Israeli Soldiers Abduct, Gang-Rape And Murder A Palestinian Girl

Israeli Weapons Fuel Atrocities In Africa.
Israeli weapons are fueling atrocities in South Sudan, according to a United Nations report that sheds new light on the secretive Israeli arms trade in Africa.
Authored by an investigative team assembled by the UN Security Council, the report cites photographic evidence of automatic rifles made by Israel Military Industries (IMI) being in the arsenal of South Sudan’s army and police.
Known as Galil ACE, the guns have particularly been used by bodyguards of high-ranking politicians and by senior army officers.

South Sudan was granted independence in 2011 following a civil war that lasted for decades.
Within days of its establishment, leading figures in the Israeli weapons industry rushed to advance their interests in the new ally against Iran’s influence in Sudan.
Since its secession in 2011, South Sudan has descended into civil war between opposing political factions.

The Israeli-armed South Sudanese military and government-aligned militias are employing a “scorched earth policy” characterised by the systematic rape of women and children, indiscriminate killings and the burning down of entire villages with families inside their homes, according to the UN report.

South Sudan is not the only African country in which the Israeli arms industry is profiting from bloodshed.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Israel does not disclose detailed information about its arms deals, most of which are brokered by shady intermediaries, typically retired Israeli military personnel or civilian expatriates.

However, occasional news reports, public statements from officials and investigations by nongovernmental organizations have drawn back the curtain in recent years, revealing military involvement in more corners of Africa than can be detailed in a single article.
Using those sources, SIPRI was able to document the sale of major Israeli weapons to Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda, the Seychelles, South Africa and Uganda from 2006 to 2010.
Despite its small size, for decades Israel has ranked among the world’s top ten arms exporters.
( Rania Khalek, 16.09.2015 )  ..  electronicintifada.net

It’s Nice To Be Remembered.
With a chest full of medals glinting in the sunshine Geoffrey Wellum screwed up his eyes and scoured the horizon in anticipation.
Then he heard it.
The distinctive hum of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, still as familiar as his own heartbeat.
As the first of four Spitfires came into view his eyes widened and a beam spread across his face.

For, 75 years-ago Geoffrey was a 19 year-old Spitfire pilot fighting the Messerschmitts of Hitler’s Luftwaffe.
He shot down at least three enemy aircraft and damaged many others.
Geoffrey was one of The Few, the 3,000 airmen who took to the skies in the greatest air battle in British history, to save us from invasion.
Today, those RAF heroes number fewer than 25, but yesterday six of them joined the Queen and other members of the Royal Family at a flypast marking the 75th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain.

Squadron Leader Geoffrey Wellum, DFC, 93, travelled from his home in Cornwall, to pay tribute to his fallen comrades.
“It’s a great privilege to be here” he said. “It’s nice to be remembered, because that means all the chaps that got killed are remembered. That’s what’s important, not medals or thanks”.
( Rachael Bletchly and Victoria Murphy, 11.07.2015 )

An 18-month-old Palestinian boy burned to death after Israeli illegal settlers set fire to his family house in Duma village, south of Nablus city, in the illegally-occupied West Bank.
The parents of Ali Saad Dawabsheh and his four-year-old brother were also injured in the attack.
Up to 75% of their bodies suffered burns, according to medics in Nablus’ Rafidia hospital.
Nabil Abu Rdeineh, a spokesman Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said that the Israeli government was fully responsible for the crime as it continued to support illegal Israeli settlement activities and the protection of settlers.
He also blamed the international community for silence over crimes against Palestinians.
( Al Jazeera, 31.07.2015 )  ..  aljazeera.com

Disaster Struck The World’s Largest Airship.
On a damp and blustery October afternoon in 1930, the world’s largest airship set off from Cardington near Bedford, on its maiden flight to India.
On board R101 of the Imperial Airship Service were 54 crew and passengers, including Lord Thomson, the Air Minister.
Just after 2am the following morning, while battling a storm over France, the hydrogen-filled behemoth suddenly plunged to the ground near Beauvais and burst into flames.
Of those on board, only six survived and Britain’s bold experiment with passenger airships came to an abrupt end.

The shed in which R101 was built was the largest building in the British Empire – so big that the Titanic would have fitted inside, apart from the last 40 feet of her bow.
The airship R101 was 777 feet long and had more similarities to a passenger liner than an aircraft.
It was the same length as 29 buses placed end to end and twice the height of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Designed to offer 100 passengers the height of luxury, it had cabins fitted with bunk beds, a spacious lounge, dining room and a viewing deck.
The decor included potted palms, Axminster carpets and walls draped with blue velvet.
There was even a smoking lounge, a remarkable feature considering the vessel was inflated with highly inflammable gas.
Cardington’s handsome church, St Mary’s, contains a memorial to those who perished in the disaster.

