Vic Rosenthal: Western morality and Islamic jihad
In order to survive, we must adopt a different world-view, one that – just as a small example – embraces the Talmudic principle that “when they rise up to kill you, come and kill them first” and rejects the idea that “terrorists are people too.”Noor Dahri: The difference between Palestinian resistance and terrorism: Hamas aren’t freedom fighters
Survival will require a more particularistic world-view in which our culture is considered more worthy of continuing than theirs. In this view, enemies are enemies, people to fight, not empathize with. If they try to kill our civilian populations, we must kill theirs too. Deterrence comes from fear, and fear is created by disproportionate responses, not offers to surrender territory. Honor – a concept that has been all but forgotten by the West – is of supreme importance to the jihadists, and we must maintain ours. A man or a nation without honor becomes a target. Killing terrorists who have tried to murder our people, whether on the spot (preferable) or with a sure and speedy death penalty, is a way of preserving our honor.
This kind of moral system is not barbarism. It was commonly accepted several decades ago, and would have been recognized by Churchill, Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Thatcher. The ‘evolution’ of what we call morality since their day, which has brought us multiculturalism, post-colonialism, the insane political correctness in our universities, the UN Human Rights Commission, B’Tselem and Peace Now, has failed to stand against the assault of the Islamic jihad. It will not protect our culture, but rather will lead to its destruction at the hands of the true barbarians at our gates.
It’s time for a massive rethinking. Is it even possible that the West can turn itself around, can re-embrace the values that defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan? And can it change attitudes and behavior in time to save itself? I have no idea.
But I suggest we start here in Israel by dropping the charges against the soldier who simply did the job of every soldier from the beginning of warfare: he killed the enemy.
I am heeding to the baseless statement of every Muslim organisation and individual that advocates that the Palestinians are resisting for their rights, their freedom and their stolen land. I asked them many questions regarding the difference between terrorism and resistance, but they could not satisfy me. We cannot label any individual as a terrorist or a freedom fighter but have to examine them through a clear definition of terrorism and Guerrilla warfare.Killing an injured terrorist may be wrong, but it isn't murder either
No doubt, there are 109 definitions of terrorism in the universe but the basic elucidation of terrorism is that mostly civilians have been targeted to attain a political goal. The majority of Muslims experts understand that terrorism and killing of innocent people is prohibited in Islam. Therefore, they do not support any type of terrorism but when the matter of Israel-Palestine raises, they change their posture and support Palestinian terrorism and justify it by stating that Israel is committing atrocities against the Palestinians. Why do they have a double standard when the situation comes to the Israel?
This is the ideology of anti-Semitism. I call it an ideology because hatred towards Jews is their religious obligation to perform whatever the social condition of the person, s/he gives birth to hate Israel and its Jewish citizens.
Well, it wasn't. In fact, after half a year of daily attacks (and decades of brutal terrorism before that), that one soldier may have lost his calm and shot a would-be murderer in the head is far less worthy of outrage than the daily acts of Arab terror we have sadly become inured to. If anything, we should give pause for thought to just how few such incidents have occurred in spite of the huge pressure and constant dangers faced by IDF soldiers.
To those who answer with the predictable "we should be better than them," I would say that - apart from being a fundamentally racist sentiment (why are "we" better than "them"?) - I personally have no desire to be held to a "higher standard" than anyone else. "Higher standards," too, are a form of racism, particularly when - as is the case with Israel in the kangaroo court of international opinion - they magically apply only to our obligations, but afford us no greater rights or legitimacy.
So, as Israel navigates the difficult yet crucial task of enforcing the rule of law even on the complex and morally challenging battlefield, we must resist the urge to leap to uninformed conclusions, as well as the groupthink which pushes us to sympathize with the terrorist as a victim, and to view the soldier as a cold-blooded killer.
What happens subsequently is up to the military court to decide, and we should be proud of the State of Israel for that.
JPost Editorial: Hebron’s lesson
Judging from the video taken by a volunteer for the human rights organization B’Tselem, the soldier who shot an incapacitated Palestinian terrorist in Hebron on Thursday violated basic military rules of engagement. The controversy surrounding the incident has, however, become so politicized and polarized that it is difficult to formulate a clear and dispassionate position on the matter.Ya’alon scolds political haymaking over Hebron shooting
On one side of the controversy is the military establishment led by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, who severely criticized the soldier’s conduct. Eisenkot said the soldier’s behavior reflected neither the IDF’s nor Jewish values.
