What's New

Resources updated between Monday, November 16, 2015 and Sunday, November 22, 2015

November 22, 2015

Entrance to Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland, headquarters of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) (UN)

Planned UN 'Hub' in Washington Aims to Influence US Counterterrorism Strategy Article

November 21, 2015

Medics transport victims injured in a stabbing attack in Kiryat Gat to Barzilai Medical Center

13-year-old girl was among four people stabbed in a terror attack in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat on Saturday evening, Israel Police reported. All four victims were later said to be in moderate condition.

A manhunt was underway for at least one assailant who stabbed the four people in a rampage, which began outside a soccer stadium in the city, before fleeing the area.

The attacker was injured when hit by a car while fleeing, according to Hebrew media reports.

Police were looking into the possibility that there was more than one assailant. A police helicopter arrived on the scene to aid in the search. "It appears as though there was one attacker, but we always investigate the possibility that others were involved," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told The Times of Israel.

Residents of Kiryat Gat were told to stay indoors, police said.

During their search, police arrested 10 Palestinians who were in Israel illegally, most of them at building sites in the city.

A Bedouin man in his 40s - mistakenly thought to be the attacker - sustained light injuries after being beaten by a mob. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Police initially believed the attack was not nationalistically motivated, but as more information became available, their assessment changed, Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

In addition to the 13-year-old girl, who was stabbed in the stomach and chest, a 51-year-old man and two women, aged 56 and 44, were also hurt in the incident, according to the Magen David Adom rescue services. They sustained wounds to the upper body.

The man was attacked as he was walking out of a nearby synagogue following Saturday night prayer services, Israel Radio reported.

"When we arrived on the scene, there were three victims sitting about 150 feet [50 meters] from one another," MDA paramedic Efraim Yanko said.

"Then people brought us another victim, a 13-year-old girl, who was also conscious with stab wounds. We carried them into ambulances and gave them life-saving medical treatment, including stanching the bleeding with bandages and giving them an IV, as we transferred them to the hospital," Yanko added.

The victims were moderately hurt in the attack, but were in stable condition, according to Magen David Adom.

MDA paramedics treated the four victims before taking them to the nearby Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for further treatment.

Last month, a Palestinian man stabbed an Israel Defense Forces soldier and grabbed his gun in Kiryat Gat. He then fled to a fourth-floor apartment, where he was shot and killed by police.

The soldier was lightly injured in the attack, with wounds to his head, apparently inflicted with a pair of scissors.

Saturday's attack is the latest in a wave of terror attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces in Israel and across the West Bank.

Since October 1, 18 people have been killed, including an Eritrean national, a US citizen and a Palestinian bystander, in near-daily stabbing, shooting or car-ramming attacks against Israelis, by mainly Palestinian assailants.

According to Palestinian officials, more than 80 Palestinians have been killed in the same time frame. At least half of them were attackers.

On Thursday, five people were killed in two separate terror attacks in Tel Aviv and the West Bank. It was the highest fatality rate in a single day in the latest surge of attacks.

Teen Girl Among 4 Wounded In Stabbing Attack In Kiryat Gat Document

November 20, 2015

Solmaz Ikdar

The journalist Solmaz Ikdar has been sentenced to three years in prison for "insulting the Supreme Leader" and "propaganda against the state." The charges were based on content she posted on her Facebook page.

The trial, presided over by Judge Moghisseh, took place on October 20, 2015, and Ikdar's sentence was issued on November 10, 2015, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Ikdar, 33, has spent her journalism career writing for several reformist publications, including Shargh, Bahar, Farhikhtegan, and Mardom-e Emrooz.

Her sentencing takes place within the context of an intensified campaign by hardliners against journalists and reformists in Iran. During recent weeks, several Iranian journalists have beenarrested by the Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence Organization.

Authorities in Iran have also cracked down particularly hard on any dissenting opinion expressed on social media, a platform they have come to fear due to its widespread use among Iranian youth.

The journalist's sentence reflects the broader campaign underway by hardliners in Iran to assert their dominance in the domestic sphere in the post-nuclear deal environment.

Ikdar was previously arrested in 2008, given a six-month suspended prison sentence, and expelled from university for "propaganda against the state."

She had tried to leave Iran in June of this year but was told by a border official at the airport that she was banned from traveling abroad.

