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Syria's Civil War : US-backed Syrian forces 'surround' ISIL in Raqqa

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The Syrian Democratic Forces say they have seized the last route to Raqqa, and now fully encircle the city.

The SDF have cleared nearly 20 square kilometres in and around Raqqa over the past week [Reuters]

US-backed fighters have seized the last road into Raqqa, and now say they have completely encircled the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) de facto capital in northern Syria.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) “have completely surrounded and besieged the Islamic militants inside al-Raqqa city from all sides,” the group said in a statement released late on Thursday.

The Kurdish-led SDF had been advancing from the city’s east after they seized a major stronghold in May, and from the west and north.

“South of the Euphrates river the SDF now control all high-speed routes into Raqqa,” Joe Scrocca, spokesman for the US-led coalition, told the Associated Press.

Moving toward the Euphrates from the east “would completely encircle the city and has been the SDF plan from the start”, Scrocca added.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria through a network of activists on the ground, said the SDF had seized villages across the river, moving through the Kasret al-Faraj area.

The Observatory described it as a “strategic” advance that completes the siege around Raqqa.

“IS has no other choice now but to surrender or fight to the end,” said the Observatory director, Rami Abdelrahman, using a different acronym for the group.

Hours after the advances, ISIL fighters carried out a counter-attack on SDF forces east of the city, regaining control of sections of al-Sinaa and Mashalab neighborhoods, which were captured in the early days of the offensive, Abdelrahman said. He said there were casualties on both sides.

Thursday’s development comes as Iraqi forces captured the ruins of the famous and hugely symbolic al-Nuri mosque in Mosul where the Islamic State group’s leader first declared the “caliphate” nearly three years ago.

Nearly three years to the day, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made the “caliphate”announcement in an audio recording, before appearing for the first time in public at the mosque days later.

The declaration ushered in a period of gruesome violence and an attempt by the group to erase borders between the neighbouring states.

Scrocca said Syrian fighters have pushed their way from different axes, isolating the city since the campaign began on June 6.

The coalition has destroyed all the bridges over the river and the Syrian fighters are in control of the two dams, which are the only crossing points remaining, he said. He estimated that 2,500 ISIL fighters remain in the city.

Tightening the noose around Raqqa, the de-facto capital of ISIL since they seized it in July 2014, is another symbolic development in the coordinated fight against the group.

It effectively seals the territory and denies the fighters an escape route to their other stronghold in Deir ez Zor, south of Raqqa.

Speaking in Baghdad, coalition spokesman Ryan Dillon said ISIL fighters have been “abandoned” by their leadership as a “steady stream” of leaders attempted to escape the city, some “successfully”.

He said in the last week, the SDF have cleared nearly 20 square kilometres of territory in and around Raqqa.

The advance toward Raqqa city began last year, as Kurdish-led forces fought to clear ISIL from rural parts of the province.

Backed by air strikes from the international coalition, the Syrian fighters captured the strategic town of Tabqa in May, and seized one of Syria’s major dams that lies nearby.

The battle for Raqqa began in earnest on June 6, as the fighters moved in from east, west and north of Raqqa.

The fight on the southern front began later this month. Scrocca warned that the fight for Raqqa city would be lengthy.

“There is still much fighting to be done in the city,” he said.

 

Source :Al Jazeera and news agencies.

Confession: "We Invented Jesus, Only To Enslave Africans, Nothing Like Christianity"

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An American scholar claims to have made a controversial discovery that highlight the entire story of Jesus was made up and cooked by Roman aristocrats.

 

Joseph Atwill asserts that Christianity did not start as a religion, but was instead created as a sophisticated propaganda tool to pacify subjects of the Roman Empire.

 

He says he noticed a pattern forming when he was studying the only surviving account of first- century Judea, which he claims contains dozens of parallels between the life of a Roman emperor and that of Jesus in the New Testament.

 

 

Is Jesus really a myth? A Bible scholar claims he has uncovered new evidence that proves that the Romans invented the entire life story of Christ.

 

Joseph Atwill, says he made his discovery while studying War Of The Jews by Josephus, which he says contains dozens of parallels between Jesus and Roman Emperor Titus Flavius.

