In an eagerly awaited ruling judges at the ECJ confirmed that Austria and Slovenia can send migrants back to Croatia to have their asylum cases determined there instead. The case came before the court after Croatian authorities infuriated their neighbours at the height of the 2015 crisis by laying on state-funded transport to help migrants cross their territory. 

Officials in Zagreb had argued that they were dealing with an unprecedented situation as hundreds of thousands of migrants moved northwards towards Germany, and that this exempted them from the need to process visas. But Austria and Slovenia, where some of the asylum seekers ended up, brought legal proceedings saying that Croatia had a duty to decide on asylum cases, and not simply bus people northwards, under the Dublin Convention. 

The landmark EU migration law, first agreed in 1990, specifically states that it is the responsibility of the first EU member state a migrant enters to determine their case. Today’s ruling could have a significant impact on the future of the EU’s rapidly sinking migrant quota scheme, under which all countries have been allocated a mandatory number of refugees to take in from Greece and Italy. 

Both of the countries bringing the lawsuit have strongly opposed the enforced system and refused to take part, drawing a furious response from Rome which is struggling to cope with huge numbers of new arrivals. And whilst today's case was focussed on Croatia, the ruling theoretically strips Italy and Greece of similar legal arguments against having to take migrants back under the Dublin system. 

The prime minister will appear before a special committee focused on the Jewish nation-state bill, led by Likud MK Amir Ohana (Likud), that is meant to make sure it will pass quickly. The Jewish nation-state bill is meant to anchor in a Basic Law, legislation meant to form an eventual constitution, Israel’s status as the nation-state of the Jewish people and its Jewish and democratic character.

Its proponents point out that there are Basic Laws that say Israel is democratic, but none that say it is Jewish. The proposal includes the state symbols, Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the Hebrew calendar, the Law of Return and ingathering of the exiles.

Another section of the bill states that all communities in Israel have the right to preserve their culture, heritage, language and identity, have days off for their holidays and build their own, separate communities, and that the holy sites of all religions will be protected.

Another much-disputed article of the bill is one that says the principles of the Jewish heritage should serve as inspiration to the judiciary.

It claimed that the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) had mis-translated Shahin’s prayer, and that he prayed that Allah “destroy” rather than “annihilate” the Jews responsible for temporarily closing access to the Al-Aqsa mosque (after a terror attack).

The word “destroy,” the mosque claimed, was not a call to violence but merely a “supplication that is generally used against oppressors.” Moreover, as Breitbart News reported on Monday — after watching the entire video, and not just the portion excerpted by MEMRI — Imam Shahin specifically referred to “a war of faith” against Jews.

Compared to our ancient ancestors, we are shorter, slower and we have been losing mental capacity for thousands of years.  And just this week, a groundbreaking study that discovered that large numbers of human males in the western world may soon be incapable of reproducing made headlines all over the planet.

Dr Hagai Levine was one of the lead scientists involved in the study, and he found that for men in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, sperm concentrations declined by 52.4 percent during the study period, and total sperm count declined by a whopping 59.3 percent. If these trends continue, we will soon have tens of millions of young men that are incapable of producing children. 

There are certainly lots of factors involved, but one study from a few years ago pointed much of the blame at our heavy use of cellphones… The new study shows that having a mobile phone close to the testicles – or within a foot or two of the body – can lower sperm levels so much that conceiving could be difficult.

And of course where do most men carry their phones? Most of us carry them in our pockets, and that is about the worst possible place that we could carry them.

“Keeping the historical status quo and supporting equal rights for Christians, Muslims and Jews at these holy sites is vitally important to maintaining peace and de-escalating violence,” said Father Ioan Sauca, acting general secretary of the WCC. “Denying access to holy sites for thousands of people who have traveled far to pray is not only a violation of the rights of those individuals, but also a corrosive act in the midst of an already-fragile peace.”

Far from “denying access” to the Temple Mount, Israel decided to install metal detectors at the entrance to the holy site after Arab terrorists smuggled guns there on July 14 and embarked on a shooting spree that claimed the lives of two Druze-Israeli police officers. The Palestinian leadership, however, claimed the additional security measures were part of an Israeli attempt to change the status quo on the Temple Mount and called on all Muslims to take to the streets and riot.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center pointed out that security measures such as metal detectors are par for the course at religious sites all over the world, including Muslim holy sites. In 2015, Saudi Arabia introduced a range of new measures, including electronic bracelets, for Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage to the religion’s holiest site in Mecca.

“The installation of metal detectors is taken for granted at the Vatican, at government offices, at every airport around the globe,” said Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, SWC’s Director of Interfaith Affairs. “They were first made necessary when Palestinians internationalized terrorism decades ago.” The WCC is renowned for its hostility towards the Jewish state, supporting “all non-violent efforts to end the occupation (including considering appropriate economic and other measures).”

Through its member groups, the WCC, which represents some 550 million Christians in 110 countries, oversees several campaigns aimed at delegitimizing the Jewish state, including organized tours of Israel with the purpose of gathering damning evidence of Israelis oppressing Palestinians. The WCC routinely makes charges of Israeli “apartheid,” “collective punishment,” “war crimes” against Palestinians, and “illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.”

The video of Shahin’s sermon was posted to the Islamic Center of Davis’s YouTube channel on Friday (update: the video has since been removed), and translated and excerpted by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), though portions of the sermon were delivered in English.

The topic of the sermon was the ongoing controversy at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Israeli government installed metal detectors at access points to the Al-Aqsa Mosque after a terrorist shot and killed two Druze Israeli soldiers earlier this month.

Jewish visitors to the nearby Western Wall have had to pass through metal detectors for decades, due to the security threat of terrorism. Nevertheless, the new metal detectors for Muslim worshippers have been whipped into a source of outrage among Palestinians and throughout the Muslim world.

Davis has been the site of other antisemitic incidents in the recent past, some evidently fueled by radical Islamic beliefs and affinity for the Hamas terrorist group. In 2015, Muslims students taunted Jewish students at a student government meeting by chanting “Allahu Akbar!” at them. One of the Muslim students involved later boasted that “Hamas and Sharia law have taken over UC Davis.”

Before the council met, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told journalists that Israel is working to calm the situation in Jerusalem, but will do whatever it deems necessary to maintain security at the Temple Mount. “We will enable everybody to come and pray on the Temple Mount, but at the same time we will do whatever is necessary to maintain security,” he said.

“The Salomon family had gathered for the most joyous occasion, the birth of a new grandson. Instead, the night ended in a massacre,” he said, standing alongside a picture of the bloody floor of the family’s home. “They sat down to eat the Sabbath meal when the terrorist entered their home. He stabbed his victims to death, murdering Yosef, the 70-year-old grandfather, his daughter Haya, and his son Elad, all while the children were hidden in a room.”

“This attack is not an isolated incident. It is part of a wave of terror sweeping the free world by those brainwashed by hateful teachings,” he said. “They are taught that violence and coldblooded murder is holy. The Security Council must demand that [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas and the PA act immediately to end the terror and incitement before the lives of more innocent victims are lost.”