Ya’alon said the soldier violated combat ethics, adding, “We must know how to win while remaining human.”
On the other side of the controversy are a number of politicians, the soldier’s family and friends and his many supporters who are outraged by the idea that a patriotic soldier has been villainized even before a proper investigation has been conducted. As one family member put it, “Some of us are confused about who is the soldier and who is the terrorist.”
Truth can be found on both sides.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Sunday harshly criticized ministers and members of Knesset, accusing them of seeking to achieve personal political gain in the case of the questionable deadly shooting of a Palestinian by an IDF soldier in Hebron.MDA investigation vindicates soldier's version of events
“In the last few days, irresponsible ministers and members of the Knesset are carrying out an incitement campaign — unprecedented in its severity — against the IDF, the commander of the IDF, and against senior officers,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
“Instead of [showing] national responsibility they are showing unparalleled unruliness, for cynical political reasons, even at the cost of harming the IDF, its soldiers and commanders, and likewise harming Israel’s national fortitude. In the fervor of this campaign, it is not the IDF that is their priority, nor its strength, but populist considerations and [Internet] talkbacks.”
In the incident, the soldier was filmed by an activist of the radical leftist NGO B'Tselem shooting a terrorist on the ground, minutes after the terrorist together with an accomplice stabbed and wounded a soldier. The soldier has been arrested and charged with murder.Autopsy of Palestinian could determine fate of IDF shooter in Hebron
The MDA committee submitted its findings on Monday to the organization's director Eli Bein, and in doing so gave backing to the soldier's defense - the soldier insists he shot the terrorist over concerns he was moving to detonate a bomb belt that was thought to be hidden under his unseasonable coat.
MDA deputy director Ronen Bashari led the committee which, following an in-depth investigation, came to several key conclusions.
Most significantly, the committee determined that at the scene of the attack concerns that the terrorist had an explosive or some other weapon on him had not been ruled out. The terrorist lay on the ground wearing a heavy coat despite the warm weather, and no security source had ruled out the concerns.
In such circumstances MDA teams are forbidden from treating terrorists, and therefore the teams behaved according to regulations by not approaching the terrorist.
The lawyer for the Kfir Brigade soldier suspected of murdering a terrorist in Hebron on Thursday after the Palestinian was immobilized said Sunday night that the autopsy could be a boon for his client’s defense.Moving Facebook Post Defending IDF Infantryman Accused of ‘Executing’ Terrorist Goes Viral as Social Media Survey Says Most Israelis Support His Action
The Palestinian and an accomplice had attacked another soldier with knives, and then was wounded. He is seen on a video, which immediately went viral, lying on the ground motionless for an extended period until the accused soldier, who arrived after the attack, suddenly, and seemingly without cause, shoots the Palestinian dead, causing blood to pour out of his head.
Defense lawyer Ilan Katz argued that the autopsy of the terrorist could save the soldier from both murder and manslaughter charges if it shows that he was already fatally wounded and would have died from his earlier wounds.
The Facebook post of a former IDF soldier has gone viral since it was uploaded on Saturday night, with nearly 23,000 shares so far and almost 3,000 comments.The Mottle Wolfe Show: Staying True to our Moral Compass
The post, written by Dror Zicherman, is a defense of the soldier accused of “murdering” a Palestinian terrorist who committed a stabbing attack in Hebron on Thursday. According to initial charges, the soldier shot the assailant — one of two terrorists committing the attack — after he was already restrained.
The incident is causing a storm in Israel, with a Buzzilla survey reported by Israel’s Channel 2 concluding that 82 percent of social media users in the country have been expressing support for the soldier and his actions, which have been publicly condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a cross section of Israel’s political and defense establishment.
Yishai Fleisher and Mottle go at it over the video that allegedly shows an Israeli soldier shooting a terrorist after he has been neutralized. Also an Election 2016 update.PA tells UN to investigate soldier's shooting of terrorist
The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Monday asked the UN to investigate "extrajudicial killings" by Israel, in the wake of an incident in Hevron last Thursday in which an IDF soldier shot a wounded Arab terrorist.PMW: Fatah sanctions stabbing attacks against Israelis
The soldier has been jailed and accused of murder for shooting the terrorist, who minutes earlier together with an accomplice stabbed and wounded a soldier. The soldier has argued he shot the terrorist over concerns he was about to detonate a bomb belt that was thought to be hidden under his unseasonable coat.
PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday that Israeli investigations in the past did not "serve justice," and he claimed Israel has been "rewarded with impunity," reports the Associated Press.
Emphasizing its support for stabbing attacks against Israelis, Abbas' Fatah movement posted a photo of a knife on Twitter, claiming that young Palestinians "follow this path" because Israel "forces" them to:Mahmoud Abbas: I Will Not Allow Armed Intifada; Arab Spring Resulted from Constructive Anarchy Plan
"Israel is forcing the young Palestinians to follow this path to Jerusalem.
Leave our land, you, your occupation, and your soldiers, and let us live in peace."
[Official Fatah Twitter account, March 27, 2016]
The image shows a knife with the Dome of the Rock in the center of it.
Throughout the current wave of terror attacks, the Palestinian Authority and Fatah leaders have claimed complete innocence, accusing Israel of provoking Palestinians to attack in
"self-defense." Even Mahmoud Abbas himself has presented this spin on reality.
Palestinian Media Watch documented that less than a week after Palestinians had murdered 4 Israeli civilians, Abbas said:
"The Palestinian side did not attack and did not do anything against the Israelis... We have to protect our holy sites."
[Official PA TV, Oct. 6, 2015 and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 7, 2015]
In fact, PA and Fatah leaders have promoted and endorsed attacks incessantly.
Death toll from Brussels terror attacks rises to 35
Belgian officials on Monday raised the death toll from last week’s devastating Islamic State suicide attacks on Brussels airport and the metro to 35.US says 2 more Americans dead in Brussels attacks
Officials from the government’s crisis center said 31 people died at the two attack sites and four had died in hospital. Three bombers were also killed.
“The prosecutor has figures for the people who died at the scene of the crime… and the health authority is responsible for the people who died in hospital in the hours following the attacks,” Belgian prosecutors’ spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch told reporters.
Belgian authorities had lowered the toll to 28 over the weekend from 31, before raising it back to 31 on Sunday night.
Health Minister Maggie De Block tweeted: “Four patients deceased in hospital. Medical teams did all possible. Total victims: 35. Courage to all the families.”
The US State Department on Sunday confirmed the deaths of two more Americans in the Brussels suicide attacks, bringing the total number to four.Belgian official says he’d ‘kill each and every Jew’
“We can confirm the deaths of two additional US citizens in Brussels, and we express our deepest condolences to their loved ones,” a State Department official said.
The department had reported Friday that two Americans were killed and that additional US citizens were missing.
“We have no further information to share out of respect for the families during this difficult time,” the official said Sunday.
An American couple that had been reported missing, Justin and Stephanie Shults, were confirmed dead by an employer and family on Saturday. It was unclear whether they were among the four reported dead by the State Department.
A Belgian municipal security officer is facing dismissal after saying he would kill “each and every Jew” during a debate on Facebook this past Friday.ISIS terror cell behind Brussels attacks ‘plotted Easter church massacres in UK'
“The word Jew itself is dirty. If I were in Israel, frankly, I would do to the Jews what they do with the Palestinians — slaughter each and every one of them,” wrote the officer, who was only referred to as Mohamed N. in Belgian media.
The debate quickly spiraled as the officer ignored requests from others in the discussion to tone down his statements, according to a report in Belgian paper Le Soir.
The officer was going by the pseudonym Bebeto Gladiateur.
According to Belgian media the man was a “guardian of the peace” — an official force dedicated to maintaining security and serving as a deterrent to neighborhood crime, but one that does not wield police powers.
Expert bomb-makers based in Germany are believed to be pulling the strings and are thought to be plotting more attacks after the explosions last week that claimed 31 lives.Dutch arrest Frenchman suspected of planning attack in France
As fears mounted, Belgian police yesterday charged a man with terrorist offences, but declined to comment on suggestions that he was the man seen in a white coat and hat with two suicide bombers at Brussels airport.
The suspect became one of the most-wanted men in the world after the explosions.
The man charged was named by local media as Faycal Cheffou, a freelance film-maker and journalist, who was arrested on Thursday evening.
He was one of 12 people arrested on Thursday and Friday in raids in Belgium, France and Germany.
One, Reda Kirket, 34, held in a Paris suburb, was said to be in the advanced stage of planning an attack. Explosives and Kalashnikov rifles were found.
