SDJW roundup
The pilot and the copilot who attacked him in the cockpit of a FlyDubai jet Wednesday were transferred Thursday by Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates which has diplomatic relations with Israel.
The United Arab Emirates and Israel are now diplomatically free to conduct a joint investigation of the incident that endangered the lives of 174 Tel Aviv-bound people aboard the jet. Saudi Arabia and Israel do not have diplomatic relations nor do Israel and Oman, the country of origin for the copilot who tried to take control of the flight, ostensibly for a 911-style suicide crash.
The attacker recently underwent extensive Islamist training, according to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who didn’t disclose the source of that information.
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A sixth man, this one a dual UK-Iranian national, was arrested on Thursday, in the unfolding drama that on Sunday saw five British nationals arrested and given police bail on Monday under what authorities described as stringent conditions. The names of all six men have not been disclosed by British authorities.
Thursday’s development gave credence to UK’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s assertion that Iran was somehow involved in a suspicious rendezvous near the RAF Fairford base from which American bombers had carried out sorties against Iran earlier this year. Three white vans carrying five Londoners assembled past midnight but panicked when a farmer spotted them.
The farmer said she first called base security, but when they didn’t answer the phone, she called the 999 emergency number available to civilians, similar to 911 service in the U.S. Police said one of the five men also called 999 to report the suspects’ doings.
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San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced hate crime charges on Thursday against a 20-year-old man for a series of graffiti incidents in the Lake Murray area last month that left multiple vehicles, fences, walls, and a residence spray painted with hate language, including swastikas, the N-word, and a racist and derogatory term in Spanish.
Eli S. Peralta was arraigned Thursday and pleaded not guilty to four felony counts including using terrorizing symbols on private property and vandalism. If convicted he faces five years in local custody.
“The felony charges my office filed should make it clear that hate crimes are taken very seriously in San Diego County,” DA Stephan said. “Vandalizing someone’s property with swastikas and racist slurs is more than an act of vandalism. It is an act intended to intimidate, demean, and cause fear. That is not what we stand for in this community. We will stand with victims, hold those responsible accountable, and make clear that hate and intimidation have no place here.”
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San Diego Jewish World roundup