Four Arab taxi drivers injured as Hamas mortars slam into Erez terminal

A man injured by a mortar shell is rushed to the emergency room after arriving at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon on August 24, 2014.
(photo credit: Edi Israel/Flash90)

From The Times of Israel

On Sunday afternoon, the Erez crossing point into Israel was hit by a barrage of fire from Gaza. Several Israeli-Arab taxi drivers — whose job is to transport Palestinians from Gaza for medical treatment in Israel — were hurt in the onslaught.

An outraged Israeli-Arab Erez crossing official, who spoke to Army Radio from a secured area at the crossing during a subsequent rocket attack, lambasted Hamas for not caring about the well-being of the Palestinians in Gaza.

“This is an organization that cares about the [Palestinian] people? They’re shooting at the Palestinian terminal,” said the staffer. He stressed that, despite the rocket barrages, the crossing had not closed for emergency medical cases, and that two Gaza females were evacuated “20 minutes ago” via the crossing for life-saving surgery in Israel, and that other taxi-drivers were on hand, “as always,” to transport emergency patients.

Hussein Abu-Einam, an eyewitness on the scene, told Army Radio: “The [drivers] sat in a shed and waited for the passengers and their relatives who were leaving Gaza for Israeli hospitals Ichilov and Tel Hashomer. Then seven shells fell — just one after the other. We didn’t have time to flee; it was a matter of a second.”

Palestinians regularly seek medical treatment in Israel – 180,000 of them in 2013. Even Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh sends his family to Israel for treatment; over the past two years, Israel has treated the terrorist’s granddaughter and his sister’s husband.

Palestinians in Gaza seeking medical aid in Israel generally use the Erez Crossing, and Israel has struggled to keep it open throughout Hamas’s current war against Israel.

Some 50 people were scheduled to use the Erez crossing Sunday, but after the barrage, Kamil Abu Rokan, the Director of the Crossings Point Authority of the Defense Ministry, and General Yoav Mordehai, the Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), closed the crossing to all traffic except for life-saving cases.

Eli Bean, head of Magen David Adom {the Israeli Red Cross}, said the paramedics who were dispatched to the crossing were forced to treat the injured taxi drivers under fire.

“During treatment, we were forced to deal with a number of sirens and mortar explosions fired at us. The mortar shells fell very close to those who were injured,” he said.

Up to 11 mortar and rocket rounds landed near the crossing, the army said.

The IDF said it retaliated against a hidden launch site in the northern Gaza Strip, from which the concentrated barrage was launched.

Last week, a temporary ceasefire ended when Palestinian terror groups in Gaza renewed rocket launches at Israel hours before the declared lull in fighting was due to expire. Exchanges of fire have continued unabated since, with near continuous rocket barrages emanating from Gaza and Israel launching airstrikes on Hamas targets across the coastal enclave.

Daniel Tragerman, murdered by Hamas, August 22, 2014.
May his memory be a blessing.

Four-year-old Daniel Tragerman of the southern Kibbutz Nahal Oz was killed by shrapnel on Friday, after a mortar shell exploded outside the Tragerman home. The family said they only had a three-second warning from when the siren sounded, and didn’t have enough time to enter the fortified room.

More than 570 missiles have been launched from Gaza into Israeli territory since Hamas broke the latest ceasefire on August 19, five days ago, the Foreign Ministry said.

Many of these have been launched from “various civilian facilities exploited by Hamas terrorists,” the ministry said in a press release.

Sentenced to 100 lashes for pre-marital sex: 15-year-old girl raped by stepfather who then murdered baby

The UN's vision of Human Rights

At the end of 2012, the Maldives was elected to a vice presidency of the UN Human Rights Council. The Maldives has a peculiar conception of human rights, but of course the UN already knew that…

From the Independent:

A teenage girl in the Maldives who was repeatedly raped by her stepfather has been ordered to receive 100 lashes after she confessed to having had pre-marital sex with another man. She is said to be deeply traumatised.

In an incident that has triggered widespread condemnation, the 15-year-old from the remote Feydhoo island was this week also ordered to spend eight months under house arrest. The flogging – handed down under a system of Shariah Law – will be carried out once the teenager reaches the age of 18 though she can ask it to be brought forward if she wishes.

