Prayer Hub

Syria: ISIS kill kidnapped journalist James Foley

22 Aug 2014

Dozens of journalists - many freelancers without news organisation backing - disappeared in 2012/13 in Syria. On Tuesday ISIS posted a video claiming to show kidnapped American journalist James Foley’s death. He was kidnapped in Syria nearly two years ago. The authenticity of the video, which was also posted on YouTube, could not be verified. YouTube later took down the 4 minute, 40-second video titled, ‘A Message to America,’ showing the journalist kneeling in a desert landscape, clad in an orange jumpsuit  - a reference to the uniforms worn by prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. Standing to his left is a masked ISIS fighter speaking in English with what sounds like an East London accent. Pulling out a knife, he says that Mr. Foley’s execution is in retaliation for the recent American airstrikes ordered by President Obama against the extremist group in Iraq.

Iraq: Britain’s involvement

22 Aug 2014

On Monday Prime Minister David Cameron said, ‘This is not simply a humanitarian mission. We are determined to do what we can to help Iraq combat this new and very extreme form of terrorism.’  He spoke amid a series of dramatic developments on the ground that will fuel concerns about mission creep. British military planes are flying deeper into Iraq to capture surveillance footage of jihadist fighters which is being used to help Kurdish and Iraqi forces on the ground. Regular soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment were in the Kurdish region last week – despite Downing Street’s assurances that there would be no ‘boots on the ground’. At least 1,000 Royal Marines are being deployed to Jordan in a long-planned joint military exercise with the US. The Defence Secretary said the mission has escalated beyond a humanitarian one. Read more

USA: Ferguson, Missouri - 'This has to stop'

22 Aug 2014

On 9 August a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager. Police and witnesses' accounts varied. The confusion fuelled protests by locals which invited outside agitators bring in gunplay and further violence. Community religious leaders failed in their attempts to dissuade the angry from violent protests. The national president of Black Lawyers for Justice blamed unspecified outside provocateurs for further trouble. Then demonstrators were urged to make their voices heard during the daylight where they can be seen and not be the cover for violent agitators who hide in the crowd and then create chaos. But that idea failed.  Because of inconsistencies in reported facts, and the ethnic balance in the background to this incident there will now be a civil rights investigation. Meanwhile, schools in the area are cancelled this week and businesses are being looted or burned. Proprietors stand guard over their businesses with guns and the National Guard have been called in.

Israel: Day 44 of violence

22 Aug 2014

A five-day truce expired on 19 August, the 43rd day of Operation Protective Edge, and the sides agreed a 24-hour extension amid conflicting reports on the progress of talks on a long-term Israel-Hamas deal. But rockets from Gaza broke the truce on Tuesday afternoon, Israel quit the talks and the conflict resumed. By comparison, on 19 August 1947 the local newspaper reported, ‘After a week of Arab-Jewish clashes during which 35 persons were killed and 80 wounded, it seemed probable today that both sides had brought the situation under control, and that at least for the time being, there would be no large-scale rioting in Palestine. Once outside the Tel Aviv-Jaffa trouble area Jewish settlements reported without exception that relations with their Arab neighbours were completely normal. Leaders of the Arab villages showed no signs either of tension or hostility’. At that time conflicts were blamed on outside influences. See: