Vered Shinar (Hornblas)’s Post

I need to beg your indulgence again, but this moment in history is too important not to share what I'm thinking with all of my contacts - business and personal. I used to think I knew something about the world, but I was just fooling myself. It turns out there are so many things I don't understand. For example: I don't understand why it's so difficult to distinguish between Hamas - a murderous terrorist organization - and the Palestinian people, who are just another tool to be used by Hamas to achieve their goal of destroying the state of Israel and the Jewish people I don't understand how people can say that Israel has a right to defend itself, but then also demand an immediate ceasefire - exactly what do these people think it means for Israel to defend itself? I don't understand why people who have no understanding of the complex history in this region can decide that Israel is solely to blame for the plight of Palestinians I don't understand how people can claim that the Jews are some kind of foreign colonizer in a land that they have continuously lived in for over 3000 years - last I checked, the Dead Sea Scrolls were written in HEBREW I don't understand how people can go around tearing down posters asking for the return of Israelis kidnapped and taken to Gaza - how depraved does someone have to be and how much hate does someone have to feel to tear down the posters of children and infants taken hostage by Hamas? I don't understand people who continue to deny that anti-Zionism is anti-semitism - when slogans like "Globalize the Intifada," "by any means necessary," and "from the river to the sea," become staples at protests around the world, there's no question but that all Jews have become targets I don't understand how anyone who cares about women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, pluralism, or freedom of speech can support Hamas (or other Palestinian groups that favor the introduction of Shariah law) - are they unaware of what Hamas thinks about all these things? I don't understand the claim that Israel is an apartheid state when 25% of Israelis are Arabs, and Arabs sit in the Knesset, the Supreme Court, as CEOs of major corporations and on Israel's national sports teams - remind me again how many Jews remain in the lands of their birth such as Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Tunesia and Morroco? I don't understand why colleges and universities are okay hiring blatant anti-semites - would they ever hire someone who said the same sorts these sorts of things about other minorities? And most of all, I don't understand why, despite having many family members killed in the Holocaust, being President of the Board of ADL Southeast, and having experienced anti-semitism directly in my life, all of these things still surprised me - but I won't make that mistake again #istandwithisrael #amyisraelchai

The Real Reason Government Went After Bobrisky What happened with Bobrisky just shows you the savviness of Nigeria compared to other nations and the intellectual response to governing on display by the current administration. The Nigerian government obviously wanted to clamp down on the trending cross-dressing culture in Nigeria. But the government was also aware of the fact that any direct move in that regard would earn it the whip of the Western powers. Nigeria could not place itself in the position that Ghana now is. On February 28, 2024, Ghana's parliament passed legislation cracking down on LGBTQ rights, of which a significant aspect addresses cross-dressing. Perhaps the most powerful bloc in liberal America and the UK is the LGBTQ community, and their pushback against Ghana was quick and with a stick. The alacrity of response was not treated with temerity in Ghana. Within days, it was announced that if the Ghanaian President signed that law, the World Bank would have to reconsider a $3.8 billion loan to Ghana. That announcement made the Ghanaian President turn blind, as Nana Akufo-Addo was quoted as saying that he had not yet seen the law on his desk, therefore, he could not sign it. Three months after its passage, President Nana Akufo-Addo still has not seen the law. Maybe JAMB sent a Nigerian snake to eat the law! In case you ever wondered why President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron moved against then-President Jonathan and, in an unprecedented manner, worked against his re-election in 2015, do note that it was because, on Monday, January 13, 2014, Dr. Jonathan signed a law criminalising same-sex relationships and its appurtenances. General Buhari's handlers were competent. They immediately hired the same guy advising both Obama and the LGBTQ movement in America-David Axelrod. They passed the word that if Buhari were supported to be President by the Western powers, he would frustrate the anti gay marriage las that their enemy, Jonathan, signed. In my book, Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years, I provide proof of this. So, the Tinubu administration was in a dilemma. How to deal with Bobrisky for being a cross-dresser but not to make it about his being a cross-dresser. And this is where you have to respect the subtlety of the Tinubu administration. They found a way, a creative genius way. Bobrisky violated a law against the abuse of the Naira. That is why a first-time offender committed an offence that even government officials engaged in during Buhari's son's wedding, and, despite pleading guilty, was sentenced to six months in prison. And the scapegoating of Bobrisky has worked. Since his arrest, have you seen any of his 'colleagues' prancing about? We used to see them almost daily on blogs and social media. The traditional media, too, could not have enough of them. They have run for cover since Chairwoman answered to the gender of male in court, when asked to state 'her' gender.

