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Czech Republic Sells Weapons To Azerbaijan Illegally via Israel

By

Harut Sassounian

Harut Sassounian

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
While the Azerbaijani army was showcasing its weapons on a promotional video during exercises on Sept. 18-22, 2017, observers noticed Czech-made military hardware, including DANA howitzer artillery pieces (11-mile range) and Rm-70 rocket launchers (12-mile range).
 
Initially, it was not known how these weapons arrived in Baku, given the fact that the Czech Republic had not issued any permits to its manufacturers to sell such hardware to Azerbaijan. Under the laws of the Czech Republic, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Interior have to approve requests for weapon sales proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
 
Also, the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had recommended that their member states not supply arms to Azerbaijan and Armenia due to the Artsakh conflict.
 
In addition, weapon sales to Azerbaijan would violate United Nations Security Council Resolution 853, adopted on July 29, 1993, which urged member states “to refrain from the supply of any weapons and munitions which might lead to the intensification of the [Karabagh] conflict or the continued occupation of territory.” Already several countries had violated this Security Council resolution, including Israel, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and Pakistan.
 
In response, Jan Pejsek, the Czech Defense Ministry spokesman stated that the “Ministry had not approved any military exports to Azerbaijan.” Meanwhile, Irena Valentova, spokeswoman for the Czech Foreign Ministry, told the Prague Daily Monitor that “no permits were issued for export of military materiel to Azerbaijan, while some licenses for the export of modernized self-propelled gun howitzers Dana-M1 and rocket launchers RM-70 were rejected in 2016-2017 and the EU partner countries were notified of the rejection.”
 
In 2016, “Azerbaijan purchased non-lethal weapons worth over one million euros from the Czech Republic, which is three times less than three years ago,” the Hospodarske Noviny reported.
 
In the past, when Azerbaijan had tried to import weapons from the Czech Republic, it was refused a permit for such military shipments.
 
The Prague Daily Monitor reported that the “Czech authorities and secret services are investigating how Czech arms … reached the Caucasus.”
 
In the meantime, The Slovak Spectator revealed on April 17, 2018 that “Bratislava [capital of Slovakia] airport is used as a transit point for smuggling Czech rocket launchers and howitzers to Azerbaijan…. The weapons are reportedly produced by the Czechoslovak Group Holding, owned by Czech Jaroslav Strnad, according to Czech Television…. An employee of the Slovak arms factory MSM spoke up and described how the old weapons are rebuilt in the Trenčín-based company and are then transported via Israel to Azerbaijan, the TASR newswire reported.”
 
The MSM employee further described to the reporters of the Czech Television, as quoted by TASR, according to The Slovak Spectator: “The whole process starts with bringing the old DANA howitzer that is disassembled directly in the company…. The new facilities, including navigation, camera and communication systems were sent from Israel, the employee added. He also revealed that they signed a contract for distributing 18 howitzers and 15 rocket launchers this year, and the same amount next year, as reported by TASR…. The company confirmed the delivery of DANA-M1 and RM-70 systems to Israel.”
 
The Slovak Spectator “even recorded one such transport on camera” confirming the delivery of the weapons to Israel and from there smuggled to Azerbaijan. “The transport of one rocket launcher started on December 27, 2017, and was carried by a truck from Trenčín to the Bratislava airport, where it was moved to the plane owned by Azerbaijani airlines, Silk Way. It then flew to Tel Aviv in Israel, where the company Elbit, which was described as the end customer, is located. The data then revealed that the plane continued to Baku in Azerbaijan. Nothing is unloaded in Israel; there is only a stop to make sure the papers are correct,” the employee of MSM told the Czech Television. “The plane flies directly from the Israeli airport to Azerbaijan,” The Slovak Spectator wrote.
 
I suggest that Armenian officials immediately file protests with the governments of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Israel for circumventing their export provisions and violating the bans recommended by the EU, OSCE and the UN Security Council regarding the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan.
 
