Palestinians in fury over repeated Israeli attacks on Muslim, Christian holy sites

News Network
April 27, 2023

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Ramallah, Apr 27: Palestinians have condemned repeated Israeli attacks on the Bab Al-Rahma Chapel in Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying the site has been vandalized, while worshippers face daily threats and abuse.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said Bab Al-Rahma was an integral part of Al-Aqsa and only Muslims had the right to control its affairs.

Removal of items from the chapel and its vandalization by Israel were unacceptable, he added.

Ramzi Khoury, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee, said extremist settler groups raised Israeli flags in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday and performed religious rituals.

He described the Israeli actions as an “unprecedented aggression against the sanctity of Al-Aqsa, a desecration of its religious status, and a provocation to Muslims all over the world.”

Israeli forces’ repeated attacks on Bab Al-Rahma would not give Israel any sovereignty over Al-Aqsa Mosque or Jerusalem, as “it is an occupied Palestinian city with its Islamic and Christian sanctities according to the relevant international legitimacy resolutions,” he added.

Rawhi Fattouh, president of the Palestinian National Council, called on the international community to curb the “criminal madness” of the Israeli government and its National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Fattouh said the raids constituted a flagrant violation of places of worship and an attempt to give a religious character to the conflict, “which would ignite the region and detonate the situation.”

Osama Al-Qawasmi, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, said the “cowardly and provocative attack on Bab Al-Rahma was only part of the systematic Israeli campaign to Judaize Jerusalem.”

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, said Israeli vandalism confirmed that the extremist government was looking for ways to detonate the situation.

“Destructive policies seek to destroy any regional or international effort to provide stability and prevent the deterioration of the situation,” he said.

Abu Rudeineh said that Israel was playing with fire, as the chapel was an integral part of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On Wednesday, Israeli police stormed Bab Al-Rahma for a fourth consecutive day amid searches in the vicinity. Earlier police cut off the electricity supply and damaged installations inside the chapel.

Palestinians were able to open the Gate of Mercy chapel in February 2019, after it was closed by Israeli authorities for 16 years.

The Umayyads built Bab Al-Rahma Chapel about 1,300 years ago as a standard door between the Jerusalem Wall and the eastern Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The site fell into neglect after the Israeli occupation of Al-Aqsa in 1967. In 1992, it witnessed a remarkable recovery after the Islamic Heritage Committee launched religious and social activities there. However, Israeli authorities banned the events in 2003 and closed the chapel completely.

For the past three years, Israeli police have continued to enter the prayer hall wearing shoes. Police also have set up a monitoring point above the chapel and another nearby.

Azzam Al-Khatib, director of the Islamic Waqf Department that supervises the Al-Aqsa Mosque and is affiliated with Jordan, told Arab News that since Eid Al-Fitr Israeli police have been storming Bab Al-Rahma two or three times a day.

“They do not consider it a chapel, but rather a regular location in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and we know the greed of extremists about Al-Aqsa and Bab Al-Rahma,” Al-Khatib said.

He said Bab Al-Rahma was part of Al-Aqsa, and Israeli authorities had no right to interfere with its affairs.

Omar Al-Kiswani, director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, said that Israeli authorities had refused to allow restoration work on the chapel, which was in urgent need of internal and external repair.

Israeli police frequently harassed worshippers with threats of deportation, bag searches, and the confiscation of food items and balloons meant to be distributed among children.

They also forbid placing wooden barriers separating rows of men and women during prayers and have repeatedly confiscated shoe racks, he said.

Extremist Jews, who believe the “awaited messiah” will enter through Bab Al-Rahma at the end of time, are seeking to convert the chapel into a synagogue. However, its recent opening has dashed their hopes.

Al-Kiswani said the intruders were trying to cut the chapel off from the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

However, he said Israeli authorities are unlikely to close the chapel again given the strong Palestinian reaction in the past.

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News Network
November 18,2024

Advisors to US President-elect Donald Trump have instructed his allies and associates to refrain from using the inflammatory language they previously employed when discussing issues related to migrants and the deportation of asylum seekers, in a bid to avoid “looking like Nazis.”

