Tag Archives: U.S. Embassy

Netanyahu backs U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem though signals no urgency

giant banner congratulating Donald Trump in Jerusalem, Israel

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced support on Sunday for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem but mentioned no time frame, after a Republican activist accused Israel of pressing the Trump administration to delay the pledged step.

In an interview with Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Marc Zell, head of the Republicans Overseas Israel branch, said new U.S. President Donald Trump was “proceeding cautiously because of concerns raised by Israeli officials”.

Trump’s team spoke often during the presidential campaign about shifting the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel’s self-proclaimed capital and a holy city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But a week ago, Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, lowered expectations of an imminent announcement about an embassy move that would anger the Arab world and possibly touch off violence. [ID:nL5N1FD5Y9]

Palestinian officials said the embassy’s relocation would kill off any prospects for peace. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem – which Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally – for the capital of a state they seek in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials said last Sunday the embassy issue was barely discussed in a 30-minute telephone call between Trump and Netanyahu, who are to meet in Washington early next month.

Netanyahu addressed the matter in general terms in public remarks to his cabinet on Sunday that were described by Israeli media as a response to Zell’s accusation of foot-dragging.

“I want to take the opportunity to make it unequivocally clear that our position has always been, and remains so now and at all times, that the U.S. embassy should be here, in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said, without directly mentioning Zell.

Currently, no country has its embassy in Jerusalem, the Israeli foreign ministry said. Costa Rica and El Salvador did until a few years ago, but they are now in Tel Aviv.

“Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and it is right and proper that all of the foreign embassies, and not only the American embassy, move here. I believe that in time, most of them will indeed come to Jerusalem,” Netanyahu told the cabinet.

The international community says Jerusalem’s final status should be determined via direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians – talks that collapsed in 2014.

Israeli officials have said they do not want a U.S. embassy move rushed and political commentators have noted that its relocation would damage the stronger relations Israel has been quietly building with the Sunni Muslim world.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Philippine police van drives at protesters to break up anti-U.S. demo

SWAT team prepares tear gas in Philippines

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine police used tear gas to disperse about 1,000 anti-U.S. protesters outside the U.S. embassy in Manila on Wednesday, as television news footage showed a patrol van, which had come under attack, driving at demonstrators.

The rally came as President Rodrigo Duterte visits Beijing to strengthen relations with the world’s second-largest economy amid deteriorating ties with former colonial power the United States, sparked by his controversial war on illegal drugs.

Police made 29 arrests at the rally while at least 10 people were taken to hospital after being hit by the police van, Renato Reyes, secretary general of left-wing activist group Bayan (Nation), told reporters.

The protesters were calling for the removal of U.S. troops in the southern island of Mindanao.

“There was absolutely no justification (for the police violence),” Reyes said. “Even as the president avowed an independent foreign policy, Philippine police forces still act as running dogs of the U.S.”

In a series of conflicting statements, Duterte has insulted U.S. President Barack Obama and the U.S. ambassador in Manila for questioning his war on drugs, which has led to the deaths of 2,300 suspected users and pushers. He told Obama to “go to hell” and alluded to severing ties with Washington.

Then, after weeks of anti-American rhetoric, Duterte said the Philippines would maintain its existing defense treaties and its military alliances.

The comments have left Americans and U.S. businesses in the Philippines jittery about their future.

(Reporting by Ronn Bautista and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Nick Macfie)

South African twins planned attacks on U.S. Embassy, Jewish buildings

U.S. Embassy in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African twins arrested over the weekend were planning attacks on the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Pretoria, as well as on buildings owned by Jewish people, police said on Monday.

Four South Africans, including the twins, Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie, faced charges in court ranging from conspiracy to firearms offences, the spokesman for the elite police unit Hawks, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, said.

The four, arrested in Johannesburg on Sunday, will be detained in custody until July 19, when their case will be heard, Mulaudzi said.

Quoting the charge sheet, the News24 news organization said the twins had been attempting to fly to Syria. Security officials say there are no known militant groups operating in South Africa, but Britain and the United States warned in June of a high threat of attacks against foreigners in the country’s shopping malls.

Mulaudzi named the other two siblings as Fatima and Ibrahim Mohammed Patel.

“The indictment does talk to issues of terror plots that they were planning against the U.S. Embassy as well as Jewish Buildings in the country,” he said, referring to the twins.

“The twins have been charged with conspiracy,” Mulaudzi added. “The Patel siblings have been charged with the violation of the Firearms Control Act for now.”

The twins’ preliminary charge sheet states that their conspiracy occurred between October 2015 and July 8 this year, local newspaper the Times said on its online service.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a daily news briefing that the United States applauded Hawks for making the arrests and had “full confidence in the South African judicial system to handle this case according to internationally accepted best practices”.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham in Washington, writing by James Macharia; editing by Ralph Boulton and Cynthia Osterman)

Saudi Arabia Arrests 93 in ISIS Crackdown

Saudi Arabian officials announced the arrests of 93 people who are connected to the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.

The Saudi Press Agency reported the arrests took place between December and April with all but five of those arrested Saudi nationals.  The group had set up training sites and planned suicide bombings.

One of the reported targets was the U.S Embassy in Riyadh.