European security expert Claude Moniquet said the Brussels bombers had originally planned Easter outrages but brought forward their attacks following the arrest of failed Paris suicide bomber Salah Abdeslam.
Mr Moniquet said: “Intelligence agencies are increasingly confident that Tuesday’s attackers were supposed to be part of a synchronised strike and originally planned to hit their targets on Easter Monday.
Dutch police on Sunday arrested a 32-year-old French national in the port city of Rotterdam on suspicion of planning a terror attack, prosecutors said, in a raid carried out at the request of French authorities.IS said to aim cyber ‘second strike’ against terror targets
The 32-year-old man is thought to have been planning an attack in France in the name of the Islamic State group along with Reda Kriket, a 34-year-old terror suspect who was detained near Paris on Thursday, a French police source told AFP.
“French authorities on Friday requested the arrest of this French national,” the Dutch prosecutor’s office said in a statement, adding that the man was suspected “of preparing a terrorist attack.”
The statement made no mention of any connection with the November attacks in Paris.
Terror attacks are often followed, in an extra strike of cruelty, by major cyber-attacks on the targeted country, according to data gathered by Israeli cyber-security firm Cytegic.Europe’s Vacation from History Ends
Such second strike attacks then provoke a response by anti-terror cyber-activists, with the result that a country could find its networks paralyzed for days because of the huge strain, just when communication is especially vital.
Cytegic researchers have been observing this pattern for months, and the best example to date is the activity in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris last November – activity that has repeated itself in the days since the Brussels attack last week.
According to this pattern, cyber-attacks peak about four days after the actual terror attack, and the attacks encompass major sectors of the economy, especially government, media, and the financial sector.
It was not long ago — in 2013 to be precise — that Edward Snowden’s revelations had created hysteria about NSA surveillance in both the US and Europe. European states rushed to strengthen data privacy and to limit cooperation with Washington. Meanwhile, President Obama instituted steps to limit NSA authorities and Congress passed the 2015 USA Freedom Act which watered down the 2001 Patriot Act and made it harder to keep track of terrorists — most notably by ending the NSA’s authority to maintain a database of “metadata” on phone calls.Many millions of Muslims 'fundamentally incompatible with the modern world', says Tony Blair
The Brussels attacks revealed the price of this ACLU approach to fighting terrorists. It is now obvious that this tragedy, in which at least 30 innocent people were killed and hundreds injured, could have been avoided if only the European Union in general, and Belgium in particular, had systems in place for intelligence-sharing of the kind that the Patriot Act created by tearing down the artificial wall between intelligence and law-enforcement agencies.
The Turkish government has come forward to announce that it had detained Ibrahim el-Bakraouni, one of the suicide bombers, and had deported him to the Netherlands but he was released after Belgium said it had no evidence that he was involved in terrorism. His brother, Khalid, another of the suicide bombers, had been wanted since the Paris attacks in November, which were carried out by the same network. We don’t know why he wasn’t apprehended, but Belgium’s overly-restrictive rules on police activity, which, inter alia, make it illegal stage raids from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., probably contributed to his ability to roam free.
More broadly, the attacks reveal the cracks in European security, which allow terrorists to move freely from the EU into Syria and back again. As EU official Dimitris Avramopoulos admitted, “The perpetrators of the recent terrorist acts, they were all somehow known to the local intelligence authorities, but they didn’t do anything because they were not sharing information.”
Tony Blair has said that "many millions" of Muslims hold a viewpoint that is "fundamentally incompatible with the modern world."BBC Radio London provides a platform for conspiracy theories
Rejecting arguments that Isis is simply "tens of thousands of brainwashed crazies," he continued: "[Isis] does not seek dialogue but dominance. It cannot therefore be contained. It has to be defeated."
To mitigate against such attacks, the ex-PM argued for "active on-the-ground military support" for Arab armies, stating that Isis "have to be crushed."
He also called for the creation of a pan-national anti-terror force, saying: "We must build military capability able to confront and defeat the terrorists wherever they try to hold territory. This is a challenge for the West."
In relation to the Brussels attack two days previously, from around 22:17 ‘Steve in Streatham’ told listeners that:Israel tells its citizens to get out of Turkey now
“This is a terrorist false flag. Anyone who knows about false flags will know that these covert operations include Israel’s Mossad, the CIA and MI5 to blame other countries for their agenda in the Middle East and this is what’s going on time and time again. […] Those Zionists out there that are doing all this, they wanna blame certain sections of people to achieve their agenda of taking over the Middle East….”