If such complaints are not filed, these three countries and several others will be encouraged to ship more lethal weapons to Azerbaijan which will be used to kill and injure Armenian soldiers and civilians.



Russia says Israel was behind Syria airstrike

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Israel was behind Syria airstrike

Israel was behind Syria airstrike

By – Associated Press – Monday, April 9, 2018

BEIRUT (AP) — The Russian military said Monday the Israeli Air Force was behind the airstrike in Syria and had launched eight missiles on a Syrian air base.

A Syrian military official also said Israel was behind the attack.

A Syrian war-monitoring group says 14 people, including Iranians, were killed in the missile attack early in the morning on an air base in central Syria.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says most of the 14 killed were either Iranians or members of Iran-backed groups.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said two Israeli fighter jets launched the attack on the T4 air base in central Syria from Lebanon’s air space in the early hours on Monday.

Israeli carnage raises fears of Gaza conflagration

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Gaza conflagration

Gaza conflagration

Palestinians have protested for the third day as part of the annual “March of Return” to commemorate Land Day, braving Israeli tanks and snipers deployed along the Gaza fence where 17 protesters were killed a few days ago.

At least 50 people were injured on Sunday as Israeli forces shot at Palestinian protesters in the city of Jabalia and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip. Several dozen protesters suffered suffocation due to inhaling teargas.

Clashes have been ongoing since Friday when tens of thousands of Palestinians began a six-week march near the fence to demand what they say is their right to return to the homes of their families in what is now called Israel.

Israel has responded ferociously to the rally and as of Sunday, at least 17 Palestinians have been shot dead and more than 1,450 others injured.

Palestinians have called the rally a “peaceful demonstration” in order to raise international awareness of the plight the displaced Palestinians are struggling with and take the chance to express their anger towards the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The demonstration has humanitarian and political purposes, Palestinian political expert Akram Atallah told Reuters on Sunday.

“With regard to the humanitarian aspect, life in Gaza is like hell and this mainly due to the blockade. The public has called for putting an end to that situation,” the news agency quoted him as saying.

Israeli authorities have branded the rally as a “riot,” deploying at least 100 snipers and Merkava tanks near the fence in a show of force which has been denounced as “disproportionate” around the world.

They have claimed to be targeting protesters posing a threat to what they call the Israeli border but footage showing Palestinians being shot while praying or running away from the fence has discredited those allegations.

Israeli minister urges to recognize Armenian Genocide

By

Security Minister Gilad Erdan

Security Minister Gilad Erdan

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Israel has to recognize the Armenian Genocide in response to the recent statement by Turkish President Recep Erdogan.

Erdan slammed Erdogan calling him “an Antisemite” who “continues to support Hamas”, the Jerusalem Post reported.

His statement came after Erdogan condemned the actions of the Israeli army during the March 30 clashes on the border with the Gaza Strip. Erdogan called Israel a “terrorist state and occupier,” and Netanyahu a “terrorist”.

Speaking on Army Radio, Erdan said that “it’s possible Israel should have acted against Turkey in the international arena and recognized the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire.”

Israel should “’present the values held by the Turks around the world, including recognition of the slaughter of the Armenians. We must stand up to the hostility and antisemitism of Erdogan. A strange thing is taking place here when a country like Turkey, which butchers the Kurds [and] occupies north Cyprus is accepted in the West as a legitimate state.”

 

United Nations Human Rights Council body adopts 5 anti-Israel resolutions, urges arms embargo

By

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley (Photo by AFP)

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley (Photo by AFP)

In a major diplomatic blow to Israel, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) has adopted five resolutions against Tel Aviv, urging an international ban on arms sales to the regime over its atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The resolutions were adopted Friday at the end of the UNHCR’s 37th session, which lasted for a month in Geneva, slamming the Israeli regime’s mistreatment of Palestinians and voicing support for the Palestinians’ cause against the regime’s occupation of their homeland.

