RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14137/turkish-prison-for-journalists

“The magnitude of these punishments, and the fact that the court failed to implement a related, binding ruling of the Constitutional Court, also raise fundamental questions about the ability of the [Turkish] judiciary to uphold the constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression.” — Harlem Désir, Representative on Freedom of the Media for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

“The court decision condemning journalists to aggravated life in prison for their work, without presenting substantial proof of their involvement in the coup attempt or ensuring a fair trial, critically threatens journalism and with it the remnants of freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey.” — David Kaye, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression.

Sadly, such public denunciations have not worked. At least 144 intellectuals are languishing in Turkish jails for their work or political views.

Two recent criminal cases in Turkey underscore Ankara’s disturbing double standard when it comes to the concept of justice.

In February, three dissident Turkish journalists accused of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order” — for their alleged “involvement in the 2016 coup attempt” against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — were sentenced to life in prison.

In March, Neil Christopher Prakash, an Australian ISIS terrorist caught in 2016 crossing the border into Turkey from Syria, was given a light sentence by the Kilis High Criminal Court.

Prakash, considered Australia’s “most wanted ISIS member,” was linked by the FBI to a failed plot to attack the Statue of Liberty in New York. In one of his many propaganda videos for ISIS, Prakash describes his conversion from Buddhism to Islam after a trip to Cambodia. He recounts attending meetings at a mosque and Islamic center in Melbourne. After reading the Koran and becoming a Muslim, he says, he traveled to Syria to join the jihad and the caliphate in 2013.

In 2015, the Australian government issued an arrest warrant for Prakash for membership in a terrorist organization and for his suspected involvement in a failed plot to behead a police officer on Anzac Day.

During his hearing on November 1, 2017 at the Kilis High Criminal Court — via video call from the Gaziantep prison, where he has been detained since 2016 — Prakash told the judges:

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14141/palestinians-own-goal

“We reject normalization and adopt the approach of resistance until the liberation of the entire Palestinian territory.” — Statement rejecting job offers, issued by Progressive Democratic Student Pole, affiliated with the radical PLO group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

“Resistance” is a term used by Palestinians to describe the “armed struggle” against Israel, which includes carrying out various forms of armed attacks against Israelis. When the students talk about the “liberation of the entire Palestinian territory,” they are actually saying that they want to destroy Israel because they do not believe in its right to exist.

A video of the protest at Bir Zeit University posted on social media shows dozens of angry students surrounding the companies’ representatives, and chanting: “Normalization [with Israel] is Treason.”

This is just another example of how the movement for boycotting Israel is causing damage to Palestinians. Perhaps the real motive of the people promoting these boycotts of Israel is not to help the Palestinians at all, but, like terrorist groups, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to destroy Israel.

On April 24, two Palestinian software development companies came to Bir Zeit University, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, to offer jobs to Palestinian students. The companies were invited to campus as part of the university’s Annual Hiring Day — an event aimed at helping students find jobs with major Palestinian firms.

The event, however, turned ugly when students protested against the presence of the representatives of the two companies on campus. The protesters expelled the company representatives from the university premises after accusing them of engaging in “normalization” with Israel. In other words, the students attacked, humiliated and expelled Palestinian companies that came to offer them jobs at a time when the Palestinian economy is facing a crisis and thousands of young Palestinians remain unemployed.