 

Mr Atwill argues that these ancient ‘confessions’ provide ‘clear evidence’ that the biography of Jesus is ‘actually constructed, tip to stern, on prior stories, but especially on the biography of a Roman Caesar’.

 

Mr Atwill accepts that his theory will upset some believers but is confident that it will be accepted in good time.

 

These types of theories are very common outside the academic world and are usually reserved for sensationalist literature.

 

They are virtually non-existent in the academic world.

 

He also suggested the theories are not taken seriously by experts.

 

 

He added that this sort of theory can be irritating to religion academics.

 

On his theory, Mr Atwill said: ‘I present my work with some ambivalence as I do not want to directly cause Christians any harm, but this is important for our culture.

 

Alert citizens need to know the truth about our past so we can understand how and why governments create false histories and false gods.

 

They often do it to obtain a social order that is against the best interests of the common people.

 

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci: Atwill, who will be presenting his findings at a talk in London, said the Romans turned to subtler ways of keeping order when heavy-handed tactics failed Atwill.

 

He said: ‘Jewish sects in Palestine at the time, who were waiting for a prophesied warrior Messiah, were a constant source of violent insurrection during the first century.

 

When the Romans had exhausted conventional means of quashing rebellion, they switched to psychological warfare.

 

They surmised that the way to stop the spread of zealous Jewish missionary activity was to create a competing belief system.

 

That’s when the “peaceful” Messiah story was invented.

 

Instead of inspiring warfare, this Messiah urged turn-the-other-cheek pacifism and encouraged Jews to “give onto Caesar” and pay their taxes to Rome.

 

 

 

Credit : howafrica.com

BREAKING: Man Arrested After Trying To Ram Car Into Muslim Worshipers In Paris

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A man has been arrested after driving a car into a crowd outside a mosque in the Créteil neighbourhood, south-east of Paris, France.

 

The vehicle struck barriers put in place to protect worshipers and pedestrians outside the mosque in the suburb of Paris, police said in a statement.

 

A police statement said the suspect “repeatedly struck the blocks and barriers placed to protect the mosque”.

 

A source quoted in Le Parisien claimed the suspect, reportedly of Armenian origin, wanted to “avenge the Bataclan and Champs-Elysees” attacks, the UK Independent reports.

 

No casualty was recorded from the incident which occurred on Thursday evening, June 29.

 

 

Credit : aledeh.com

Terrorism In The Bible

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If the founding text shapes the whole religion, then Judaism and Christianity deserve the utmost condemnation as religions of savagery. [Philip Jenkins, “Dark Passages ,” The Boston Globe, Mar. 8, 2009.]

The act of murder is rampant in the Bible. There are countless examples of mass murders commanded by God, including the murder of women, infants, and children.The following passages are a very small percentage of the total passages approving of murder in the Bible.

They are divided here into three parts:

1) Capital Punishment Crimes.
2) Murdering Children, and
3) Miscellaneous Murders.

This list is long, but it barely scratches the surface of all the murders approved of in the Bible.

1) Capital Punishment Crimes:

Kill People Who Don’t Listen to Priests

Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT)

Kill Witches

You should not let a sorceress live. (Exodus 22:17 NAB)

Kill Homosexuals

“If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.” (Leviticus 20:13 NAB)

Kill Fortunetellers

A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death. (Leviticus 20:27 NAB)

Death for Hitting a Father or Mother

Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:15 NAB)

Death for Cursing Parents

1) If one curses his father or mother, his lamp will go out at the coming of darkness. (Proverbs 20:20 NAB)

2) All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9 NLT)

Death for Adultery

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)

Death for Fornication

A priest’s daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death. (Leviticus 21:9 NAB)

Death to Followers of Other Religions

Whoever sacrifices to any god, except the Lord alone, shall be doomed. (Exodus 22:19 NAB)

Kill Nonbelievers

They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)

Kill False Prophets

If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, “You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.” When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through. (Zechariah 13:3 NAB)

Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God

Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. “The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him.” (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)

Kill Women Who Are Not Virgins On Their Wedding Night

But if this charge is true (that she wasn’t a virgin on her wedding night) , and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father’s house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)

Kill Followers of Other Religions

1) If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst. (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)

2) Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death. (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)