Describing his guest’s views as “pretty contentious”, Rogers continued the conversation and even encouraged him to elaborate on his conspiracy theories so that listeners were exposed to the notion that:
“Obviously…there are terrorists about – I’m not denying they’re not terrorists [sic] – but a lot of the cases they train them up and they’re joining in with them – as sick as it might sound – they’re joining in with them, turning the gun on the terrorists at the last minute and getting away with it.”
And:
“OK: let’s get this straight, right. America and Israel are the biggest terrorists in the world.”
The Counter-Terrorism Bureau at the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday issued a travel warning calling on the public to avoid visiting Turkey and urging Israelis currently there to leave as soon as they can.NSA chief ‘makes secret Israel trip to talk Iran, Hezbollah cyber-warfare’
The warning, which raised the terror risk in Turkey from level 3 (basic concrete threat) to level 2 (high concrete threat), came in the wake of a terror attack in central Istanbul on March 19, in which three Israelis were killed and several others wounded.
That attack, the PMO said in a statement, underscored the threat emanating from Islamic State cells that seek to attack tourism sites and proved that IS has “high capabilities of carrying out further attacks.”
“Terrorist infrastructures in Turkey continue to advance additional attacks against tourist targets – including Israeli tourists – throughout the country,” the statement added.
Israelis in Turkey should “leave as soon as possible,” it said.
The director of the US National Security Agency, Admiral Michael Rogers, reportedly paid a secret visit to Israel last week to discuss cooperation in cyber-defense, in particular to counter attacks by Iran and its Lebanon-based proxy Hezbollah.New logistics trailers set to enhance IDF ground offensives
Haaretz newspaper quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that the NSA chief, who also heads the US’s Cyber Command, made the trip to meet with the commanders of the IDF’s famed 8200 intelligence unit, which specializes in signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption. Rogers also met with other senior Israeli intelligence officials, Haaretz said late Sunday, but not IDF Chief Gadi Eisenkot or Military Intelligence director Herzl Halevi.
Over the last two years, Israel has been targeted by a number of cyber-attacks. Officials say hackers affiliated with the Iranian government and Hezbollah, a Shiite terror group long at war with Israel, were behind some of the infiltration attempts.
Command is set to receive dozens of advanced logistical trailers for heavy armored vehicles, designed to improve the ability of units to conduct lengthy offenses.Hamas, Fatah said to agree to elections within 6 months
The two-wheeled Backtrails, produced by the Netanya- based Urdan company, took four years to develop, and came after the IDF experienced severe logistical failures during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, according to Avi Raz, military marketing manager at Urdan.
In 2006, IDF armored vehicles ran out of fuel and water 80 kilometers into Lebanon, and had to return to Israel under Hezbollah sniper and roadside bomb attack, Raz said. Following the war, the army resolved to prevent this from happening again, and Urdan began developing trailer models, and testing them with infantry brigades in a variety of terrain.
Now, the military is acquiring the trailers, which can carry 8 tons of logistical equipment, and be attached to all IDF tanks currently in service.
They can also be linked up to armored personnel vehicles such as the Namer and the Achzarit, and to the Puma infantry fighting vehicle, though not to the M113 APC, which is too light to pull the trailers.
Palestinian rival factions Fatah and Hamas have agreed to form a unity government and hold parliamentary elections within six months, a senior official said on Monday.2 East Jerusalemites charged with Islamic State bomb plot
Mohammed Ashtiya, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, said that representatives from the two organizations had reached some understandings toward reconciliation during meetings begun in February in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
The sides agreed to establish a national unity government encompassing Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian factions and to hold elections for the legislative council and the presidency within six months.
They also agreed that the unity government would work according to Palestine Liberation Organization guidelines, Ashtiya said. However, he did not make any reference to some of the more critical issues that have divided Hamas and Fatah, such as the fate of prisoners, political arrests, and the return of Palestinian Authority rule to the Gaza Strip.
Two residents of an Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood were charged Monday with attempting to attack Israeli security forces with an explosive in the name of the Islamic State terror group.Egypt rejects Saudi label of Hezbollah as a terror organization
Mouasab Elian, 23, and Samir Abed Rabbo, 38, both of Sur Baher, are accused of plotting to manufacture an explosive and detonate it against a vehicle belonging to Israeli security forces in 2015.
