An American who went to Cuba to set up internet connections for Jews inside the communist country has been set free after a deal between the Cuban government and the White House.
Cuban officials took Alan Gross in December 2009 while he was working as a subcontractor for the U.S. government’s Agency for International Development. Gross was on his fifth trip to the country to install internet for Cuban Jews that would bypass the government’s restrictions.
Gross has been in failing health in the last year. A pastor who visited Gross said that his teeth had fallen out and he was suffering from severe arthritis and other conditions. U.S. officials said Gross would be hospitalized upon his return to the country for treatment of his diseases.
Three Cuban spies were released as part of the deal to free Gross. The three are part of the “Cuban Five” who were jailed in 2001 in Miami for spying. The other two members of the five were released following completion of their sentences.
The President is calling for America to ease restrictions and to normalize relations with Cuba.
A Virginia attorney wants to force public schools to stop renting spaces to churches for worship services.
John Flannery, who served as Chief of Staff for a Democratic representative from California, says that it’s a problem that 34 schools in Loudoun County allow churches to rent space and meet on their premises each Sunday.
“It’s time to declare that religious worship is an impermissible use of our public schools,” the anti-Christian lawyer said. “In Loudoun County, the churches that use public school space are holding ‘church services’ and collecting ‘donations.’ This use advances religious worship, and thus religion. The government is plainly entangled when it’s hosting religious worship not in one or two schools but in 40% of all the county’s public schools.”
School board member Bill Fox notes that Flannery is well known for his desire to eradicate Christians from society.
“Flannery really won’t be satisfied until we’ve completely excised religion from the public sphere,” Fox stated. “Some folks just believe that the First Amendment stands for the proposition that we should free from religion, instead of having freedom of religion. I’ve been an advocate for the First Amendment my entire life, and that’s not the First Amendment [interpretation] that I’ve studied and that I advocate for.”
A New Jersey town will spend $2.75 million dollars to purchase land for a mosque.
The money is a settlement in a lawsuit filed by Muslims who were prohibited from opening a mosque in another part of the community.
The settlement between Bridgewater, New Jersey and the Al Falah Center will total $7.75 million because in addition to the city buying the land, they will pay $5 million in damages and attorney’s costs.
In 2011, a planning board rejected a proposal for a former inn to be turned into a mosque citing a new ordinance that only allowed houses of worship to be located along major roadways because of traffic concerns.
The Muslim group filed a suit in front of an Obama appointed federal judge, Michael Shipp, who barred the city from enforcing their ordinance and ordered them to reconsider the application. The judge said that the community had “anti-Muslim prejudice.”
The city said they made the agreement to avoid using tax dollars to pay for legal costs.
“The preservation of our residential areas and the ability to zone uses appropriate for their locations is a critical right that the township fought to preserve,” Mayor Dan Hayes told reporters. “This settlement leaves our ordinance intact, ends our exposure to the almost unlimited costs of further litigation and allows all parties to move forward.”
The already strained relationship between Israel and Palestine grew further apart after the death of a Palestinian official who clashed with Israel Defense Forces.
An Israeli pathologist is joining with a team from Jordan to conduct the autopsy of Ziad Abu Ein, who died while en route to a hospital Wednesday after being struck in the chest with what is believed to be a tear gas canister.
Abu Ein headed the PA government agency that campaigns against security barriers and settlements. He fought with Israeli Defense Forces near Turmusaya in the northern West Bank. Palestinians claimed he was hit by the rifle butt of a soldier but Israeli witnesses say that he was not hit by a soldier.
The IDF says that 200 rioters were attempting to enter a Palestinian settlement and were being led by Abu Ein.
Abu Ein was extradited from the U.S. to Israel in 1981 for his connection to a 1979 terrorist bombing.
Congress is preparing to announce that the victims of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting will have been victims of a terrorist attack.
The Obama administration had been denying the incident where Major Nidal Hasan was an act of workplace violence despite the fact Hasan had indicated he was making an act of Islamist terrorism.
House Republicans worked with members of the Democrat-controlled Senate Armed Services committee to put a provision in a defense authorization bill that will acknowledge the victims of Fort Hood are terrorist victims, making them eligible for Purple Hearts and for assistance awards to victims of terrorist actions.
