW: Saddam Hussein - Fatah and PA hero

According to a famous saying, you can "know a man by his friends." Just yesterday, Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party chose to remind Palestinians of the deep friendship between former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and Palestinian Authority and Fatah leader Yasser Arafat. They posted a picture on the official Fatah Facebook "Main Page" of Arafat and Hussein warmly shaking hands.
The PA and Fatah's honoring of Saddam Hussein who was convicted by an Iraqi court and executed in 2006 for crimes against his own people, is nothing new. Last year, speaking in Mahmoud Abbas' name, Talal Dweikat commemorated Saddam Hussein as a "great leader and fighter" at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the establishment of the Arab-Iraqi army
Palestinian Media Watch has reported extensively on Palestinian glorification of Saddam Hussein, including Fatah publishing admiring comments and pictures such as this: "He smiled to deny the enemy the pleasure of victory. May Allah have mercy on you, Saddam Hussein."

Prosecutor claims Argentina’s president hid Iran role in 1994 bombing

The Argentinean prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center on Wednesday accused Argentina’s president and foreign minister of covering up Iran’s involvement in the attack.
Alberto Nisman filed a 300-page complaint naming President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman and others of seeking to “erase” Iran’s role in the bombing at the AMIA community center offices in which 85 people were killed. He said he wants to question the president and other officials who he claims are involved in the cover-up.
Nisman claims that the president decided to “not incriminate” former senior Iranian officials for their roles in planning the bombing, and instead has sought a rapprochement with Tehran, “establishing trade relations to mitigate Argentina’s severe energy crisis,” the Buenos Aires Herald reported.
When her agreement with Iran was challenged in the Argentinean courts, “and here is the criminal (aspect), the president ordered to divert the investigation, abandoning years of a legitimate demand of justice, and sought to free the Iranians imputed (in the case) from all suspicions, contradicting their proven ties with the attack. She decided to fabricate ‘the innocence of Iran’,” the newspaper quoted Nisman as alleging. (h/t Vandoren)

Pat Condell: Nothing to do with Islam (h/t dabney)




Brendan O'Neill: While Jews Are Slaughtered, the Left Worries About Islamophobia

In short: maybe there’s a logic to anti-Semitic violence. Maybe it’s just a reaction to Israeli — or as Wilcox put it, “Jewish” — wickedness. Maybe you deserve it. Wilcox expressed a common view in right-thinking sections of society: that anti-Semitism isn’t quite as bad as other forms of racism because it’s often misfired anger with Israel.
We’re witnessing the terrifying meshing together of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, with those who claim merely to hate Israel often slipping into expressions of disdain for “the Jews” and targeting Jewish shops for boycotts.
Indeed, if Amedy Coulibaly, the killer in the kosher store, thought a simple shop was an appropriate place to act out his foul radicalism, it isn’t hard to see why: anti-Israel protesters have been targeting Israeli-linked or just Jewish-owned shops for years now. Jewish produce, Jewish shoppers — all fair game, apparently.
The increasingly unhinged nature of many leftists’ loathing for Israel has led them to problematise the Jews themselves. They speak darkly of Jewish lobbies, of super-powerful forces making our leaders kowtow to Israel. Their swirling, borderline conspiratorial fear of Israel means they often cross the line from yelling at Israel to wondering about the trustworthiness of the Jews.
It’s a rehabilitation of the idea of the Jewish burden. Once, Jews were made to carry the burden of having “killed Christ”; now they’re forced to shoulder responsibility for everything Israel says and does. They’re marked, suspect, not as sympathetic as other minorities.
This is really why many ­European leftists find it hard to stand up to the new anti-Semitism: because they played a key role in unleashing it. (originally in The Australian)

Malian Paris attack ‘hero’ gets French nationality

A Malian described as a “hero” after he helped hostages at a Jewish supermarket hide during last week’s Paris attacks will be awarded French nationality Tuesday, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
Lassana Bathily, who has lived in France since 2006 and applied for French nationality in July of last year, was praised for his “bravery” in a statement by Cazeneuve, which also said the 24-year-old Malian’s naturalization will be granted at a ceremony on Tuesday.