The indictment, served by the state prosecutor in Jerusalem District Court, charges the pair with several offenses, including membership in an illegal organization, membership in a terror group, supporting a terror group and contacting foreign agents.
According to the indictment, Elian attempted to travel to Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State after becoming a supporter of the terror group through a religious group he studied with in Jerusalem in 2014.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has refused to label Hezbollah as a terror organization, explaining that "this issue is to be decided by the Lebanese people."Nasrallah Threatens to Attack Israel's Nuclear, Petrochemical, Biological Facilities in a Future War
In an interview with the Egyptian daily newspaper al-Youm al-Saba'a, Shoukry evaded answering a question on whether Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, stating that he is not authorized to judge on the issue.
"Hezbollah's agenda focuses on Lebanon, which is an Arab sister state that faces great internal instability. The Lebanese people are the one to judge whether Hezbollah is a terror organization or not," Shoukry said.
In light of the Arab League's recent decision to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, Shoukry argued that "the Arab League's decision is related to Hezbollah's behavior, describing it as terror. However, the international community has not yet reached an agreed definition of 'terror.'"
Saudi Arabia doesn't need elections even though Syria does, ambassador claims
Elections are unnecessary in Saudi Arabia because its people are happier with the current system of government “than almost any other country in the world”, the kingdom's UN ambassador has claimed.ISIS Kidnaps, ‘Crucifies’ Indian Catholic Priest on Good Friday, After Killing 4 Nuns
Abdallah al-Mouallimi was challenged as to why the Saudis were calling for elections in Syria, but only allow limited municipal elections in their own country, where it is illegal to call for a change of government or publish criticism of the state.
Mr Al-Mouallimi, the Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, was grilled on the point in an interview for Al Jazeera by British journalist Mehdi Hasan.
Mr Hasan asked: “If the people of Syria should get to choose their own head of state, why not the people in Saudi Arabia as well?”
Mr Al-Mouallimi responded: “Elections are not the panacea for everything. Just because there are elections in Syria doesn’t mean there have to be elections in Saudi.
The Indian Catholic priest kidnapped by ISIS-linked terrorists in Yemen earlier this month was crucified on Good Friday, it has been claimed.In Pakistan, Taliban's Easter bombing targets, kills scores of Christians
Father Thomas Uzhunnalil, 56, was taken by Islamist gunmen, reportedly linked to ISIS, who attacked an old people’s home in Aden, southern Yemen, killing at least 15 people, on March 4.
The terrorists reportedly carried out the heinous murder on Good Friday, after threatening to do so earlier in the week, according to the Archbishop of Vienna.
On Easter Sunday, a crisp spring day, some of the city's Christian population mingled with their Muslim neighbors, celebrating in a neighborhood park -- taking their kids on rides or pushing them on swings. Then, the sound of tragedy.Turkey Begins Releasing Jailed ISIS Members to Make Room for Journalists (satire)
Without warning, a blast tore through the park, killing indiscriminately.
Because of the innocent setting, an unusually high number of those injured were women and children. But the attack, claimed by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, intentionally targeted Christians, the perpetrators say.
The suicide blast, in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore, killed at least 69 people, a local government spokesman told CNN.
More than 341 others were injured, according to Punjab government spokesperson Jehangir Awan.
Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan announced that his country will begin releasing hundreds of members of the terror group ISIS, saying there is no longer room in the prisons for both them and the influx of journalists being rounded up by security forces.
“With increasing numbers of Turks tragically choosing to commit the crime of Journalism, we simply could not hold both these criminals and the misguided ISIS recruits,” Erdogan told The Mideast Beast. “They say ‘The pen is mightier than the sword.’ Well I promise my citizens that while I may not protect them from terrorism, I will protect them from having to read bad things about me in the newspaper.”
While Erdogan acknowledged the barbarity of recent ISIS attacks in Istanbul and Ankara, he said they were not nearly as devastating as those carried out recently by news reporters, who are accused of publishing reports on the government’s activity.
“The terrorists who blow themselves up may kill innocent people, but that pales in comparison to the violence journalists like Can Dündar and Erdem Gül commit against my feelings,” Erdogan said, referencing two reporters facing lifetime sentences for publishing articles critical of the government. “This wouldn’t be an issue if these damn reporters didn’t force me to imprison them.”
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