Georgia and Israel Join Forces to Defeat Shared Threats

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Photo Credit: Ilia Yefimovich / Getty

Photo Credit: Ilia Yefimovich / Getty

By Christopher Collins.

In a release sent to the news media on Sunday by the Deal for Governor Communications office, the state of Georgia, which buys millions in Israeli bonds annually, is currently engaged in cooperation with Israel on the front lines from anti-terrorism and cyber-security to trade and investment policy.

The write-up by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton also appeared in the Washington Times said that as the U.S.-Israel bilateral relationship deteriorates at the national level, our states, local institutions and businesses are actually forging ever-closer relations with key Israeli institutions.

Relations between President Obama and his administration and the government of Israel has reached an all-time low to the point where Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Obama and his administration to back off and to stop second-guessing him on how he is dealing with Hamas.

Part of the fostering anger stems from Secretary of State, John Kerry’s proposal in calling for negotiations on Hamas demands, including opening border crossings into Gaza and relaxed boating restrictions off the Gaza coast. In addition, its language reportedly upgraded Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, to an equal plane with Israel, something that is annoying Netanyahu.

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Israel Strikes Gaza as Troops Start Redeploying

By Associated Press.

Israel struck several targets in Gaza on Sunday as ground troops began a gradual redeployment in some locations along the border area, a day after the government signaled it would scale back its 27-day-old offensive.

Israel had earlier said that a soldier it had feared captured by Hamas militants was instead killed alongside two other soldiers Friday near the southern town of Rafah in an ambush that shattered a cease-fire and ignited heavy shelling, leaving dozens of Palestinians dead.

On Sunday artillery shells slammed into two high-rise office buildings in downtown Gaza City and large explosions could be heard seconds apart, police and witnesses said. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said 30 Palestinians were killed Sunday, including nine in a single strike in the southern Gaza Strip. Israel said it carried out 180 strikes Sunday.

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Lebanese TV Station Adds Arabic 'N' to Name to Protest Iraqi Christian Persecution (+video)

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Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Lebanese TV station LBCI is adding the Arabic letter “N” to its name in solidarity with Iraqi Christians, who are being persecuted for their faith by the jihadist terror group Islamic State. Supporters of Christians on social media adopted the Arabic “N” as a symbol after Islamic State terrorists used it to mark the homes of Christians in Mosul.

According to Lebanon’s Daily Star, the campaign began this week with anchor Dima Sadeq appearing on television wearing a shirt with the Arabic N on it and giving a monologue explaining the network’s support for Iraqi Christians (below, the only version of the remarks uploaded to YouTube, unfortunately without subtitles):

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Miller Slams Obama's Unconstitutional Decision to 'Act Alone' on Border/Immigration Crisis and Use of Taxpayer Dollars to Fly Illegals to Alaska

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10438981_866143176730895_688184825868931881_nToday, Joe Miller denounced President Obama’s plan to “Act alone” to address the nation’s border crisis, as yet another lawless act by a lawless administration. He also called out the President for using taxpayer dollars to fly illegals from the U.S.-Mexican border to Alaska and destinations throughout the United States.

“We are a nation of laws, and once again President Obama somehow believes he is above the law. He must be held to account,” said Miller. “The fact that this President finds it inconvenient to work with Congress, as the Constitution provides, does not mean that he has the authority to rule like a dictator. Now the media is reporting the Administration is flying illegal immigrants from Texas to Alaska on the taxpayer dime. Outrageous!”

Miller concluded, “The President swore an oath to faithfully execute the laws of the land and to protect and to defend the Constitution. He is not keeping his oath. The only remedy left to the people is to impeach him.”

Israel: Soldier Reported Captured was 'Killed in Battle'

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The soldier that Israel claimed Hamas militants captured Friday, as a temporary cease-fire to the conflict in Gaza rapidly unraveled, is dead, Israel’s military said.

“Lieutenant Hadar Goldin … was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip on Friday, August 1,” the Israel Defense Forces announced early Sunday.

