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Catholic priest ambushed, stabbed multiple times in ‘frenzied’ attack

Published

1 month ago

10 minute read

Fr. Paul Murphy, Irish Army Chaplain (credit: Catholic Arena / X)

From LifeSiteNews

By Frank Wright

There are now concerns that the teenager became radicalized online and that he had a specific grievance and plan to target Defence Forces members. 

A Catholic priest, who serves as a chaplain in the Irish Army, was ambushed and stabbed “multiple times” in a “frenzied attack” on Thursday night in Galway, Ireland – which saw Irish soldiers open fire in response. Initial reports said a “teenage male youth” had been detained, who reportedly “uttered statements about Irish military involvement in the Middle East.”

Virgin Media News issued the following report on the violent assault today: 

Father Paul Murphy, a 52 year old Chaplain with the Irish Army, was stabbed outside Renmore Barracks, Galway in the West of Ireland at around 10:45 p.m. last night as he arrived for duty in his car. 

Fr. Paul Murphy, Irish Army Chaplain (credit: Catholic Arena / X)

Fr. Murphy was seriously injured, but survived the attack – sending a message from Galway’s University Hospital as he awaits surgery.  

He thanked people in a Facebook post on Friday for their “prayers, love and concern.”

I’m doing okay: just awaiting surgery. All will be well.

According to the Irish Mirror, police are investigating whether the incident was terror related. 

The Special Detective Unit of An Garda Síochána [Irish police] is involved in this investigation. One line of enquiry is to establish if this attack had a terrorism motivation.

Irish Mirror journalist Paul Healy reported details of the attack:

It is understood Fr. Murphy was sitting in his car waiting for the barracks gates to open when the attacker approached him.  

Sources say the chaplain lowered his window and the attacker immediately stabbed him multiple times. 

Healy goes on to recount how Fr. Murphy tried to escape, stating:

The gates of the barracks then opened and Fr. Murphy is understood to have driven forward in an effort to get away from the stabber. 

The attacker however clung onto the vehicle and continued to try and attack Fr. Murphy. 

Sources say Gardaí [police] have since searched the suspect’s address in the Galway area and a number of items of interest, including radicalized ‘literature’ were recovered. 

There are now concerns that the teenager became radicalized online and that he had a specific grievance and plan to target Defence Forces members. 

Healy further reports that “online social media posts” made by the suspect are now being reviewed. 

The suspect, described as “Irish” and said to be 16-years-old, “remains in detention and is being questioned in a Gardaí station in the North Western region,” according to the Irish Examiner.  

Their report says how “sentries overpowered the youth and detained him” until police arrived, noting that, “Fr. Murphy was provided with first aid at the scene before being taken to hospital where he received further treatment.” 

A soldier who had served with Fr. Murphy on a tour of duty in Lebanon responded with shock and words of admiration for the Padre. 

Brendan Cruise said on X:

I was fortunate enough to have served in Lebanon with Fr Paul Murphy who was the battalion padre. He was absolutely brilliant on the tour, he had time for everyone & a smile for all. Wishing him a full recovery.

Simon Harris, the Taoiseach [Irish Prime Minister] said his “thoughts are with the victim” and thanked the Defence Forces and Gardaí for their action and response in a post on X.  

Irish users of the social media platform responded angrily, with many holding Harris and the government responsible. 

One user replied to Harris saying, “You’ve brought terror back to this Island, after we fought 800 years to live in peace.”

Others noted the Godlessness of the modern Irish state, remarking the deliberate omission of the fact that the victim is a Catholic priest and that no prayers were being offered by the leader of the Catholic nation.  

“Very telling you won’t say a Catholic priest was attacked and you offer no prayers for him.”  

The sentiment in the replies to the Irish Prime Minister were perhaps summarized best in this meme:

Attacks on Catholics and their places of worship have been on the rise in Ireland. A spate of anti-Catholic crime in County Donegal over the summer saw many churches burgled, with damage and attempted arson occuring. One church in Lifford had been targeted three times in six weeks.  

