Israel: Teens suspected of planning Molotov cocktail attack over raid
— Yedioth Ahronoth reports: “Judge extends remand of 2 youths from Tarshiha who planned to hurl firebomb on Jewish vehicles following IDF raid on aid flotilla”
— “During their investigation the teens said they were motivated by the killing of civilians by the IDF and noted they learned how to make the explosive device on the internet.”
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges all to Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
New York state legislators plan to make vandalism outside of a house of worship a felony punishable by at least one year in jail. The New York State bill is being led by State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein and Assemblyman George Latimer (S.1909/A.180). The bill had passed the New York State Senate, and State Senator Jeffrey Klein is encouraging the New York State Assembly and the Governor to pass and support this legislation. Senator Klein is the grandson of Holocaust survivors, and during his press conference stated why the need to protect houses of worship is so vital to American religious freedom.
Senator Jeffrey Klein stated that “unfortunately there are still those who interfere with our ability to practice our religion and worship God. So my legislation, I think, is going to a long way towards making sure that we can do that.” He stated “What makes me angry is there are still some who chalk this up as children playing pranks. Well that’s absolute nonsense, and I think we have to punish those who interfere with our right to practice our religion.” He indicated that today in the New York state law there is a loophole, where someone can commit vandalism outside a house of worship and it is a misdemeanor, while committing vandalism inside the house of worship is a felony. Senator Jeffrey Klein concluded “we have to put an end to this type of violence, we have to put an end to these types of crimes of hate.”
New York State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein Calls for Bill to Make Vandalism Outside a House of Worship a Felony in New York
Regarding attacks on houses of worship, Archbishop Dolan stated: “A house of worship represents safety, security, peace, love, acceptance, the most noble aspirations that we as human beings have. When we vandalize that, when we wreck that, when we deface that, as the senator said, we strike right at the heart of what makes us great as Americans and people of faith.”
Rabbi Joe Potasnik stated: “Someone who wants to hurt one of us, hurts all of us… It is said if you are compassionate to the cruel, you end up being cruel to the compassionate. If we don’t have legislation in place that punishes the perpetrators, we cannot fulfill our moral mandate.”
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Rabbi Joe Potasnik of the New York Board of Rabbis Call for Tougher Laws Against House of Worship Vandalism
There have been reports of repeated vandalism attacks on a Florida church, including bullet holes in the church’s sign. The vandals are determined to disrupt the church’s religious services, and broken crosses and sought to disrupt the electricity to the building.
Florida: Reverend Pauline Borland Speaks on Continuing Vandalism Against Malabar Church (Photo: Still Clip from Florida Today Video)
— Florida Today reports: “It was the second attack at the God’s Healing Holiness Christian Church at 1690 Marie St. in a little over a week, and the fifth in the past two years”
— “Vandals hit a Malabar church Sunday night, cutting power to the building and smashing a water pipe.”
— “Church leaders previously have found the water lines broken and the power disrupted. They’ve also found bullet holes in the church’s sign, crosses broken in the rear of the building, bulbs unscrewed in parking lot lights and the lawn torn up by off-road vehicles.”
The Cokesbury First Baptist Church, Perryville, in Cecil County, Maryland has been vandalized with racially charged graffiti. The church is predominantly attended by black Americans. The vandals used a racial slur on the outside of the church and also spray painted other graffiti regarding praising Satan.
The Cokesbury First Baptist Church is led by Pastor Steven L. White.
Anyone with information about this vandalism is urged to call the Maryland State Police at 800-525-5555.
Indonesia: Forum aims to end violence against women – Catholic nuns lead program
— UCAN: “Hundreds of cases of violence against women and children have been resolved thanks to a forum established by nuns 10 years ago in East Nusa Tenggara province.”
Sister Sesilia speaking during the workshop (Photo: UCAN)
It also indicates that government control of the Internet is also an “indispensable requirement for protecting state security and the public interest,” and indicates that its policies for “secure information flow” require that “no organization or individual” is allowed to spread information “subverting state power and jeopardizing national unification; damaging state honor and interests…”
As to international concern over the Communist Chinese government’s Internet censorship, it states that “Concerns about Internet security of different countries should be fully respected. We should seek common ground and reserve differences, promote development through exchanges, and jointly protect international Internet security.”
Image Illustrating Internet Censorship (Photo: Voice of America)
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) supports our universal human rights of equality and liberty for all people, including our rights to freedom of expression. We urge those who seek to deny such universal human rights to understand that when they deny such rights for some people, they attack such unqualified universal human rights for all people.
Media reports indicate that 600 died in Darfur, Sudan in May 2010, and also reported that humanitarian operations were being hampered by “bandits and kidnapping.”
— Voice of America reports: “Peacekeepers: Darfur Clashes Killed Nearly 600 in May”
— “International peacekeepers say fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region killed nearly 600 people during May, the largest monthly death toll in more than two years.”
— “Officials with the U.N.-African Union mission in Darfur say the death toll was the highest recorded since peacekeepers were deployed in January 2008.”
— … “The United Nations says the fighting and related violence has killed up to 300,000 people and displaced about 2.7 million others. Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000.”
— Montreal Gazette reports: “Darfur aid work hit – May death count soars, humanitarians stranded”
— “The May figures were about five times the average monthly death counts recorded in 2009 said Sudan expert Alex de Waal who highlighted the increase on his blog Making Sense of Sudan ( http://blogs.ssrc.org/sudan/).”
— “Aid workers who set up the world’s largest humanitarian operation in Darfur said their work was being hampered by the insecurity and an increase in bandit attacks and kidnappings.”
“A renowned rice trader was gunned down on Tuesday, as he resisted the kidnapping of his son in Quetta on Tuesday. Victim Hamesh Kumar, along with his son Rajesh, was going home after closing his shop in Satellite Town when they were intercepted by unidentified armed men, wearing uniforms of the Balochistan Levies Force. They tried to kidnap Rajesh, which Hamesh resisted on which the assailants shot the rice trader and fled. He was taken to a nearby hospital but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead by the doctors. Afterwards, a large number of Hindus along with local businessmen and shopkeepers organised a protest to condemn Hamesh’s killing and demanded the government arrest his killers as early as possible.”
