Palestinian Scout group misleads World Scout Movement about terror ties
(JNS.org) A watchdog group said the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA) has been misleading the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) by claiming they are not the group promoting a course honoring a terrorist.
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) found substantial evidence that the Palestinian scouts falsely told the umbrella organization there are two Palestinian scout organizations to deflect from the fact that their Jerusalem Scout Commission ran a leadership training course named “Martyr – Leader Baha Alyan Course” in honor of a terrorist, who killed three Israeli bus passengers in Oct. 2015.
The watchdog group urged the scouting organization to ensure that they do not take “part in training future scout leaders to see terrorist murderers as role models.”
The Palestinian scout group convinced the international scouting organization that they are not the group who held the course. WOSM now claims the course was held by another Palestinian scout group, called the Palestinian Scout and Guide Association. However, PMW has found no evidence that there are separate associations.
The Palestinian Scout Association is the English translation of their official Arabic name, the Palestinian Scout and Guide Association, PMW found.
More specifically, the chairman of the Jerusalem Scout Commission, a branch of PSA, is seen in a video with a senior WOSM representative and instructors of the Alyan course, celebrating PSA’s membership induction into the WOSM.
There are other photos and videos of ceremonies and events showing PSA leaders (recognized by the WOSM office), Alyan course instructors, and a senior WOSM official together, including one with the father of terrorist Alyan.
“The only conclusion to reach is that WOSM was falsely told by the PSA that there are two organizations,” PMW wrote in a bulletin. “PMW’s research found no reference anywhere to two different organizations and the evidence shows beyond a doubt that the Jerusalem Scout Commission is part of the PSA that has membership in WOSM. Accordingly, it was the WOSM-affiliated PSA that ran the “Martyr Baha Alyan Course.”
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Israel Air Force strikes Gaza targets
(JNS.org) The Israel Air Force struck three Hamas infrastructure sites in the Gaza Strip in response to a rocket fired at Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson’s Unit said on Thursday.
A mortar shell landed in Israel on Wednesday in an open field in the southern Eskhol Regional Council near the Gaza border. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
“The IDF sees the terrorist organization Hamas as solely responsible for what takes place in the Gaza Strip and will continue to act severely in order to maintain quiet in the southern communities,” according to the IDF statement.
Israel launched a retaliatory attack on Hamas infrastructure in August after a missile fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the city of Sderot.
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Obama to double the number of refugees admitted to U.S.
(JNS.org) The Obama administration plans to bring 110,000 refugees to the United States in 2017 fiscal year, an almost 60 percent increase over last year, a White House spokesman said Wednesday.
While the State Department has not laid out a country-specific breakdown for the expected number of refugees they plan to admit into the U.S, there are global regional targets, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
The expected number of refugees include 40,000 for the Near East and Southeast Asia regions, 35,000 from Africa, 12,000 from East Asia, 5,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean and 4,000 from Europe.
“It’s important for people to remember that individuals who’ve been admitted to the United States under this program have to undergo more rigorous screening and vetting than any other individual that enters the United States,” Earnest said, although he didn’t say what that screening and vetting entails.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), chairman of the subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, criticized the plan, calling it a “complete betrayal.”
“Despite opposition by the American people, a documented link between terrorism and individuals admitted to the United States as refugees,” Sessions said. “Terrorists have announced that they will infiltrate the refugee population and have successfully done so multiple times in Europe over the last year.”
Obama believes the U.S. should “play an important role” in bringing refugees to the U.S. and will speak to other nations next week about addressing the refugee crisis originating from the war in Syria, Earnest said.
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