Above it is the ragged, scorched RAF ensign which flew from the tail of R101 and was recovered from the crash site.
Across the road is a cemetery where the victims were buried in a mass grave.
A white memorial tomb marks the spot.
It carries their names and the inscription ‘Here lie the bodies of 48 officers and men who perished in H.M.Airship R101 at Beauvais, France, October 5th 1930’.
( Bob Barton, Best of British magazine, April 2015 )

Israeli Soldiers Abduct, Gang-Rape And Murder A Palestinian Girl.
She was abducted on Aug. 12, 1949 by Israeli soldiers near the Nirim military outpost in the Negev desert, close to the illegally-occupied Gaza Strip.
The unnamed Palestinian Bedouin girl, in her mid-teens, was then raped and executed.
Her tragedy remained hidden in the Israeli army’s archives for 54 years, recorded in military court testimonies and a single entry in former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s diary, where he referred to it as a “horrific atrocity” in the early years of the state.
In 2003, Israeli newspaper Haaretz obtained classified documents including the testimonies of the 20 soldiers involved in the case, and published an article in Hebrew on the account.
It did not receive media attention.

The girl was brought back to the outpost, where her clothes were pulled off.
She was forced under the shower by the platoon sergeant.
He washed her down with his own hands, while his fellow soldiers enjoyed the show.
She was then taken into a hut and gang-raped by three soldiers.
At about 5 p.m., they brought a barber to cut her hair short, after which she was forced to shower once more in front of the officer and sergeant.

The second lieutenant ordered the soldiers to prepare for a party.
Tables were set up, wine poured and food laid out.
Platoon commander ‘Moshe’ gave his soldiers a pep talk on Zionism and the importance of the troops’ contribution to the newly founded state.
They read excerpts from the Bible and rejoiced.

Just before the end of the party, Moshe gave his soldiers two options regarding their captive: She was either to become a kitchen worker or their sex slave.
Most replied: “We want to fuck”.
The commander drew up a three-day gang-rape schedule for his three squads to alternate.
On the first night, he went in with one of his sergeants, Michael.
They left her unconscious.
When she tried to speak up the next morning, she was executed.
Her body was placed in a grave about 30cm deep.
( Al Arabiya News, 17.08.2015 )  ..  alarabiya.net

Operation Thursday.
The aim of Operation Thursday on 5 March, 1944 was to fly a force of 10,000 men, 1,000 mules, equipment and supplies into the heart of Burma.
All sorties were to be flown at night to avoid Japanese aircraft, and gliders would land troops to secure the site.
A second wave would land more troops and American engineers with their equipment to construct an airstrip so that C47 Dakotas could bring in the remaining forces.
Prior to the fly-in, the Japanese air force had been much weakened by raids on their airfields by 1st Air Commando USAAF and the RAF.
Some 78 Japanese aircrafts were destroyed and more damaged.

Brigadier Michael Calvert, commander of 77th Brigade led the first wave of 52 gliders.
Another 28 gliders were in the second wave.
Initial glider landings did not go well.
Aerial photographs failed to show ditches and trees on a landing area and these caused several of the gliders to crash on landing and 30 men were killed, and 28 wounded.
Planes en-route were ordered to return to prevent further casualties.
On the first night 35 gliders managed to land and by dawn 400 men were ready for action.

A runway was cleared and a total of 55 Dakotas flew in, followed by 579 Dakota sorties bringing in 77th Brigade and two battalions from 111th Brigade.
A second airstrip was constructed and by 8 March a force of 1,200 men, 200 mules and their equipment had been flown in.
This was the largest Allied airborne operation ever conducted until the forces under Eisenhower landed in France.
( Best of British magazine, August 2015 )

Israeli Organised Crime Figure Jailed For 32 Years.
A man linked to one of the most notorious organised crime rings in Israel and who on his own operated “a vast international criminal conspiracy engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering” was sentenced to 32 years in federal prison.
Moshe Matsri, 48, was found guilty by a federal jury in October 2014 of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine, eight counts of money laundering, attempted distribution of at least five kilograms of cocaine, attempted possession with intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine and conspiracy to commit extortion.
He was convicted pursuant to a grand jury indictment that outlined Matsri’s role as leader of an organised crime enterprise that engaged in a wide-range of criminal behaviour, including laundering money for narcotics traffickers by moving money around the world.
( U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, 31.07.2015 )  ..  justice.gov