Charlie Hebdo Writer Holds Up Muhammed Cover on Sky News; Network Cuts Away and Apologizes

Sky News took its cowardice in regards to displaying cartoons portraying the prophet Muhammad to another level this afternoon.
A writer for Charlie Hebdo went on the UK television station to discuss the newspaper’s first issue since their office was attacked by radical Islamic terrorists. She condemned the station for not supporting the efforts of free journalism.
Caroline Fourest was visibly upset on the program when she said, “I’m very sad, very sad that journalists in UK do not support us, that journalists in UK betray what journalism is about by thinking that people cannot be grown enough to decide if a drawing is offending or not. Because you are not even showing it.”
Just as Fourest made her comments, she found a way to display the silliness of Sky News. Fourest held up the cover of Charlie Hebdo titled “All is Forgiven” depicting the prophet Mohammed holding up a “Je Suis Charlie” sign.
As the camera began to pan out to show the image, Sky News immediately cut away from the video.
The anchor at the station explained, “We at Sky News have chosen not to show that cover, so we’d appreciate it, Caroline, not showing that.”
“I do apologize,” she continued, “for any of our viewers who may have been offended by that.” (h/t Yenta Press)

Sky News refuse to show front page of Charlie Hebdo


Jimmy Carter’s “Palestinian Problem” is his personal “Jewish Problem”

Is Jimmy Carter correct? He may have a point.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the “Palestinian Problem” is behind the fact that Boko Haram kidnaps and enslaves Christian girls in Nigeria.
Moreover, the “Palestinian Problem” is behind al-Shabbab’s atrocities in Somalia, and as we all know it is of course the “Palestinian Problem” that is behind the Taliban blowing up age-old Buddha shrines in Afghanistan.
The fact that Pakistani Islamists routinely murder Pakistani Christians for … well, for being Christian … that too is because of the “Palestinian Problem”.
When adult Muslim males in England routinely groom young early-teen white English girls (and only white English girls) and then trade them for sex among other debauched Muslim males, subjecting the barely pubescent girls to the most debased, disgraceful sexual acts imaginable, that is understandably because of the “Palestinian Problem.”

Terrorists as Editors

Has The New York Times decided to use terrorists as editors?
According to the Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan, it was the threat of violence that prevented the paper from publishing the latest Charlie Hebdo cover, the one that carried a picture of the Prophet Muhammad crying over the terrorist attack.
Some of the earlier Hebdo cartoons were indeed crude and offensive, and one could make the case that printing them served no “news” purpose. Yet the “survivors” issue, which was produced within a week by the small surviving staff, has now sold millions of copies worldwide. Some countries have banned it and attempted to find and destroy all copies.
That makes it news. They cannot hide behind the view that this cover serves no purpose other than to offend and ridicule.
Many other news organizations have published it.
But not the Times.

Al. Jazeera. You. Have. Got. To. Be. Shitting. Me.

Just when you think Al Jazeera couldn’t sink any lower it always seems find a way.
First of all it was an apologist for the ideology which the murderers subscribed to.
Then there was denial, and especially when it came to the murder of Jews. Which was followed by attempts to create false equivalences and frequent use the straw man fallacy.
But that just wasn’t enough. Oh no. Now it’s decided to engage in victim blaming in its op-ed “Is Charlie Hebdo pouring oil on the fire?”
What’s this vile channel going to do for an encore? Laugh at rape victims?

German Paper Mistakenly Publishes Anti-Semitic Cartoon

One of the supposed covers, however, was a fake.
The cartoon, drawn by anti-Semitic French illustrator Joe le Corbeau, depicts a hareidi Jew replete with traditional garb and a stereotypically large nose.
The caption reads “1 million rebate out of six, for Palestine,” making a wordplay that suggests both rabbis and rebate in German.
The cartoon and erroneous cover was noticed by people working at the Israeli embassy in Berlin. They alerted the editors of Berliner Zeitung to several details of the cartoon proving it was not a real Charlie Hebdo cover.
These include the fact that the name of the magazine on the anti-Semitic "cover" is Charlo and not Charlie. Additionally, the barcode at the bottom of the cartoon is 6,000,000 - the number of Jews massacred in the Holocaust, but not a real barcode number.

Israelis rush to get their hands on new edition of once-unknown Charlie Hebdo

Before the terror in France earlier this month that killed twelve people at the French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo, very few people in Israel had ever heard of the satirical journal and even less ever read it.
But demand has spiked for the so called "survivor's edition" of Charlie Hebdo, the first one released since the attack.
Sarah Postec, a bookseller at the French bookstore Libraire Du Foyer in central Tel Aviv told The Jerusalem Post that she has made a waiting list of fifty people who want to receive the latest edition of the iconoclastic journal.
"We have received more than 100 calls for Charlie Hebdo and many people are also coming in off the street asking about," Postec said.
Postec said that her store does not carry Charlie Hebdo but may have carried it around ten years ago. She said readers in Israel do not read the journal because it is far too left-wing for the local audience.

Influential Muslims Condemn Latest Charlie Hebdo Cover

A number of prominent imams and clerics have spoken out against the newest cover of Charlie Hebdo, which shows a crying Mohammed with a sign that said “Je Suis Charlie.”
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary called it an “act of war.” Lesser known self-proclaimed teachers of Islam used social media to condemn the cover. These names may not be familiar, but they have between 3,000 and 36,000 followers on Twitter. They are followed by many of the Twitter accounts that Breitbart News regularly publishes to expose the insanity of radical Islamists.

BBC R4: Paris ‘tensions’ due to Israel’s failure to make peace

Nevertheless, Shaun Ley asks his guest:
“David Cesarani – do you think that Binyamin Netanyahu had a point when he suggested that there is a momentum now to leave France because of not just this incident but because of some of the previous incidents [the murder of Ilan Halimi in 2006 and the murders of four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012 – Ed.] to which Simone referred?”
Ceserani: “No I don’t think Binyamin Netanyahu had a point and I think his comments have been inflammatory.”
Ceserani goes on to tell BBC audiences that “Jews in France have lived through much worse times than these” and that “things have been worse even in recent French history” before delivering the following statement:
“But we cannot overlook the tension between Jews and Muslims in France. The conflict in the Middle East has got a lot to do with that and I think that’s where Mr Netanyahu can play a role. I think if Mr Netanyahu can bring life to the peace process then I think a lot of that tension will subside.”

BBC WS WHYS Facebook moderation fails again

One means of meeting that goal is the BBC World Service radio programme ‘World Have Your Say” which also runs its own Facebook page. As we have sadly had occasion to note here before (see related articles below), despite the existence of ‘house rules’ applicable to that discussion board and despite the use of moderators, it is not unusual to find offensive comments on the WHYS Facebook wall.
On January 13th WHYS Facebook invited the general public to comment on the topic of the post-attack edition of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.Clearly the decision to open that topic to discussion would necessitate particularly stringent and effective moderation. Nevertheless, among the hundreds of comments left on that BBC discussion board were more than a few threatening and inciting violence and others promoting malicious conspiracy theories, defamation and other offensive content.

Palestinian Leader Two-Faced on Suppressing Satirists

A few years ago, Walid Husayin, a blogger who resides in the PA-ruled city of Kalkilya, made the mistake of “spoofing Koranic verses,” as the New York Times put it. On October 31, 2010, Palestinian Authority security men burst into the internet cafe that Husayin frequented and hauled him off to prison.
Article 37 of the PA’s Press Law forbids “articles and materials harmful to religion and doctrines guaranteed by law,” that is, “harmful” to Islam. That’s the “democratic” Palestinian justice system that American money and experts have helped create.
Husayin spent 10 months in a PA prison. One can only imagine what that was like. Finally, smarting from international criticism—not that there was very much of it—the Abbas regime released Husayin. But in the months to follow, he was repeatedly re-arrested and interrogated for days at a time. On one of those occasions, Husayin said, he was “beaten with cables” until he vomited blood, and “forced to stand in a painful position” for various periods. PA security men also smashed his computers and warned him to stop blogging.
Husayin got the message. He posted a public apology, begging forgiveness from the Muslim world for his “stupidity.”

