TV News,
San Diego Radio,
Politics and News,
Sewing--The Sewing Herald Tribune....we need contributors, Travel....
Agree or Disagree....Please feel free to comment.....all comments appreciated and thank you for your time.....
and
food,dogs and cats......
let's sit down at this cafe, have a cup of coffee and talk about politics.
Relatives of 40 year-old Palestinian Jaber Abu Mustafa mourn over his body at the family house during his funeral in town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 12, 2018. Israeli troops fired live bullets and tear gas Friday across a border fence into Gaza where Palestinian protesters threw stones, burned tires and flew kites with burning rags attached. One protester was killed and 49 were wounded by Israeli fire, Gaza health officials said. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Saturday it was shutting down its main cargo crossing into Gaza after Palestinian protesters caused extensive damage to it, and that it had also destroyed an attack tunnel militants dug near its main pedestrian crossing.
The twin developments come ahead of a potentially charged week along the Israel-Gaza border as weekly protests being staged there are expected to culminate with a potential breach of the border and a surge in casualties.
Once again, thousands of Palestinians protested Friday in various locations along the frontier. Later, a group of Palestinians burned a fuel complex and conveyor belt on their side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, causing more than $9 million in damages and disrupting the import of diesel fuel and building materials, the military said. It said the attack rendered the main fuel and gas lines unusable and caused further damage to electrical infrastructure and other vital equipment.
The military said the Kerem Shalom crossing will be closed until further notice and not before the damage is repaired.
A lengthy closing of the crossing would deliver further devastation to Gaza's already dire humanitarian crisis. The fuel installation is the only way to bring diesel fuel into Gaza for operating generators for hospitals and other key facilities. The military distributed a video showing Palestinians cheering as a fire was set. It was the second such attack on the facility in a week, it said. "Hamas continues to lead the residents of Gaza to destroy the only assistance they receive," the army said.
Late Saturday, the military carried out several airstrikes in the northern Gaza strip, near the Erez border crossing, to destroy a Hamas tunnel that was being built there. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said the tunnel was being tracked for weeks and had been destroyed just a few meters (feet) inside Gaza. It's the sixth such Hamas tunnel Israel has destroyed in as many months thanks to the military's new technological means to detect and destroy them.
Hamas called the airstrikes a "failed attempt" to prevent it protests.
"Our people's response will come on Monday by marching" to the fence, it said in a statement.
Conricus said both incidents proved Israel's long-standing claim that Hamas, and other militant groups, were merely using the popular mass protests as cover for attacks against Israel. He said the military was doubling its troops along the border in advance of this week's protests and that Israel would not allow the area to become an active combat zone.
"This really shows the cynicism of the Hamas terror organization toward the citizens they are supposed to care for," Conricus told reporters. "Hamas is killing Gaza with its terrorist activities against civilian facilities."
An extended closing of the cargo crossing could be particularly painful. Cooking gas and fuel, which are delivered to Gaza through Kerem Shalom on a daily basis, are the first and most essential items likely to be affected. A fear of shortage had already engulfed Gaza late Saturday, as more cars were lining up at gas station to stock on diesel and gasoline.
The Hamas-run petrol authority in Gaza ordered that cooking gas not be provided to people with canisters on Sunday. "This is to measure how much we have and to see how much this can serve the citizens," said Khalil Shaqfa of the petrol authority.
Palestinians in Gaza have been staging weekly protests at the border fence against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The demonstrations have been organized by Gaza's Hamas rulers, but are fueled by despair among the territory's 2 million residents. The vast majority are barred from travel and trade, while the blockade has gutted the economy.
A Palestinian was killed and 175 were wounded by Israeli army fire on Friday. The Palestinian health ministry said a teenage boy died Saturday after he was shot in the head by Israeli fire on the Gaza-Israel border.
The death raises to 42 the number of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces since weekly protests began on March 30. More than 1,800 have been wounded. The coming week could see a further uptick in violence, as Palestinians are planning much larger protests to coincide with the United States relocating its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem on Monday and the 70th anniversary of their "nakba," or catastrophe — referring to their mass uprooting during the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation — on Tuesday.
Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking the border. Rights groups say the use of potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008. During the most recent conflict in 2014, Israel destroyed 32 tunnels and it has placed a high priority on halting the tunnel threat since Hamas infiltrated Israel during the war. Although they did not manage to reach civilian areas, the infiltrations caught Israel off guard, with one attack killing five soldiers, and terrified the local population.
Israel is building a subterranean barrier to detect and prevent attack tunnels. Israel says the barrier, as well as new technological innovations, have rendered the Hamas tunnel project futile.
Yes, it was embarrassing........very embarrassing.
At the coffee bar:
A very lovely older gentleman asked me, "Where are you from?"
Finding my location of residence to be the United States they asked my opinion of our president with passion.
Explaining endlessly: "He is not my president, I do not agree with him. I do not like his policies."
Repeatedly explaining to these very friendly and welcoming individuals, "I do not like what he has done."
"He does not have respect for the Arab countries," was the common complaint.
Why is he moving the embassy to Jerusalem?
It is an embarrassment for an American to travel in the Middle East and constantly have to apologize for donald trump--our very misinformed and ignorant president.
What does the United States stand for if not respecting all citizens of the world.
The same thing happened again:
Have you seen the candy shops in Ramallah?
Seriously, the food alone is worth the trip.
All the vendors are friendly and willing to chat.
I love the nougat candy.
Just wanting to purchase one piece of candy the shop keeper insisted I take one for free and enjoy a delicious cup of Arabic coffee.
The same question is asked again--Do I agree with donald trump--he has no respect for us.
The folks in the shops were so nice--so willing to chat--well dressed and well spoken--so eager to welcome me into their shop.
Fellow Americans, this very, very ignorant and insulting individual who poses as our president is a huge embarrassment when one constantly has to apologize for his insults and lack of respect.
Let's see if we can't eliminate him in our next election so we can hold our heads up as we visit Palestine and the Holy Land
Given the chaos of domestic news these days, its difficult for a good many issues to penetrate the media for any period of time. One of those issues is the extent to which the internet is being used for domestic radicalization and incitement to violence.
Certainly I'm not ignoring the foreign aspects of the information warfare being waged within social media, but with the launch of Killing King on the anniversary of MLK's assassination, Stu and I were both surprised to find virtually a total lack of interest in its implications related to contemporary acts of violence.
Given that, I though I would post a couple of excerpts from the one interview (VICE Magazine) we did where that subject was addressed. I'll put in the full interview link after those excerpts:
Larry Hancock: What's happening now is an enabling thing. Whenever these folks are able to get broad attention, as we saw during the 1960s, more recruiting happened. In 1967, the White Knights recruited young people. They used these people basically as their terrorist foot soldiers. They were young, relatively naive, and easily manipulated. It was the groups of older, more experienced radicals who actually were able to recruit young people like this and send them out on major terror attacks.
I'm afraid that's exactly what we're seeing now. If you look at the connections of some of the recent church shootings and school shootings, you will find that these are young people who have been radicalized by the same sort of racist, nativist network that has the same footprint that it did back in the 1960s.
Stuart Wexler:
There’s this giant continuum of Klan violence from the time the Klan was formed in the later 19th Century until the present. Wesley Swift’s influence on white supremacy is so profound that it's now in the ether of what the white supremacist movement breathes. Specifically the focus on a race war. This wasn't something that you saw as part of the motivation for racial violence before the 1960s. But in 1968, that's what we believe motivated the people to kill King, and in 2016, virtually everybody who commits these racist acts, people like Dylann Roof, they're talking about race war. That's because Wesley Swift’s Christian Identity ideas, over a period of five decades, filtered into the white supremacist movement. Even the groups that say they're not Christian Identity or that broke away from Christian Identity, this notion of a race war is very profound.
For those who might be skeptical that such groups still exist or are increasingly active - and that acts of violence result from their influence - you might check these two links:
WordPress.com
