McKeon calls for Hasan probe by House Armed Services Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)—U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, on Thursday  released the following statement regarding the decision by the Army’s III Corps Commander to charge Major Nidal Hasan with 13 initial specifications of premeditated murder following last week’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood:

“The senseless shooting at Fort Hood last week shocked and saddened our nation.  The Fort Hood family remains in our thoughts and prayers as they continue to deal with the ramifications of Major Hasan’s alleged actions.

“The Uniform Code of Military Justice is the appropriate process to use to try Major Hasan, and the Members of the House Armed Services Committee will closely follow the proceedings.  We are pleased that the criminal investigation has progressed so rapidly that charges can be preferred so soon after these heinous events.  As the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, I believe this shows that enough information has come to light to warrant an investigation by our committee as well.  We owe it to the families to probe the events surrounding this tragic shooting so we can understand why it happened, and thus, ensure it never happens again.

“Finally, I pray the Army’s actions today will begin the healing process for the families directly impacted, the Fort Hood community, and the Army family.”   

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Preceding provided by Rep. McKeon

Bishop refuses to pay fine for Holocaust denial

REGENSBURG, Germany (WJC)–The bishop of the ultra-conservative Catholic Society of St Pius X (SSPX), Richard Williamson, is facing trial in Germany for denying the Holocaust. Williamson has lodged an appeal against a fine of US$ 19,000 imposed on him by a German court two weeks ago. As Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, and because he gave the interview for Swedish television on German soil, he was prosecuted in the Bavarian city of Regensburg.

As Williamson refuses to pay the fine,  a full trial will now be held, although Williamson can absent himself from it and send a lawyer instead. The British bishop caused embarrassment to the Vatican in January when his excommunication from the Catholic Church, and that of three other SSPX bishops, after the interview was aired.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Shonda file: Kosher slaughterhouse operator convicted on 86 counts of fraud

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (WJC)–A jury in the US state of South Dakota has convicted Sholom Rubashkin, the former owner of the leading Iowa-based kosher slaughterhouse AgriProcessors, of 86 out of 91 fraud charges. The decision means that Rubashkin, 50, will spend likely the rest of his life in prison as the combined sentences could reach over 1,250 years.

Jurors declared the former AgriProcessors vice-president guilty of bank fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering. He also was convicted of 15 of 20 charges that he ignored an order to pay livestock providers in the 24-hour window required by law.

Former Agriprocessors employees testified that Rubashkin had personally directed them to create false invoices to show First Bank, which is based in St. Louis, that the plant had more money flowing in than it really did. Rubashkin will also have to stand a second trial, in which he is charged with 72 counts of immigration fraud.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Norwegian university vetoes boycott of Israel academics

TRONDHEIM, Norway (WJC)—The Board of the Norway’s second largest university in Trondheim, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), has unanimously rejected a proposal to boycott Israeli academics.

The boycott petition originated with a letter to the Board from 34 university professors and assistant professors, which said Israeli universities “have played a key role in the policy of oppression” in Israel and that “Israel goes against all the ideals of open universities and academic freedom.

In voting against the boycott proposal, the Board stressed the need for open lines of communication between scientists at NTNU and academic institutions in Israel. “As an academic institution, NTNU’s mission is to stimulate the study of the causes of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and how it can be resolved. This means that the university is also dependent on being able to cooperate with Israeli academics, and hear their views on the conflict”, it said.

“The vote resulted in total victory,” said Professor Bjorn Alsberg, a Board member who led a campaign in Trondheim against the boycott.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Boere trial delayed so defendant can hear

AACHEN, Germany (WJC)—The trial in Germany of 88-year-old Heinrich Boere, accused of murdering three civilians in wartime Holland as part of a SS hit squad, has been postponed until next week on medical grounds. The decision came on the third day of the trial after defense attorneys for Boere argued their client could not hear the proceedings properly. When questioned by Judge Gerd Nohl, Boere indicated he had not understood when the charges against him were read in court last week, despite saying then that he had.

“Only, lifelong, lifelong,” he muttered slowly, indicating he had only understood he faces a possible life sentence if convicted. Nohl ruled that the trial be postponed until next week so that Boere could be fitted with hearing aids, prompting an angry reaction from the attorney representing the son of one of Boere’s victims.

Detlef Hartmann charged the defense with engaging in “delay tactics,” saying that Boere’s hearing issues could have been worked out a year ago. “This could have been taken care of in advance,” said Hartmann, whose client Teun de Groot’s father was among the victims in 1944. De Groot has joined the trial as a co-plaintiff as allowed under German law. “Now we’ve lost another day.”

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

U.S., Britain accuse Iran of destabilizing Mideast with weapons shipments

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (Press Release)–At a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, the United States has accused Iran of violating a United Nations arms embargo imposed on it by secretly sending weapons to Syria in a cargo ship seized by Israel.