The new language inserted by the members of Congress states that Purple Heart medals can be awarded to “members of the armed forces killed or wounded in domestic attacks inspired by foreign terrorist organizations.”
Hasan killed 13 and wounded 32 in his terror attack. Hasan had e-mail exchanged with Anwar al-Awlaki, a top al-Qaeda leader, who helped plan the attack. Hasan had tried multiple times to become an official member of al-Qaeda.
Still, the Obama administration continues to deny that Hasan’s actions were terrorist in nature.
The likely replacement for Chuck Hagel as defense secretary is seen as a likely stronger support of Israel than previous Obama Administration appointees.
Ashton Carter is described by those within the defense intelligence community as “an efficient administrator” and is believed to be an ally of top military brass rather than someone who views military leadership as an adversary.
Carter visited Israel in 2013 and told IDF soldiers “protecting America means protecting Israel, and that’s why we’re here in the first place.”
Carter, while considered the front runner, has been passed over for the top defense position on two other occasions and Israeli officials say they’re optimistic but will be cautious until Carter officially holds the position.
Israeli officials are also encouraged that Carter has been a strong advocate for making sure Iran does not have the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for voters to give him a “clear mandate” as he announced elections will be held on March 17, 2015.
The announcement of the election comes a day after Netanyahu fired members of his governing coalition that had been opposing new settlements in areas that Palestinians want for their own nation.
The five-party coalition that has been ruling the country took power only last year.
“The coming election is about one question – who will lead the country in the face of the tremendous challenges facing Israel – security, economic, regional,” Netanyahu said in public remarks to Likud legislators. “Whoever wants to give a clear mandate to lead the country to a prime minister from Likud needs to give many votes to Likud. That is the main lesson of our experience from the past years. That is the challenge for this election campaign.”
Netanyahu will lead a now-minority government until the elections and swearing in of the new members of the Knesset.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced a mass change in security officials after the Islamic terrorist group al-Shabaab struck at a quarry in northeast Kenya.
The terrorists brutally executed any non-Muslim working at the quarry. At least 36 people were confirmed dead and several others are missing.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the terror attack and said they will keep executing non-Muslims in Kenya until the country pulls their troops out of Somalia, where they are working with African Union forces to eliminate the terrorists.
Kenyan security officials say the terrorists snuck up on the workers while they were sleeping and then separated the Muslims before shooting others at close range.
President Kenyatta said that police chief David Kimaiyo and Interior Minister Joseph old Lenku are out. He called on the parliament to quickly approve his proposed replacement because “our bickering only emboldens the enemy.”
Police and security personnel have arrested the leaders of a Sudanese Christian church that refused to surrender their property and possessions to the government.
Authorities stormed the compound of the Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church on Sunday and arrested church leaders who were leading a prayer vigil on the remains of a home destroyed the previous week by the government.
Rev. Daud Fadul, elder Fathi Hakim, elder Nouh Manzoul, deacon Iman Hamid and Tilal Mafishi were taken to the Khartoum North Police Station after they refused to stop praying and worshipping on the site.
The members of the church have been maintaining a round the clock vigil to keep the government from destroying the rest of the church’s property.
A Muslim businessman went to the government and told them that he owned the land, so the government has sided with him to remove the Christians from the land and demolish the church.
The government has forcibly removed Christians from their homes and land after the formation of the mostly Christian South Sudan in July 2011. They claim that any Christian land was owned by people who are now in South Sudan.
Christians in North Khartoum, Sudan are fighting to stop the government from completely tearing down their church and homes of Christians.
Government security forces accompanied a bulldozer that knocked down a wall of the Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church and also some homes that belonged to Christians. The Christians, in turn, formed a human barrier to stop the further demolition attempts by the government.
One of the homes destroyed belonged to the Nile Theological College and a Chrsitian doctor who had rented the home lost all his belongings.
The government claimed they had the right to appoint leaders for the church despite the fact the church members did not want them.
“The government recently installed some committee to the running of the church, and these are the same people who want to sell the church for business purposes,” pastor Daud Fadul told Morning Star News.
Church members say the move is part of a government movement to take all land from Christians.