Intelligence officials say that two Syrians and one Saudi national had planned to drive a car loaded with explosives into the embassy.  The revelation explains why the State Department mysteriously shut down Saudi embassies in mid-March citing security concerns.

The largest cell consisted of 65 Saudi nationals who plotted an attack “on residential areas, and operations to incite sectarian sedition.”  Another 15 member cell was focused on bombing security headquarters and soldiers.

Security officials said they arrested Nawaf al-Enezi for the killing of two police officers in Riyadh earlier this month.  The ISIS operative was detained after a shootout with police about 60 miles east of the capital city.

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stated in November that ISIS should focus efforts on attacking Saudi Arabia and the ruling Saudi family.

Meriam Ibrahim Asks Prayer For Daughter’s Ultrasound

Persecuted Christian Meriam Ibrahim has asked the world to pray for her daughter who will be undergoing an ultrasound to see if the injury from her birth will cause permanent disability.

Doctors are telling Ibrahim that it’s possible the injuries suffered at birth are not as severe as initially feared and that it’s possible the child will be able to walk on her own.  Ibrahim was forced to give birth with her legs tied together with chains because the prison guards would not release her for the birth.

Ibrahim and her family have been taking refuge in the U.S. embassy after being released from prison on charges related to her Christian faith.  The family has been hoping to leave the country but the Sudanese government continues to refuse to allow the family passage out of the nation.

The family has been especially sensitive to the possibility of the child being confined to a wheelchair for life because her father, Daniel Wani, is wheelchair bound because of multiple sclerosis.

Meriam Ibrahim’s Islamic Relatives Trying To Return Her To Jail

The Islamists family members of persecuted Christian Meriam Ibrahim are attempting to get the death sentence against her reinstated by trying to prove she was “born a Muslim.”

The family contends that because she’s a Muslim, her marriage to a Christian man is illegal under Sudan’s Sharia Law.

The lawyer hired by the family says they are going to ask Khartoum Religious Court to review the case and declare Meriam Ibrahim “belongs” to the men in her family.

Ibrahim is in hiding at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum with her American husband and two children.  She has been unable to leave the country because of the government’s special police charging her with using illegal documents to leave the country.

Ibrahim’s lawyer Mohanem Mostafa said that the court has not officially notified her of the lawsuit but that he believes the court will dismiss the case.

Meriam Ibrahim’s Child Disabled Because Of Shackling During Birth

In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, persecuted Christian Meriam Ibrahim says her newborn daughter is physically handicapped because she was forced to give birth with her legs shackled to a wall.

Ibrahim, who is currently seeking refuge inside the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, gave her first interview after being released from her incarceration on charges of apostasy and adultery.

Ibrahim said that she was shackled with chains, not cuffs, and that her legs were forced together by the chains.  The guards would not release the chains so that she could open her legs for the birth and her daughter’s legs were injured during the birth.

“I couldn’t open my legs so the women had to lift me off the table,” Ibrahim told the Guardian.  “I wasn’t lying on the table.”

Ibrahim said it wasn’t clear yet if the child will need help walking as she grows older because of the injuries.

Sudan is forcing Ibrahim to stay in the country claiming she forged her papers to leave.  Ibrahim told the Guardian that she has a document from South Sudan because that is where her husband is from and that is proper under international law.  The family has visas to enter the United States when she is able to leave the country.

Meriam Ibrahim Seeks Refuge At U.S. Embassy

Meriam Ibrahim, the Christian woman who had been facing the death penalty on charges that she converted from Islam because her father was a Muslim, is reportedly in hiding at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum while she and her family attempt to leave the country.

Ibrahim had been arrested attempting to leave the country a day after her death sentence was overturned because Sudanese officials say she was using her Christian name on travel documents rather than her Islamic name and had documents from South Sudan rather than Sudan.

Ibrahim was reportedly released on the charges related to her attempt to leave the country on the grounds that she not leave Sudan.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department says it’s entirely up to the Sudanese government to say when Ibrahim can leave the country.  Marie Harf said that the State Department confirmed Ibrahim has all the correct documents to leave Sudan according to international law.

A BBC report says that Ibrahim’s arrest was made by members of the National Intelligence and Security Service that was unhappy with Ibrahim’s release from her death sentence.  The arrest was reportedly a way to send a message to the rest of the Sudanese government.

Israel Stops Al-Qaeda Plot On U.S. Embassy

Israeli intelligence officials scored a major success when they stopped an Al-Qaeda plot for major attacks inside Israel including an assault on the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Shin Bet internal security agency discovered the plot where the terror group recruited Palestinians to do the legwork for an attack that would be carried out by al-Qaeda operatives that they would sneak into the country.

The three Palestinian men in custody have confirmed the point man for al-Qaeda, Arib al-Sham, is still in the Gaza Strip.  He is the subject of a massive manhunt.  The operatives also told Shin Bet that the master plan came from al-Qaeda worldwide leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The main parts of the attack were twin homicide bombings.  The first would target the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the second would hit the main Israeli convention center in Jerusalem.  Additional attacks were planned against Israeli busses and Jewish homes in East Jerusalem.

Shin Bet says the discovery adds confirmation to suspicions that al-Qaeda now has a base of operations in the Gaza Strip.