No Country For Anyone

The hatred has expanded its borders:

The remains of Staff Sgt. First Class Tzvi Feldman, missing since the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub during the First Lebanon War, have been returned to Israel in a special operation conducted by the Mossad and the Israel Defence Forces, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday morning. ...

The operation marked the culmination of more than four decades of intelligence and field efforts, conducted in close coordination among the Prime Minister’s Office’s hostage and missing persons coordinators, the Mossad, the IDF Intelligence Directorate, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the IDF Personnel Directorate.

The family of Katz was also updated on the recovery of Feldman’s remains and the continued efforts to locate their missing loved one.

Netanyahu expressed his deep appreciation to all agencies involved, including the Mossad, IDF and Shin Bet, and Hostage and Missing Coordinator Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, praising their “principled, determined and courageous” work.

Quoting the Prophet Jeremiah, Netanyahu concluded: “There is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children shall return to their own border.”

The Israeli defence establishment reaffirmed its commitment to bring back all Israeli captives and MIAs—whether living, slain, missing or abducted—through unwavering effort, day and night.

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For some reason, this is not highly mentioned by the popular press: 

Others, too, have begun to appear on the scene, slipping down unnoticed from the pine forests: men dressed in local security uniforms, khaki army slacks and printed masks, some dressed in Pathani suits, according to later witness accounts. Two have blended in with the tourists gathered on the main concrete. Others are on the fringes, a little away from the food stall. These men are armed. 

Suddenly, Shah hears a loud bang. “I didn’t take it seriously,” he says. “I thought someone was setting off firecrackers.” 

But around him, people begin flinging themselves to the ground. Instinctively, Shah throws his body over the children with him. “The second time I heard the sound I knew it was gunfire — and it was getting closer.” 

Within seconds, chaos ensues: shrill, high-pitched cries of a girl are ringing across the valley. She is screaming: “Papa! Papa!” A man has shot her father. 

The deadliest attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir in more than two decades is under way. 

Some of it is captured in a selfie video made by an oblivious tourist taking the zipline over the valley. His mustachioed grin dominates the screen but in the bottom left hand corner a body can be seen crumpling under gunfire. ... 

Austen Nathaniel, 27, and his sister Akanksha, 32, are among the group gathered on the concrete. Their parents, Sushil and Jennifer, have walked on ahead to the bathroom; the siblings are trailing behind them. As Sushil emerges from the bathroom, two boys in military slacks appear up ahead. They appear to be about 15. 

“When he came out of the washroom, there was a loud noise,” Jennifer said later. “We thought the zipline had snapped, but when we turned around, we saw the first man who was shot. Everyone started running and hiding. We hid behind the washroom but the terrorists found us.” 

“The boys asked my dad to recite Kalima [an Islamic declaration of faith],” Nathaniel recalled to reporters. Instead he said he was an Isai (Christian). The boys started screaming at Sushil who shoved his wife out of the way. The boys raised their guns and shot him. Two themes recur in eyewitness accounts of the day. One was the order to “recite Kalima”. Around the meadow the gunmen ask tourists to recite the verses. Those who cannot, die. Some who can are shot anyway. 

“They kept asking everyone: ‘Muslim? Muslim?’,” Nathaniel said. “Whoever said they were Muslims and even recited Kalima, the terrorists pulled down their trousers to check, and shot them if they were not circumcised.”

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The last time someone didn't take a bomb threat seriously, 332 lost their lives:

Emergency services dealt with two bomb threats on Sunday, one claiming a bomb had been planted on a plane on the ground at Vancouver International Airport and the other threat directed at Vancouver’s Waterfront Station. 

The first occurred at around 10:30 a.m. and was a 911 call made by an unknown person directed at Metro Vancouver Transit Police saying there was a bomb at Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver.

Transit Police and Vancouver Police Department officers immediately cleared the station as a precaution.

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There is no outrage and that is the problem:

The top 13 of the 50 nations on the World Watch List 2025 are characterized by the worst form of persecution: "extreme." They are: 1) North Korea, 2) Somalia, 3) Yemen, 4) Libya, 5) Sudan, 6) Eritrea, 7) Nigeria, 8) Pakistan, 9) Iran, 10) Afghanistan, 11) India, 12) Saudi Arabia, and 13) Myanmar.

[M]ost of the "extreme persecution" meted out to Christians in nine of these 13 worst nations continues to come either from Islamic oppression, or occurs in nations with large Muslim populations. Significantly, this means that approximately 70% of the absolute worst ("extreme") persecution around the globe takes place under the aegis, or in the name, of Islam.

[T]he persecution of Christians by Muslims is perennial, existential, and far transcends this or that ruler or regime. Persecution of the "other" in Islam is part of its history, doctrines and socio-political makeup — hence its tenacity and ubiquity

"More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world." — World Watch List 2025.

"[R]oughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations [in Pakistan] target Christians, who make up just 1.8 percent of the population. Blasphemy laws carry a death sentence." — World Watch List 2025.

"In Afghanistan, leaving Islam... and conversion is punishable by death under Islamic law. This has been increasingly enforced since the Taliban took control of the country in 2021." — World Watch List 2025.

Even in nations that would appear to be friendly or at least neutral to Christianity, such as Cuba, Mexico and Nicaragua, Christians are being abused for their faith...