WarSclerotic

by Geert Wilders  •  May 28, 2018 at 9:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/

Geert Wilders makes a statement in solidarity with Tommy Robinson in front of British Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands.

by Bruce Bawer
May 27, 2018 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12378/tommy-robinson-injustice

The swiftness with which injustice was meted out to Tommy Robinson is stunning. No, more than that: it is terrifying.

Without having access to his own lawyer, Robinson was summarily tried and sentenced to 13 months behind bars. He was then transported to Hull Prison.

Meanwhile, the judge who sentenced Robinson also ordered British media not to report on his case. Newspapers that had already posted reports of his arrest quickly took them down. All this happened on the same day.

In Britain, rapists enjoy the right to a full and fair trial, the right to the legal representation of their choice, the right to have sufficient time to prepare their cases, and the right to go home on bail between sessions of their trial. No such rights were offered, however, to Tommy Robinson.

The very first time I set foot in London, back in my early twenties, I kicked up into an adrenaline high that lasted for the entire week of my visit. Never, in later years, did any other place ever have such an impact on me — not Paris, not Rome. Yes, Rome was a cradle of Western civilization, and Paris a hub of Western culture — but Britain was the place where the values of the Anglosphere, above all a dedication to freedom, had fully taken form. Without Britain, there would have been no U.S. Declaration of Independence, Constitution, or Bill of Rights.

In recent years, alas, Britain has deviated from its commitment to liberty. Foreign critics of Islam, such as the American scholar Robert Spencer, and for a time, even the Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders have been barred from the country. Now, at least one prominent native critic of Islam, Tommy Robinson, has been repeatedly harassed by the police, railroaded by the courts, and left unprotected by prison officials who have allowed Muslim inmates to beat him senseless. Clearly, British authorities view Robinson as a troublemaker and would like nothing more than to see him give up his fight, leave the country (as Ayaan Hirsi Ali left the Netherlands), or get killed by a jihadist (as happened to the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh).

On Friday, as reported here yesterday, the saga of Tommy Robinson entered a new chapter. British police officers pulled him off a street in Leeds, where, in his role as a citizen journalist, he was livestreaming a Facebook video from outside a courthouse. Inside that building, several defendants were on trial for allegedly being part of a so-called “grooming gang” — a group of men, almost all Muslim, who systematically rape non-Muslim children, in some cases hundreds of them, over a period of years or decades. Some ten thousand Facebook viewers around the world witnessed Robinson’s arrest live.

Pictured: Police officers pull Tommy Robinson (center) off a street in Leeds, England, where, in his role as a citizen journalist, he was livestreaming a Facebook video from outside a courthouse. (Image source: TommyRobinson.online video screenshot)

The police promptly dragged Robinson in front of a judge, where, without having access to his own lawyer, he was summarily tried and sentenced to 13 months behind bars. He was then transported to Hull Prison.

Meanwhile, the judge who sentenced him also ordered the British media not to report on his case. Newspapers that had already posted reports of his arrest quickly took them down. Even ordinary citizens who had written about the arrest on social media removed their posts, for fear of sharing Robinson’s fate. All this happened on the same day.

A kangaroo court, then a gag order. In the United Kingdom, where rapists enjoy the right to a full and fair trial, the right to the legal representation of their choice, the right to have sufficient time to prepare their cases, and the right to go home on bail between sessions of their trial. No such rights were offered, however, to Tommy Robinson.

The swiftness with which injustice was meted out to Robinson is stunning. No, more than that: it is terrifying. On various occasions over the years, I have been subjected in person to an immediate threat of Islamic violence: I have had a knife pulled on me by a young gang member, and been encircled by a crowd of belligerent men in djellabas outside a radical mosque. But that was not frightening. This is frightening — this utter violation of fundamental British freedoms.

From one perspective, to be sure, Robinson’s lightning-fast arrest, trial, and imprisonment should not have come as a surprise. “There has been a campaign to ‘get Tommy’ — or what looks remarkably like it — for some time,” a source in the UK, whom I will call Scheherazade, told me late early Saturday morning.

The apparent justification for Robinson’s arrest is that he was on a suspended sentence. In May of last year, he was taken into custody while reporting from outside a courthouse in Kent, where another group of Muslim defendants was being tried, also on “grooming” charges. That arrest was also unjustified. At least, however, Robinson was given a suspended sentence. This time, presumably, it was determined that the mere act of reporting yet again from outside another courthouse amounted to a violation of the terms of his suspended sentence.

The official cynicism here is obvious. Scheherazade made a vital point: that often, when one of these “grooming gang” trials is being held, the extended families and friends of the defendants stand outside the courthouse and “heckle and intimidate” the rape victims as well as their families and supporters. “I’ve had reports of children as young as five throwing stones at victims’ families,” Scheherazade said.