It’s not clear whether Goldin, 23, was captured as the IDF had previously said, or whether he died alongside two other soldiers in an armed clash in Gaza. Military spokesman Peter Lerner said Goldin was promoted to lieutenant posthumously.

Speculation about his fate was already up in the air after the armed wing of Hamas, the al Qassam Brigades, announced it had lost contact with a group of its fighters in the Rafah area — the same area where Goldin was reportedly taken.

In a statement posted on its website, the militant group says it assumes all the fighters died in an Israeli airstrike, including possibly an Israeli soldier. The group — which denied having info on Goldin — stopped short of saying the soldier was captured, using the phrasing “assuming he was captured by the fighters.”

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72-Hour Truce in Gaza Ended in Less Than 2 Hours

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It was the start of a three-day truce, the best hope yet to end a 25-day-old war that has taken an enormous toll on both Palestinians and Israelis.

On Friday morning, Israeli troops were in the southern Gaza Strip preparing to destroy a Hamas tunnel, said Israeli military officials. Suddenly, Palestinian militants emerged from a shaft. They included a suicide bomber, who detonated his explosive device. In the chaos, two Israeli soldiers were killed. The militants grabbed 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23, and pushed him back through the tunnel, according to the Israeli account.

Within minutes, the war was back.

“The cease-fire is over,” declared Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a senior spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces. Ground operations will continue, he said, “and our aircraft are in the sky as we speak.”

By Friday afternoon, Israel was heavily shelling areas near the border city of Rafah, where the soldier’s capture occurred. Hamas officials were disputing the timeline of the clashes, accusing Israel of breaking the cease-fire. And the United States and the United Nations, the architects of the truce, were condemning the killing of the two soldiers and Goldin’s abduction while seeking ways to save the peace talks scheduled to take place in Cairo over the weekend.

Photo Credit: Washington Post

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Iraqi Christians' Nightmare

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Photo Credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye, AFP / Getty

Photo Credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye, AFP / Getty

Iraq’s Christians are begging the world for help. Is anybody listening?

Since capturing the country’s second largest city of Mosul in early June, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has ordered Christians to convert to Islam, pay jizya taxes levied on non-Muslims, or die. The extremist Sunni group is also persecuting and murdering Turkmen and Shabaks, both Muslim religious minorities.

Human rights lawyer Nina Shea described the horror in Mosul to me: “(ISIS) took the Christians’ houses, took the cars they were driving to leave. They took all their money. One old woman had her life savings of $40,000, and she said, ‘Can I please have 100 dollars?’, and they said no. They took wedding rings off fingers, chopping off fingers if they couldn’t get the ring off.”

“We now have 5,000 destitute, homeless people with no future,” Shea said. “This is a crime against humanity.”

For the first time in 2,000 years, Mosul is devoid of Christians. “This is ancient Nineveh we are talking about,” Shea explained. “They took down all the crosses. They blew up the tomb of the prophet Jonah. An orthodox Cathedral has been turned into a mosque. … They are uprooting every vestige of Christianity.” University of Mosul professor Mahmoud Al ‘Asali, a Muslim, bravely spoke out against ISIS’ purging of Christians and was executed.

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Anti-Jewish Slogans Return to the Streets in Germany as Mideast Protests Sweep Europe

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Photo Credit: Fabian Bromann / Creative Commons

Photo Credit: Fabian Bromann / Creative Commons

Before the start of a pro-Palestinian rally — one of the scores being staged almost daily here since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza — an organizer on a bullhorn yelled out the do’s and don’ts as ordered last week by the Berlin police.

No burning the Israeli flag. No shouts of “Death to Israel.” And absolutely no repeating the slogan “Jew, Jew, cowardly pig, come out and fight alone” — a rhyming chant in German that had become increasingly common at pro-Palestinian rallies here before being nipped in the bud by German authorities.