On a summer’s day, a parade of young people and children march for gay rights, waving the rainbow flag, in Ramallah, on the Palestinian West Bank. Suddenly, a masked mob of Islamists storm into their midst, beating and kicking them, screaming abuse. Security forces look on in apparent approval, doing nothing, according to Amnesty International. That vicious, depressing incident in July seems comparatively trivial now compared to the unimaginable horrors of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli settlements near Gaza, and the slaughter at the Nova peace music festival. But it has grim significance as we try to comprehend the global threats to Western civilisation and to our democratic way of life. It might seem obvious, given the strength of calls for LGBT rights in Britain and the U.S. over the past half a century, that gay campaigners would be vehement in their condemnation of Hamas. But no. The opposite is true. Actors and TV personalities, many always so eager to be seen as advocates or allies of LGBT people, have tied themselves in knots to avoid condemning the atrocities. Many have condemned Israel, oblivious to the fact that it is on the front line of a broader conflict of values, or to what might be the fate of those who tried to speak out for LGBT rights in Gaza. The truth is we have reached a point of madness where Left-wingers in the West now seem to support groups, however barbaric, whatever their crimes, to signal their contempt for our civilisation. The immense irony is that they can do this only because of the precious values of free speech and democracy. Three decades ago, the liberal Left was brimming with smugness at the end of the Cold War. The darling of the intellectuals was historian Francis Fukuyama, whose book The End Of History predicted Western values were now accepted the world over. In as many words, he claimed that religion, communism and intolerance were aberrations of the past. That view provoked a counterblast from the political scientist Samuel Huntington, whose book, The Clash Of Civilisations, warned that war in the future was inevitable but it would be fought between cultures, not countries. Instead of wars between opposing monarchs, nations and ideologies, he foresaw the future of conflict caused by clashing ‘civilisation states’. We can now see how wrong Fukuyama’s optimistic, triumphal End Of History thesis was. The world has not become blandly centre-Left, some sort of global New Labour rainbow regime. Huntington’s Clash Of Civilisations theory has proved partially right. The rise of Al Qaeda, Isis, and now Hamas, shows that Islamist death cults pose an existential threat to all Western values. Russia and China both fit Huntington’s template. They have no doubts about how essential it is to protect their own cultures. Go figure!

Burundi President Calls For Stoning Of Gay Couples Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye launched a virulent anti-gay tirade on Friday, saying same-sex couples should be publicly stoned. He also lashed out at Western countries that press other nations to allow gay rights or risk losing aid. Homosexuality in Burundi, a conservative Christian country in East Africa, has been criminalised since 2009 with prison terms of up to two years for consensual same-sex acts. Ndayishimiye, a Catholic, described marriage between same-sex couples as an "abominable practice". "Personally, I think if we see these kind of individuals in Burundi we should put them in a stadium and stone them. And it would not be a sin for those who do," Ndayishimiye said in response to a question at a public event in the east of the country that was broadcast by Burundian media. He also criticised Western countries that urge smaller nations to allow gay marriage or risk losing aid, saying: "Let them keep their help, let them keep it." Burundians living abroad who have "chosen the devil" and practise homosexuality should "not come back", he added. Homosexuality is illegal in many East African countries, which have a history of repression and stigmas against gay people, often encouraged by conservative Muslims and Christians. Uganda in May adopted what has been described as one of the world's harshest laws against homosexuality, prompting outrage among rights groups and Western powers. In response, Washington has said it would remove Uganda from a key trade deal and has imposed visa restrictions on some officials, while the World Bank suspended new loans to the country. The legislation is currently being challenged at Uganda's constitutional court. In March this year, Burundi charged 24 people with "homosexual practices" in a crackdown on same-sex relationships. The move followed a call by Ndayishimiye for citizens to root out homosexuality and treat gay people as "pariahs". Ndayishimiye took power in June 2020 after the death of president Pierre Nkurunziza and has been lauded by the international community for slowly ending years of Burundi's isolation under his predecessor's chaotic and bloody rule. But he has failed to improve a wretched human rights record and the country of 12 million people remains one of the poorest on the planet. AFP --- Follow us for more breaking news and videos

🗣✏️ Last year, Russia enacted a law banning gender-affirming care. In March, the government added the “LGBT movement” to its list of extremist and terrorist organizations. It represents, says Ksen Pallegedara Murry, an Oregon-based family law attorney who works with LGBTQ+ clients and Russian immigrants, a “direct government campaign targeting the extermination of queers.” As authorities raid gay bars, queer Russians have moved off of open social networks and onto private Telegram chats to organize, socialize, and even find the support and resources necessary to flee. “Telegram is now an empowerment tool for Russian LGBTQ+ people,” Sozaev says. It gives them the “opportunity to feel and see that they are not alone. This breaks down isolation and restores people's belief in their strengths.” Since arriving in the US, he has started his own Telegram channel to provide help to the Russian-speaking LGBTQ+ community in the US. It has more than 2,000 individual subscribers, a number that doesn’t include the people who view it without subscribing. SOZAEV’S CHANNEL IS one of many, though exactly how many is all but impossible to determine. Roughly half of Russia’s 140 million residents use Telegram, so being on the messaging app itself doesn’t draw unwanted attention. Still, LGBTQ+ citizens routinely create new channels to avoid government surveillance and detection. Under Russia’s latest restrictions, any website deemed to have pro-LGBTQ+ content is added to a national block list, making it inaccessible without a VPN (and even VPNs are in jeopardy). Telegram is the next best option. https://lnkd.in/d-YbZWHs