“This intimidation by extended community groups also involves going around to houses and harassing people.” She has even heard of witnesses for the prosecution who have needed police protection to use a rest room inside a courthouse. Needless to say, this heckling and harassment is rarely reported on and never punished.

One potentially positive aspect of this ugly turn of events is that it turned heads that should have been turned long ago. Scheherazade noted that many of her Twitter contacts “were tweeting that they didn’t necessarily support Tommy in general but were appalled that someone reporting these [grooming] crimes was arrested.” Some of her acquaintances, she said, “are stunned and in despair.” On Saturday, thousands of Robinson’s supporters rallied in Westminster. But will such public protests make any difference? One British ex-policeman reacted to Robinson’s incarceration with a video urging his fellow countrymen not just to march or rally but to join Ann Marie Waters’ party For Britain and do for freedom of speech in Britain what UKIP did to get British out of the EU.

Scheherazade had more interesting information to offer. While Robinson is being punished for drawing attention to Muslim rape gangs, the Sikh Awareness Society, which has also reported on these “grooming” trials, is left alone. “They are a godsend,” said Scheherazade, “because they pull no punches yet don’t seem to get the intimidation that people like Tommy get.” Of course — British police would not dare arrest a bearded man in a turban. Scheherazade also mentioned an imam who was arrested recently, only to be let go by police after “a large group of supporters demanded his release.” At least one police officer acknowledged that the imam had been freed because otherwise “they would have been facing riots all around the country.” Scheherazade summed up British authorities’ current approach to the Islamic situation as follows: “they have lost control… and are simply going for those who they think will make the least fuss. The classroom bully has terrorised the teacher into punishing the kids who are bullied.”

One assumes that the officials think that perpetrating this kind of injustice will somehow keep the peace. If I were one of their number, I would not be so certain. The people at that Westminster rally on Saturday were angry. How many other British subjects share their anger? Scheherazade expressed concern that this summer in Britain may turn out to be quite restive. Well, maybe that is all for the good.

For my part, I cannot for the life of me fathom why not a single prominent or powerful individual in all of the United Kingdom has come forward to challenge the mistreatment of Tommy Robinson – and thereby stand up for freedom of speech.

Is the whole British establishment a bunch of cowards? I suppose we will know the answer to that question soon enough, if we do not know it already.

I beg for your forgiveness .

10 Sivan 5778 – May 24, 2018

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/terrorism-news/prison-authority-extracts-6-smuggled-cellphones-from-security-prisoners-orifice/2018/05/24/

Photo Credit: Police Spokesperson’s Office

Six cellphones that were extracted by Border Police from a terrorist’s body

Israeli border police on Wednesday arrested for the second time an Arab who was trying to scale the security fence surrounding Jerusalem, and then, minutes before he was placed behind bars in the Ofer security prison, they discovered and removed six cellphones from his body – before he was able to distribute them to fellow inmates, the Border Police Spokesperson’s office reported.

The suspect was initially spotted by the Border Police Nitzan battalion on Tuesday evening, attempting to scale the security fence near al-Ram, just outside the capital’s north-eastern municipal boundary. He was picked up, interrogated and sent home.

He returned Wednesday night, same Arab, climbing the same section of the security fence, and picked up by the same Border Police unit.

Because of the repeat offense, the suspect was taken this time to the Ofer security prison following his interrogation, where the guards performed the full intake procedure on him, during which six cellphones were extracted from his intestines. Clearly, the entire affair had been about the suspect getting arrested so that he would be able to distribute the contraband phones among six lucky imprisoned terrorists.

Following the discovery, the suspect was taken in for yet another Border Police interrogation, which may lead to cracking the illegal terror network that paid him to deliver his precious commodities.

The 1981 Golan Heights Law, passed when Menachem Begin was prime minister, states that “the law, jurisdiction and administration of the State [of Israel] will take effect in the Golan Heights.”

10 Sivan 5778 – May 23, 2018

Iran’s Secret ICBM Program Exposed by California Researchers

The funeral rites of Gen. Hassan Moghaddam and his entire team of rocket scientistsPhoto Credit: Courtesy of Ali Khamenei’s website

A team of California-based weapons researchers stumbled on a series of clues that led them to conclude that Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, an Iranian scientist who had been killed in a 2011 explosion that destroyed Iran’s Bid Kaneh long-range missile research facility, was also running another secret facility in the remote Iranian desert which they believe continues to operate to this day, the NY Times reported Wednesday.

The researchers examined satellite photos of the facility, concluding that the work there is being conducted mostly at night, and appears to focus on advanced rocket engines and rocket fuel.

An analysis of the grounds and structures of the remote facility “strongly suggests” it is developing technology for long-range missiles, according to the report. When completed, Iran could threaten Europe and even the United States with its ICBM war heads.

The Times consulted five outside experts who reviewed the findings independently and agreed there’s compelling evidence that Iran is developing long-range missile technology.

IRGC Major General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam was a ballistic missile aerospace Engineer, the founder and main architect and designer of the Iranian ballistic missile project. He sought the expertise and blueprint designs from North Korea in order to help develop Iran’s missile technology, and designed the Shahab, Ghadr and Sejjil missiles with an operational range of more than 1,250 miles, specifically to use against Israel.

The researchers, based at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Calif., discovered the Iranian facility after Fabian Hinz, a young research fellow, proposed studying recent Iranian state media material on the late General Moghaddam, to see if it contained clues about Iran’s missile program. Judging by offhand remarks from the late General’s colleagues and relatives cited by Iranian media, it appeared that his work had quietly continued, the NY Time reported.

Hinz also found a 2017 post by an Iranian journalists association, with photo of General Moghaddam alongside a top lieutenant and a box marked “Shahrud.” Shahrud is the name of a town 25 miles from the site of a single missile test-launch that took place in 2013, and which had been considered dormant. But a timeline examination of satellite images of the site showed a steady growth in the number of buildings at the facility, and they were painted “a striking aquamarine.” Aquamarine happened to be General Moghaddam’s favorite color, who used it to paint all the structures under his command.

The researchers found in satellite images of a crater in the area around Shahrud, what they described as two “telltale ground scars,” both recent: one from 2016, the other June 2017. The researchers believe these are concrete stands that supported the tested engines. They say the 2017 test used a 370 ton stand, suggesting the engine powered up to 90 tons of thrust — enough for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The strike was part of Israel’s response to an arson attack carried out by Gazan terrorists yesterday.

May 23, 2018, 2:00PM Raz-Haviv Dahan

http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/politics-and-military/military/idf-attacks-hamas-terror-tunnel-naval-targets-35895

Israeli airstrike in Gaza Photo Credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90

The IDF attacked a terror tunnel and two naval sites of Hamas during the night in response to yesterday’s infiltration during which an empty IDF position was set on fire, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

“The Hamas terror organization is accountable for all threats originating from the Gaza Strip, above and below ground, and will bear the consequences for its actions against Israeli civilians and Israeli sovereignty,” the IDF spokesperson tweeted. “The IDF views these continued attempts with great severity, specifically Hamas’ daily attempts to damage Israeli security infrastructure & threats to the safety of Israeli civilians. The IDF is determined to fulfill its mission to protect Israeli civilians.”

The strikes were in response to the event that took place yesterday morning, when a number of terrorists infiltrated Israel and set a military post on fire

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 23, 2018

The infiltration was recorded and published by Al-Jazeera. In the video, the terrorists are seen cutting the border fence and crossing into Israel before setting fire to the empty IDF sniper’s position.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, in response to the IDF attack, tweeted, “Tonight, the IDF destroyed another tunnel that belongs to the Hamas terror organization. The attempts to attack Israel from the air, at the fence and underground will be blocked with an iron wall and the IDF’s might. The heads of Hamas should realize that their military project is a failure and invest in improving the lives of the Gaza residents.”

9 Sivan 5778 – May 22, 2018

Netanyahu Orders Security Cabinet Meetings to be Held in Secret Underground Jerusalem Bunker

A security council meeting in the Kirya. Feb. 10, 2018

Photo Credit: Ariel Hermony/Ministry of Defense

Until further notice, PM Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that all security cabinet meetings will be held in the secret, underground, secure bunker that hosts the National Crisis Management Center, hidden somewhere in the Jerusalem area, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 10 Barak Ravid.

Two security cabinet meetings have already been held in the secret bunker, instead of the Prime Minister’s office. The next four security cabinet meetings are already scheduled to be held in the bunker.

Cabinet Ministers told Barak Ravid that the reason is to stop the leaks coming out of the meetings, in particular regarding discussions on Syria and Iran.

Only a limited group of people are authorized to enter the underground bunker. There’s also no cellphone service in the area of the bunker.

As an aside, the new Jerusalem train station also has a bunker 80 meters underground that can withstand a nuclear attack. It can hold up to 4000 people.

The new train station in Jerusalem includes a bunker that can withstand a nuclear attack 80 meter underground pic.twitter.com/N3vpRkFA9C

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) September 12, 2016

By Pamela Geller – on May 21, 2018

Brazilian synagogue set aflame in arson attack: Message on the walls, ‘Wait for international Intifada’

Brazil. Nowhere in the world is immune. Hey, it’s what Muslims do.

Flammable fuel poured under main entrance of Israelite Society in Pelotas causing minor damage. Graffiti: ‘Wait for international Intifada.’

JTA, May 21, 2018:

Vandals set fire to a synagogue in southern Brazil after painting threats to the Jewish community on its walls.

Flammable fuel was poured under the main entrance door of the Israelite Society of Pelotas building on Thursday, and set it alight causing minor damage. The criminals also wrote pro-Palestinian messages on the wall as well as threats to the Jewish community, which should “wait” for an “international Intifada.”