Sunday, January 11, 2015

I Am Not Charlie Hebdo

 
With all the never ending rants of how Islam doesn't allow free speech, and the West simply being built upon it, things have gotten ugly - fast. With absolute hatred bubbling, the state of things have become immensely worrying.
I'm simply going to be honest here and say that I'm not one who appreciates the comparison of one brutality and murder with another, but in this case, I think it has become a necessity.
In the year 2014 alone, 17 journalists, ones whom have actually done their jobs as it entails (that needs to be said simply because in a time like today, one has a better chance of finding flying unicorns, than finding a respectable and true journalist), had been murdered in Gaza.
SEVENTEEN.
How many people have heard of them? How many people even knew they were brutally killed? Does one journalist suddenly become less worthy than the other, simply as how the lives of Palestinians has seemingly become worthless when compared to their neighbors?
...Just because?
What about THEIR right to freedom of speech? Their families' rights? Their children's? If we want to argue, and stand for something, don't stand for one.
Stand for all.
1. Hamid Abdullah Shehab - "Media 24"company.
2. Najla Mahmoud Haj - Media Activist.
3 Khalid Hamad - The "Kontnao" Media Production company.
4. Ziad Abdul Rahman Abu Hin - al-Ketab satellite channel.
5. Ezzat Duheir - Prisoners Radio.
6. Bahauddin Gharib - Palestine TV.
7 Ahed Zaqqout - Veteran Sports Journalist.
8 Ryan Rami - Palestinian Media Network.
9 Sameh Al-Arian - Al-Aqsa TV.
10 Mohammed Daher - Editor in al-Resala paper.
11. Abdullah Vhjan - Sports Journalist.
12 Khaled Hamada Mqat - Journalist, Director of Saja News website.
13. Shadi Hamdi Ayyad - Freelance Journalist
14 Mohammed Nur al-Din al-Dairi - Photojournalist, Palestinian Network.
15. Ali Abu Afesh - Doha Center for Media.
16 (Italian Journalist) Simone Camille - Photographer, Associated Press.
17. Abdullah Fadel Murtaja.

See those names?
They are the 17 journalists that were killed.
Stripped off their rights to report,
To speak,
To breathe.

I've made no mention of faiths, nor have I listed them down in this post, because simply, it's something that doesn't matter.
People of all backgrounds and all faiths, are being murdered for what they do. By devils who believe that their acts, are for, and by the sake of their religions.
The only difference, is that one gets away with it, and the other doesn't.
So as we mourn over the 12 lives of the Charlie Hebdo Attack, let us mourn for these 17 journalists too.
What happened in Paris had been an act of absolute barbarity, one to be condemned to the highest degree. Just as how it should be, for every other brutality.
May peace and justice come to them, and all those they have left behind.



This photo shows a journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza on July 30, 2014.
Italian Journalist, killed in Gaza

Rand Paul moves to ban aid to Palestinians until ICC bid withdrawn

The U.S. senator met with a group of Jewish donors to the Republican Party before introducing his bill, according to the National Journal.

 U.S. Senator Rand Paul speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC. June 13, 2013
U.S. Senator Rand Paul speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC. June 13, 2013 Photo by AFP
The so-called "Defend Israel by Defunding Palestinian Foreign Aid Act of 2015" was the second anti-Palestinian bill introduced by Paul in as many years, according to the National Journal. Last year, he introduced the "Stand with Israel Act," which would have terminated U.S. aid until the Palestinians agreed to a cease-fire and recognized the state of Israel.
The PA submitted the necessary documentation to become a member of the world's permanent war crimes tribunal last week. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday its the member ship would become official on April 1.
As a member of the court, the PA will be able to pursue war crimes charges against Israel.
Hours before introducing the bill, Rand met with a group leading Jewish donors to the Republican Party, including casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, the Journal reported.
Paul's bill would eliminate all U.S. foreign assistance, loan guarantees, and general aid to the Palestine Authority so long as it seeks to join the international court, according to an aide to the senator.
Interviewed by Fox News, Paul argued that it "hardly seems to me a good idea to give American taxpayer money to a country or an entity that is now saying that an ally of ours—that their soldiers need to be investigated for war crimes."
The junior Republican senator from Kentucky is openly exploring a run for the White House in 2016. Observers see his bill as being part of a bid to win the support of Republican pro-Israel hawks, who tend to regard the libertarian Paul with skepticism, if not outright hostility.

TWO CHILDREN AMONG EIGHT PALESTINIANS KIDNAPPED BY IOF IN SILWAN

Two children among eight Palestinians kidnapped by IOF
At least eight Palestinian citizens were kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) overnight Saturday following a round of arbitrary mass-abduction campaigns carried out across Jerusalem’s town of Silwan.
The Silwan-based Wadi Helwa Information Center said a special unit of the Israeli occupation army stormed Jerusalem’s town of Silwan and rounded up the Palestinian minors Hamdi Jaber, 14, and Khalil Resheq, 15.
The assault culminated in the apprehension of the youths Mohamed Shwayat, Hamza Jaber, Khaled Kastero, Fares Abu Nab, and Morad Kastero, all in their 20s.
The IOF further broke into the family home of the Palestinian civilian Abd Zaytoun and shoved his wife.
invading IOF troops stormed the house of the Palestinian citizen Nidhal Zaytoun and took multi-dimensional snapshots of the building, moments after they provocatively checked out the inhabitants’ IDs.
In a related development, the IOF early Sunday morning sealed off the main entryways to the town of Asira al-Shamaliya, north of the West Bank city of Nablus.
The IOF troops raided the town at dawn and fenced off the so-called 17 checkpoint leading to Nablus city.
The Israeli occupation patrols further blocked the passageway between the towns of Asira and the adjacent Agensinya, denying Palestinian citizens and workers access out of and into the area.
Source: PIC