#LGBTQ I am calling on the African leaders, heads of parliament and other diplomatic corps to respect the Traditional ties that have long existed in Africa. As Africans, we respect the tradition of the European countries and what they stand to believe and trust they would respect ours. No matter our differences in Africa, we believe in God the eternal father and the power of procreation, the faith that a man and a woman come together in marriage and raise children to sustain the eternal family of our deities. Same sex religion is far from our fancy as a people in this continent. We hold our friends in other continents who chooses same sex religion and its practices. I am aware of the existing global laws of human rights and I believe the right to live, has its cultural nomenclatures or precedence for all regions. Disrespecting African culture will be a seizure of their fundamental rights and it is completely unacceptable. I have it on a good intelligence that the EU treaty with Africa containing the hidden laws including the LGBTQ rights was going to be signed on or before Nov 16 2023 by African leaders. I oppose this move I condemn it I abuse it I charge the pan Africanism to rise and raise their voices to reject it. We need a United States of Africa - USA cc AfricanUnion Soulidarity & HumanRights NGO Directory of panAfrica (DopA) PanAfrica Youthdevelopment

There are a lot of reasons to be upset at the way our government ignores the will of the people. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is generally an empty promise. Actually it’s 30 of them, and the fact that the United States violated so many of these Articles should not come as a surprise. We’re not in a post racial society. We don’t live in a gender-equal society. We don’t have religious freedom. We don’t have basic protections applied to EVERYONE universally. But we could…and we should. Eventually the rules will catch up to the majority, and give everyone a world where they can thrive just as they are. Unfortunately it may be too late by then for millions and possibly billions of people…and more and more species will be wiped out entirely. The only way out of this mess is truly seeing each other, every single human being, as worthy. Breathing beings deserve to live in peace and safety and accepted for their unique brilliance…not targeted for being different or denied human rights and dignity because they don’t fit into someone else’s binary, boxed in, b.s. definition of “person.” We have to speak up for everyone and while that is hard to do…it’s not impossible. Liberation must be collective. Feminism must be intersectional. Your fight against fascism must fight anti-Blackness. We don’t stop antisemitism without stopping Islamophobia too. We don’t achieve equality without accessibility. We won’t be innovative without ensuring neurodivergent people are treated as part of the same team. We can’t be a TERF but claim we believe in marriage equality. All identities are worthy. All beliefs, as long as your belief isn’t predicated on someone else’s oppression. Nothing about us without us. All of us or none of us. So even as a war in Sudan threatens millions, and the DRC is using children for mining, and Izzy is blocking aid to Pal Stein…we have to pause and remember our LGBTQIA2S+ comrades who are always targeted first by the fasc. Pride is not just for a day. It’s not a month. It’s all year long. And in every single conflict and problem anywhere on the globe, queer friends exist. The U.S. continues to fall behind…but thankfully since the 90s the WHO acknowledges that being queer isn’t a mental disorder but part of the human condition. For International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia— take a moment this Friday evening to celebrate the beautiful spectrum of humanity, and commit to fighting for UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS…without exception. #Rage2Rainbows #HumanRights

For someone who should have high moral values, our prime minister is letting our society down again - not only letting down but seemingly supporting discrimination. He, and the Conservative Party, continue to get away with ostracising underprivileged groups, using the exploitation of others’ trauma, and unethical propaganda as weapons to conserve as much of their own privilege as they possibly can do. If a person’s safety really mattered to Sunak, he would not be allowing, let alone creating, rhetoric designed to divide society and put thousands of vulnerable people in danger. Acts like this will likely increase the financial strain on the NHS, as data suggests that words like these will almost certainly perpetuate more violent transphobic attacks, and increases in depression and suicide rates amongst trans+ community groups. Why would any ethical leader, especially a leader who claims to care about the NHS (a service which his ministers have been looking to privatise for years) choose to make the UK’s mental health crisis even worse? Marginalised groups have been repeatedly targeted in British society, and now is no different to what we have experienced throughout history. Before trans people it was Asian people. Before Asian people it was Muslim people. Before Muslim people it was gay people. Before gay people it was women. Before women, it was Black people. And who is to say that it won’t be your community who is targeted next? You’d have thought that by now, after realising time and time again that these different groups were not actually a threat (despite what the public were told at the time) we’d have learnt to no longer fall for inhumane scare tactics like this one. Our United Kingdom, cannot continue to allow political bullies to divide our union even more for their own power and profitable gain. Trans rights, just like migrant’s rights, women’s rights, gay rights, Muslim rights, Black rights or the rights of any person of any other protected characteristic, are human rights. Sunak’s statement is also biologically misleading. A man may be a man and a woman may be a woman but he does not highlight the differences between gender identity and sex at birth - which is not binary either. We are are not born just male or female. Sunak was born into a family of doctors and so should know this. The responsible thing to do would have been to educate his party and the general population about what isn’t common knowledge. Not use a national knowledge gap to build on a self-serving bias and prejudice agenda. For those who are interested, 1.7% of the population are born intersex. To put this number into perspective, erasing this group from society by saying people are only born male and female is comparable to saying that people with ginger hair do not exist. More info here: https://lnkd.in/e9Euhij5 #translivesmatter #transrightsarehumanrights #blacktranslivesmatter