Death for Blasphemy

One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD’s name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother’s name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put the man in custody until the LORD’s will in the matter should become clear. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished. Anyone who blasphemes the LORD’s name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD’s name will surely die. (Leviticus 24:10-16 NLT)

Kill False Prophets

1) Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, ‘Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,’ do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you.
(Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT)

2) But any prophet who claims to give a message from another god or who falsely claims to speak for me must die.’ You may wonder, ‘How will we know whether the prophecy is from the LORD or not?’ If the prophet predicts something in the LORD’s name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NLT)

Infidels and Gays Should Die

So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God’s death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. (Romans 1:24-32 NLT)

Kill Anyone who Approaches the Tabernacle

For the LORD had said to Moses, ‘Exempt the tribe of Levi from the census; do not include them when you count the rest of the Israelites. You must put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and its equipment as you travel, and they must care for it and camp around it. Whenever the Tabernacle is moved, the Levites will take it down and set it up again. Anyone else who goes too near the Tabernacle will be executed.’ (Numbers 1:48-51 NLT)

Kill People for Working on the Sabbath

The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: ‘Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.’ (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)

2) Murdering Children, Women, Men and Elderly

Kill Men, Women, and Childre

“Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the Temple.” So they began by killing the seventy leaders. “Defile the Temple!” the LORD commanded. “Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!” So they went throughout the city and did as they were told.” (Ezekiel 9:5-7 NLT)

God Will Kill the Children of Sinners

If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey, I will inflict you with seven more disasters for your sins. I will release wild animals that will kill your children and destroy your cattle, so your numbers will dwindle and your roads will be deserted. (Leviticus 26:21-22 NLT)

Kill Men ,Women, Children, Infants and Animals

Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’(
I samuel 15:3)

Kill Sons of Sinners

Make ready to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their fathers; Lest they rise and posses the earth, and fill the breadth of the world with tyrants. (Isaiah 14:21 NAB)

Killing Babies​

Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children. (Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT)

God Will Kill Children

The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will die at birth or perish in the womb or never even be conceived. Even if your children do survive to grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone. I have watched Israel become as beautiful and pleasant as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her children to be slaughtered.” O LORD, what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth and breasts that give no milk. The LORD says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels. The people of Israel are stricken. Their roots are dried up; they will bear no more fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children.” (Hosea 9:11-16 NLT)

God Kills all the First Born of Egypt

And at midnight the LORD killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn son of the captive in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed. Pharaoh and his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died. (Exodus 12:29-30 NLT)

Kill Old Men and Young Women

“You are my battle-ax and sword,” says the LORD. “With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. With you I will shatter armies, destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and maidens. With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and rulers. “As you watch, I will repay Babylon and the people of Babylonia for all the wrong they have done to my people in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. “Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy,” says the LORD. “I will raise my fist against you, to roll you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of rubble. You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out,” says the LORD. (Jeremiah 51:20-26)

(Note that after God promises the Israelites a victory against Babylon, the Israelites actually get their butts kicked by them in the next chapter. So much for an all-knowing and all-powerful God.)

Kill innocent children

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. While he was on his way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. “Go up baldhead,” they shouted, “go up baldhead!” The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two shebears came out of the woods and tore forty two of the children to pieces. (2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB)

Miscellaneous Murders and more mass murder

More of Samson’s Murders

(The Lord saves Sampson from standing trial for 30 murders and arson by allowing him to kill 1000 more men.) When he reached Lehi, and the Philistines came shouting to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came upon him: the ropes around his arms become as flax that is consumed by fire and the bonds melted away from his hands. Near him was the fresh jawbone of an ass; he reached out, grasped it, and with it killed a thousand men. (Judges 15:14-15 NAB)

You Have to Kill

Cursed be he who does the Lords work remissly, cursed he who holds back his sword from blood.
(Jeremiah 48:10 NAB)

Peter Kills Two People

There was also a man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, but he claimed it was the full amount. His wife had agreed to this deception. Then Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God.” As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men wrapped him in a sheet and took him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?” “Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.” And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of doing a thing like this – conspiring together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Just outside that door are the young men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out, too.” Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened. (Acts 5:1-11 NLT)

Mass Murder

This is what the Lord of hosts has to say: ‘I will punish what Amalek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt. Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.’ (1 Samuel 15:2-3 NAB)*