The Protestant Church of Ireland has also been targeted, with historic and “irreplaceable” mummies damaged following a break-in and attempted arson in St Michan’s Church, Dublin in June.  

The vandalism, according to Dublin Live, is believed to have ruined the mummified remains of five Catholics “including an 800-year-old artifact known as ‘The Crusader.’” A Romanian national was found guilty of the damage. 

Yet the attacks have also been linked to hate speech – not online – but made by Irish politicians themselves.  

In April, reporting on arson attacks on two County Meath churches, Catholic Arena alleged:

Hate speech by politicians against Catholics has been a major factor in the recent rise in crime against Catholic. 

The attempts to burn down these two churches came shortly after an Irish Member of Parliament (TD) was “mocked for her Catholic faith” by her fellow members during a speech given in the Parliament itself, known as the Dáil. 

Gript reported on March 23 how Deputy Carol Nolan’s warning that mass migration policies of the Irish government had created chaos in the country.

“We have an immigration system and an immigrant homeless situation that are nothing short of spiralling social sabotage,” Nolan said. 

“This Government has no answers for one simple reason, it is because it does not ask the right questions and it does not listen.”  

Nolan was reportedly “sniggered at” at by members she referred to as “communists,” who she says derided her and other members for their Christian faith – whilst refusing to acknowledge the chaos their open borders policies were causing.  

“I could hear the comments and the muttering – some TDs were definitely mocking our Catholic faith”  

Nolan claimed the anti-Catholic rhetoric emerged over Ireland’s referendum on abortion, when she says was targeted for being pro-life. She explained: 

Unfortunately, I had this trouble before the abortion referendum, and when I called for a ‘No’ vote [to legalising abortion]…so it’s not the first time I have borne the brunt of that type of sentiment.

Nolan said:

I would get a lot of it, and I got a lot of it because it was evident I was pro-life and because of my beliefs.

She remained defiant in the face of this “bullying,” saying Parliament refused to reflect a majority of Irish people whose lives and livelihoods in tourism have been blighted by uncontrolled mass migration.  

“In advance of Holy Week, we will take no lectures from the hard left and the looney left who will not face the people.” 

The comments in the Irish Parliament came weeks after a priest’s house was set ablaze “intentionally” in Kildare, destroying outbuildings at St Brigid’s Cathedral. 

The attacks on the Catholic faith and on Christianity in Ireland have now seemingly escalated to the attempted murder of a priest.

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Second Wave Of Blasts Sweep Through Lebanon As Hezbollah Walkie-Talkies Suddenly Explode

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Second Wave Of Blasts Sweep Through Lebanon As Hezbollah Walkie-Talkies Suddenly Explode

Published on September 19, 2024

By

From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Jake Smith

A second wave of blasts swept through Lebanon on Wednesday as more communication devices used by Hezbollah suddenly exploded, according to several reports.

Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah terrorists abruptly exploded in southern Lebanon and the country’s capital of Beirut on Wednesday, according to Reuters. It marks yet another blow to Hezbollah, which the day prior had a large number of its terrorist fighters’ pager devices abruptly explode, causing thousands of injuries.

The devices that detonated on Wednesday appeared to be walkie-talkie devices rather than pagers, according to The Wall Street Journal. The exact size and scope of the attack are still unclear, but at least nine people have been killed and 300 have been injured, The Associated Press reported.

A #Hezbollah walkie talkie explodes at a funeral today in #Lebanon after yesterday’s exploding Hezbollah pagers. pic.twitter.com/b8TIfUUBKq

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) September 18, 2024

Israel is believed to be behind the coordinated and remote attack on Tuesday, though that has not been confirmed by the Israeli or U.S. governments, according to multiple reports. Explosive devices were reportedly planted into the pagers before they made their way out of a supply and manufacturing chain — which initially was suspected to be in Taiwan — and were shipped to Hezbollah in recent months, according to American and other officials who spoke to The New York Times.