The Maldives receives around 700,000 international visitors every year, lured its pristine beaches and shimmering oceans. But the archipelago Muslim nation has in recent years become increasingly conservative and more fundamental forms of Islam have gathered influence.

Under the country’s laws, pre-marital sex is a a crime and those found guilty are often flogged. In September 2012, a court ordered the public flogging of a 16-year-old woman who had confessed to premarital sex, while in the summer of 2009 a pregnant 18-year-old woman received 100 lashes in public after she admitted to having sex with two different men.

According to the Minivan news, the teenager involved in the latest case was sentenced following a police investigation that found she had been repeatedly raped by her stepfather.  In the summer of 2012, the teenager gave birth to the step-father’s baby, which he allegedly killed and buried beneath an outdoor shower area in their home.

During questioning by the police, the teenager reportedly confessed to having had consensual sex with another male. It is unclear whether this individual has been identified, traced or charged. Meanwhile, the teenager’s stepfather faces up to 25 years in jail if he is convicted of rape and murder.

A spokesman for President Mohamed Waheed, Masood Imad, told AFP that the teenager should be treated as a victim rather than a perpetrator of a crime. However, he added: “She is not going to be lashed to cause her pain... rather, it is for her to feel the shame for having engaged in activity forbidden by the religion.”

Two stories from Saudi Arabia: Police arrest dozens for "plotting to celebrate Christmas" & Saudi liberal faces death penalty

Saudi religious police stormed a house in the Saudi Arabian province of al-Jouf, detaining more than 41 guests for “plotting to celebrate Christmas,” a statement from the police branch released Wednesday night said.

The raid is the latest in a string of religious crackdowns against residents perceived to threaten the country's strict religious code.

The host of the alleged Christmas gathering is reported to be an Asian diplomat whose guests included 41 Christians, as well as two Saudi Arabian and Egyptian Muslims. The host and the two Muslims were said to be “severely intoxicated.”

The guests were said to have been referred to the "respective authorities." It is unclear whether or not they have been released since.

The kingdom, which only recognizes Islamic faith and practice, has in the past banned public Christmas celebrations, but is ambiguous about festivities staged in private quarters.

Saudi religious police are known to detain residents of the kingdom at whim, citing loose interpretations of Sharia and public statements by hardline religious leaders to justify crackdowns.

Saudi Arabia's head mufti Sheikh Abdel Aziz bin Abdullah had previously condemned “invitations to Christmas or wedding celebrations.”

A member of the Higher Council of Islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Mohammed al-Othaimin recently prohibited sending holiday wishes to "heretics" on Christmas or other religious Christian holidays.

'Apostate' at risk of execution

On Thursday, the Beirut-based Gulf Center for Human Rights reported that Saudi human rights defender Raef Badawi is at risk of execution on apostasy charges.

Badawi is co-founder and editor of the Liberal Saudi Network. When he first appeared before the district court in Jeddah, he was charged with “insulting Islam through electronic channels” and “going beyond the realm of obedience.” The Judge then referred the case to the higher Public Court on an apostasy charge, which carries the penalty of death.

The General Court in Jeddah proceeded with apostasy charges on December 22.

Badawi was arrested this June after the Liberal Saudi Network called for “a day of liberalism” in Saudi Arabia, which included a conference that was later canceled after a warning from authorities.

Earlier this week, controversial Saudi novelist and political analyst Turki al-Hamad was arrested for criticizing Islam and the royal family in a series of tweets.

Al-Hamad is an outspoken liberal who writes about sexuality issues, underground political movements and religious freedom. The offending tweets suggested that Islam be rectified in the same way that the Prophet Muhammad is said to have revised earlier Abrahamic religions.

(Al-Akhbar)

Christianity 'close to extinction' in Middle East

Christianity 'close to extinction' in Middle East

By Edward Malnick

The Telegraph (Britain)

Christianity faces being wiped out of the "biblical heartlands" in the Middle East because of mounting persecution of worshippers, according to a new report.

The study warns that Christians suffer greater hostility across the world than any other religious group.

And it claims politicians have been “blind” to the extent of violence faced by Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam, it says, claiming that oppression in Muslim countries is often ignored because of a fear that criticism will be seen as “racism”.

It warns that converts from Islam face being killed in Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Iran and risk severe legal penalties in other countries across the Middle East.

The report, by the think tank Civitas, says: “It is generally accepted that many faith-based groups face discrimination or persecution to some degree.

"A far less widely grasped fact is that Christians are targeted more than any other body of believers.”

It cites estimates that 200 million Christians, or 10 per cent of Christians worldwide, are “socially disadvantaged, harassed or actively oppressed for their beliefs.”

“Exposing and combating the problem ought in my view to be political priorities across large areas of the world. That this is not the case tells us much about a questionable hierarchy of victimhood,” says the author, Rupert Shortt, a journalist and visiting fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford.

He adds: “The blind spot displayed by governments and other influential players is causing them to squander a broader opportunity. Religious freedom is the canary in the mine for human rights generally.”

The report, entitled Christianophobia, highlights a fear among oppressive regimes that Christianity is a “Western creed” which can be used to undermine them.

State hostility towards Christianity is particularly rife in China, where more Christians are imprisoned than in any other country in the world, according to the report.

It quotes Ma Hucheng, an advisor to the Chinese government, who claimed in an article last year that the US has backed the growth of the Protestant Church in China as a vehicle for political dissidence.

“Western powers, with America at their head, deliberately export Christianity to China and carry out all kinds of illegal evangelistic activities,” he wrote in the China Social Sciences Press.

“Their basic aim is to use Christianity to change the character of the regime...in China and overturn it,” he added.

The “lion’s share” of persecution faced by Christians arises in countries where Islam is the dominant faith, the report says, quoting estimates that between a half and two-thirds of Christians in the Middle East have left the region or been killed in the past century.

“There is now a serious risk that Christianity will disappear from its biblical heartlands,” it claims.

The report shows that “Muslim-majority” states make up 12 of the 20 countries judged to be “unfree” on the grounds of religious tolerance by Freedom House, the human rights think tank.

UN Human Rights Council elects two more human rights abusers to vice-president: the Maldives and Ecuador

The Maldives are a great place to honeymoon...

... but you wouldn't want to live there.

Besides rewarding Mauritania for being the worst country on earth for slavery (more here), the UN Human Rights Council also elected the Maldives and Ecuador as vice-presidents of the council,  both of which go to prove that abusing human rights is the best route to high office in the UN Human Rights Council.

It's an especially bad year to reward the Maldives with a vice-presidency. In February, the Maldives first democratically elected president in 2,000 years was overthrown and the new regime reversed the president's attempts to reform the Maldives brutal history of repression. Even before this year's coup, the U.S. Department of State reported that: 

The most significant human rights problems include restrictions on religious rights, abuse and unequal treatment of women, and corruption of government officials. The constitution requires all citizens to be Muslim, and the government’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs actively polices and enforces compliance with Islamic practices. There were reports of religion-related self-censorship in the press and among civil society contacts.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) condemned the performance of the judiciary and executive branch for their inadequate treatment of criminal cases, especially rape. Corruption existed within the judiciary, members of parliament, and among officials of the executive and state institutions.

Other human rights problems reported included flogging, arbitrary arrests, harassment of journalists, and discrimination against expatriate laborers. Migrant laborers were subjected to labor abuses and were the primary victims of human trafficking. Many laborers migrated illegally into the country, making them particularly vulnerable to forced labor and debt bondage.

As for Ecuador, the State Department reports that:

The following human rights problems continued: isolated unlawful killings and use of excessive force by security forces, sometimes with impunity; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; corruption and other abuses by security forces; a high number of pretrial detainees; and corruption and denial of due process within the judicial system. 

President Correa and his administration continued verbal and legal attacks against the independent media. Societal problems continued, including physical aggression against journalists; violence against women; discrimination against women, indigenous persons, Afro-Ecuadorians, and lesbians and gay men; trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation of minors; and child labor.

The next time you hear about the UN Human Rights Council, remember its purpose is not to protect human rights, but to protect human rights abusers.

Th UN Human Rights Council rewards Mauritania, where slavery still thrives

Read CNN's special report on Mauritania: Slavery's Last Stronghold here.

It’s hard to believe but slavery still exists in today’s world. One of the world’s worst offenders is Mauritania, where a fifth of the people – as many as 800,000 out of a population of 3.5 million – are slaves.

The United Nations has reacted to this awful situation, but not by condemning it. Instead, the UN has elected Mauritania to the position of Vice-President and Rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Council. Thus Mauritania now has boasting rights as a UN recognized champion of Human Rights. 

Mauritania will also be able to report on human rights conditions in other countries. Canada, for example, might receive condemnation from Mauritania, just as earlier this year, the UN Human Rights Council sent a special rapporteur to check up on whether Canadians were starving and condemned our government for not making sure we’re properly fed. You couldn't make this stuff up. 

Next time you hear anything about the UN Human Rights Council, remember Mauritania, and understand that the purpose of the UN Human Rights Council is not to protect human rights, but rather to protect human rights abusers.

Here’s the full release from UN Watch…

Human Rights Day Marred by Election of Slave-holding
Mauritania as VP of UN Human Rights Council 

Syria remains on UNESCO human rights committee

GENEVA, Dec. 10 – UN Watch condemned today's election of Mauritania, a country that allows 800,000 of its citizens to live as slaves, as Vice-President of the UN Human Rights Council.

In addition, the Geneva-based group also announced the failure of its yearlong campaign, with 55 MPs and NGOs, to get UNESCO to remove Syria from its human rights committee.

1. Mauritania Elected Today as VP of UN Human Rights Council

The UN Human Rights Council met today in Geneva and elected Mauritania as its Vice-President and Rapporteur for the next year, the second highest position at the world's top human rights body.

"It is obscene for the U.N. to use the occasion of Human Rights Day, when we commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to elect the world's worst enabler of slavery to this prestigious post," said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch executive director.

"The U.N. is making an arsonist head of the fire department. It defies both morality and common sense."

According to a recent report by the Guardian, "up to 800,000 people in a nation of 3.5 million remain chattels," with power and wealth overwhelmingly concentrated among lighter-skinned Moors, "leaving slave-descended darker-skinned Moors and black Africans on the edges of society."

In today's session, Poland was elected president, while Ecuador, Maldives, and Switzerland were also elected as vice-presidents.

Neuer also objected to Ecuador's election, citing its "notorious record of censoring independent journalists and shutting down newspapers."

UN Watch expressed regret that while the dictatorship of Belarus took the floor in today's meeting to criticize the election of Poland, none of the democracies said a word about the election of Mauritania or Ecuador.

2. One Year Later, Despite Appeals, Syria Still on UNESCO Human Rights Committee

Despite having murdered tens of thousands of its own people, the Bashar al-Assad regime remains a full member of UNESCO's human rights committee, "and no one at UNESCO seems to care the slighest bit," said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

This week marks one year since UN Watch launched its campaign of 55 parliamentarians, human rights and religious groups calling for Syria's expulsion, following UNESCO's inexplicable election of the regime to a committee that rules on invividual human rights complaints worldwide.

"It's time for UNESCO to stop legitimizing a government that mercilessly murders its own people," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

"UNESCO is allowing the Assad regime to strut in Paris as a U.N. human rights arbiter -- it's indefensible and an insult to Syria's victims."

After UNESCO elected Syria to its human rights committee in November 2011, UN Watch launched a campaign to reverse the decision, prompting the US and Britain to initiate a March 2012 debate at UNESCO.

However, while a resolution was adopted censuring Syria's violations -- a welcome first for UNESCO -- the promised call to oust the regime from UNESCO's human rights panel was excised.

U.S. ambassador David Killion had urged UNESCO to revisit the decision. The watered-down text included language suggesting UNESCO chief Irina Bokova could raise the issue again, but she has failed to do so.(See links at bottom.)

Earlier this year, UN Watch had received notice from the British Foreign Office that it would seek to cancel Syria’s “abhorrent” membership. 

In an email to UN Watch, the UK said it “deplores the continuing membership of Syria on this committee and does not believe that Syria’s presence is conducive to the work of the body or UNESCO’s reputation. We have therefore joined with other countries in putting forward an item for the first meeting of the Executive Board at which we will seek to explicitly address Syria’s membership of the body.”

The UK also expressed hope that other members of the executive board will join London in ending what it called “this abhorrent [and] anomalous situation.”

Paris insiders say that UNESCO diplomats from non-democratic regimes are afraid to create a precedent of ousting repressive governments.