After going unnoticed for 100 years, the remote site’s name drew attention – and opposition – after two hikers were rescued from its peak.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Swastika Mountain in a remote Oregon national park is soon going to receive a new name with more pleasant associations than Nazi Germany after attention was drawn to its moniker earlier this year.

Located in the Umpqua National Forest, the mountain, which most state residents had never even heard of, got into the news after two hikers were rescued from its 4,197-foot-high peak during a snowstorm in January.

Shocked by the name, locals began pressing for it to be changed, with octogenarian Joyce McClain writing to the Oregon Historical Society and its Geographic Names Board formally proposing a switch.

According to a report last week on station KEZI-TV, the volunteer-run board has confirmed that it will rename the peak in its end-of-year meeting in December. Based on the suggestion of a local tribal chief, it will be called Mount Halo, after a 19th century chief of the Yoncalla Kalapuya tribe.

“People need to come forward and take action when they see something that isn’t right or needs to be changed, because one person can make a difference, and this shows how that is so true,” McClain told National Public Radio (NPR) last month.

Also interviewed on NPR, Kerry Tymchuk, executive secretary of the Society, said that names matter, even as he noted that this particular site was not very accessible or well-known.

“What we name things, our features, reflects history, but also reflects values. And as history changes, so do values,” he said. “And certainly, something bearing the name Swastika in 1903 is different than in 2022, when it’s been associated with such an evil person and evil ideology.”

The mountain had originally been named for Clayton Burton, a local rancher who lived in the area in and used the symbol to brand his cattle in the early 1900s. In 1909, he even founded the town of Swastika, which is now no longer exists.

In those days, it was simply considered a symbol of good luck and prosperity in several religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism.

That changed irrevocably after the Nazis adopted it as their exclusive symbol in 1920.

The post Unnoticed for 100 years, Oregon’s Swastika Mountain to be renamed appeared first on World Israel News.

Members of the Badri 313 special unit differ from other Taiban fighters by mimicking the appearance of American soldiers.

By World Israel News Staff

Taliban fighters have shared videos and pictures online that seem to mock the iconic World War II photo, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, Fox reported.

A photo taken by Taliban fighters from the Badri 313 unit show the elite fighters wearing U.S. made military gear and posing as the six U.S. Marines who raised the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.

The #Taliban assigned Special Badri 313 Battalion to guard the presidential palace in #Kabul. pic.twitter.com/ecEURB7Y3a

— Anonymous Operations (@AnonOpsSE) August 18, 2021

Other propaganda videos and pictures shared on channels affiliated with Taliban in recent days show members of the Badri 313 fighting unit with U.S. military guns and equipment, most likely stolen while raiding abandoned bases and patrolling the city of Kabul.

According to the Fox report, members of the Badri 313 special unit differ from other Taliban fighters by mimicking the appearance of American soldiers. They are better equipped and receive more training than most Taliban fighters.

Badri 313 Battalion soldier with MP5SD pic.twitter.com/DoME0yXPBY

— Hammad(عزام) (@HumveeKhan1) August 21, 2021

“Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now,” a U.S. official told Reuters. And this amounts to quite a lot when considering that the U.S. had supplied Afghanistan with approximately $28 billion in weapons and military equipment between 2002 and 2017.

And yet, even the most trained Taliabn fighter would lack the required training to operate most of the advanced weaponry and equipment left behind by the U.S. military, indicating that the purpose of the recently published videos is purely propaganda.

“When an armed group gets their hands on American-made weaponry, it’s sort of a status symbol. It’s a psychological win,” deputy director of the Center for International Policy’s Security Assistance Monitor, Elias Yousif, told The Hill.

As the evacuation of U.S. personnel from Afghanistan continues, a U.S. official said Saturday that potential Islamic State threats against Americans in Afghanistan are forcing the U.S. military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the airport in Kabul, further complicating the already chaotic efforts to get people out of the country, Associated Press reported.

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