The Taiwanese company in question has denied that it produced the pagers, saying that they were manufactured under license by a company based in Hungary, according to Reuters.

The walkie-talkies that detonated on Wednesday were reportedly also shipped to Hezbollah in recent months, a security source told Reuters.

Significant damage appears to have been made to a motorcycle after a Hezbollah radio exploded. pic.twitter.com/57JfoWDmaQ

— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 18, 2024

The official Lebanese news agency also reported that a number of home solar energy systems exploded in Beirut on Wednesday, though it’s unclear whether it was connected to the string of walkie-talkie detonations, according to multiple reports.

Hezbollah has frequently attacked Israel since Oct. 7, the date Hamas invaded Israel and killed roughly 1,200 people. The Hezbollah attacks have created a turbulent situation along the Israeli-Lebanese border and prompted Israeli forces to launch cross-border counterattacks.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told a U.S. envoy on Monday that the time for a diplomatic solution had “passed because Hezbollah continues to tie itself to Hamas and refuses to end the conflict,” according to Axios.

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With Only Months Left In Term, Biden Is Starting To Run Out Of Options In Russia-Ukraine War

Published on September 14, 2024

By

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jake Smith

 

As the clock ticks down to January — the end of President Joe Biden’s sole term — the Biden-Harris administration is trying to figure out how to aid Ukraine against Russia with limited and dwindling options.

The Russia-Ukraine war has dragged on for more than two years, and though the Biden administration has devoted over $175 billion in economic and military aid to help Ukraine, it has done little to shift the tides in Kyiv’s favor. The Biden administration, unlikely to receive any more funding for aid from Congress, is looking at alternative choices including loosening weapons restrictions and allowing Ukraine to strike further inside of Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The new policy would only apply to European and other Western weapons, not U.S. systems, according to multiple reports. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted on Wednesday that such a move was on the table and strongly being considered.

Lifting the restrictions would represent a major shift in approach from the Biden administration, which has been wary of allowing Ukraine to use Western-provided weapons for deep strikes inside Russia up to this point.

But Ukraine is likely to want more from the Biden administration than being allowed to use European weapons for long-range strikes. Specifically, Ukraine wants to use American-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike Russia, given the high quality and range of the system, though the administration may be more unlikely to grant that request.

Besides loosening weapons restrictions, the administration has few other options. Though Biden was able to sign off on a congressionally approved $60 billion aid package for Ukraine in April, Congress isn’t expected to grant any more funding for the war between now and January, limiting the amount of assistance the administration can provide.

The Russia-Ukraine war has largely stalled out, with neither side conceding substantial territory to the other, although Ukrainian forces have recently made a surprising incursion into southern Russia and captured hundreds of miles of territory.

“They see this as part of their strategy to defend themselves, to develop leverage,” the senior administration told the WSJ.

Behind closed doors, however, administration officials are worried that Ukraine is dedicating too many forces to the incursion and stretching thin its forces trying to hold the front line against Russia, according to the WSJ. Russian forces have also begun a counteroffensive against Ukrainians spearheading an incursion, risking further escalation in the war.

Biden’s top aides realize the odds that Ukraine can secure a military victory against Russia by January are near zero, according to the WSJ. The Biden administration is not pressuring Kyiv to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, even though some lawmakers and national security experts believe that is the only way to end the war.

Instead, the administration is choosing to let Kyiv dictate war plans and “improve Ukraine’s strategic position to the greatest extent possible between now and the end of the term,” one senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the matter, told the WSJ.

The Biden administration has been under scrutiny for its handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, with critics fearing that there is no strategy to end the war or push Ukraine toward a military victory, which itself seems unlikely. The U.S. has slowly become more involved in the war but it has done little to move the needle while Ukraine’s manpower continues to be exhausted.

The administration’s strategy “sounds an awful lot like a recipe for another endless war [because it is] unable to send enough weapons to make a decisive difference on the battlefield, and they don’t have a clear sense of what the endgame should be,” Rachel Rizzo, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told the WSJ.

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