The Danites Kill the Next Town

But the territory of the Danites was too small for them; so the Danites marched up and attacked Leshem, which they captured and put to the sword. Once they had taken possession of Lesham, they renamed the settlement after their ancestor Dan. (Joshua 19:47 NAB)

God Kills Some More

Then the LORD said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight! And if they say to you, ‘But where can we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: Those who are destined for death, to death; those who are destined for war, to war; those who are destined for famine, to famine; those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.’ “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” says the LORD. “I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left. Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.” (Jeremiah 15:1-4 NLT)

God Promises More Killing

I will make Mount Seir utterly desolate, killing off all who try to escape and any who return. I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your hills, your valleys, and your streams will be filled with people slaughtered by the sword. I will make you desolate forever. Your cities will never be rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 35:7-9 NLT)

The Angel of Death

My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out. (Exodus 23:23 NAB)

Destruction of Ai

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the entire army and attack Ai, for I have given to you the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the captured goods and the cattle for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.” So Joshua and the army of Israel set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand fighting men and sent them out at night with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the city and be ready for action. When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them. We will let them chase us until they have all left the city. For they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the LORD your God will give it to you. Set the city on fire, as the LORD has commanded. You have your orders.” So they left that night and lay in ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.

Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the leaders of Israel. They camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the city. That night Joshua sent five thousand men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. So they stationed the main army north of the city and the ambush west of the city. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley. When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurriedly went out early the next morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the city. Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten, and all the men in the city were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the city. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the city was left wide open.
Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Point your spear toward Ai, for I will give you the city.” Joshua did as he was commanded. As soon as Joshua gave the signal, the men in ambush jumped up and poured into the city. They quickly captured it and set it on fire. When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the city was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers. When Joshua and the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the city, they turned and attacked the men of Ai. Then the Israelites who were inside the city came out and started killing the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in a trap, and all of them died. Not a single person survived or escaped. Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.
When the Israelite army finished killing all the men outside the city, they went back and finished off everyone inside. So the entire population of Ai was wiped out that day – twelve thousand in all. For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed. Only the cattle and the treasures of the city were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these for themselves, as the LORD had commanded Joshua. So Ai became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day. Joshua hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body and threw it in front of the city gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today. (Joshua 8:1-29 NLT)

Killing at Jericho

When the people heard the sound of the horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the city from every side and captured it. They completely destroyed everything in it – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, donkeys – everything. (Joshua 6:20-21 NLT)

God Kills an Extended Family

“You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made other gods and have made me furious with your gold calves. And since you have turned your back on me, I will bring disaster on your dynasty and kill all your sons, slave or free alike. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash until it is all gone. I, the LORD, vow that the members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.’” Then Ahijah said to Jeroboam’s wife, “Go on home, and when you enter the city, the child will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only member of your family who will have a proper burial, for this child is the only good thing that the LORD, the God of Israel, sees in the entire family of Jeroboam. And the LORD will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam. This will happen today, even now! Then the LORD will shake Israel like a reed whipped about in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land that he gave their ancestors and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, for they have angered the LORD by worshiping Asherah poles. He will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and made all of Israel sin along with him.” (1 Kings 14:9-16 NLT)

Mass Murder

The men of Israel withdrew through the territory of the Benjaminites, putting to the sword the inhabitants of the city, the livestock, and all they chanced upon. Moreover they destroyed by fire all the cities they came upon. (Judges 20:48 NAB)

The Angel of Death

That night the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Early the next morning, there they were, all the corpuses of the dead. (2 Kings 19:35 NAB)

Kill Your Neighbors

(Moses) stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, “All of you who are on the LORD’s side, come over here and join me.” And all the Levites came. He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Strap on your swords! Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other, killing even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.” The Levites obeyed Moses, and about three thousand people died that day. Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Because of this, he will now give you a great blessing.” (Exodus 32:26-29 NLT)

Kill the Family of Sinners

And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to him; and tell me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.”

[Note that the sin is not looting, but failing to give the loot to the treasury of the Lord.] “So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them to the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger: wherefore the name of that place was called the valley of Achor to this day. (Joshua 7:19-26 Webster’s Bible)

Kill Followers of Other Religions

While the Israelites were camped at Acacia, some of the men defiled themselves by sleeping with the local Moabite women. These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, and soon the Israelites were feasting with them and worshiping the gods of Moab. Before long Israel was joining in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the LORD’s anger to blaze against his people. The LORD issued the following command to Moses: “Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the LORD in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.” So Moses ordered Israel’s judges to execute everyone who had joined in worshiping Baal of Peor. Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into the camp, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as they were weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle. When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. Then he took a spear and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, but not before 24,000 people had died. (Numbers 25:1-9 NLT)

Murder

At the customary time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.” Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the ditch! And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and cried out, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!” Then Elijah commanded, “Seize all the prophets of Baal. Don’t let a single one escape!” So the people seized them all, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there. (1 Kings 18:36-40 NLT)

Kill All of Babylon

“Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaim and against the people of Pekod. Yes, march against Babylon, the land of rebels, a land that I will judge! Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them, as I have commanded you,” says the LORD. “Let the battle cry be heard in the land, a shout of great destruction”. (Jeremiah 50:21-22 NLT)

Micah Kills a Whole Town

Then, with Micah’s idols and his priest, the men of Dan came to the town of Laish, whose people were peaceful and secure. They attacked and killed all the people and burned the town to the ground. There was no one to rescue the residents of the town, for they lived a great distance from Sidon and had no allies nearby. This happened in the valley near Beth-rehob.Then the people of the tribe of Dan rebuilt the town and lived there. They renamed the town Dan after their ancestor, Israel’s son, but it had originally been called Laish. (Judges 18:27-29 NLT) (Note that God approves of this slaughter in verse 6.)

God Kills the Curious

And he smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Jehovah, he smote of the people seventy men, `and’ fifty thousand men; and the people mourned, because Jehovah had smitten the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us? (1Samuel 6:19-20 ASV)

Killed by a Lion

Meanwhile, the LORD instructed one of the group of prophets to say to another man, “Strike me!” But the man refused to strike the prophet. Then the prophet told him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me.” And sure enough, when he had gone, a lion attacked and killed him. (1 Kings 20:35-36 NLT)

Killing the Good Samaritan

The ark of God was placed on a new cart and taken away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab guided the cart, with Ahio walking before it, while David and all the Israelites made merry before the Lord with all their strength, with singing and with citharas, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God to steady it, for the oxen were making it tip. But the Lord was angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there before God. (2 Samuel 6:3-7 NAB)

Ahmad Bukar (Ibn Islam) Knowislam.com.ng

GCC crisis Update : Qatar is ready to discuss but won't compromise Sovereignty

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Foreign minister describes remarks by Saudi counterpart that Arab countries’ demands are non-negotiable as unhelpful.

Qatar’s foreign minister has been holding a series of key meetings in Washington [File: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters]

Qatar is prepared to work together with other Gulf countries blockading it in order to reach a resolution to a major diplomatic crisis, its foreign minister has said, stressing, however, that his country will not discuss any measures that impinge on its sovereignty.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions on the country on June 5, accusing it of supporting “terrorism”. The allegation is rejected by Doha.

After more than two weeks, the four Arab countries issued a 13-point demand list last week in exchange for the end of the anti-Qatar measures and gave a 10-day deadline.

“The response of Qatar has been purposefully measured, yet unequivocal,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s foreign minister, said on Thursday from Washington, DC, where he has been holding a series of meetings aimed at resolving the crisis in the Gulf.

“We are willing to negotiate any legitimate grievances with our neighbours, but we will not compromise our sovereignty,” he said, calling the “siege” on Qatar “a clear act of aggression” that violated international law.

“These hostile actions were based on unsubstantiated claims and false assumptions. Evidence is yet to be presented.”

List of demands

The demands submitted by Saudi Arabia and its allies included that Qatar shut down the Al Jazeera network, close a Turkish military base and scale down ties with Iran.

In the list, the four Arab countries also demand that Doha sever all alleged ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups, including Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and ISIL (also known as ISIS), and pay an unspecified sum in compensation for what they claimed to be “loss of life and other financial losses caused by Qatar’s policies”.

Speaking to reporters, the Qatari foreign minister reiterated Qatar’s position that the list was unreasonable, describing it as an “effort to undermine our foreign policy and national sovereignty”.

