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Jerusalem Day fell this year on Friday, although the annual Flag March and other events were held a day early.

By World Israel News Staff

Clashes broke out in the Lions’ Gate area of the Old City of Jerusalem during weekly Muslim prayers on Friday on the Temple Mount. Police were called to the scene.

Three young people and a policeman were lightly injured; two were evacuated by Magen David Adom EMTs to a Jerusalem hospital.

Several cars parked in the area were damaged by rocks and other objects thrown at them.

“Police forces and Border Police worked to control order, prevent friction, and confrontations on the spot while using measures to disperse disturbances. The Israel Police will continue to act resolutely against violence of any kind, violation of public order and attempts to harm police officers or civilians in violation of the law,” Jerusalem Police said in a statement.

لحظات اعتداء الاحتلال على المصلين بقنابل الغاز في باب الأسباط عقب محاولة مستوطنين اقتحام الأقصى pic.twitter.com/sgaYGFYd7H

— القسطل الاخباري | القدس (@AlQastalps) May 19, 2023

This year, Jerusalem Day, which celebrates the liberation and reunification of the Israeli capital during the 1967 Six-Day War, fell on Thursday night and continues until sunset the following day, according to the Hebrew calendar.

The annual Flag March and other festivities were held a day earlier, on Thursday, as the Jewish Sabbath begins Friday evening. Also, a large number of Jews – this year 1,200 – visit the Temple Mount each year on Jerusalem Day; however, Jews are not permitted to visit on Fridays and therefore went a day earlier.

The post Violence erupts between Jews, Arabs in Old City during Jerusalem Day festivities appeared first on World Israel News.

The hospital said it would update the Health Ministry and the public when more information becomes available while respecting the family’s privacy.

By World Israel News Staff

For the second time in less than a year, an in-vitro fertilization mistake occurred at Assuta hospital, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.

Most recently, an infant boy conceived through IVF at the hospital’s Ramat Hachayal branch in Tel Aviv was found to have no genetic link to his father.

The couple, who performed IVF in 2018, contacted Assuta upon making the discovery after undergoing genetic testing outside of the country, according to the Post. The results indicate that sperm samples must have been mixed up.

The hospital said it would update the Health Ministry and the public when more information becomes available, the article continues, but it would also respect the couple’s request for privacy.

In October, a woman who had undergone fertility treatment at Assuta’s clinic in Rishon Letzion gave birth to a healthy baby girl who was not theirs genetically. The woman conceived after undergoing IVF, but during the third trimester of pregnancy, after an in-vitro procedure to correct a heart defect in the fetus, it was discovered that neither the mother nor her husband had any genetic connection to the baby.

After being informed she was not the biological mother, the woman immediately declared that she nevertheless wanted to keep the baby. The courts decided in her favor.

It is believed that no more than 20-40 couples are likely the genetic parents of the baby. However, anonymous sources from Assuta told Ynet that the potential parents of the baby actually number in the hundreds.

In March, an investigation by an external committee appointed to determine the cause of the mix-up and to recommend guidelines to prevent such mistakes in future pointed to a too-heavy workload, Times of Israel reported at the time.

“The committee believes that the embryologists’ workload is the reason for not following proper procedures and ‘skipping’ over steps within the protocols,” the Health Ministry said.

The post Who’s the father? Israeli fertility clinic mixes up samples – 2nd time in a year appeared first on World Israel News.

“Since Guardian of the Walls, Hamas has not fired a single rocket into our territory. They are deterred,” Netanyahu said.

By World Israel News Staff

According to a source in Gaza, the Hamas terrorist group is demanding compensation from Israel for staying out of its recent war with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Israel National News reported.

The IDF launched Operation Shield and Arrow 10 days ago in response to rockets fired into Israeli territory by PIJ.

Speaking at a Likud party meeting Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the operation as a major success and a definitive victory over Islamic Jihad, noting that the five-day campaign had wiped out half of the terrorist group’s leadership, and restored quiet to southern Israel.

“Something has changed. We came to change the deterrence equation – and not for the first time. The most significant change in the balance of deterrence took place two years ago in Operation Guardian of the Walls,” the prime minister said, referencing the May 2021 conflict with Hamas.

Netanyahu noted that since the operation two years ago, Hamas has avoided engaging in rocket attacks against Israel.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, reportedly gave its consent to PIJ to launch an attack on Israel despite staying out of the conflict this time.

“Since Guardian of the Walls, Hamas has not fired a single rocket into our territory. They are deterred. Operation Guardian of the Walls dealt Hamas the hardest blow in its history and caused a change in the deterrence equation and it has been working for two years now,” the prime minister said.

PIJ began its rocket launch following the death of hunger-striking terrorist leader Khader Adnan in an Israeli prison.

The post Ultimate chutzpah: Hamas demands compensation for staying out of last war appeared first on World Israel News.

Former President Donald Trump told American Jews in Miami on Thursday, “I gave you the Golan Heights,” referring to U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty during his tenure.

He was warmly greeted, with one person saying, “You’re the best.”

As noted by journalist Jacob N. Kornbluh, he didn’t give the region to anybody; rather, his administration, albeit the most pro-Israel in American history, recognized Israel’s control of the Heights, which it annexed in December 1981.

Trump to American Jews: “I gave you the Golan Heights.”

(Trump didn’t give the Golan Heights to nobody. He formally recognized Israel’s control of area. And it’s doesn’t belong to U.S. Jews) https://t.co/JAvxFTYxZk

— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) May 19, 2023

The post WATCH: ‘I gave you the Golan Heights,’ Trump tells American Jews appeared first on World Israel News.

 

The video below, filmed exclusively for World Israel News, shows the local religious community in Jaffa, along with students from the local yeshiva and girls’ seminary, singing and dancing through the streets in a peaceful show of unity.

The post WATCH: Jerusalem Day celebration in mixed Arab-Jewish city appeared first on World Israel News.

High school cheerleader Desiree Rivas was fatally shot in Phoenix over the weekend in an act of incomprehensible violence. The 17-year-old, a treasured member of her community and the student body at Cesar Chavez High School left a party near 91st Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road and was found at the entrance of a dwelling with a single bullet wound. The tragedy of her unexpected death has left her family, friends, and local area reeling.

CCHS Spirit Line posted to Instagram an emotional tribute to Desiree: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I post about the tragic loss of our amazing friend, athlete, and student Desiree. Our hearts are broken into a million pieces.” This sentiment was echoed across social media as Desiree’s cheer team and fellow Cesar Chavez students bravely held a candlelight vigil at Cesar Chavez Park on Monday evening, paying homage to the beloved, spirited figure she was to everyone in her high school and the greater community.

Desiree’s father, Danny Rivas, at the vigil, paid tribute to his daughter: “She touched so many people. She was a role model to everybody. She was one of the people you wanted to be around.” That painful testimony serves as a remembrance of how Desiree had enriched the lives of all those who knew her.

Compounding the misery of the crime, Phoenix police officers still have yet to identify a suspect in the shooting. Witnesses have said multiple shots were fired near Desiree’s incident on the night of her death, and two young men were seen running across neighboring homes. But whether the boys fled the premises in fear or were those responsible remains unknown.

The death of Desiree Rivas leaves an immense chasm of sorrow that permeates her family, friends, and community. There is no doubt that her classmates, teachers, and loved ones will dearly miss the presence of the vibrant, cherished student.

Citizens of Turkey went to the polls on May 14 to cast their vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections, with official turnout reaching a record 88.9%.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and his main rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), went head-to-head in the election.

Erdogan scored 49.50% against Kilicdaroglu’s 44.89%. A third candidate, nationalist Sinan Ogan, picked up 5.17% of the vote.