Some demonstrators may have said such things, conceded Leila El Abtah, a 29-year-old protester who is the daughter of a Palestinian father and a German mother. But, she insisted, even thoughtful criticism against Israel is being misinterpreted here as hate speech. “There are more of us speaking out about Israel now,” she said. “Because of what happened during Hitler’s day, it is making Germans nervous.”

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Afghan Girl, 10, Slated for Honor Killing After Being Raped

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

A 10-year girl in Afghanistan is in danger of being honor-killed by her family after being violently raped by a mullah in a local mosque after her Quran class. After the family openly talked about killing the girl, the mullah offered to marry her, claiming to the authorities that he thought the girl was 17 and that the sex was consensual.

After nearly dying from her injuries sustained during the rape due to a delay in medical care, “Women for Afghan Women,” a shelter for battered women and children arranged for the girl to be taken to a hospital. Her injuries included a severing of the wall between her vagina and rectum that caused hemorrhaging.

After her recovery, she was taken to a women’s shelter to protect her from her family.

Pictures taken of the girl to document the case show a small, pre-pubescent child whose weight at the time was about 40 pounds (about 18 kilos), according to the doctor.

Last week, the police were given orders to return the girl to her family, despite the fact that she will most likely be killed. Tuesday, the police entered the shelter and took the girl.

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Israeli Official To Obama: ‘Leave Us Alone’

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Photo Credit: MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty

Photo Credit: MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty

By CBS News/CBSDC/AP.

A top Israeli official wants President Barack Obama to stop meddling with the Jewish state during its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

Speaking to Israel’s Army Radio, Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel criticized Obama telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there should be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“Leave us alone,” Ariel told Army Radio, directing his words at Obama. “Go focus on Syria.”

Obama spoke with Netanyahu Sunday about the rising number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza and the worsening humanitarian crisis.

“Building on Secretary Kerry’s efforts, the President made clear the strategic imperative of instituting an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire that ends hostilities now and leads to a permanent cessation of hostilities based on the November 2012 ceasefire agreement,” the White House said in a statement, adding that the president reiterated that Israel has a right to defend itself from rocket attacks from Hamas.

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Molly Riley

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Molly Riley

Joan Rivers Slams Media On Israel-Gaza Coverage: Hamas Winning War ‘Because Of The PR’

By Jamie Weinstein.

Comedian Joan Rivers isn’t backing down from her outspoken support for Israel in its conflict against the terrorist group Hamas.

“Here we go again: If New Jersey was lobbing rockets over into New York, there would be no Newark,” Rivers said during an interview on Howard Stern’s radio show Monday, before quipping about the destruction of Newark: “Which is not such a terrible thing.”

Rivers says the media are handing Hamas a victory that the terrorist group isn’t earning on the battlefield.

“You know whose won this war? Hamas, because of the PR,” she said.

Asked by Stern why more celebrities are not speaking out in favor of Israel’s cause, Rivers lamented: “Because there is anti-Semitism all over the world and it breaks my heart.”

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US Accuses Russia of Violating 1987 Missile Treaty

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U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin talk before the first session of the G20 Summit in Los CabosThe Obama administration has accused Russia of violating a 1987 nuclear missile treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile and says the U.S. is prepared for immediate high-level dialogue with Moscow over the matter.

An administration official told Fox News in a statement that the violation “is a very serious matter which we have attempted to address with Russia for some time now.” The New York Times first reported the accusation.

President Obama informed Russian President Vladimir Putin in a letter Monday of the U.S.’ determination that Russia broke the agreement. The official said the U.S. is prepared to engage in “senior-level bilateral dialogue immediately” with Russia with the goal of assuring Washington that Moscow will return to compliance with the treaty.

“The United States is committed to the viability of the I.N.F. Treaty,” the official said. “We encourage Russia to return to compliance with its obligations under the Treaty and to eliminate any prohibited items in a verifiable manner.”

According to the Times, Russia started testing the missiles as early as 2008, and the Obama administration flagged them as a possible violation at the end of 2011.

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