“He was pretty clear that these demands are unacceptable and that Qatar couldn’t do these things, even if it wanted to,” Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Washington, DC, said.

The Qatari foreign minister also hit back at comments made by his Saudi counterpart, Adel al-Jubeir, who on Tuesday said that there will be no negotiations over the list of demands.

“Using the terminologies of demands and non-negotiable, I don’t think this is a civilised way to engage in solving a crisis,” Mohammed bin Abdulrahman said.

 

His comments came at the end of a several-days trip to Washington, where he met key leaders, including US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, to discuss the crisis.

“There has, though, been no breakthrough to this crisis that has almost lasted a month,” Al Jazeera’s Bays said.

“The deadline from the countries which are attempting to blockade Qatar is next week. Also next week is a meeting of the G20 countries – at that summit, Saudi Arabia, a G20 member, will be represented, Qatar will not.”

Source: Al Jazeera News

"We do not need your products" : Qataris to states that cut ties with Qatar

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Products from states that have cut ties with Qatar are spoiling on shelves as Qataris choose new imports instead.

Many Doha residents are boycotting products that came from GCC neighbours [Reuters]

by

Doha, Qatar – Shortly after Saudi Arabia shut Qatar’s only land border earlier this month due to a diplomatic spat between Gulf countries, residents in the Qatari capital flooded supermarkets in search of supplies.

Many stocked up on products from Almarai, a Saudi Arabia-based dairy company and the largest in the Middle East, fearing the blockade’s implications on an arid nation that imports 80 percent of its food.

But with countries like Turkey and Iran stepping in to ensure Qatar’s grocery stores remain full, many now can’t stomach the idea of consuming milk coming from their Gulf Coordination Council (GCC) neighbours.

“The people are all asking me where the products are from. If I say to them Saudi or Dubai, they don’t take,” said Ranjit Kumar Pulami, a salesclerk at Al Meera grocery store in Doha.

“I don’t buy those products,” said Fahad Jassim Al Tamemi, one of many shoppers boycotting products coming from countries beefing with Qatar.

Almarai on sale in Doha supermarkets [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

“Suddenly, we went from people who gave a lot of s*** about having fresh milk in our cappuccinos to us drinking Turkish milk, which does taste weird – let’s be honest,” said Hessa, 22, a Qatari woman who claims her family and neighbours all threw out the Saudi products they hoarded.

“But we still say, ‘We love it! Turkish milk is great! We don’t need Saudi products!'”

Meanwhile, a now three-week-old bottle of strawberry milk still sits in 24-year-old Mohammed’s family fridge. It’s a symbol of silent protest.

His mother was tempted to buy the Almarai milk because of the steep discounts, he says. “But then my sister gave her a dirty look.”

Consistent with Qatar’s decision to take no retaliatory measures against the Arab countries sanctioning it, state media is refusing to egg on the drama.

Qatar Media Corporation released a commercial depicting a Qatari woman purchasing Saudi Arabia milk while words discouraging boycotting-behavior run.

But residents aren’t biting.

In an interview on the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news channel, one political analyst said Qatar would “give in” due to citizens’ inability to adjust to Turkish and Iranian foods.

The interview provoked a widely shared image on social media of a Qatari man licking his milk-moustache.

“It’s been said that Qatari stomachs can’t handle Turkish milk. What do you say?” the image’s Arabic text reads.

Then, playing on a popular American advertising campaign and using the Turkish word for milk, it asks below: “Got Sut?”.

This spoof of on the well-known “Got Milk?” ad uses the Turkish word Sut instead [Twitter]

“I avoid their products,” said Shayma Alkeilani, a Syrian student shopping at Al Meera grocery store in Doha, referencing products from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.

“They don’t interest me any more because you see what they say and are doing. You feel worse if you buy from them.”

While the Saudi milk left in Qatari fridges may be going sour, relations between the GCC states remain in a similar state, and the nationalism displayed by Qatar’s residents ends with the stomach.

“This is really the only way you can show that you’re giving back,” said Hessa.

“There’s nothing else we can do. We can’t go out on the streets. We can’t write petitions. This is the only way we can do it, by buying Turkish milk.”