One of the resolutions is called “Ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (al-Quds).”

The document, which was passed by 27 to 4 votes and 15 abstentions, urged the world community to stop selling arms to the regime in Israel.

The resolution called upon “all states to promote compliance under international law” with regard to Israeli actions “by ensuring that their public authorities and private entities do not become involved in internationally unlawful conduct, inter alia the provision of arms to end users known or likely to use the arms in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian and/or human rights law.”

Another of the five resolutions calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which the regime seized from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. Tel Aviv continues to occupy two-thirds of the Syrian territory ever since, in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

The UN rights body also approved a resolution that called on Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines as well as one that urged the Tel Aviv regime to halt settlement activity.

The fifth document approved on Friday denounced Israel for human rights abuses against the Palestinians.

US gets angry, says losing ‘patience’

Furious over the resolutions, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has slammed the council as “foolish and unworthy of its name,” claiming it is biased against Israel.

She also warned that the US would continue to consider its options regarding membership of the UN panel, saying, “Our patience is not unlimited.”

“When that happens, as it did today, the Council fails to fulfill its duty to uphold human rights around the world. The United States continues to evaluate our membership in the Human Rights Council. Our patience is not unlimited,” Haley said.

The UK also spoke against what it called the council’s bias against Tel Aviv.

Britain opposed the resolutions on the Golan Heights and the one on accountability. It, however, voted in favor of the resolutions on human rights and Palestinian self-determination. The country also abstained on the resolution on settlements.

Under US President Donald Trump, the regime in Israel has stepped up its expansionist policies and crimes against Palestinians.

The regime has been further emboldened by a US decision to transfer its capital from Tel Aviv to the occupied city, in a major policy shift which drew global anger and protests late last year.

The city, which is designated as “occupied” under international law since the 1967 Arab War, is sought by Palestinians as the capital of their future state.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre reopens after 3-day church protests

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Holy Sepulchre reopens

The major Christian churches have reopened the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Wednesday morning, ending an almost three-day protest against the Jerusalem Municipality plans to impose taxes on church property, reported RIA Novosti news agency of Russia.

The protectors of this holy site have reopened its entrance to the pilgrims, after Israeli authorities have expressed willingness to start negotiations toward resolving the dispute over this taxation.

Representatives of the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, and Roman Catholic Churches, which jointly administer over the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, have reopened its gates.

These three churches were the initiators of the aforementioned protest, as they refused to comply with the Jerusalem Municipality’s demand that they pay property tax on church-owned properties that are not used as houses of worship.

Jerusalem suspends tax measures that led to closure of Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The mayor of Jerusalem on Tuesday suspended a plan to tax properties owned by Christian churches, AP reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that a professional team would be established to negotiate with church officials to “formulate a solution.”

“As a result, the Jerusalem Municipality is suspending the collection actions it has taken in recent weeks,” the statement said.

As reported earlier, Greek-Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Catholics churches decided to take “unprecedented step” and closed the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as a measure of protest.

The Jerusalem authorities required paying municipal tax from all their real estate, having imposed a penalty for the previous years. Holy City authorities pursued $186 million for church taxes.

We will keep Church of Holy Sepulchre close ‘until state annuls controversial decisions’ – Armenian patriarch

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Holy Sepulchre close

The Armenians of Jerusalem are angered by state and local authorities’ somewhat unexpected decisions to impose taxes on the Christian communities’ property and expropriate the land lots sold by the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches (since 2010).

Archimandrite Koryun Baghdasaryan, the Armenian patriarche of Jeursalem, says they are determined to keep the Holy Sepulchre church closed “as long as both measures are annulled”.

The Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches (which share the Holy Sepulchre’s property management) on Sunday closed the church’s doors as a sign of protest agaisnt the bills.

The first decision, issued by the Jerusalem municipality, requires that the Christian churches and monastries (which were earlier exempt from any taxation) regularly pay taxes to the City Hall.