"She was going to leave the country to study abroad but Mr. Ghotbi, the Assistant Prosecutor of Tehran, told her she was banned from traveling because she intended to join Voice of America's television broadcasting team. But he has not shown any proof to back up his accusation," the source told the Campaign.

Journalist Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Her Facebook Posts Document

Nissar Hussain being attacked

CTV has captured the moment a father-of-six was brutally set upon by hooded thugs with a pickaxe handle outside his home because he converted from Islam to Christianity.

Nissar Hussain, from Bradford, suffered a broken kneecap, a fractured forearm and a concussion in the attack on Tuesday.

The 49-year-old is currently in Bradford Royal Infirmary following surgery after the unprovoked assault outside his home in Manningham.

The episode was caught on Mr Hussain's home CCTV and is being reviewed by West Yorkshire Police, who have confirmed they are treating it as a religious hate crime.

Mr Hussain went outside at around 5pm to move his car outside Lawcroft House Police Station, which he has been forced to do after his vehicle has been damaged over six times in a year.

He was attacked by two men, who suddenly stopped their car on the other side of the road and got out to begin the assault.

One man used pickaxe handle, while the other rained on Mr Hussain with a number of punches and kicks.

The men, who Mr Hussain was unable to identify, were only stopped when Mr Hussain's Polish neighbours chased them away.

'I felt like I was holding on for dear life,' said Mr Hussain, a professional landlord.

'It all happened so fast that I was unable to react. I remember just walking out of the gate and putting my foot off the kerb. Next thing I saw was a pickaxe coming towards me.

'On instinct I tried to cover my head with my arms but the force of the blow knocked me back and my heel clipped the kerb to send me to the ground.

'I also hit my head on the wall which gave me a concussion but I was still conscious. I continued to block their shots to my head with my arms while on the ground but as soon as they realized that, they just began attacking my legs.'

Mr Hussain has said his family has been living in fear since they appeared in a Channel 4 documentary about the mistreatment of Muslim converts in 2008.

He claims they have been subjected to a tirade of abuse and threats to their lives, as well as thousands of pounds worth of physical damage to their home and cars.

Mr Hussain has also previously been attacked in the street before and has accused the police of failing to help him and his family.

Police have been called out on a number of occasions over the years but this is the first time they have classed an incident a religious hate crime.

The family moved to their current address after experiencing problems at their previous home in Bradford, where they claimed they were driven out by some Muslim residents.

Mr Hussain said they were first welcomed into the street but that all changed after the TV documentary revealed they had converted from Islam to Christianity.

He said: 'This last year has been the most terrifying. My family has to be brave as soon as they leave the front door. This country is a civilized society and we are not in Pakistan. We have the right to go about our daily lives and not be threatened because of our religion.

Christian Father-Of-Six Was Brutally Set Upon By Hooded Thugs With a Pickaxe Handle Who Targeted Him as a 'Blasphemer' Document

Israeli police officers at the site of a stabbing in Tel Aviv on Thursday. (Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

UN Special Envoy Tells Security Council to Fight Islamic State by Rewarding Palestinian Terrorists with a State Development

Fleeing from the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, on Friday after gunmen took scores of hostages (Harouna Traore/Associated Press)

Islamist Gunmen Storm Mali Luxury Hotel, Take 170 Hostage Document

November 19, 2015

Scene where terrorist vehicle smashed into Israeli vehicle in Gush Etzion (Fire Department)

3 Killed, Including American Tourist, in Terrorist Shooting near Gush Etzion in the West Bank Document

The scene of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on November 19, 2015 (Judah Ari Gross/ Times of Israel)

Two Killed in Stabbing Attack at Tel Aviv Office Building Document

Scene of the shooting attack, with inset photographs of the father and son victims, November 13, 2015 (Magen David Adom)

Two UN "Human Rights" Experts Trivialize Palestinian Murder of Israelis Development

November 18, 2015

Police officers in Marseille, France (file photo)(AFP)

Jewish Teacher Stabbed in Marseille By Purported ISIS Supporters Document

Judges sit during a swearing-in ceremony at the International Criminal Court (file photo)

Time to Defund the International Criminal Court Article

November 17, 2015

November 16, 2015

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, October 8, 2015 (MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

Spanish Judge Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Liberman, Others Article