Source: Al Jazeera

UAE's PM writes a poem asking Qatar to get back in GCC FOLD

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Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum says it is ‘time to get united’ in poem on Instagram addressed to Qatar.

Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, right, urges Qatar to ‘return to the GCC fold’ in a poem on Instagram [Instagram]

The UAE’s prime minister and ruler of Dubai has urged Qatar to “return to the GCC fold” in a poem he published on his Instagram account.

“Now it is time to get united and be one heart and protect each other without grudges or hatred,” Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum wrote in the poem in Arabic.

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain have been at the forefront of a blockade against Qatar, accusing Doha of “supporting terrorism”.

Qatar has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Al Maktoum, who is known to write poems, struck a more conciliatory tone than the UAE’s state minister of foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, who has warned that the blockade against Qatar could “last years” if Doha does not change its policies.

The poem, which was published on Tuesday, stresses that the UAE is its neighbours’ champion as they come “from one tribe, one flesh, one land and religion”.

Al Maktoum used a famous Arabic proverb, urging citizens to put their neighbour’s interests before their own. “We helped them as they helped us,” the poem reads.

The prime minister also wrote: “We will keep advising Qatar openly in line with the instructions of Prophet Muhammad, who said: A wolf only eats sheep that leave the flock.”

Source: Al Jazeera News

Russian court convicts five of murdering Boris Nemtsove

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Opposition leader’s supporters welcome verdict, but say case remains unsolved because masterminds has not been caught.
Dadayev was found guilty of firing the four fatal shots.

A Russian jury has found five men guilty of organising and carrying out the contract killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov two years ago, after a trial his allies say failed to unmask the masterminds.

Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and fierce Kremlin critic, was gunned down in central Moscow as he walked home with his girlfriend late in the evening of February 27, 2015.

The murder just steps from the Kremlin in the Russian capital was the most high-profile political killing in the capital since President Vladimir Putin rose to power some 17 years ago.

The 12-person jury ruled after the third day of deliberations that defendants Zaur Dadayev, Shadid and Anzor Gubashev, Temirlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev – all ethnic Chechens from Russia’s volatile North Caucasus – carried out the hit as part of an organised gang.

Murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov remembered at rally
Dadayev, a former officer in an interior ministry battalion in Chechnya, was found guilty of firing the four fatal shots.
The Gubashev brothers, Eskerkhanov and Bakhayev were found guilty of helping to organise and carry out the killing.

The jury’s decision was reached by majority vote after they first failed to come to unanimous decisions on the long list of charges against the defendants at the end of ten months of hearings.

‘Real organisers’

Nemtsov’s supporters welcomed the verdict, but said Dadayev and the others were low-level operatives. The case remained unsolved, they said, because those who had ordered, financed and organised the hit had not been caught.

“It’s the biggest crime of the century and yet they haven’t identified the real organisers or those who ordered it,” Vadim Prokhorov, a lawyer for the late politician’s daughter, told reporters after the verdict.

“The Russian government was not prepared to look into the entourage of [Chechen leader Ramzan] Kadyrov,” he said, despite his view that one of the masterminds was a close associate of Chechnya’s president.
St. Petersburg residents taking part in a February 2017 rally in memory of Nemtsov, portrait in centre.

Zhanna Nemtsova, the slain politician’s daughter, has repeatedly said she wanted Kremlin-backed Kadyrov, to be questioned about what he knew about the case.

Kadyrov has previously praised Dadayev, the trigger man, as a “true patriot of Russia”, referring to his military service.
But Kadyrov, who has denied allegations he was personally involved, never appeared before the court.

“The criticism that a lot of people are making, not just Nemtsov’s family, is that this crime really couldn’t have been okayed and carried our without some higher-level green light, certainly in the Chechen Republic,” Moscow-based journalist Fred Weir told Al Jazeera.

“So this all remains hanging, but as far as the five low-level guys, the actual small fry who carried out the crime are concerned, they have been found guilty and not one of them is able for leniency.”

source: Aljazeera

Ahmad Bukar (Ibn Islam) Knowislam.com.ng

'Isreal, UAE, Egypt plan to install Dahlan Gaza leader'

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‘Israel, UAE, Egypt plan to install Dahlan Gaza leader’

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper says the plan aims to “neutralise” the role of Qatar and Turkey in Gaza.

Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah security chief, lives in UAE [Stringer/Reuters]

An editorial board member of Israel’s Haaretz newspaper has said Israel, Egypt and the UAE are planning to install Mohammed Dahlan, the 55-year-old exiled former Fatah official, as Gaza’s leader.

Zvi Barel said in an opinion piece published on Thursday that the plan also aimed to see Dahlan replace Palestinian Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas, lead Fatah movement – the ruler of the occupied West Bank, and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).

He said it was “too early to assess whether this plan will be fully implemented” as Hamas movement, which rules Gaza could reject Dahlan, who used to head PA’s security services in Gaza.

But if successful, according to Barel, Egypt would ease the siege of Gaza by opening the Rafah border crossing and the UAE would fund a power station on the Egyptian side of the border.

A “state of Gaza” could become a reality with Dahlan at its head, something that, for Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu’a government is “the plan’s key”, he said.

The plan aims to “neutralise” the role of Qatar and Turkey in Gaza, according to Barel.
But he warns that the Dahlan plan could also see Gaza severed from the West Bank, “especially given the long feud between Abbas and Dahlan”.

Dahlan was expelled from Fatah’s ruling body in 2011 on allegations of plotting to overthrow Abbas. He has been living in exile in the UAE since 2012.
He lacks popularity among Palestinians.

Abbas has dismissed the secretary general of the PLO and his effective number two, Yasser Abed Rabbo, over links to Dahlan.

Source: Al Jazeera News
Nafysah @.Knowislam.com.ng.

HALEY: Gulf crisis 'opportunity to hit on' all sides

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Haley: Gulf crisis ‘opportunity to hit on’ all sides

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions on the country on June 5 [Alex Wong/AFP]

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said that the crisis between Qatar and other Gulf states is “an opportunity” to influence both Qatar and Saudi Arabia. 

Haley was testifying before the House Foreign Affairs committee on Wednesday when she was asked about her take on the crisis in the Gulf amid conflicting statements made by members of the Trump administration.

She said the US “should take it [the crisis] as the opportunity that it is”.

She said it was a good time to tell Qatar to “quit funding Hamas … but at the same time, go back to Saudi Arabia and say look you can talk to them [the Qataris] … you got to cut this out, you’ve got to stop doing this.”

Haley added that it was “an opportunity to sort of hit on both of them”.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions on the country on June 5, accusing it of supporting “terrorism”.

The four countries have not provided any evidence for their claim, while Qatar has repeatedly rejected the allegation.

Last Thursday, the Saudi-led bloc issued a 13-point demand list in exchange for the end of the anti-Qatar measures and gave a 10-day deadline.

The demands included among others, that Qatar shut down the Al Jazeera media network, close a Turkish military base and scale down ties with Iran.

Over the three two weeks, US President Donald Trump has taken a tougher stance against Qatar, while the state department and the pentagon had previously sought to remain neutral in the Gulf crisis.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said some demands on Qatar by a group of Arab countries that have imposed a blockade against it “will be very difficult to meet”.

Nevertheless, in a statement issued on Sunday, Tillerson said the list submitted by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt includes “significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to a resolution”.

“A productive next step would be for each of the countries to sit together and continue this conversation,” Tillerson said.

‘DAMAGE CONTROL’

Andreas Krieg, an assistant professor at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera there “absolutely” is a difference between the messages coming out of the White House and the state department and pentagon.

“This is the big problem we see today with US foreign policy in the Middle East,” Krieg said.

“We have two positions. The one position is the formal one, which is state department and the pentagon who do have a good understanding of the complexities of the issues … On the other hand, we have the informal US government, which is the White House and which is based on personal relationships, partially by Donald Trump, but also Jared Kushner.”

Krieg said the White House has been hearing one side of the story based on its relationships with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

“The White House and its close circle of friends have heard one side the story, but haven’t really listened to the other side of the story and I think that’s a bit of the problem because there’s a lot of nuances that need be understand and is being lost.”

He added that he believes the Trump administration is now trying to “damage control”.

“I think they’re trying to roll back a little bit and say let’s try to manage this crisis and sell it as something positive, which it’s actually not.”

Credit: Aljazeera news

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