“The decision is unacceptable for all the Christian communities,” the patriarch told Tert.am.

As for the exproriation bill (which is still subject to discussions and debates by the Knesset), it may allow the State of Israel to establish ownership rights to the entire land property which, in the past couple of years, was sold to real estate companies by the churches.

“Should the bill pass [the parliament], it will potentially be a real restriction. The state is, in that way, restricting all kinds of transactions between churches and individual entrepreneurs,” he noted.

Baghdasaryan said he knows that a Knesset committee has postponed a scheduled discussion over the bill.

“After the committee meeting, it was expected to go to into the Knesset agenda. We are now conducting a protest to prevent the bill from being debated and going to the Knesset to be later signed into law. The Knesset committee discussion has been rescheduled for a week, but we aren’t satisfied with that. We have a demand for having the [draft] legislation annulled. Also, we call for annulling the municipality decision on taxes and duties,” the patriarch added.

Wallenberg Foundation decries Israel not recognizing #ArmenianGenocide

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Hotovely says decision was made because of ‘complexity and diplomatic repercussions.

By Tamara Zieve February 25, 2018
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation expressed “deep disappointment” in the Knesset’s rejection of a bill to recognize the Armenian genocide earlier this month.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said that while Israel had sent a parliamentary delegation to the 100th anniversary event in Yerevan, it will not take an official stance on the matter, “in light of its complexity and diplomatic repercussions, and because it has a clear political connection.”

The Raoul Wallenberg Foundation sent a letter on Thursday to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, with a copy to Hotovely and Yesh Atid leader MK Yair Lapid, who sponsored the bill.

Edelstein called on the government in 2015 to change its stance, and in 2016 the Knesset Education Committee recognized the genocide.

However, any motion for official state recognition of the genocide has failed to go through.

“Regrettably, this voting down has been repeating itself, time and again, for the last few years, as a constant ritual,” read the letter, signed by foundation chairman Eduardo Eurnekian and founder Baruch Tenembaum.

“With all due respect, we are not able to understand, let alone justify this stance,” they said. “Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, who suffered an indescribable plight during the Shoah [Holocaust].

Twenty-five-years earlier, the Armenian people endured another unspeakable tragedy, which, in light of the world’s silence, many believe has encouraged the Nazis to perpetrate their atrocities against the Jews during World War II.”

The foundation believes that of all the nations in the world, the Jewish state should have “the intellectual honesty and the spiritual generosity to recognizing the horrific tragedy of the Armenian people. Alas, the Israeli government and its Knesset have lost this opportunity time and again. There is no political reality that could provide a reasonable excuse for that.”

Eurnekian and Tenembaum observed a “deep connection” between Jews and Armenians. The NGO, which works to recognize Righteous among the Nations, notes that 24 Armenians have officially received that title so far, which is a large number in relation to the size of the population.

“Mr. Edelstein, we know your personal support for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, as is the case of your predecessor, President Reuven Rivlin,” the letter concluded. “We feel that the Knesset would be praised around the world for taking a bold ethical stance, regardless of any short-term political considerations. We regret that this has not happened yet.”

Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Wallenberg-Foundation-decries-Israel-not-recognizing-Armenian-Genocide-543580

Breaking News: Israel once Again sided with Terrorist State of Turkey Denied recognizing Armenian genocide

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The Knesset rejected a bill sponsored by Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid to have Israel recognize the Armenian Genocide, in a preliminary vote Wednesday. “There is no reason that the Knesset, which represents a nation that went through the Holocaust, shouldn’t recognize the Armenian Genocide and have a remembrance day for it,” Lapid said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said sent a parliamentary delegation to the 100th anniversary event in Yerevan, but will not take an official stance on the matter, “in light of its complexity and diplomatic repercussions, and because it has a clear political connection.”

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein called on the government in 2015 to change its stance, and in 2016 the Knesset Education Committee recognized the genocide.