The head of the Supreme Election Council (YSK), the highest electoral authority in Turkey, said no candidate secured the majority needed to win the elections. A run-off will therefore take place on May 28. It appears that Erdogan is in a strong position to win a third term. Even so, according to multiple surveys and polls prior to the elections, Erdogan and his fascist ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), could lose the elections. 

Turkey’s elections, however, are not free or fair. This is because all major state institutions are controlled by Erdogan’s loyalists, including the Supreme Election Council (YSK) and the Anadolu Agency (AA), who declare the results. YSK is responsible for the administration and jurisdiction of the elections in Turkey. 

Fraud during vote recording process 

Although both the opposition and the ruling alliance initially declared victory, the state-funded YSK and AA claim that Erdogan is leading. It is very likely that we shall never know the true result of the elections. The vote counting and recording processes, as well as announcements of the results, are not carried out legitimately. Many complaints and objections regarding “cheating” or fraud during YSK’s vote recording process were reported by the opposition media and the opposition parties.

For instance, in the town of Bismil town in the province of Diyarbakir, a stronghold of the Kurdish political movement, 279 people voted and 267 of those ballots were valid. According to the official report prepared at the ballot box, 233 voted for the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party (YSP). None voted for the Turkish supremacist MHP. According to the Supreme Election Council’s announcement, however, the MHP got 233 votes whereas the pro-Kurdish party got none. The official Twitter page of the Bismil branch of the YSP called the incident “theft.”

The Twitter page of “HDP Europe” of the pro-Kurdish HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) announced:

“There are multiple reports showing that the Green Left Party’s votes were registered to Erdogan’s coalition partner, far-right nationalists, MHP. There are many voting frauds taking place especially in Kurdish populated cities.”

The newspaper Yeni Ozgur Politika reported on May 16:

“It turned out that the votes received by the Green Left Party in dozens of cities in Turkey and northern Kurdistan [southeast Turkey] were recorded [as votes of] other parties, mostly the MHP, on the YSK’s Political Party Portal.”

Meanwhile, a 10-member observer delegation from Spain arrived in Turkey to monitor the elections upon the invitation of the Green Left Party. They were detained by Turkish police on election day and deported the next day, on May 15. 

Kurds held hostage in Turkish jails 

Another reason the election is neither free nor fair is that thousands of Kurds, including mayors, members of parliament, and journalists, are in Turkish jails for “terrorism” charges. The actual reason is their opposition to Erdogan’s dictatorship and requests for equal rights for Kurds. Therefore, they do not enjoy the freedom of political engagement. This includes the co-heads of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. The HDP is also facing a closure case at Turkey’s Constitutional Court. Because of this, the HDP entered the elections under the umbrella of the Green Left Party (YSP) in case it would be closed down in the midst of the election process.  

Discrimination against Kurds who request national rights is a major obstacle impeding Turkey’s democratization. Because of the strong anti-Kurdish sentiment in both the Islamist ruling party and the nationalist-secular-Islamist opposition, neither side supports a Kurdish right to self-determination. However, recognizing the Kurdish right to self-rule in Turkey is key to resolving the Kurdish issue peacefully and democratizing Turkey.

Erdogan and his supporters 

Erdogan often calls his opponents “terrorists.” Currently, the two groups that are most often targeted for supposedly being or supporting terrorists are the Kurds and those allegedly close to the movement of the Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, now in self-exile in the United States. Erdogan’s government further labels the Gülenist movement — ironically, a former ally of the government – “Fethullahist terrorist organization” or “FETO.” Erdogan claims his government is fighting against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), FETO and ISIS – despite the well-documented support Erdogan’s regime has provided for ISIS. 

“PKK members, FETO members, and a wide array of terrorist organizations all over the world support Mr. Kemal [Kilicdaroglu] on May 14 with all their might,” Erdogan said in an election rally in Ankara on May 1.

