TDB Top 5 International Stories: Thursday 27th July 2017

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5:  Trump Declares US Military Can’t Be ‘Burdened’ with Trans People

Trump tweeted his decision Wednesday, declaring the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”

Transgender individuals will no longer be allowed to serve in the US military “in any capacity,” President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. The tweets are a seeming reversal of the Obama administration’s decision last year to end the military’s longstanding ban on allowing transgender people to serve openly.

Vice News

4:  Israeli MP: I’d ‘execute’ Palestinian attacker’s family

Palestinians have criticised an Israeli legislator who said he would “execute” a Palestinian assailant’s family as revenge for an operation that killed three Israelis in an occupied West Bank settlement.

In a video posted (Hebrew) over the weekend on his official Facebook account, which has more than 82,000 likes, Israeli Knesset Member Oren Hazan said he would demolish the home of Palestinian assailant Omar al-Abed and “execute” his family.

Aljazeera

3:  In “Dangerous” Move, Republicans Push to Strip Healthcare from Millions Without Holding Any Hearings

As protesters shouted “Kill the bill! Kill the bill!” Senate Republicans voted Tuesday, by the narrowest of margins, to open debate on repealing Obamacare. Vice President Mike Pence broke a 50-50 tie in the Senate. Two Republican senators—Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—joined Democrats in voting against the motion to proceed. Republican Senator John McCain cast a decisive vote to open debate, after flying in from Arizona, where he is being treated for brain cancer. But hours later, the effort to repeal or replace Obamacare faced another setback, when nine Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting the first healthcare proposal. We speak with Joshua Green of Bloomberg Businessweek about the latest news plus his new book, “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency.”
Democracy Now

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2:  Trump Bans Transgender Soldiers in Twitter Decree That Echoes Evangelical Meme

DONALD TRUMP’S TWITTER decree banning transgender Americans from serving in the military because of the imaginary “tremendous medical costs” involved was framed by the president as the result of a deliberative process involving “consultation with my Generals and military experts.”

That seems to be far from the truth, given that a study conducted for the Department of Defense last year by the RAND Corporation showed that such costs would be minimal, and the announcement of the sweeping policy change, made while Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is on vacation, clearly caught the Pentagon by surprise.

The Intercept 

1:  Erdoğan: Israel is harming Jerusalem’s Islamic character

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has intervened in the continuing crisis surrounding the Jerusalem holy sites by accusing Israel of undermining the city’s “Islamic character”, in comments likely to further inflame regional tensions.

The comments by Erdoğan, which came as Muslim leaders called on Palestinians to continue prayers and protests in the city, triggered an immediate tit-for-tat with Israeli officials, who said the accusation was “absurd” and pointed to Turkey’s own human rights record.

Protests have been held each evening outside the compound housing Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque after Israel introduced new security measures, which followed the killing of two Israeli police officers at the entrance to the shrine by three Israeli Arabs.

The Guardian