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"Jewish race is a special race": Likud member tells Arab lawmaker during debate over surveillance cameras at voting stations

Kippah
© AP Photo / Jens Meyer
The Jewish legislator made similar remarks when arguing with the same opponent a year ago; at the time, he called Jewish people the "smartest, most special" people in the world.

In a heated parliamentary debate, a lawmaker for Israel's ruling party referred to Jews as a "special race" before telling an Arab member of the Knesset that he could not make a moral argument because of his opposition to Jewish statehood.

Likud party member Miki Zohar, head of the Knesset Regulatory Committee, told pro-Palestinian Knesset member Ahmad Tibi on Monday: "The Jewish race is a special race and I am glad to be part of it. If you don't like it, deal with it."

"You can't preach morals to us because you are anti-Zionists, against the principle of the Jewish state."

Comment: One can imagine that what some Zionists say behind closed doors is even worse: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:


Info

Bernie Sanders trots out Linda Sarsour as a campaign surrogate

linda sarsour
© John Moore/Getty Images
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders enlisted the services of far-left activist Linda Sarsour to campaign for him this week as he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination.

Sanders tweeted Sarsour's remarks in a video that went viral Friday night and Saturday morning. Sarsour has come under fire for her harsh criticism of Israel, defense of Sharia Law, and refusal to condemn Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. She has also been accused by Jewish organizations of holding anti-Semitic views.

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Eye 1

CNN claims key CIA spy 'extracted' from Moscow because 'Trump can't keep a secret'

Kremlin Moscow Russia
© REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia (file photo)
A high-level US spy inside the Russian government was evacuated in 2017 due to fears he could be exposed by President Donald Trump, CNN claimed in a report the White House, Moscow and the CIA have all rejected as fake news.

US intelligence "successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government" in mid-2017, the network reported citing anonymous sources described as "multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge" of the secret mission.

The operation was supposedly launched after the May 2017 visit to the White House of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, over concerns that Trump and his administration "repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy," in CNN's words.

Chess

British Parliament votes down Johnson's 2nd motion to force snap elections

House of Commons UK Britain parliament
© Reuters / UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor
British Labour Party politician Hilary Benn speaks after Speaker John Bercow delivered a statement in the House of Commons in London, Britain September 9, 2019.
The British Parliament has rejected for the second time PM Boris Johnson's bid to call early elections before a crucial EU summit in October, dealing yet another blow to the Brexit-pushing UK leader.

Johnson did not succeed in his second attempt to force early general elections Monday evening, having failed to pass a two-thirds threshold needed to secure the poll.

MPs voted 293 in favor and 46 against the proposal after a fiery debate.

Russian Flag

'I couldn't protect myself with law': Freed Russian journalist Vyshinsky recalls Ukraine jail time

Kirill Vyshinsky
© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
Kirill Vyshinsky arrives in Moscow as part of detainee exchange with Ukraine.
The case was made up against him in Ukraine to help then-President Petro Poroshenko win re-election, but the plan backfired and merely tainted Kiev's international reputation, freed Russian journalist Kirill Vyshinsky has told RT.

The head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine news agency was detained at his home in Kiev in May 2018 and charged with high treason over allegedly being involved in a "hybrid information war" against Ukraine, which carries a term of up to 15 years behind bars.

Vyshinsky spent 470 days in pre-trial detention, saying that "the hardest thing was the living conditions because it's a shock when someone first enters prison. I had in my hands a small bag for toiletries, a toothbrush and tooth paste."

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Newspaper

Babble on Climate change: Seven standout moments from CNN's Democratic Presidential Town Hall

  • CNN's seven-hour climate town hall allowed ten of the top Democratic presidential candidates to flesh out their positions on climate change, with two of the front-runners expressing support for the Green New Deal.
  • Mayor Peter Buttigieg suggested the Democrat's fight against climate change could be more challenging than even World War II.
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders offered a one-word reply when CNN asked him if he would reinstate bans on certain kinds of light bulbs.
CNN Climate Town Hall
The Democratic Party's top presidential candidates took turns at CNN's climate town hall Wednesday hashing out their positions on everything from banning plastic straws to eliminating fossil fuel production.

Businessman Andrew Yang, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont all plan to plow trillions of dollars into climate change mitigation. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts meanwhile has staked much of her campaign on holding oil companies responsible for man-made global warming.

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Bizarro Earth

Israeli drone strikes on Syrian military posts kill 18, also launches multiple attacks in southern Lebanon

Israeli missiles

FILE PHOTO:A picture taken early on January 21, 2019 shows Syrian air defence batteries responding to Israeli missiles targeting Damascus.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on September 9 that the overnight raids carried out by unidentified warplanes took place in the region of Al-Bukamal near the Iraqi border.

The Observatory said the strikes targeted posts, military vehicles, and arms depots, causing extensive damage.

The number of deaths was likely to increase, it said.

A local activist collective in eastern Syria, the Sound and Pictures, also reported the air strikes, saying they hit an arms depot for Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, a grouping of mostly Iran-backed Shi'ite militias.

Comment: Sputnik reports:

The statement comes after some Syrian media outlets reported earlier that at least 18 militia members had been killed in a drone strike in eastern Syria. The unmanned aerial vehicles reportedly attacked militias near the city of Al Bukamal, close to the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Israel has conducted scores of air attacks against Syria over the past few years, saying that the strikes were aimed at countering alleged Iranian presence in the country.