Britain also expressed “very serious concern” at suggestions that Iran was caught illegally exporting weapons but saying it was waiting for more information about the ship’s origin, destination, cargo and seizure. US deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff and British deputy ambassador Philip Parham raised Israel’s seizure of the cargo vessel ‘Francop’ last week in the Mediterranean during a closed-door council debate on implementation of the 2006 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Wolff reportedly told the council that the concealed arms shipment, “clearly manifested from Iran to Syria” in violation of the UN arms embargo, provides “unambiguous evidence of the destabilizing proliferation of arms in the region.” The United States also called on Syria and Iran to end their “material support” for Hezbollah and other terror groups in Lebanon, which violated the 2006 ceasefire resolution.

UN Security Council Resolution 1747 of March 2007 states “that Iran shall not supply, sell or transfer directly or indirectly from its territory or by its nationals or using its flag vessels or aircraft any arms or related materiel, and that all States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, and whether or not originating in the territory of Iran.”

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Hezbollah has missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv

JERUSALEM (WJC)–The chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Gabi Ashkenazi, has told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee that Hezbollah now had rockets capable of reaching Israel’s largest cities. Ashkenazi’s warning came days after Israel’s navy seized a ship it said was carrying hundreds of tons of weapons destined for Hezbollah. The group was armed with tens of thousands of rockets, “some of which are of a range of 300 km and a small part with a range of 325 km,” Ashkenazi told Israeli parliamentarians.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on ‘al-Jazeera’, said: “Ashkenazi’s threats are baseless and are an attempt to draw attention away from the enemy’s defeat in Gaza and in Lebanon.” He went on to boast that “all the cities and all Israeli military and industrial centers are within Hezbollah’s fire range,” and that any Israel attack on Lebanese cities would result in retaliation against Tel Aviv.

“The enemy knows that defeat under the current circumstances would be a critical defeat that would change the balance of power in favor of Hezbollah, leading to the destruction of the Zionist entity,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanese terror group, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said that US President Barack Obama’s pledge in Cairo to engage with Muslims had proved to be false. On Hezbollah’s ‘Martyr’s Day’, Nasrallah was shown on ‘Al-Manar’ television and said the US had shown its commitment to Israel by sending more military aid and backtracking on demands to stop West Bank settlements, and the Arab world could not depend on the US to solve its problems because the US was causing them. In a major speech in the Egyptian capital in June, Obama had called for a “new beginning” between the US and Muslims.

“However, the truth was quickly revealed and all these illusions quickly failed. The result was obviously a full US commitment to Israel’s interest and security, disregarding the dignity and feelings of the Arab and Muslim people and governments. We tell all those who asked us to give the Americans some time: It turned out that presenting a black president from the Third World was a trick that ended faster than we expected.”

Since this week, Hezbollah is part of the new Lebanese unity government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. In his speech, Nasrallah warned that the new government should avoid the “big issues,” in allusion to his group’s weapons arsenal. In Washington, President Obama urged Lebanon’s new government to comply with UN Security Council resolution 1701 calling for the disarming of Hezbollah. The group has so far not only resisted such calls but, according to Israeli and American intelligence, has massively rearmed.

Also on Wednesday, a military court in Lebanese sentenced a soldier and his wife to death, after the couple were found guilty of spying for Israel. The court also sentenced the defendant’s sister and her husband, who are reportedly living in Israel, to death. According to an Israeli radio report, the four were found guilty of contacting Israeli agents in order to assist in case of an Israeli attack on Lebanon.

Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Brazil’s President says dialogue with Iran could promote Mideast peace

BRASILIA (WJC)–Brazilian President Lula da Silva has rejected criticism over the upcoming state visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying all sides needed to be involved to achieve peace in the Middle East. “

One does not build the peace necessary in the Middle East if one doesn’t speak to all the political and religious factions,” Lula told reporters during a visit by Israeli President Shimon Peres to the capital Brasilia, the first of an Israeli head of state to the South American nation in 40 years.

Peres urged Brazil to use its growing voice on the international stage to help curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and support for militant Palestinian groups. In a speech to the Brazilian Congress he attacked Iran as a “global danger” bent on destroying Israel.

Brazil has adopted a more conciliatory line toward Iran than Western allies, including the United States. Lula urged Western leaders to stop challenging Iran over its nuclear program and instead talk to it to foster peace.

Peres was named as an honorary citizen of Brasilia by Congress. “This title is a great honor to me and to all the people of Israel. Brasilia is the capital of a new world,” he said in his speech to Congress. The Israeli president will stay in Brazil until Sunday and then travel to Argentina.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress