20 December 2015

Retired Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police Chris Sims on a More Nuanced Approach to Addressing 'Extremism' in the West Midlands

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-35132549



The retiring Chief Constable of West Midlands Police has warned of the danger of mixing up religious conservatism and terrorism, in the fight against extremism.
BBC.CO.UK




Source:  https://www.facebook.com/midlandstoday/videos/vb.21263239760/10153774634909761/?type=2&theater

"Chris Sims retires as Chief Constable of the West Midlands today after six years in the job. With the fight against terrorism still one of the force's top priorities, he's firmly of the opinion that the only way to defeat the threat is with public support and by winning the trust of the muslim community."
Chris Sims retires as Chief Constable of the West Midlands today after six years in the job. With the fight against...
Posted by BBC Midlands Today on Friday, December 18, 2015

Yuval Diskin: ++ נגד ההסתה והכפשת השב"כ החוקר את החשודים בטרור היהודי++


Google translation to English follows original post

Source:  https://www.facebook.com/yuval.diskin.9/posts/1956366174588062?pnref=story



++ נגד ההסתה והכפשת השב"כ החוקר את החשודים בטרור היהודי++
אני מכיר היטב את הלובי של הרבנים וחברי כנסת הקמים להגנתם של חשודים כמחבלים יהודים או פועלים לחנינתם של מחבלים יהודים שנשפטו ונכלאו.
חלקם אף מנסים לשכנע כי אנשים אלו יוכלו לשמש דוגמא ולחנך אחרים שלא לפעול בדרך הטרור... מעניין שאינם ממליצים על מחנכים דומים מקרב מחבלים שפוטים פלסטינים...
אני מכיר היטב גם את הגופים השונים העוסקים בהדרכת פעילי ימין קיצוני, אנשי תג מחיר ונוער הגבעות לעמידה בחקירות שב"כ.
השב"כ משקיע מאמצים כבירים על מנת לאסוף מודיעין על הטרור היהודי בהצלחה רבה יחסית, ומתקשה מאז ומתמיד בחקירות הטרור היהודי משום הקושי הרב להשיג ראיות ברמה הנדרשת בדין הישראלי.
משימת החטיבה היהודית ואגף החקירות של השב"כ היא משימה קשה מאין כמוה ובמיוחד באווירה הציבורית המתלהמת ומול מערכת ההסתה וההסברה שהתגייסה להכפשת השב"כ.
כולי תקווה שהשב"כ יצליח במשימה הקשה והמורכבת של חשיפת מבצעי הפיגוע המתועב בדומא והבאתם לדין.
אני גם מקווה שאם וכאשר יובאו חשודים לדין - לא יסתבר לנו שוב כי "אינם כשירים" להעמדה לדין משום שהם סובלים מבעיה נפשית כלשהי שאינה מאפשרת את הכנסתם לכלא....
אני מחזק את ידיהם של אנשי השב"כ העוסקים במלאכה החשובה כל כך של עקירת סרטן הטרור היהודי מתוכנו, ואת ידי ראש השב"כ יורם כהן הנמצא תחת מתקפה ישירה.
אין זו הפעם הראשונה שמפעילים לחץ על אנשי שב"כ הגרים בסביבה דתית. יש מקרים של אנשי שב"כ שעזבו את מקום מגוריהם או שנשארו וסבלו מאוד כתוצאה מיחס עוין של הסביבה מבלי שקיבלו כמעט גיבוי משכניהם.
מקווה שהדרג הפוליטי כמו גם רבנים ואנשי ציבור מהמגזר הדתי-לאומי "ישברו שתיקה", ויתגייסו לעמוד לצידו של השב"כ והעומד בראשו ברגעים קריטים אלו. "אם תרצו" לא תהיה זו אגדה....




Google translation:

++ Against incitement and defamation investigating the Shin Bet Jewish terror suspects ++
I know well the lobby of the rabbis and Knesset members who rise to the defense of Jews suspected terrorists or terrorist act Lhnintm Jews who were tried and imprisoned.
Some even try to convince these people that they could serve as an example and educate others that act of terrorism ... are not interested educators recommend similar among Palestinians convicted terrorists ...
I am well acquainted with the various bodies that deal led by far-right activists, members of the price-tag and the hilltop youth meeting the Shin Bet interrogations.
ISA invests enormous efforts to gather intelligence on Jewish terrorism relatively successfully, and has difficulty has always been Jewish terrorism investigations since the difficulty level of evidence required to obtain Israeli law.
Jewish brigade's mission and the Investigations Division of the GSS is the most difficult task, especially public atmosphere in front of a belligerent and incitement and propaganda which sought to besmirch the ISA.
I hope that the GSS succeeds difficult and complex task of exposing the despicable perpetrators and bringing them to justice Duma.
I also hope that if and when the suspects will be brought to justice - not that again we find that "not eligible" for prosecution because they suffer from any mental problem that does not allow to put them away ....
I wish to encourage members of the Shabak people involved is so important in cancer uprooting of Jewish terrorism from our midst, and by Yoram Cohen, head of the Shin Bet, which is under direct attack.
This is not the first time put pressure on the GSS men who live in a religious environment. There are cases of GSS agents who left their homes or stayed and suffered greatly as a result of hostile treatment environment without having received nearly a backup of their neighbors.
Hope the political echelon as well as rabbis and public figures from the religious-nationalist "break silence", and will mobilize stand by ISA and its leader these critical moments. "If you will" not be a legend ....