The venue where Erdogan held the rally in Ankara was decorated with banners that read “Reis [chieftain, i.e.  Erdogan] proudly presents: UAV, SİHA, AKINCI, KIZIL ELMA more coming soon”.

UAV stands for “unmanned combat aerial vehicle” and SIHA is its Turkish equivalent, “silahlı insansız hava aracı”. Akinci refers to “Bayraktar Akıncı” (“raider”), an unmanned combat aerial vehicle manufactured by the Turkish defense company Baykar. And Kizil Elma (“Red Apple”) refers to a Turkish irredentist goal that aims to build a greater Turkish empire “from Gibraltar [on Spain’s south coast] to Hedjaz [in the Arabian Peninsula] and from the Balkans to Asia,” according to the director of communications of the Turkish presidency, Fahrettin Altun.

The Republic of Turkey was established in 1923. Erdogan has for years claimed that 2023 will mark the “Century of Turkey”.  He said in another election rally that “We will build the Turkish century together with you shoulder to shoulder. We will open the doors of a great and powerful Turkey with you.”  

Despite Erdogan’s government’s countless human rights violations and crimes against humanity in and outside of Turkey, Erdogan still gets the votes of many millions of people. This means his loyalists care nothing about human rights violations. 

The election results also demonstrate how blindly ideologically driven Turkish Islamists are. They actively support Turkey’s wars and invasions in the region, and its abuses against other nations and minorities. 

Also, Erdogan’s government responded to the February earthquakes in such an inefficient, irresponsible, and lackadaisical way. Erdogan even threatened the political opposition after the earthquakes. The earthquake survivors were ignored and abandoned for days by the government.  

However, even the government’s poor response to the earthquake tragedy and the increasing poverty in the country does not seem to have greatly affected the political leanings of Erdogan’s supporters. 

Furthermore, the Islamist Huda Par (Free Cause Party), which is affiliated with the Kurdish Hizbollah terror group, has formed an alliance with Erdogan. Many people joined Erdogan’s election rallies waving Huda Par flags. Hizbollah kidnapped, tortured, and murdered many civilians in Turkey during the 1990s. Because of this alliance, in the upcoming period, four Hizbollah supporters will reportedly become members of parliament.

The opposition alliance:

Turkey’s six-party opposition electoral alliance, also known as “Table of Six”, consists of Turkey’s main Kemalist party (CHP), a Turkish fascist party (Good/Iyi Party), the Democrat Party (whose leader entered the parliament as a Good Party member), an Islamist party (Felicity Party/Saadet), and two parties established by Erdogan’s former allies, the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) as well as the Future Party (GP). 

This does not seem to be a truly pro-democracy alternative to Erdogan’s regime, which came to power in 2002. Turkey’s previous governments are largely responsible for the elimination of non-Muslim communities in Anatolia, such as Christians and Yazidis. They also oppressed Kurds and even declined to officially recognize the ethnic identity of Kurds or their language. Neither did they officially recognize the faith of Alevis or their places of worship, known as “cem houses.” 

Turkish opposition political leaders such as Good Party’s leader, Meral Aksener, and Ankara’s mayor, Mansur Yavas, come from the Grey Wolf fascist political movement that aims to establish a Turkic empire based on Turkish supremacy. And Islamists believe in Islamic supremacy and their worldview is antithetical to democracy and human rights.

The opposition alliance also represents the Turkish state tradition when it comes to foreign policy – particularly the policy towards Cyprus, Greece, Armenia, Libya, and other nations. The Turkish state tradition regarding foreign policy upholds conquests, military aggression, territorial expansionism while lacking any respect for the sovereignty of other nations or the human rights of Turks and non-Turks alike.

When Erdogan, for instance, spoke of conquering the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, though without actual military action, Kilicdaroglu urged Erdogan to gather up his courage in order to invade those islands just as former PM Bulent Ecevit did when he launched Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

Addressing Erdogan, Kilicdaroglu said at a party speech on September 13, 2022: 

“You say ‘I will go [to the islands] one night’ or ‘I will go in the morning’, or ‘I am about to [go/take action]’. Should they send an invitation to you for you to go? If you have the courage, you should go. Just like Ecevit… First, our soldiers landed [in Cyprus], then Ecevit came out and said, ‘Our army is in Cyprus right now.’”