Israelly Cool: Free Gaza Co-Founder Greta Berlin Thinks Idea Of Murdered Jews Is Funny

A Facebook page called The Zionion seems to see itself as some kind of anti-Israel Onion satirical site (update: the page seems to have now been taken down).
But when you peel away the top layer, what you get is antisemitism.
Case in point: This despicable post in the wake of the murder of four Jews in the Paris kosher supermarket.
And a number of people, including the detestable Greta Berlin, showed their appreciation for the idea of murdered Jews.

Israelly Cool: Free Gaza Co-Founder Greta Berlin Lets Down Her Guard

Yesterday, I posted Greta Berlin’s appreciation for some good old fashioned antisemitism.
Today she’s lamenting the fact the Zionion website – the source of the antisemitic post – was banned by Facebook.
Notice how Berlin lets down her guard and acknowledges the page was making fun of Jews.” Not Israel or “Zionists.”
Remember, this is the same person who claims she is called an antisemite because of her criticism of Israel, and nothing more.

UN Gaza war crimes inquiry seeking Israelis’ testimony

A United Nations fact-finding mission investigating whether war crimes were committed during last year’s Gaza war is currently soliciting testimony from Israelis who were affected by rocket fire and other attacks from Palestinian terrorists.
Some pro-Israel activists are urging Israelis to tell the mission about how they suffered during the 50-day conflict, hoping to counterbalance what is expected to be an account highly critical of Israel.
But the government in Jerusalem, which has so far refused to cooperate with the inquiry, said this week that any attempt to influence the commissioners’ opinion was “futile.”
The mission’s request for testimonies from Israelis is merely an attempt to hide its anti-Israel bias, a senior official said. Officials earlier characterized the probe as a “kangaroo court” whose conclusions are a “foregone conclusion.”

Israelis hit by Hamas terror to testify before UN rights commission

Israel has announced late last year it will not cooperate with the United Nations probe into the 50 day-long summer war in the Gaza Strip, as it harbors grave misgivings regarding the commission's impartiality.
However, some Israelis will testify in a personal capacity before the Geneva-based UN Human Rights commission, including those injured in the rocket and mortar strikes launched by Palestinian terrorists at Israeli civilian populations.
Gadi Yarkoni, who resides in Nirim, an Israeli kibbutz adjacent to the Hamas-controlled enclave, lost his both legs after he was hit by a mortar shell several hours before the eventual ceasefire with Hamas went into effect. He will present the Israeli angle of the latest, and particularly charged, chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before the rights panel.
It is understood Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office supports the initiative – by the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists – to make sure Israelis are represented at the commission, underlining, however, that they are not official representatives of the State of Israel.
Other residents of the so-called Gaza envelope to appear before the commission include Eshkol Regional Council Chairman Haim Yellin and Anat Melamed, the widow of Shahar Melamed, who lost his life in the same incident that injured Yarkoni.

Mother of 4-year-old killed by mortar during Gaza war testifies in UN inquiry

Gila Tregerman from Kibbutz Nahal Oz gave her testimony a few days ago via Skype and answered questions asked by the commission's chairman William Schabas. She told him of the terrible sense of loss that befell her and of the IDF's attempt to prevent Israeli civilians from being attacked. "I told (him) of how Hamas shot from population centers clearly knowing that the IDF would not fire, and they were not wrong. The IDF really did not fire. Why? Because we do not attack innocent civilians."
Tregerman told the commissioner that the IDF knew of rocket launchers that were located in populated areas and positioned to fire towards Israeli communities "and despite this (the IDF) did not fire because Israel saw the way Hamas was holding its citizens as human shields, children and adults."
"In addition, I told him how we also became refugees during the days of the war and of all the difficulties that arose as a result," she said.

PMW: Abbas' Fatah portrays Netanyahu as Nazi SS officer

Today, Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party posted this photoshopped picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wearing a Nazi uniform. In the text posted with the picture Fatah claimed it was "designed by a young Jew." [Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page", Jan. 15, 2015]
The Palestinian Authority and Fatah often demonize Israelis and Jews as "Nazis" or "worse than Nazis" and Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Holocaust desecration, denial, and abuse are all components of their ideology.