No Fear: The Soldiers of the Lions of the Jordan Valley Battalion via Israel Defense Forces

17 December 2015

Haaretz: Former Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin Defends Breaking the Silence

"It’s good that there are journalists and good that there are NGOs monitoring the activities of the various security agencies operating in the field," says former Israeli security agency chief.

Defense Minister Ya’alon sees struggle between majority of Israelis and minority 'trying to drag us into the abyss.'
HAARETZ.COM

16 December 2015

Channel 4: Islam, Isis and Birmingham - watch the debate about integration and Islamophobia

"Salma Yaqoob, head of the Stop the War coalition in Birmingham, and Jahan Mahmood, a former government counter-extremism adviser talk about how Muslims in Birmingham are feeling about Islamopobia and integration."



12 December 2015

How I Feel Right Now As A Muslim In America

New Israel Fund: Your Saturday (12Dec15) night with NIF planned... in NYC

Source: mass emailing (I only included the events announcement.)


Dear Friends,
As you might have heard, HaaretzQ with the New Israel Fund -- our first-ever NYC conference with Haaretz newspaper -- is completely sold out! Even if you can't join us at the conference itself, we invite you to join us for an exciting event the evening before.
Please join us from 6-8pm this Saturday, Dec. 12th at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts (31 Mercer Street, Soho) for the opening of To Whom It May Concern -- an incredible exhibition featuring photographs from the Haaretz newspaper archives.  (Details below -- No RSVP necessary).
I hope to see you this weekend!
Warmly,
Stephanie

Stephanie Ives
Director, NY/Tri-State
New Israel Fund
Ronald Feldman Fine Arts
Brothers Ahmed and Mahmoud of Yatta Village, near Hebron, the second largest Palestinian city, collect metal scraps at the nearby landfill. They are wearing Israeli police shirts found in the trash. 
November 2012. Photo: Nir Kafri, Haaretz
    For Immediate Release: November 24, 2015
To Whom It May Concern:
Photographs from the Archives of Haaretz Newspaper
December 12, 2015 - January 30, 2016
... Haaretz ("The Land") arguably the most important liberal institution in a country that has moved inexorably to the right in the past decade. David Remnick, The New Yorker, 2011

Ronald Feldman Fine Arts will exhibit photographs from 2000 to 2015 from the archives of Haaretz, an influential Israeli news organization established in 1919 and published in English and Hebrew. The exhibition is coordinated by Haaretz and the New Israel Fund (NIF). Haaretz maintains the position that as long as the occupation of territories that are not part of Israel continues as well as the settlements of Israelis there, it will be extremely difficult to uphold democratic values, and the goal of Zionism may be thwarted. The New Israel Fund (NIF) helps Israel live up to its founders' vision of a state that ensures complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants. 


The exhibition, more than fifty digitized color photographs, each accompanied by explanatory text, is organized around five topics listed below in bold text that describe the tensions that have been a part of Israel's history since its establishment. 


The most dominant struggle - The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and Occupation - includes photographs of hot-spot boiling points as well as daily life played out against the backdrop of war. Photographs selected from a regular column, "The Twilight Zone," document the Israeli Occupation's impact on Palestinian lives. Haaretz is the only newspaper which consistently describes what life is like in the West Bank and Gaza. 


Tensions that exist within Israel include the conflict between State and Religion, recorded in photographs of demonstrations by tens of thousands of Ultra-Orthodox Jews related to religious practice. Other photographs show protests, which often turn violent, by Ethiopian Jews, Israeli Arabs, and African immigrants that document Attitudes towards "The Other." Tent cities and demonstrations by Holocaust survivors, one quarter living in poverty, reference the growing Economic Gap between the rich and poor. Referring to The Erosion of Law, a series of photographs, relating to the pressure of public conflicts on the judicial system, depicts important courtroom scenes, accompanied by text that provides the legal context of each case. 


In addition to the photographs, the exhibition also includes actual Haaretz front pages from 1995 to 2000, selected to focus on historic events, beginning with the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, considered to be a turning point, after which began a path that led to extremism.


As a sweeping overview, the exhibition presents the dire reality and is testimony to the power of the press and the commitment of its photographers to record events as they occur.
***
Curator: Efrat Livny - Photographers: Tomer Appelbaum + David Bachar + Olivier Fitoussi + Gil Cohen-Magen + Michal Fattal + Ancho Gosh + Eliyahu Hershkovitz + Nir Kafri + Yaron Kaminsky + Dan Keinan + Miki Kratsman + Alex Levac + Tali Mayer + Ilya Melnikov + Moti Milrod + Lior Mizrahi + Noam Moshkovitz + Daniel Bar On + Ann Paq + Baz Ratner + Alon Ro + Emil Salman + Eyal Warshavsky + Pavel Wolberg + Avishag Shaar-Yashuv
***
For more information, go to http://bit.ly/1IBQgAd.
Reception on Saturday, December 12, 6-8. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10-6. Monday by appointment. The gallery is closed: December 24-January 3. For more information, contact Casey Dorobek (212) 226-3232 or Casey@feldmangallery.com.
RONALD FELDMAN FINE ARTS 
31 Mercer Street  |  New York, NY 10013  |  212-226-3232  | www.feldmangallery.com