US media reports said that Trump’s associates had been asked to stop using the word “camps” to describe potential facilities that would be used to accommodate migrants rounded up in deportation operations across the country.

The reports said the US president-elect’s allies had been ordered to stave off such charged terms as they would bring to mind “Nazis,” and be used against Trump.

“I have received some guidance to avoid terms, like ‘camps,’ that can be twisted and used against the president, yes,” one Trump ally told American monthly magazine Rolling Stone.

“Apparently, some people think it makes us look like Nazis.”

The presidential advisers also cautioned surrogates and allies to keep racist terms, which have dogged Trump’s campaign, out of their remarks.

They said with Trump’s heated rhetoric that used to compare undocumented immigrants to “animals” and his slight that they are “poisoning the blood of our country,” detractors did not need to reach too far to find parallels to Nazi Germany.

Stephen Miller, who Trump tapped to be his deputy chief of staff of policy, specifically used the word “camps” to describe holding facilities that he hoped the military could put together for immigrants.

Tom Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is chosen by Trump to be in charge of the US borders, was no stranger to such language.

“It’s not gonna be a mass sweep of neighborhoods,” he said in an interview earlier this week. “It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous.”

Becoming a little more forthright about the new government’s aggressive deportation plans, Homan likened the early days of the Trump administration to the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I got three words for them – shock and awe,” he said. “You’re going to see us take this country back.”

Trump made immigration a central element of his 2024 presidential campaign but unlike his first run, which was mainly focused on building a border wall, he has shifted his attention to interior enforcement and the removal of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

People close to the US president and his aides are laying the groundwork for expanding detention facilities to fulfill his mass deportation campaign promise.

The businessman-turned-politician deported more than 1.5 million people during his first term.

The figure do not include the millions of people turned away at the border under a Covid-era policy enacted by Trump and used during most of Biden’s term.

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed or captured 69 terrorists linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad during a major counterterrorism drill in the country's southeast, its spokesman says.  

General Ahmad Shafaei, the spokesman for the “Martyrs of Security” drill, said Friday that a total of 23 terrorists have been killed and another 46 arrested in various clean-up operations ever since the IRGC Ground Force launched it in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on November 1.

Seven terrorists have also turned themselves in during the period.

“The undeniable fact about terrorists is that they rely on arrogant powers, particularly the intelligence service of the wicked and vicious Zionist regime," Shafaei said.

“Unfortunately, weapons and munitions at terrorists’ disposal are among the most sophisticated ones in the world. This accounts for their heavy dependence.” 

The official stated that several members of the disbanded terror teams were non-Iranian nationals, who had been hired by foreign intelligence agencies to carry out acts of sabotage and terror inside Iran.

In a most recent operation, six terrorists were arrested and four others were eliminated, three of whom were non-Iranians, he added. 

On October 26, ten members of Iran's law enforcement forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault, which was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran, primarily in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Its tactics include the abduction of border guards as well as targeting civilians and police stations within the province to incite chaos and disorder.

In January, Iran launched a military operation during which the headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group was targeted in missile strikes, destroying its infrastructure.

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News Network
November 18,2024

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Mangaluru: The Ullal police have arrested Manohar, the owner of Vazco Beach Resort, and its manager Bharath in connection with the drowning of three college girls from Mysuru at the resort’s swimming pool on November 17.

City Commissioner of Police Anupam Agrawal confirmed the arrests, stating that a case has been registered under Section 106 of BNS. The bodies of the victims, all in their twenties, have been handed over to their parents. The women had arrived at the resort for a weekend getaway on November 16.

Following the tragic incident, the resort was sealed by officials led by Mangaluru Assistant Commissioner Harshavardhan. The trade license of the resort, issued on June 13, 2024, has been suspended, and the tourism department has temporarily revoked the resort's registration. These actions prohibit the resort from engaging in any tourism-related activities until further notice.

Someshwara TMC Chief Officer stated that the suspension was due to the resort's failure to implement adequate safety measures, which resulted in the loss of three lives. Further investigations are underway.

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