This foreign policy is also a reflection of the founding ideology of Turkey, which is Turkish-Islamic supremacy. And it was Kilicdaroglu’s Republican People’s Party, CHP, that founded Turkey in 1923. 

The Turkish nationalist movement completed the 1913-23 Christian genocide in Anatolia first begun by the Ottoman Empire. And when the CHP ruled Turkey from 1923 to 1950, non-Muslims and non-Turks including the survivors of the Christian genocide were exposed to severe persecution and discrimination. And no party in the opposition alliance including the CHP shows any signs of acknowledging these facts of history and apologizing for Turkish crimes. Turkey’s tragedy is that the national elections are mainly a competition between Islamists and Turkist supremacists.

But it seems that Erdogan will declare victory in the elections after the second round. It is very likely that no matter who Turkey votes for, the YSK will record the votes in a way that Erdogan’s regime instructs them. This is the default if the opposition alliance doesn’t demand a legitimate counting and recording of the votes. And winning elections will further embolden Erdogan’s regime. On May 16, Yazidi organizations reported that Turkish airstrikes hit the town of Khanesor in the Yazidi homeland of Sinjar in Iraq. The airstrike targeted an unfinished building in a populated area. 

This is an obvious sign of what awaits the wider region following Erdogan’s victory in the elections. Erdogan and his fascist-jihadist alliance will continue supporting Hamas in Gaza, al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria, ISIS members in and outside of Turkey and Azerbaijan in its aggressive war against Armenians. They will continue to persecute dissident Turks, Kurds, Yazidis, and Armenians, among other peoples. Thousands of Turkish and Kurdish political prisoners will continue to perish in Turkish jails. Turkey will thus continue to be a destabilizing influence in its geopolitical sphere. 

Until the Kurdish political movement and other pro-democracy communities become change-making forces who truly influence politics in a positive way, nothing much will change in Turkey. The West should finally open its eyes to this alarming reality.

The post Are Turkey’s Elections Legitimate? appeared first on Providence.

Two teenagers in Fayette County, TN, have become the latest victims of a drug catastrophe that has been sweeping the nation. Fentanyl, an incredibly powerful synthetic opioid, took the lives of 16- and 17-year-old girls in a school parking lot in a suspected overdose.

The third, a 17-year-old student who also overdosed, has since been released from the hospital and charged with two counts of second-degree murder and possession of a controlled substance.

The students are all underage and have not been named. Authorities have not determined if the suspect will be charged as an adult.

This tragedy highlights the potentially lethal consequences of fentanyl use, which can lead to death with as little as a dose the size of a pencil tip. After gaining use in the adult population in recent years, it is now easy for younger generations to encounter the drug regularly. Fayette County Public Schools are in full cooperation with local authorities, and the story has been spread, in an attempt to educate others, on the sheriff’s office Facebook page.

Fentanyl’s presence in communities around the United States has caused numerous similar cases. Over the past six months, eleven students in Texas have overdosed due to fentanyl; three of whom died in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District. Charges of Conspiracy to distribute were brought against the three people who lived nearby, all of whom are said to have had the drug in their possession.

The deaths of these teenagers in Tennessee serve as a reminder that it’s essential to educate young people on the dangers of drugs like fentanyl.

The COVID “Killer Vaccine”. People Are Dying All Over the World. It’s a Criminal Undertaking

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, May 18, 2023

Peer reviewed reports confirm the causes  of vaccine related deaths and “adverse events” (injuries) including among others …

The post Selected Articles: The COVID “Killer Vaccine”. People Are Dying All Over the World. It’s a Criminal Undertaking appeared first on Global Research.