Damascus condemns the attacks as a blatant violation of international law, while Iran insists that its presence in Syria has been limited to military advisers helping Damascus fight terrorist groups. Tehran denies the Jewish state's right to exist, promising to wipe it off the political map should it take any action against Iran.

Israel-Lebanon Tensions

The IDF's Monday statement comes amid an escalation of Israel-Lebanon tensions which were preceded by the Israeli military launching massive mortar, artillery and air strikes against multiple targets in southern Lebanon, following a Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack targeting IDF positions along the border.

While Lebanese President Michel Aoun made it clear that Lebanon will have every right to respond if Israel renews its military "aggression" against the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel has suffered no injuries, "not even a scratch" in the back and forth barrage of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Commenting on the security situation in the area, Netanyahu stressed that he had instructed the military to "be prepared for any scenario" in accordance with developments on the ground.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin took to Twitter to warn "all those who seek to harm us" that Israel was "ready and willing to defend Israel's citizens wherever they are, without hesitation."

Tel Aviv has repeatedly claimed that Hezbollah - whose primary goal is the destruction of the Jewish state - is a proxy of Iran and that it receives weapons and equipment from Tehran, which the latter denies.
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Network

"A new agenda of trust and security": France advocates better relations with Russia

Jean-Yves Le Drian
© REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Defence Minister Florence Parly meet their Russian counterparts in Moscow on 9 September, 2019.
Will US media label him a pro-Putin stooge as it would surely do if Trump said it? French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has called for an easing of tensions with Russia as a delegation of top French ministers met with officials in Moscow on Monday.

"The time has come, the time is right, to work towards reducing distrust," Le Drian said at a press conference. He described Saturday's historic prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, which included 24 Ukrainian sailors detained in the Kerch Strait incident last November, as presenting a "window of opportunity" that could open a lasting peace between Kiev and Moscow.

It was the first meeting between Russian and French officials in the so-called "2+2" format since tensions soared over the 2014 Crimea crisis, according to the AFP. Defense Minister Florence Parly accompanied Le Drian for the talks with their Russian counterparts.

Comment: France isn't the only EU country seeing sense:


Nuke

IAEA confirms Iran is installing more advanced centrifuges for uranium enrichment production

Uranium conversion facility
© AP/Vahid Salemi
2005: Uranium conversion facility near Isfahan, Iran
Earlier, an Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation spokesman said Iran would be decreasing its commitments to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, in retaliation to the breach of the deal by Washington. Tehran maintains that it could still 'reverse' its action if the other parties to the deal fulfill their promises.

Iran has begun installing advanced centrifuges which would allow it to increase the enrichment levels of its uranium stocks, the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced.

In a statement released Monday, the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that it had been able to verify on September 7 "that the following centrifuges were either installed or being installed...: 22 IR-4, one IR-5, 30 IR-6 and three IR-6s," with "IR" referring to Iran's centrifuge equipment.

Compared to IR-1, the older generation of Iranian centrifuge equipment, the IR-4 is said to be capable of producing enriched uranium five times as fast, while the IR-6 can produce it ten times as fast.

Comment: More from Sputnik, 8/9/2019: IAEA inspectors find traces of Uranium at Tehran site touted by Netanyahu as 'secret atomic warehouse'
Israeli media accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of seeking to avoid publicising information about Iran's alleged nuclear materials stockpile at a 'secret nuclear warehouse' facility in the Iranian capital.

IAEA inspectors have carried out an inspection of a warehouse mentioned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his speech to the UN General Assembly last September, finding traces of uranium which Iran has yet to account for, two diplomats who follow the agency's work have told Reuters.

One of the diplomats clarified that the uranium traces were not of a weapons-grade quality, and not purified to 'anywhere close' to the levels required for a nuclear bomb. It remains unclear whether the alleged uranium traces predate the 2015 nuclear treaty, or are more recent.
Additional from Sputnik, 9/9/2019: Netanyahu to reveal new intel on Iran's Nuclear program on Monday
"Netanyahu plans to disclose on Monday new details based on Mossad intelligence, obtained during the seizure of the Iranian nuclear archive," an unnamed official was quoted as saying by the Channel 13 broadcaster. He added that Netanyahu was considering providing more details "about the known nuclear sites of Iran and those which are involved in the Iranian nuclear program."
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Arrow Down

Taliban's Kabul attack inadvertently tanked Afghan peace talks

TrumpTaliban
© Reuters
US President Donald Trump • Members of the Taliban
Neither the Taliban nor the US wanted to throw away the unprecedented progress that's been made towards peace thus far, but pressure on both sides from within their own ranks and outside regrettably led to the suspension of the Afghan peace process.

Trump shocked the world when he announced on Twitter over the weekend that a secret meeting between him and Taliban* leaders at Camp David was suddenly called off in response to the group's recent attack in Kabul that resulted in the death of an American soldier. Secretary of State Pompeo, who was reportedly against the draft peace deal that emerged from the ninth round of talks between both sides, said that the US won't enter into any agreement without "significant commitments" from the Taliban, implying that some sort of ceasefire might be a prerequisite for restarting the negotiations and thus making them extremely unlikely to be revived because of the group's stalwart position against this. The Taliban responded by issuing an official statement condemning the US' decision and warning that it will "increase its loss of life and treasure", thereby publicly threatening the US and making it even more unlikely that Trump will change his mind given the optics involved.

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