This issue looks at the deadly terrorist attack in southern Israel, the White House’s latest attempt to disconnect Jerusalem from Israel, the State Department’s attempt to criminalize free speech, the upcoming U.N. vote on Palestinian statehood, and the attack against Pamela Geller.

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

Terror Attacks in Israel Leave at least 7 Dead
The Israel Project reports: Terrorists killed at least seven Israelis and wounded as many as 40 others in coordinated attacks on Thursday on buses and civilian cars just north of the Red Sea tourist town of Eilat. “The attacks included heavy fire on a bus followed by heavy fire on two private vehicles and an additional bus,” said Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Eytan Buchman. He said a roadside bomb was also detonated against IDF troops and mortar shells were fired at soldiers doing routine maintenance work on the security fence between Israel and Gaza. Terrorists in Gaza also fired two missiles at Israeli cities.
 
After running battles, Israeli soldiers killed the seven terrorists responsible for the attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “This is a severe event during which Israelis were hurt and which Israeli sovereignty was attacked. Israel will respond appropriately.” Early analysis suggested the terrorists crossed the porous border separating Gaza from Egypt and managed to infiltrate Israeli territory from Egypt-controlled Sinai. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, a fundamentalist organization armed and financed by Iran and committed to the destruction of Israel.

 White House Removes References to “Jerusalem, Israel” from its Website
The Blaze reports: The White House is attempting to sever any connection of Jerusalem to the State of Israel by erasing the word “Israel” from captions on the white House website of photos taken in Jerusalem. Only hours after being confronted by a reporter about the Supreme Court case about Jerusalem and passports that we’ve been reporting, the White House seemingly edited most if not all of the captions on its website by saying they were taken in “Jerusalem” not “Jerusalem, Israel.”

IT’S NEWS TO ME

US State Dept Joins Effort to Criminalize Free Speech
Act for America reports: The assault on our Constitution continues. Now read the latest attack on our freedoms below, posted recently in Jihad Watch (highlights added). The OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) continues its assault on free speech at the UN through the advance of resolution 16/18. This resolution, cloaked in terms such as “defamation of religion,” is a thinly veiled attempt to criminalize speech that criticizes Islam. But now, in an ominous development, according to a story published by the International Islamic News Agency, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has joined the effort to implement this effort to criminalize free speech. Secretary of State Clinton says State Department will coordinate with OIC on legal ways to implement UN’s resolution criminalizing “defamation of religion.” Read the Jihad Watch article.
 
U.N. Vote on Palestinian State Set for September 20       
Jerusalem Prayer Team reports: The Palestinian Authority has officially notified Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that they will seek UN recognition as an independent state on September 20. President Abbas plans to personally present the Palestinians’ demand for statehood and insist on a vote from the world body. All diplomatic efforts by Israel and other countries to prevent this from happening have been unable to deter the plan from moving forward.

A majority of the 193 members of the United Nations have already indicated support for the plan, including most members of the Security Council. Israel’s future is being threatened more seriously than ever before. The political, economic, and military implications of a Palestine perched on the very steps of Israel’s home (including in her capital city-Jerusalem) are dire. This plan must not pass! The US could easily stop the plan to recognize Palestine as an independent nation. Yet the Obama Administration has steadfastly refused to flatly promise to use our UN veto to defend Israel from this threat. Why? A growing number of observers in both America and Israel are raising this question: Is President Obama blackmailing Prime Minister Netanyahu by threatening to withhold the veto and allow the UN vote to go forward unless the Israeli leader makes the concessions being demanded by Washington?
 
Pamela Geller under Attack
David Horowitz reports: A woman of extraordinary courage and vision is under attack. Pamela Geller, who was awarded last year by the Freedom Center for her courage in the war against tyranny, is the target of a $10 million intimidation lawsuit designed to silence, once and for all, one of America’s most vibrant voices speaking out in defense of the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the equality of rights of all people. And it’s all because she rushed to the defense of a young girl in fear for her life.
 
In July 2009, a seventeen-year-old girl named Rifqa Bary ran away from her home in Ohio, saying that her father threatened to kill her upon discovering that she had converted from Islam to Christianity. There followed a bitter custody battle: Rifqa fought hard to stay out of her parents’ home while the Islamic supremacists such as the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) did all they could to force her to go back. Due in large part to Pamela Geller’s efforts, the Islamic supremacists lost, and Rifqa remained free and able to exercise her freedom of conscience. But now the losers are determined to exact revenge upon the freedom fighter who protected Rifqa from harm.

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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
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