Gaza Group’s Leader Added to US State Department Terrorist List

The leader of a terrorist group operating in Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula has been designated by the US State Department as a foreign terrorist.
Abdallah al-Ashqar—a Palestinian who is reported to be the leader of the Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), which America designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in August 2014—has been designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 1322, which targets terrorists and those providing support to them.
Al-Ashqar serves on the terror group’s military committee and is also its foreign relations liaison, a role in which he was workd to obtain missiles and other materials to attack Israel.

Hamas hardliner runs secret Gaza terror cells targeting Fatah

According to Palestinian, Israeli and Arab sources who spoke to The Times of Israel, the cell is headed by Fathi Hamad, a hawkish former Hamas interior minister.
Hamad has been operating as a rogue element seeking to undermine Hamas leaders’ stances, especially the Islamist group’s political chief Khaled Mashaal, his deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk, and even former Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.
The acting head of the military wing, Marwan Issa, who is aware of the activities of these cells, is not fully clued in on all their field operations and does not take part in all the decision making.
According to the sources, the cells were responsible — among other things — for the series of bombings at the homes of 13 senior Fatah officials in Gaza two months ago, the bombing at the French Cultural Center in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood and, most likely, the bombing last week near the home of unity government spokesman Ihab Bsiso, who lives in Ramallah but whose family remains in the Strip.

Hamas Holds Independent Parliament Meeting in Gaza

In yet another sign that the Hamas-Fatah unity government is dysfunctional, Hamas-affiliated parliament members in Gaza on Wednesday reactivated the coastal enclave's parliament, which had been suspended since the unity deal was agreed upon in April.
According to the Ma’an news agency, the convening of the session, which was attended exclusively by Hamas legislators, represents a major eruption of tensions within the Palestinian coalition government and presents yet another hurdle for officials trying to hold the agreement together.
The deputy speaker of the Gaza parliament, Ahmad Bahar, delivered a speech at the beginning of the session in which he warned of a possible "blowup" in Gaza as a result of, among other things, the delay in reconstruction the Palestinian Authority's failure to pay monthly salaries to civil servants employed under the former Hamas government.
"A blowup is at a distance of two-bows length or less if the international community does not take action to end the suffering of the people of Gaza," he warned, according to Ma’an.

Analysis: Erdogan’s “Ottoman” Ceremonial Welcome of Abbas Reflects His Regional Ambitions

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was welcomed to Turkey with a knight’s honor by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. When the two shook hands on the steps of Erdogan’s new luxurious and controversial palace in Ankara, they were surrounded by 16 guards dressed as knights in armor and carrying spears or swords with several sporting fake bushy moustaches
The Turkish news agency Anadolu (Arabic link) explained that the 16 guards symbolized the 16 empires in Turkish history, including the Seljuks and Ottomans. Agence France-Presse noted the symbolism gave hints of possible grander plans by Erdogan:
"These 16 empires are also symbolized in the 16 stars of the official seal of the Turkish presidency that has been given a new prominence since Erdogan moved from the office of the prime minister in August presidential elections.
Erdogan in October opened his hugely controversial new presidential palace, which has 1,150 rooms and cost of around $615 million."
The extravagant spectacle in the presidential palace lends credence to complaints within Turkish society that Erdogan is trying to Islamize every aspect of the life in the country, undermine its modern and secular foundations, and restore the days when the Ottoman Empire ruled the Middle East.

Social media reacts to President Erdogan’s 16 warriors during meeting with Abbas

For their first meeting at the new presidential palace, the flamboyant complex that has become known as the White Palace, or Ak Saray (“ak” meaning white in Turkish), and less charitably among the opposition as the “KaçAk Saray” (illegal palace), in reference to its alleged construction without permits – Turkish officials planned something they meant, or at least believed, to be even more special.
Actors dressed in knightly attire, ostensibly representing the military costumes of the 16 states founded throughout history by Turks, staged a dress show on the stairs of the palace. The states ruled Asia, Europe and Africa, but it remains a mystery as to why they paraded in Abbas’ honor. In spite of the nationwide surprise, the Palestinian leader succeeded in maintaining his composure throughout the flamboyant carnival devised especially for him.
Social media users quickly got down to work, suggesting fresh ideas to impress foreign dignitaries and show them how fascinating, strong and creative Turkey is.
Some suggested calling R2-D2 and other Star Wars heroes, although Yoda’s ailing health might be a problem if he isn't informed in advance.

Nasrallah: Hezbollah prepared for war deep into Israel, beyond the Galilee

Hezbollah is prepared for military intervention in Israel's Galilee and beyond, deeper into Israeli territory, the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen TV to be aired Thursday evening.
"We have made all necessary preparations for a future war with Israel," Nasrallah said.
He vowed that the group would not stay quiet in the face of attacks attributed to Israel in Syria. "We will provide an answer for every attack against Syria," he said.
"We have military abilities that will deliver us the victory against Israel," Nasrallah threatened. "The military capability of the resisitance has not been damaged, and if Israel thinks differently, it is wrong."
In excerpts of the interview that were previously released on Wednesday, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah has more types of weapons than Israel can imagine.
According to the Hezbollah leader, Israel is interested in a conflict that would be a landslide victory for it, however he claims that such a win is completely unrealistic. "If Israel attacks Lebanon, our resistance is strong and our ability to win is great."

Washington Post journalist indicted in Iran

A Washington Post journalist detained in Iran for months has been indicted and will stand trial, Iran’s state news agency reported Wednesday, without elaborating on what charges he faced.
The report by the official IRNA news agency came the same day as US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif before talks with world powers resume over the Islamic Republic’s contested nuclear program.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the two events were connected, though Zarif earlier said he hoped the case against reporter Jason Rezaian could be “resolved.”

Rouhani Announces Iran is Building Two New Nuclear Plants

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on Tuesday plans to construct two new nuclear power plants to increase the country’s nuclear-generated power output, Iran’s state-run Fars News Agency reported.
“Construction of two new power plants will increase the capacity of Bushehr province’s power generation to 2,000 megawatts,” Rouhani said in a meeting with investors.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rouhani visited the Bushehr nuclear power plant and claimed the country is pursuing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The United States, Israel and many of the world’s powers have long suspected that Iran is, in fact, pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Iranian FM Says Charlie Hebdo Satire Undermines “Serious” Dialogue

In remarks ahead of his meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva, Iranian foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the depictions of Mohammad by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were “provocative,” and undermined efforts to “engage in a serious dialogue,” Bloomberg News reported today.
While Zarif offered a general condemnation of terror, he was specific in his criticism of the satirical weekly, whose offices were attacked last week leaving twelve people dead. “We disapprove of provocative moves and this weekly’s undertaking is insulting and will provoke the feelings of Muslims,” Zarif said.
When asked about the latest edition of the magazine that was published since the deadly assault on its offices, Zarif insisted that this endangered the possibility of dialogue between Iran and the West, “We believe that sanctities need to be respected. We won’t be able to engage in a serious dialogue if we start disrespecting each other’s values.”

Palestinians admit attack on Wuppertal synagogue

One 24-year-old man told a court in Wuppertal that the group had carried out the attack in despair at violence in their homeland between the Israeli armed forces and Palestinians.
But while they wanted to "send a signal", he say they did not want to set fire to the place of worship or hurt anyone.
The man's two accomplices, an 18-year-old and a 29-year-old, admitted their parts in the attack as well.
Armed with home-made firebombs, the men approached the synagogue and threw the makeshift weapons on the night of Sunday July 28th.
A security camera at a petrol station captured two of the accused filling bottles with diesel, while a neighbour alerted the police.

German town mulls housing refugees in Buchenwald

Asylum-seekers in Germany may be housed in a former Nazi concentration sub-camp under plans being mulled by a town that have sparked criticism, reports said Tuesday.
Faced with an influx of refugees fleeing war-torn places such as Syria, Germany is scrambling to accommodate new arrivals, resorting to converted schools and makeshift villages of freight containers.
But town authorities in Schwerte in western Germany are considering moving around 20 asylum-seekers into a former satellite camp of Buchenwald, according to several German media outlets.
Buchenwald was one of the largest and most notorious Nazi concentration camps on German soil in World War II.

In a town built on Jewish headstones, still no fixing what the Nazis destroyed

A frozen, stony tendril pokes through the damp leaves clumped along the base of one of the burned out houses of the Warburg Colony, where destitute Jews were provided homes after World War I. Nearby, surrounded by leaf litter, plastic bottles, pill packs and condom wrappers, some engraved stone books show through, and beneath them Hebrew letters in the memory of “a man young in years, plucked at the age of 23.” These are decorations atop two Jewish gravestones, two among thousands demolished by the Soviets six decades ago that have surfaced in this western Belarusian city over the past decade.
Since they began turning up after the fall of the USSR, efforts to preserve the headstones have failed to make any progress. Members of the tiny local community have even turned to Israel and the US of late, without much success, for help in erecting a monument to the thousands of Jews who once called this border town home.
Most of the stones that have been collected have, in an ironic historical twist, found refuge a 15-minute drive from the old Warburg Colony at the Brest Fortress, a 19th century Russian fortification straddling the confluence of the Muchavets and Bug rivers, which now serves as a shrine to Soviet soldiery.

‘Answering Hitler’ with great-grandkid 100

Calling it their “answer to Hitler,” an Israeli couple who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s, reached an emotional milestone as they welcomed their 100th great-grandchild to the world.
Michael and Marion Mittwoch, who were among the founders of Kibbutz Lavi in the lower Galilee, were both born in Germany, and fled separately to England after the Nazis came to power.
Their latest great-grandson was named Dagan Raz during his circumcision ceremony this week, after Captain Dagan Wertman, who fell in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. Wertman was in officers’ school with the baby’s father Gadi, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Gadi and his wife Noa live in the West Bank settlement Ofra with their five children.

Israeli short ‘Aya’ nominated for Oscar

“Aya,” a delicately intimate short, directed and produced by three graduates of Jerusalem’s Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, is one of five nominated for the 2015 Oscars.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made the announcement Thursday, several days after it announced its plans to consider award-winning short films from the upcoming 2015 Jerusalem Film Festival for its Short Film awards category.
The announcements are an additional acknowledgement of Israel’s movie industry success, and the rising stature of short films in general, despite their brevity.
“Aya” was written by Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun with Tom Shoval, also a Sam Spiegel graduate. Hillel Rosenman, another Sam Spiegel graduate, produced the film with actor Yael Abecassis, his partner in Cassis Films.

Michael Douglas wins Genesis Prize

The actor and peace activist Michael Douglas has been named as the second recipient of the Genesis Prize, a $1 million award that recognizes great contributions to Jewish culture across the globe.
Douglas will be personally awarded his prize in Jerusalem on June 18 by both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky.
The Genesis Prize is an initiative of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Jewish Agency, in coordination with the Genesis Philanthropic Group, a cadre of Russian businessmen committed to bolstering Jewish identity among Russian Jewry and the greater Diaspora.

Prize memorializing murdered teens promotes unity, not uniformity

Much was said and written about the tremendous amount of Jewish unity that expressed itself last summer in the face of the kidnapping and murder of Israeli Jewish teenagers Gil-ad Shaer, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach by Palestinian terrorists. “Bring back our boys” became the rallying cry not only of citizens in Israel, but also of Jews in communities throughout the world in that tragic time.
Now, in an attempt to strengthen and perpetuate that sense of togetherness and mutual support, the families of the three slain boys, together with Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat and Gesher, an organization working to bridge gaps between different segments of Israeli society, have launched the Jerusalem Unity Prize. To be awarded on the first anniversary of the deaths of Shaer, Fraenkel and Yifrach, it will recognize individuals, organizations and social initiatives promoting unity among Jews in Israel, and between Israel and the Diaspora.
“We have been witness to many expressions of Jewish unity. What happened with the boys became a prism for this unity. There has been a ripple effect, and we had no idea how far these ripples would go,” Ophir Shaer, Gil-ad Shaer’s father, told The Times of Israel.
“We were especially amazed by the strong connection between the Diaspora and Israel that became apparent,” he said.
According to Anat Schwarz Weil, director of the Jerusalem Unity Prize, the idea for the prize came out of a conversation Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat had with the families when he visited them during the shiva mourning period following the boys’ burials on July 1, 2014.